Good-Bye March and Hello April

March has been a long month for us! I think it is because we are so eager to go home. Just 2 1/2 weeks now! I CAN'T WAIT!

I have worked about 2 1/2 weeks now full time for the Dean of Research here at Ross. We have a great team and I think I'm going to really enjoy my little island job. Andrew is finishing he classes strong and looking forward to next semester. But before next semester comes we first get to come home and back to reality (this whole island thing just doesn’t seem real sometimes...)!

Make fun all you want but we have compiled a list of activities for when we are home. These fore mentioned activities consist of eating, shopping, target going, couch laying, TV watching, horse playing, dog petting, family spending, friend hugging good times. None of these are to do be in any said order per se but eating will consume a large amount of our time. Along with our activities list we have devised a strategic plan to optimize our time at home. We will have exactly 16 full days back in North Carolina. 8 days will be spent between Raleigh and Morehead City and the other 8 will be in Lexington - this way we get equal time with both families, how perfect! Oh and we are also able to cross off a several food venues.

A strategic plan will first consist of my parents picking us from the airport on Wednesday night, late, like 10 pm. This however, will not stop us from making a late night CookOut run for a couple of sweet teas and a CookOut Tray for Andrew. Oh and I'm sure my parents will bring Duke along for the ride because as Dad likes to say "It's a Family Outing, Duke should be there".... Don't worry I won't give you a play by play I will just highlight the good stuff! Thursday I wake up early and go see my sweet Sissy girl and spoil her lots of love and carrots; oh and Will can have a few carrots too! After I get my horse playin' in we will meet our friends for in down town Raleigh for dinner. We figured it was the easiest way to see everyone! Friday morning we will head down to Morehead City for some good ole North Carolina Coastal livin'! Here we will eat, boat, fish, shop, and just enjoy each other’s company!! After a nice long weekend we will head back to Raleigh for more Sissy and Will time, target browsing, couch laying, and TV watching, oh I forgot eating, yes of course always more eating.

We will wrap up a final few days in Raleigh doing what we love and then head on down to Lexington, where people claim to have red-neck dogs...true story...as if the owners weren't already....

Here we will spend time with family, ride a few horses, muck a few stalls, mend a few fences, and my favorite, chit-chat late into the night. Maybe we will even have another bonfire and shoot a few Skeet! Andrew's parents will even be having a horse show the Saturday that we are home! YAY! Saddle up - It's Cuttin' Time!

And when our two weeks of home are over we will head back to St. Kitts. I know our hearts and our bellies will be full.

Our List of Food Places...Don't Judge...

Raleigh List:

1. Dos Taquitos Centro
2. Bojangles (For Andrew)
3. Chik-fil-a
4. Carrabba's
5. Tuscan Blue
6. PF Changs
7. The Draft House
8. Mellow Mushroom
9. Cooney Island
10. Schlotzsky's
11. Moe's
12. Mom D's Apple Pie (please!)
13. MT. DEW
14. SWEET TEA

Morehead City list:

1. Beach Bums
2. Smithfields - Sweet Tea
3. Circa 81
4. Poppa Duke's cooking
5. El's Drive In
6. Fish Tales
7. Jersey Mikes
8. Coldstone
9. MT. DEW

Lexington List:

1. Mom C's Home Cooking
2. Ricks     
3. Biscuit King
4. Mr. Gatti's
5. Hunan
6. Macaroni Salad (fingers crossed)
7. Zaxbys
8. The Village
9. MT. DEW
10. SWEET TEA
    
11. We realize that will we have to prioritize.....

Back Where We Come From

Rebekah!

Love my ponies!

What a Stud! (no, really he is riding Stud)

Skeet Skeet

A day in the life of Duke

Ask and you shall Receive

My goodness March is upon us already! And boy did March bring several good things along with it...

Over the last several weeks, well I guess since we got here! many prayers are been lifted up for many different things. And my how God works in such special ways to answer our prayers. Like when Andrew was doing the whole vet school application process I prayed for an adventure...boy did I get one big adventure. Though nervous about the adventure to St. Kitts I knew God wouldn't have given us such a big adventure if we couldn't handle it. It has been hard at times but He has continued to answer our prayers, both big and small. Though overwhelming, many prayers were answered this past week....

We started off our week with finally deciding where we will be living next semester and hopefully for the remainder of our time here. We picked this awesome house up in Fort Tyson Rise. We overlook the Atlantic but can also see the Caribbean! Hopefully our back porch will be the prime location for all of the whale watching I intend to do. Apparently a few were spotted last week but I clearly did not see them! Our house has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, large kitchen, fenced in yard for Duke, and a sweet little swimming pool! Our new home will be shared with Leann and Brayton Hill. They are simply an amazing couple and we can't wait to share in all of these wonderful vet school adventures together. Brayton is the student and Leann the spouse which is just perfect! They are in their second semester down here and are enjoying it. Leann is a teacher at the Prep School on campus and teaches 1st and 2nd grades. They are from New York and were married down in the Outer Banks last summer - AMAZING! We are truly excited for this next chapter and are very blessed to have made such great friends.

What's next? Oh yes! We test drove a few cars last week and settled on the cutest little blue SUV - wanna be. I say wanna be because it is truly a very tiny little SUV, but it is a perfect little island car for us! And Andrew turns out to be quite the haggler too! Andrew talked him down $1500, which is good for an island car. The steering wheel is on the opposite side, which is taking me some getting use to.  Andrew is a pro, of course. Oh the little blue car has this little mirror on the hood that looks like a snorkel, funny. Another funny aspect about looking for vehicles down here is that the superficial things didn't matter at all to us like they would back in the States.  We didn't care about color, interior, features, dents, etc none of that mattered! All that mattered was reliability and if our potential little island car would make it up certain hills; funny how those things change.  We were both very nervous to purchase the car. It was the first time either one of us had made a purchase that large, especially without our parents, but we did just fine. We drove our little island car to the grocery Saturday morning and then took her to the beach that afternoon. It's funny though, we both keep expecting something to break or for her not to turn on! We are told with island cars "it's not if they break, it's when they break!" - Oh boy! But we talk sweetly to her and cross our fingers that she behaves!

The grand news of the week, especially for me, is that I was offered a job last week working for the Research department at Ross U. How cool is that??!! I'm over the moon about it. I think it will be a perfect fit for me while I'm down here and will only help mold me for a career in research. I will speak to HR this week to confirm the details. It truly was a God send and I am blessed with an incredible opportunity that will open many doors.

Aside from the amazing job opportunity, I have also been asked to join a research team here at the university. The project is out of this world and truly the neatest thing! I have a strong interest in reproductive physiology and plan on going for PhD when I've finished my masters. I don't know exactly what area of reproduction but I think something with horses or pigs ( I do love pigs!) But this oh so incredible research project will be dealing with lionesses in Zimbabwe! Now I have no promises of going to Zimbabwe, which is fine, but I would go tomorrow given the chance! For me the privilege is to work on this project and be a part of so many aspects. To be on a published paper would be absolutely phenomenal! Oh I'm getting excited just writing about it! And I get to work with some pretty incredible and brilliant people that I know I can learn a lot from!

Now Dad! Don't go getting worried about grad school! I am doing awesome! And plus I do much better when I have more on my plate! Ask and you shall Receive....

View from our back porch - Atlantic Side

Caribbean Side

More Atlantic - Where I plan to see my whales

Our little blue island car

See the Snorkel?

An Under the Sea Engagment

Wow! So I have really fallen behind on our blog! The short and sweet of the past couple of weeks is that Justin and Kara came to visit us! Justin is Andrew's best friend from college and Kara is Justin's girlfriend, oh excuse me...Fiance`!

To play catch up a little bit...Andrew had his second round of exams and was a rockstar! He did so well on all of his exams. I had my first graduate school exam and did very well too.  Go us! I had to take it in the music room at the prep school.  Let's just say the first graders were not the only ones who got a music lesson that day. 

Back to Justin and Kara.  Andrew still had to go to classes but we all managed to enjoy each others time.  We ate great food while they were here and had a blast.  I played tour guide barbie and took them around to all of our local haunts during the day.  We hung out at Shipwreck on Thursday and the Marrriott on Friday.  The highlight of our weekend was going scuba diving on Saturday.  So Justin and I had been scheming for weeks for his big surprise under the sea proposal to Kara.  Justin and I had been coordinating with the dive shop ( Dive St. Kitts) and they told us that they could make it happen.  Everytime Kara left the room or took a shower Andrew, Justin, and I would have a quick meeting about the details of the proposal! We were very sneaky!  Andrew and Justin even were able to sneak out two afternoons and go to the dive shops to make arrangements.  Justin had Captin Crabby, our boat captin, make an sign that read "Will you marry me?" to give to Kara under water. Justin, Kara, and Andrew aren't dive certified but we were still able to do a discover dive experience.  That consisted of a very informative pool session where we learned basic dive skills and then the true dive in the great big ocean! So at the end of our dive we all huddled around our dive instructor, Tony, to watch him feed the fish.  This in when Tucker, our other dive instructor, passed Justin the sign.  Without asking of course, Justin held the sign for Kara.  We even heard her squeel under water! She was so excited you could tell! Her mask started to fill with tears and she almost spit her regulater out of her mouth; Tony had to quickly put his hand over it so she didn't. Justin gave her the ring and boy did it shine even at the bottom of the Carribean Sea! I know Kara couldn't wait to get back up to the surface to kiss her fiance`! What's really funny was when Kara was trying to hug Justin under water and their masks kept bumping..it was sweet but really funny too.  Kinda hard to hug with all of your gear on... Aside from the amazing proposal we saw lots of pretty fish and went about 40 feet down. Our dive was near a wreck so no reef but still awesome. 
Once back up and on the boat we celebrated the new engagement.  How excited they were! The crew at Dive St. Kitts really made it happen and were great to work with!
We enjoyed the rest of the weekend with Justin and Kara by touring the island and celebrating their engagment.  Congradulations you two! We couldn't be happier for you!

Things that make me Happy

These are a few of my most favorite things here in St. Kitts:

*Receiving Packages - and making small talk with the Customs Clerks
*Andrew - of course
*Twizzlers..but y'all knew that. Oh and Peanut M&M's
*Beach Days
*Being apart of the Ladies of Leisure Club
*Date nights with Andrew (love)
*Scooting around on a Scooter with Kate
*Girls nights, especially dancing at Club One
*Doughnuts from Rituals - they are twice the size of doughnuts at home(not as good at KK though)
*Getting pictures of my dog, horse, and donkey from back home, esp. if Duke is wearing his Cpt. Hat
*Monkeys
*Free Rum Punch
*My Mom writing notes to the Customs Clerks in our packages..."Hello from the US Mr. Customs"
*Volleyball on Tuesdays at the Strip
*Grilling out on Saturday nights with friends
*Hiking on Mondays
*Make new friends and meeting other VIP's
*Farmers Market on Wednesdays on Campus
*Taking the bus...it's not really that bad
*Seeing the Caribbean Ocean everyday, the best!
*Facebook - if I wasn't addicted before, I am now
*Cooking - I don't love it but it makes Andrew happy so that makes me happy : )
*Skyping with my parents - my Dad still thinks it's the neatest thing!
*Trying to Skype with Duke
*Emails from family and friends

When I said a few I guess I meant a lot....

Scoot Scoot!

My week started off with the usual Monday Morning Hike.  We hiked the Sugar Hill Ruins and it was a great easy hike.  So the hike took us to one of the old Sugar Mills.  The mill is no longer in running order and hasn't been for some time.  The are supposedly turning one part of the mill into a hotel, pretty neat! Oh and I decorated Nikki's room for her birthday! She was sooo surprised! I told her I need to barrow her clothes line (she has a clothes line hanging in her room, pretty crafty) to hang a few pieces of clothing that I didn't want to put in the dryer.  So I borrowed her key and while she was taking her exam I hung streamers and balloons all in her room.  Andrew and I even bought her a broom for her birthday! I know, lame birthday gift, but hey the girl said she needed a broom. She was very shocked when you got back from her test! It's bad enough you have to take an exam on your birthday but your first vet school exam is even worse! I hope I brought some sunshine to her day!
Andrew's week didn't start out as relaxed as mine though.  Andrew had his first round of vet school exams on Monday.  He had 4 exams and did awesome on all of them! So very proud! He feels good about them as well.  It was a great way to start off the semester - full of confidence I hope. 
Last night Andrew told me that we had practice scheduled for today(Thursday) for our flag football team.  I asked him what time practice was. After a very long pause he started laughing and asked me why does it matter what time practice was, like I'd actually be doing something.  I guess he just assumes that being a lady of leisure now that my schedule is always open.  This is in fact not true.  Today I was somewhat busy...I woke up and went promptly to the post office and was there a just after 8 am.  Then I came home and ate breakfast and did some school work.  I had a meeting at 11 am to discuss a potential job (yay! will fill you in later).  After my meeting I had to go to the beach, I just had go! So see my days are often full and rarely empty...
Oh and yes the job. I have a job interview tomorrow for a position that I am very excited about.  Fingers crossed it goes well! I just hope and pray it is the right fit both me and the university.  What's funny about the job interview is when I told Andrew about it he said something like: "Oh that's great! And it only took you 1 month to get an interview.  Didn't it take you like 8 months to get a job when you graduated college?" Thanks Andrew! I graduated during a recession! was my response.  So whatever regardless of the outcome I'm still very happy to have the chance to interview for the position.  Again fingers crossed!
Today Kate and I had our usually beach day Thursday. The best part of the it was that we scooted there! Yes we scooted all the way to Shipwreck on the back of a cute little blue scooter! We did great! Slightly windy at times but we did awesome.  We talked about getting matching scooters and having T-Shirts and having our own scooter possy.  Kate was an awesome driver! I did a pretty good job riding back seat too.  Be proud of us! The roads get a little iffy and the scooter can get a squirrelly at times.  We scooted alllll the way from campus around the by-pass, through Frigate Bay, and up then down the mountain to Shipwreck.  And sometimes just for fun Kate would honk the horn.  Scoot Scoot!!
Oh and Kate and I decided that we are both really very good at people watching and should be paid, we are that good!
There will be more adventures next week as we scoot around St. Kitts.
Scoot Scoot!

Late Night with Nikki

Nikki Byrd, you'll love her!  I met Nikki back in North Carolina when she and Andrew worked together at NC State's Vet School.  As my Mom would say, she has a sweet tea smile! I think that just means her smile is as sweet as sweet tea.  And if you are from the South, y'all know that can be pretty sweet.  Nikki's laugh is contagious and infectious, so watch out! It'll get you! So anyway, normally when you talk to Nikki she does a lot of the talking and you do a lot of the laughing.  She'll have you in stitches before the night is over.  Here were a few of our conversations from Saturday night.  If y'all don't find them funny then I guess you just had to be there.  Either way Nikki Byrd is a gem and by default a part time comedian. 

Nikki was telling us about someone having a pet Geico.  We informed the soon to be vet that a Geico is for car insurance and that normally Geckos are the pets. She really thought they were Geicos.

"Someone asked me what kind of vet I wanted to be. You know what I told them? I told them I wanted to do cats, only cats. Like I wanna own my own cat clinic one day...you know what's funny about that? They believed me!"

"I'm so glad to eat something for once that isn't microwavable" we had orded Chinese take out

Nikki and I were polishing off the rest of the chocolate cake from the Marriott and:
Emily- Here Nikki, you have the last bite
Nikki - (without hesitation) SURE!!

Andrew was washing a few dishes after supper:
"Look Emily! It's girl porn!" - She was referring to Andrew washing the dishes....

Conversation about living in the Caribbean:
Emily - It's kinda like make-believe
Andrew- I feel like this is a dream
Nikki - This is a Nightmare!

Nikki and I made plans to go to the store for groceries tomorrow.  Andrew said he wasn't going and Nikki insisted that he come and when Andrew asked "Why?" Nikki said "Because someone has to carry our bags"

Nikki and I were coming back from town Friday morning and stopped at the guard station to show our ID's.  None of the spouses have their ID's yet, so I was explaining the piece of paper I had was sufficient for being a spouse to the guard.  The guard then looked at me and then at Nikki, then back to me and then to Nikki again.  Nikki then yells out with eyes as big as fried eggs and shaking her head "She's not my spouse!!" "No way!!" The guard just laughed and shrugged his shoulders and said whatever and waved us on...



Oh and Nikki has plans of opening an Ikea here in St. Kitts - I wish her luck....

Date Night : )

Uncle Millie drove us to the Marriott for date night last night.  Uncle Millie is one of many taxi cab drivers on the island.  He is one of my favorites!! because he always has a smile on his face.  Oh and he is normally is wearing a Hawaiian print shirt - it was blue last night and orange on Thursday.  A few other taxi cab drivers are: ShowTime, Trumpet, Mr. Rogers, Honest Earnest, West, and DaMix.  I'm pretty sure these are their birth given names, but who knows? So anyway, Uncle Millie and I were having a conversation about signing and dancing because we had just passsed the Kareoke bar - Bobsys.  I told him now was our chance to go stun the crowd and his anwer was: "If I had to sing for my food I would die of stravation! But dancing, I can dance.  I know how to shake a leg!" This tickled me and then I laughed even more when Uncle Millie started to laugh.  Cab rides are never dull around here. 
Once at the Marriott we ate at the Italian restuarant - La Cucina.  That means kitchen in italian, according to their menu.  Oh boy and was it ever delicious!  In my option the best meal we have had since we've been here.  But pasta is always good! I had stuffed ricotta ravoli - soo goood! Oh and it was smothered and cover in a garlic butter sauce - there was no calorie counting last because I'm sure I would not have been able to count that high! Ekk! And Andrew had a ravoli with a red cream sauce, which was topped with lobster and shrimp.  We did eat a salad - I guess so we didn't feel as guilty...whatever it was Date Night!
Dessert was the best! I had a giant piece of chocolate on chocolate cake, yummm.  Now for those of you who know Andrew, you know he doesn't really like sweets.  Unfortunately I was left to eat the cake by myself! It was rather unfortunate...  Andrew's dessert was a good old fashion Bud Light! He loved every sip.  The Marriott, thusfar, is the only place that we have found this tasty American Beverage.
On the way back home we passed by the local Subway.  I asked Uncle Millie if the Subway offers 5 Dollar Foot Longs? He preceeded to tell me I was crazy and that was an outragous idea.  Here he said the subs will cost you "An arm and both legs!" - not just one of your legs but both...He said the cost of a foot long is about $ 30 EC.  That's about $ 11.00 US - kinda expensive for Subway. I'd pay that for Jersey Mikes though. 

Food and drinks were great for date night but the best part was just having an evening with Andrew. It felt like the old normal Friday night back in Raleigh.  But the new normal is setting in just fine.