Charlotte Amalie Harbor

“Suddenly St. Thomas: A Stateside Mom Gone Island” will be my space to share many of the random, crazy, wonderful, frustrating, mundane, difficult, funny, and sometimes just unbelievable experiences that my family and I have had (and continue to have!) since we moved to St. Thomas, VI, just over three months ago. It will be part personal anecdote and cocktail conversation, part travelogue and advice (especially for those with young children), and part highlighting my favorite things, events, and places in our new island life. Ever since we “went island,” there have been so many new aspects of our lives that I rave and rant about with friends, and just want to share. Boat trips around the islands and hitting the beach with the babies year-round after dinner (rave!). Teeny tiny black sugar ants that seem to get into EVERYTHING despite our great exterminators named “Professional Killers”—ants being a fact of island life (rant!). A gorgeous shop for beach clothing on St. John across from a fantastic playground for little ones (share!). Iguanas love tomatoes, a pitfall of island container gardening (bizarre!). 900-dollar electricity bills (triple-rant!). Rum is cheaper than organic milk—that is, if the store even has any full fat organic milk stocked (argh! Although, I have developed a taste for rum and cokes…). There is, of course, no end of normal fodder for stay-at-home-mom stories, but add it to a ridiculously sudden move from a Washington, DC suburb to St. Thomas—well… my stateside mom gone island fodder seems endless. Enjoy!

* “stateside”—mainland U.S.

* “gone island”—exactly how it sounds!