The Power of Engagement

Last Saturday Jason and I got engaged! He caught me completely off guard as we walked between downtown Charlotte Amalie and Yacht Haven Grande by whipping the ring out on the street. It was not a mushy moment, thank goodness. Just a good ol' fashioned "Will you marry me?" Followed by me staring at the ring saying, "I love it!" a thousand times over. We still managed to try to get a few St. Thomas chores done, but we essentially just celebrated.


That's the thing about living on a small island prone to partying...everywhere you go, someone gets you drinks. Rhumb Lines, a favorite restaurant and Jason's former employer, got us tequila shots, wine, and hacked off the top of a delicious bottle of Veuve Clicquot with a sharp knife. Somehow we did not end up hungover. That remains a mystery.

So now to not even think about planning for awhile. Summer 2011 will be wedding time, at some point. Below, the ring...I love it (and in the tradition set forth by Lani and Angie, on a piece of non-vegan food)! Big old aquamarine in the perfect light blue. I wanted aquamarine because it is a strong stone and it kind of has a Caribbean blue hue...an ode to our relationship thus far. Jason told me it is also his birthstone and the stone for the month of our anniversary. Now I love it even more. Also, people tend to think it is a rather big blue diamond, but those people don't know anything, because if it was, it would have caused several million. Fun to mess with some minds though.

Villa Fab

Another year, another successful Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park Gala. Check out the spot we had it this year. Soooooo amazing! I love this villa! You must peruse. The pool area and outdoors are so big it looks like a resort. Why can I not live this life? (We are really, truly working on it.) Oh, and of course we had to go through to collect and hide all those damn starfish they have everywhere since it is really not so friendly to the park to take live animals from the ocean. Small downfall.

Hot-lanta

So I had my first official trip to the South this weekend, but I must say, it was hardly a 'Southern Experience'. In fact, the only time I got a breath of fresh air was when I got into and out of the taxi on the way from and to the airport. Ah well, another day.

My time in Atlanta was spent SHOPPING. Seriously, hardcore shopping. It was kind of fun, and although it was for someone else's store, we got a lot of stuff to get excited about. Also quite psyched about getting a huge discount when these things arrive on St. John. But it is also quite annoying to have to be cruising along to another's whims. Especially since we have totally different ideas about style and priorities. It was really exhausting. So exhausting that I did not get to see my friend Caroline who I haven't seen since we lived in South Africa. Sadness. I just couldn't bring myself to move or speak after a day of intense running around.

But I decided to use this trip to also network for myself. I found a ton of awesome contacts for great boutique things, and it has made me soooo very excited to start my own thing. At some point. Back in Seattle. Or near there anyway.

Although it was totally annoying to have to share a room with the store owner and her teenage daughter, deal with their obnoxious travel habits (yes, she is the person who runs right up to block everyone's way while they try to board the plane instead of sitting and waiting for her seat to be called; and she also had a freak-out while landing in St. Thomas that meant several flight attendants having to attend to her....ACK!), and get exhausted to the point of illness, it was an awesome trip! Now I want to go back and actually EXPERIENCE the real South. Another day, or more likely another year.

Decade in Review

Graduated college, moved to New York, moved to Seattle, got a job, got more jobs, moved to the Virgin Islands, got a good boyfriend, got more jobs, turned 30.

Kinda boring, it seems. But there was a lot of fun in there too! Amazing friends, parties, trips, weddings, babies. So what about the next decade?? I will want it to read a little something like this...

Got married, moved back to Seattle for most of year, got kids, traveled A LOT, moved to Sydney, moved back to Seattle, moved to Paris, turned 40 (!!), moved back to Seattle.

I don't think that is asking too much!

Having a Moment

When your two good friends make an article in Vogue, it kinda rocks. Go Megan! Go Didi! Go greenissexy.org!

Well Put

Someone in power is finally going to state the obvious truth that gay marriage is absolutely necessary, and they’re not going to put it up for a vote, because that’s not what you do with basic human rights. You don’t let six wolves and four sheep vote on what to have for dinner (or in this case, what, fifty-two wolves and forty-eight sheep?).

The National Guard will stand outside the courthouses and force you to grow the hell up, and you will be remembered in history like those sad ugly white people yelling at the black kids coming to class.

And this isn’t the fifties. This is the twenty-first century. Your bisexual grandkids will still be able to Google your sorry ass and see that you were a spiteful hateful closeminded bigot. They’ll have your lying ads, annotated with footnotes showing how you knew you were lying at the time. They’ll have your ugly homophobic comments and your hate-filled fake news reports captured in crystal clarity on whatever magical Internet++ they’re using decades from now. And they’re going to be ashamed of you.

All you’ve done — all you’ve accomplished with your lies and hate and fearmongering — is to delay the inevitable. In the next few years, every widow who loses her home because she “wasn’t really married” to her life partner, and the life partner’s kids have a good lawyer? Every man who dies scared and alone because the man who should have been his husband wasn’t allowed to be at his bedside? Every not-spouse who dies because of not-health-coverage, coverage they would have gotten were they married? Every one of those things that happens between now and whenever the National Guard puts a little learnin’ on you?

That’s on you.

That’s your legacy.

-Suicide Blonde

You suck.

Yes you, Missy Miss. You and your little retail store.

I applied for a part-time position at your store because I am rather bored. It is a painless, no-brainer sort of job and I don't care about the pay.

First of all, I know you a little, but you still had me fill out a stupid application. THEN, when I gave it to you, you had the audacity to ask me if I had any retail experience!

This really gets my buns a burnin'. First of all, yes, I do. A lot. BUT WHAT IF I DIDN'T??!! This is the most easy, basic job there is. I am not some sort of special needs individual. I am friendly and use at least a portion of my brain. Do I really need retail experience? NO. Why do YOU think this job is so special? It's not. It is a stupid retail position...say 'hi', be nice and helpful, ring up customer at cash register. A trained chimp could do it!

I don't even want that stupid job anymore. It's annoying for me to think about.