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We Be On Da Catamaran, Mon!

September 14, 2014 by Leah Leave a Comment

I’m laying in bed writing this, but I feel like I’m still on the boat and everything seems to be rocking from side to side. We had the most incredible day out on the water. We took the catamaran all along the
coast to the bottom of the island where the Pitons (pee-tahns) are. Our boat was big enough to hold 85 people, but there were only about 15 of us including the crew, so it was kind of great.

On the way there we saw flying fish!!!!! I’ve only read about these so I was freaking out. They would jump out of the water, skip along and just fly for about 30 feet before diving back in. It was so cool! We talked to one of the crew who used to work on a fishing boat. It was a catch and release boat and he was telling us stories of marlins that they used to catch. The largest recorded one caught on the island is 950 pounds.

The crew was so nice, taking pictures of us, playing music, talking and asking where we’re from, bringing us drinks. These people know how to make an experience, that’s for sure!

When we got to Soufriere, we hopped onto a van and headed to the botanical gardens. Our guide walked
us around and told us all the names of the flowers. They had all these incredible tropical plants, like what
they sell as houseplants in our part of the world, just growing all over the place. There was a river that ran gray with minerals. We walked up to Diamond Falls which is right in the middle of the garden. Superman 2 was filmed there.

After the botanical garden we headed to the volcano where some people took mud baths, but we opted for
the volcano tour. As soon as we got out of the van I was gagging. The smell of sulphur was totally overpowering, like rotten egg salad that’s been left out in the sun. My stomach was queasy the whole time, but it was fascinating. The site had all these bubbling pools which are seawater mixed with sulphur and minerals…boiling point! The town of Soufriere is a volcano, so the whole time we were there, they told us we were driving in the volcano. The meaning of the town’s name is literally “sulphur in the air.” We saw hummingbirds there! In fact, one was the size of a regular bird and had iridescent blue on it…so incredible. Also, part of the Bachelor was filmed in a dirty little pool leading up to the volcano.

After that we had lunch at a local sugar plantation and ate creole chicken, rice, and veggies. Then we headed back to the boat for snorkeling and swimming. They basically just stopped the boat in a cove and told people they could go in and snorkel. I took one look down and was like hell-to-the-no. We were in about 25 feet of water and I just would have freaked out. I am no longer sure about the snorkeling trip tomorrow. Rob was brave and jumped right in, assuring me a few times that if I’d been in there I would have been nervous. You can see pictures below of Rob in the middle of the freaking ocean just floating around.

On the way back we went into Marigot Bay where Dr. Doolittle was filmed. It was small, peaceful, and totally gorgeous. Mick Jagger and Harrison Ford have homes there. We were told the most expensive home is around $9 mil.

The marine police freaked us out on the way back, heading straight for the boat and then veering off at the last minute. Then they pulled alongside us. They were giving a group of school children a tour. Our catamaran was booking it at 150 horsepower, but the police boat has 900 horsepower and was doing donuts in the water…it was rad.

So it was another totally lovely day and being on the water was so peaceful and fun at the same time. We miss our pets though. Maybe we’ll see some dolphins or a whale tomorrow!

Day 2 In St. Lucia: Resort Hopping

September 13, 2014 by Leah Leave a Comment

It’s been another rough day here on the island of St. Lucia, Mon! We were supposed to drown this morning while snorkeling, but thanks to the two cups of “decaf” coffee I had last night, I sat awake bemoaning my
existence until the alarm clock went off and Rob graciously let me go back to sleep. We rescheduled our snorkel adventure for Saturday afternoon. Today we woke up, combed the beach for sea glass…there is a
ton here!!! It’s all over the beach and it’s in larger pieces with softer edges. Unlike on Long Island where you have to peel your eyes for every tiny speck, here it just sits on the sand bold as day.

In trying to figure out what to do for the rest of our trip, we decided to do a catamaran cruise on Friday that
goes down the west coast to Soufriere where we’ll visit the botanical gardens, tour the volcano, and get to
see a major part of the coastline by sea. It’s a day long tour, so we purchased dramamine today at the gift shop, lest we be losing our lunch o’er the side of the boat. Our dolphin/whale watch was rescheduled from
tomorrow to Saturday, so we’re checking dolphins out and then snorkeling all on the same day…total fish overload.

Since we had reservations for the Italian restaurant at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian, we decided to head over there around two. There is a 15 minute shuttle ride that took us to the resort, past a nicer part of the island called Rodney Bay. The homes were more expensive on this side and we saw some yachts in the harbor. When we got to the Grande, we were overwhelmed by the size, it’s easily 5 times larger than our resort.

It has much more of a party atmosphere and the rooms look more like a hotel than separate quarters. The pool was full of 20-something frat boys and sorority chicks who had hooked up and managed to stumble their drunk selves down an aisle and say “I do.” Good luck, kids.

The beach, however, was MAGNIFICENT. The water was totally crystal clear. This is what we were expecting!!! The water by our resort is choppier so it’s harder to see. We were kicking ourselves for not bringing our masks because we could see fish and urchins and all sorts of magical creatures in the water. It was like looking into the top of a tropical aquarium, except it was the ocean. The panoramic view was stunning, with the town on one side and some mountains on the other. We stayed in the water for hours. Literally. I think the water here is saltier because floating is totally effortless.

The sky was amazing as evening closed in and we headed for dinner. They offer courtesy rooms here so you can shower and dress for dinner, which is awesome. Even though the all inclusive resort thing isn’t for everyone, it was such a relief that everything was taken care of and we didn’t have to think about anything.

We sat down to dinner at Toscanini’s just as a tropical rain shower was passing over. The food was
excellent. I had potato gnocchi with gorgonzola cream sauce that nearly made me lose my mind it was so delicious. Rob had seafood risotto and fettuccine with shrimp. We’re getting fat. It’s embarrassing. At nine
we headed back to our resort. The consensus is that we’re glad we didn’t stay at the party one, but their beach is sooooo much better than ours, and because all those dumb kids were in the pool, we shared the
entire beach with like 3 other couples. It was awesome.

Tomorrow we’re checking out the Sandals La Toc, which is the upscale, snobby one where all the golfers stay. We talked to a guy who works here today and he told us that all the cats are allowed to hang around here because they provide pest control. Kitties earn their keep! It’s pretty rad that we can skip around and try different restaurants and beaches. I think it’s how they suck you into coming back. Ok, must try to sleep since last night was a bust.

St. Lucia: Day One In Paradise (Sort Of)…

September 12, 2014 by Leah Leave a Comment

So, we got married! I will talk more about this later when I have real pictures to show, but let me sum it up by saying that the week before was perfect, the weather was as incredible as anyone on Long Island could ever hope for, being with our friends was so fun and amazing, having so many loved ones join us in celebrating nearly made my heart explode, and I ended up with the best guy ever. It rained on the day we took people to the airport, like the atmosphere was exhausted and petering out from putting forth all that effort to make everything beautiful for us.

Two days after the wedding, we left for our honeymoon in St. Lucia. The blogs I’ll post over the next couple of days are from some emails I sent out, so forgive the improper tense. Also, the spacing is totally screwed up and I can’t change the formatting. Lord help anyone who reads this. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

On the plane ride we were next to each other, but separated by an aisle and surrounded by couples in love. GAG!!! It was gross, they were everywhere. Blonde chicks with rhinestones on their butts and boobs that said “bride” or “mrs.” I realize we are one of these couples, but I hope we don’t make people this nauseous. The couple sitting next to me seemed normal and not 22 years old. They kindly gave us two dramamine pills before we got off the plane, and thank God they did because we would have been tossing our cookies on the van ride to the hotel. Rob and I had a hand on each others knee and would squeeze really hard when we got scared…needless to say, we practically cut off our circulation. The ride was kind of terrifying. We were on the opposite side of the road, the curves were insane, we almost plunged to our death like 8 times, and I just had to keep my eyes on the banana trees to avoid freaking out. We did see some giant ferns though!

The island is very poor. Like, heart-wrenchingly impoverished in some areas. Many of the homes here are built with plywood, have no windows, are covered in sheets of rusting metal, or just look very dilapidated. We are staying in the capital city of Castries…a “city” that looks rather rundown upon first glance. We will not be exploring the way I thought we would. They do have a Best Buy and a Home Depot though…the Home Depot sign is painted on metal, not orange, and has sticks of lumber piled around it. We also passed a woodworking/furniture shop, covered with rusted metal and plywood, but inside we got a peek of some lovely pieces being built.

Our resort, Sandals Halcyon Beach, is on the outside of the city and we felt this very odd paradox when we
arrived in this luxurious place that exists in the middle of poverty, shutting it out with pretty landscaping and helping us to forget it exists by plying us with alcohol and hospitality. We talked about it that evening and said how weird it feels to be on this compound, knowing what exists just down the road. A friend who has traveled all around the world gave a really good perspective on it. She said that much of the world is like this and that Americans bring commerce and money into the economy. At some point you tune it out knowing that your dollars are helping a little bit. Sandals also has a foundation that gives back to the island, which is really encouraging to see.

Our room is gorgeous with a vaulted ceiling and a view of the ocean. I think they upgraded us actually.

Somehow, we ended up in a resort that has cats everywhere! They are adorable. They greet you at the restaurants, hang out on our porch, and frolic on the beach. I’m sure they are considered a pest here, but are so cute and pathetic, I want to take all of them home.

We got a tour of the resort and saw the most incredible caterpillars! I freaked out, you know I love a good
caterpillar. They are the size of a man’s finger and are all over some of the flowering trees here. I looked them up and they are Frangipani Hawkmoths. So cool, I’m geeking out. Rob keeps telling me to stop
taking pictures of the flowers, but they are all so gorgeous I just can’t help myself.

We went swimming today. The water is warm, but you know me, I’m always freezing. We made a reservation to go snorkeling at 8 am tomorrow. 8 AM!!!!! We are stupid. Apparently, they only go snorkeling later on Mondays and Saturdays. So tomorrow we will freeze and probably drown, but maybe we’ll see a cool fish or two. We also went paddle boarding today, which was so fun…it’s like being
Jesus for a minute. Forget walking on water, he should have just used a paddle board! Rob ended up with one that had a broken fin, so he gradually drifted farther out to sea while I was like “doo doo
doo, this is so awesome…” He made it back in to shore, but was generally annoyed by the experience.

Later on in the day we took a kayak out to the island you can see below in the pictures. The island has a couple of TOTALLY CREEPY buildings on it that some nuns used to live in. Like real life Ghost Adventures stuff here, folks.

There are large land hermit crabs walking all over the woods!! They are adorable! It was so cool to see them in their natural habitat after seeing them for sale in mall kiosks. I had one when I was in college and I kind of feel bad that he ended up walking around on my dorm room floor instead of living the life in a tropical forest with haunted buildings on an abandoned island. Our arms almost fell off on the way back. We were against the wind and the current, but we worked dinner off before we ate.

We got dressed up and had dinner at the dockside restaurant…that blue one in the water that you can see below. It was really nice and the food wasn’t bad! Rob’s been eating lots of fish and I’m trying not to eat scary meat. So far my favorite thing I’ve eaten here has been the banana ice cream with hot fudge.

Time for bed…must be awake for snorkeling at the crack of dawn (what were we thinking?). It’s a good thing I brought 8 bathing suits because I wore two today and they’re not dry yet. We also almost used an entire bottle of sunscreen today trying not to fry in the sun. Everything is nice, but we’re looking forward to seeing the other two resorts because this one is a bit limited in food options. Tomorrow we have a
reservation for the Italian place at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian.

The crickets here are ear-peircingly loud. They sound like electronic beeps. The first night we were like, what the heck is that crazy LOUD sound?!?!? I thought maybe frogs, but they told us they’re crickets. I haven’t seen one yet, but I can only imagine they are the same size as the cats. Thank goodness we’re so exhausted or we’d never get to sleep with all that racket!

June & July: Ghost Months

August 9, 2014 by Leah Leave a Comment

The summer is always a busy time, but this year especially, the summer has been ramped up a little. Three weeks from tonight I will be sitting in a restaurant overlooking the Long Island Sound with my best friends, my family, and Rob…eating, laughing, wondering what the next day will bring. Three weeks from tomorrow I will marry this guy I’ve grown to love so much I want to stick with him forever. That is CRAZY! People keep asking me if I’m nervous or stressed. I’m really not. I mean, I worry about a vendor just not showing up, or my dress falling off, or a category 12 hurricane hitting Long Island that weekend…there are so many things that can go wrong…but no, I’m not nervous yet. Standing in front of all those people might freak us both out a little bit, but we love each and every one of them and are very excited to share this time with everyone at home.

So much has been going on. I could write pages and pages. Instead I will let the pictures do the talking because as I look back on the past 60 days or so, I feel so overwhelmingly blessed. I give you the past two months of my life:

Rob and I went to Indiana for his cousin’s graduation party and I met my new family. Some of the coolest, sweetest, nerdiest, most awesome people. Seriously, how did I get so lucky?!

All this goodness came out of the garden! It has been an awesome year for harvest and we have eaten like absolute pigs.

Rob had some skin cancer removed from one of his fingers. He would kill me if he saw that I posted this. Thankfully they got it all and he’s healthy and still has his whole finger. What a day…

There are three other women in my office who I work with everyday. They make my job awesome. We laugh and have so much fun. The girls surprised the heck out of me when they brought in flowers, donuts, and got KATY PERRY tickets as a pre-wedding night out. Oh my gosh, was it fun!! Here’s a blurry selfie of the girls who rocked my world that night. They’re all coming to the wedding. I could not be more blessed to have such amazing women to hang with everyday…and yeah, we get work done too.

By default, I acquired a dog. I am not a dog person, but as dogs go, she’s really sweet and hasn’t tried to eat the cats, just their food. Her name is Lacy. She is the apple of Rob’s eye.

We ate a lot of squash this summer. One of our favorite varieties is lemon squash. As you can see, the garden went totally wild (in a good way) and we could barely keep up with it all!

I finished painting the pantry. It was ugly brown paneling and now it’s white. I know it’s not a Martha Stewart rad pantry like some people have…I mean, I live in a 60s house, folks…but it’s much brighter and cheerier now!

I took this….

And turned it into this…

I hung with my little mom before my bridal shower at home. It was a humid day…the fog makes us glow and smooths out fine lines, no? Some of the most loved ladies in my life came to spend the afternoon, along with my best friend/maid of honor. It was perfect. No stupid games, just lovely conversation out in the screen porch, ungodly amounts of tiny quiches which I ate the next day, and CAKE.

Took a selfie with dad in Bridgehampton at the beach on Ocean Road. Wind, sun, and perfectly crisp water. There is no use trying to have decent hair during the summer up there.

Here is the Kardashian’s pop up store in Southampton. Notice the security guard. There were no Kardash chicks in there when I went in, but it actually wasn’t that bad and the clothes were kind of cute. They can go back to LA now…

My BFF, her hubby, and I walked to the marina down the street and heard live music on July 4th. I met her adorable new baby too! I was a bridesmaid in her wedding two years ago and she’ll be standing up there with me at the end of the month. Every moment we can steal at home is always precious!

I went here…

And ate this. Chocolate cream pie and apple pie from Briermere’s will be served at the wedding.

This amazing sunset happened the night before I left for Nashville. Always makes it that much harder to head back…

Cheekwood had an exhibit of big bugs. The praying mantis is my fave.

I’m not a fan of eggplant, so I made zucchini rollatini for the first time. It was delish and we’ll definitely make it again when the second round of zukes come in!

My BFF sent flowers when I was having a bad day and wanted to kill everyone. She remembered my favorite flower is lisianthus. I love her so much.

Rob sold his house and we moved all his stuff over here. It was a huge decision and a lot to let go of. I don’t know how he did it in the time that he had, but it was a blessing how everything turned out. He didn’t even have to list the place.

I got my old tattoo fixed up! I now have a bigger, prettier butterfly. I love it. Sorry…no pic of that one, so instead…

The butterfly bushes started blooming and I see eastern black swallowtails almost everyday now. They are magical.

I met one of my favorite girlfriends in Asheville with her little daughter. This is the third trip we’ve taken here and we always eat lunch at the Grove Park Inn on the Sunset Terrace overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I’m pretty amazed by all my friends who are moms. All of them are superwomen. Dawn lost a few cosmetics on this trip thanks to a curious little munchkin who likes to squeeze tubes. This kiddo is a trooper though and hung out wherever we dragged her.

At the North Carolina Arboretum we saw this lotus flower in bloom. I think I had a spiritual moment just staring at this incredible plant. I get why people freak out over lotuses. It was breathtakingly perfect.

We sat in these chairs one evening and looked at the mountains. It was a very peaceful moment.

Then we went back and drank because I can’t be around children for more than a few hours without copious amounts of alcohol. Obvs we are totes pals.

Rob and I had a much needed date night at the Grand Ole Golf putt putt place. He beat me on the two small courses, but I killed him on the challenge course. It was embarrassing.

We finally harvested the garlic I planted last fall. I want to plant twice as much this year. There is nothing more fabulous than pulling tiny, unimpressive bulbs out of the dirt and getting this.

We made pizza with tomatoes and basil from the garden, pizza dough from Sal’s, and well…cheese. This was our first attempt and it was freaking awesome.

I stood in this room with a bunch of college students and Sara Barielles. She answered questions before her show at the Fontanel. I’m pretty sure we need to be friends. She is just very…authentic. Maybe that’s the word I’m looking for? I don’t know, but I really loved her. Her new album is on repeat.

We have harvested insane amounts of tomatoes this year. I can’t even compare it to last year. I had the blight last year and thought I had a lot then, but this has just taken the proverbial cake. Last week I threw a ton into a dutch oven, baked them till the skins charred, then cooked them down on the stove for hours until the water evaporated. It made the most amazing puree ever. I’m in love. We’ll have enough sauce to last into next year for sure.

The other day I was able to tour the new Acme building in downtown Nashville. I stood on the roof and looked back over Broadway, remembering how I felt about it when I saw it for the first time…not impressed. After growing up near New York City, it’s rather hard to compare. Nashville is evolving though by leaps and bounds with new restaurants and influxes of people. Broadway still looks much the same as it ever did, but things are a-changing.

All of my daylilies are finished blooming. The dried brown stalks have been pulled off and new fall growth is beginning to appear, but today I walked out and there was this little beauty, just waiting to shine and hoping someone would notice. Every flower is a work of art and I am in awe of the garden, how it shifts and changes, painting a new scene everyday.

There were more moments, more snatches of time to be thankful for, more walks downtown in the balmy summer evenings. My heart is full. I want to remember every moment over these next weeks and hold each one close.

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