Bugs, Humidity, and Grocieries, OH MY!

Yesterday was my first "full day" here for the summer. I thought I would be able to sleep in since it's 3 hours later here...wrong.  I was up and ready to take on the day by 8am.

So after waiting around for someone to get beautiful, Jeff and I went to The Bistro, had breakfast, and made a shopping list for the day.  One of my goals for this summer is to be a better cook.  I'm not getting too adventurous here, but it's better than just whipping up a PB&J sandwich every day, for every meal. We decided on a few things, finished up breakfast and went to the store.

First, we went to Cost-U-Less, which is like Costco.  They have everything you could ever need in bulk, just like Costco, but it's like 5 times more expensive.  I can truly say I was horrified by the prices.  $1.89 for ONE tomato.  (That's a joke, right? RIGHT?!) Ultimately, I sucked it up a Cost-U-Less (or Cost-U-MORE) and payed $96 for about 10 items.

Then, we headed to the grocery store for some miscellaneous food stuff we didn't want to buy in bulk.  After messing around and finally getting everything we needed, we checked out and were on our way!

Jeff had to work yesterday, so we went home where I unloaded the groceries/made lunch while he got ready to leave.  Here's where you all are going to be impressed.  After Jeff went to work,  I discovered there are little bugs everywhere.  Since I was forced to deal with them on my own yesterday, I have slightly conquered the fear of (little) bugs.  Don't worry, I was saying "ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!" and freaking out while I cleaned them up and I haven't gotten over the fear of big bugs yet. (More on that later!)

I hung out with the puppies for a while and did some major unpacking.  It's starting to sink in that I'm going to be here for a while.  I worked on a bunch of school stuff and also had a good marathon of "The First 48" on A&E. I didn't do much else since the humidity is getting to me.  I'm not used to feeling sticky and sweaty all the time...yet!

Christmas is starting to hang out with me...but definitely only on her terms.

Jeff came home and we went out to dinner with Jeff's roommate, Kevin, and some of Jeff's friends from work.  We went to Cheeseburger in Paradise and had an amazing cheeseburger (of course) and some drinks. I found a LARGE, but dead, cockroach in the bathroom and had one of Jeff's friends get it out. She's a saint. We had a great time but had to call it a night fairly early since Jeff had to be up at 4:45am for work today.

Today I've just been hanging out at home and doing more school work. Today, we're going to possibly take the puppies for a walk, go to the Captain Morgan Distillery (brings me back to my college days!) and then we're going to play volleyball tonight/hit up $2 tacos.  (Note: We're going to play volleyball = Jeff is going to play and I'm going to watch and drink beer.)

Finally in St. Croix!

On Monday, June 24th at 5:15am, I set out for St. Croix.  After some bumps along the way, a tearful goodbye with my Dad, and a long line in security, I finally sat down and waited for my first flight of the day. If you know me at all, you know that I get to the airport about two and a half hours early, because I'm terribly afraid of missing my flight.  So after getting through security, I saw that my flight was delayed, which meant I had about two hours left in the airport. (Note: I flew American, which is in Terminal 3. If you haven't been to Terminal 3 in a while, let me tell you there is nothing to do.  There IS however, a bar. So I did find a way to occupy my time.)

Pictured: The screwdriver that saved the day!  I figured I should stop after one, since it was pretty early in the morning!

Finally, we boarded the plane and the rest was smooth sailing. We arrived about 30 minutes late to Miami and we didn't actually get off the plane until 4:00.  (Side note: my flight to St. Croix left at 4:55. And remember how I said I like to be early. Just keep that in your brain for a second.)

Here is a timeline of what I remember from that fun event:

3:50 - We are still not off of the plane.  It's hot, and I'm getting stressed.
4:00 - Finally off the plane, I need to figure out where I'm going.
4:05 - Realize I have to take the train/tram in Miami to get around the airport. (Excuse me? What?) Stress level: off the chart.
4:07 - In a rush to get to the train/tram/whatever, I step on the back of my dress which causes the front of my dress to fall down.  Luckily no one sees, but I am embarrassed and decide to hold the bottom of my dress for the rest of the adventure. 
4:20 - Make it to gate and realize I haven't eaten anything.
4:22 - Hit up a Panda Express-like restaurant and pay $15 for meal.
4:23 - Immediately regret that decision.
4:30 - Buy a neck pillow, which I said I never would. (PS, you may look like an idiot, but it is the best purchase I've made for traveling so far!)
4:50 - Board airplane. Put on neck pillow. Asleep.
7:30 - Arrive in St. Croix! YAY!

At the end of the day, seeing Jeff was totally worth it and made all the stress go away! We waited for my bags, went home, and then went out to eat! By the end of the night, I was completely exhausted but I'm so happy to finally be in St. Croix!

The Blog

Let me be the first to say that this is my first attempt at writing a blog.  I'm no stranger to the amazingly adorable blogs I see all the time though. (I'll admit, I'm a complete stalker for some teacher blogs...don't judge me.) However, I'm really going to try and update this thing at least once a week and obviously, try to make it cute.  I apologize in advance if it's just a bunch of rambling/run-on sentences.  If that's the case, just skip over those and just look at pictures.

But seriously, this is for friends and family to see what I'm up to over the summer.  Don't get me wrong, I love each and every one of you, but I just think if I called you all once a week to chat, I'd just be on the phone for my entire vacation.  So, this is a perfect way to keep you updated! Of course, if you call or text me (which you TOTES can, since it's still in the US which means no long distance charges) I'll do my very best to call you back! :)

Strap in, friends!

-Chelsea