Happy Holidays, XOXO Island Gurl

Happy Holidays from Island Gurl

This will be my final post for the holiday season. I will be too busy making new memories with my family and friends that have ventured up into the cold weather to spend time with us for Christmas and New Years. If you enjoy reading my stories/memories and want more, go back through the blog to see if you missed some of my first posts.

I Taste Just Like Candy, That's why the dogs chase me

Year: Some 90s Summer
Place: Tortola, BVI

I Taste Just Like Candy...........

The title of this post is not what you're thinking. Get your mind outta the gutter.

We were literally chased down the street by dogs, here's the rest of the story......

Remember in my other post where I said my cousin, aunt, and I would randomly be dancing in the middle of the street every time we heard Foxy Brown's, "I Taste Just Like Candy" song. Well, this one particular night we were walking down the road from Huntum's Ghut to Lower Estate. This is a walk we took practically everyday when I started to stay by family in Lower Estate versus my younger days stays in Huntum's Ghut.

We were going back 'home' for the night after hanging out with friends when a white car came around the corner (yes, I remember the color of the car) pumping tunes out of their load sound system. Pit stop on the post. If you're from the islands you know sound systems in cars were a big deal. The louder the better. They even had car shows where people competed to see who had the loudest, cleanest, best sounding system on the island. Some of those clashes were epic. Ok, now back to the story.

Walking was a breeze then, now not so much

Year: 90s to 2000s
Grade: All
Place: All over town, St. Thomas

Walking was a breeze then..........

On my other blog, Nobody's Princess 101, I wrote a post about my best FitBit week while on vacation which was a whole lot of walking that week that felt like nothing. This made me think back to the days back home where we basically walked just about everywhere and it felt like nothing.

I think living in the states now has made it so where we are so comfortable sitting or driving down the street that we take for granted that we used to walk to these places back home with no problem.

I mean I walked everywhere back home.

Boys Wear Pink, Girls Wear Blue

Years: Some summer in the 90s
Place: Tortola, BVI

Like I said in a previous post, the best summers of my life started in 1993. I would be shipped on a boat to Tortola with my aunts to spend the summer with family and I would stay there until whichever parent decided to take me back home when they came over for August Festival. That was of course until I was old enough to go back and forth on my own. Because you know island kids did that. 

This particular summer, which I'm starting to think was the first summer, but my memory isn't strong enough to narrow down the year, Carnival time was in full swing. My aunts and their friend had the bright idea to dress me and their friends brother in matching outfits. We had the flannel top, jeans bottom with the matching string, and if I can remember even the shoes matched in color.

We were basically twins except for one thing. My outfit top and string was pink and his outfit top and string was blue. Because apparently all girls like pink and all boys like blue.

Sell Them, Don't Eat Them - Part 2

Here is Part 2 of the Sell Them, Don't Eat Them, Island Gurl Chronicles. Haven't read Part 1 yet, check it out here.

Year: Some 90s Carnival
Place: Food Fair, St. Thomas

Sell Them, Don't Eat Them - Part 2

I love me some saltfish cakes. Nobody can tell me that I can't eat saltfish cakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have been living in the states for over 10 years and have not found another person who can make saltfish cakes quite like my great-aunt. Some have come close, but not close enough to make me forget just how good they tasted.

I don't quite remember the year(s), but when I was asked to go help my aunt sell her stuff at the food fair, I don't think my response was that of an eager child who wanted to sit in the hot sun all day selling goods to people walking around the fair looking for things to buy. Boy, was my mind changed by the end of that first day.

School is in (Double) Session

Year: 1995 - 1996
Grade: 6th
Place: Lockhart - Kirwan Terrace Elementary

School is in (Double) Session

The school year had just started. We were in our final year of elementary school. I already had my seat where I wanted it. I didn't mind the classmate sitting next to me. My teacher wasn't too bad either. (Love you Mrs. Thomas) I knew most of my classmates throughout my years at Lockhart. All was well with the world.

Then Marilyn happened.

Sell Them, Don't Eat Them - Part 1

Year: Some 90s Summer

Place: Tortola, BVI

Sell Them, Don't Eat Them - PART I

I started to write this blog, then when I read the title immediately remembered that there was more than one thing we were told as children not to eat, that we did anyway. Or to be more specific, more than one thing that we were supposed to be selling more of than we ate. This is part 1 of sell them, don't eat them. Part 2 will follow later this week.

I spent some of my summers since 1993, in the beautiful British Virgin Island of Tortola (Tola as we island folks pronounce it). Both sides of my family have relatives from and still living on this island. Little did I know that I was being shipped off in 1993 to avoid witnessing the change that was headed for my life, but my parents couldn't have picked a better place for me be that first summer. 

A Big Puddle of Mess

Year: 1994 or 1995
Grade: 5th Grade
Place: Lockhart Elementary School

Anybody who went to Lockhart Elementary before Hurricane Marilyn knows that when any heavy rain starts to fall, a huge puddle of water was the result in the center of the school, between the lunchroom and the back entrance of the main office.

I knew that. The other kids knew that. But that didn't stop us from running around and playing that day.

It was almost time to line up to get to class and for some reason, one of the class clowns* thought it would be fun to chase me around the field. I don't even know how it got started or why I even ran, but I was and I should have known then that disaster was not too far behind.

Introducing IGC - Island Gurl Chronicles

Interrupting your regularly scheduled broadcasting to bring you my new blog home, Island Gurl Chronicles. My first blog, Nobody's Princess 101 is still my main blog, but here on Island Gurl Chronicles, I will be taking it a lot more closer to home. 

Home as in the USVI and BVI, St. Thomas and Tortola, respectively. So much of my childhood is grounded in these places and I wanted to build a place where I could share those memories (good, bad, or indifferent) to the world. 

If you want tips on being a Queen Boss, Boss Babe, or HBIC, Nobody's Princess 101 is still the place to go. However, if you want to reminisce in what it was like growing up in the beautiful Virgin Islands, Island Gurl Chronicles is the place to be. 

More to come. Thanks for the love and support!! Who knows you just might be featured in one of my memories that I share........

Are you an island gurl too? Let me know in the comments, where you're from. Shout outs to your hometown!!