Tuesday, December 1, 2009

what Kate is....

(re)Reading:


looooove this book and all the recipes!


Listening to:


trying my darnedest to find the song from this scene in Mr. & Mrs. Smith...
Ah HA! "Mondo Bongo" by Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros


(re)Watching:


JCVD = awesome. love it.
(and how sweet is this picture?!)

Friday, November 27, 2009

Stairs, stairs, stairs.


Stairways are so often neglected as an uninspired, undecorated passageway, not to be noticed or seen, solely an aid to get from one level to another. Well some people have shown that THIS WILL NOT STAND!












for more inspired stairways, check out www.stairporn.org

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Work is tough

We get up way too early, but it is pretty!

Silent Lady, one of the Pirate ships, out for a photo shoot.


It's hard work, but someone's got to do it!

The catamaran I've been working on for the past week.

I don't mind working this bar!

She's a pretty fun boat!

It's still pretty hot down here, especially in the stock room!
(disclaimer: not me in the cooler!)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Loves

Some photo inspiration I'm loving right now:

That DESK!!

I neeeed that bench!

This one's a little gray all over, but I still love that window seat!

Very calming bedroom. Love sleigh beds.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Best Idea or Worst Idea?

We discovered these bar "stools" at Mojo's here on St. Thomas.


My verdict: awesome idea sober (wee!), maybe not such a good idea after that.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Gourmet

It was just announced this week that Conde-Nast Publications will be cutting another wonderful magazine, this time Gourmet, a food-zine that had been running almost seventy years!

This wouldn't necessarily be blog-worthy to me, except that I am a subscriber, and on top of that, I only subscribed to it as a free switch from Domino, a shelter mag that was closed last year right after I resubscribed to it! AND bought gift subscriptions for two friends!!


Candace and I narrowed our switches down to Gourmet or Bon Appetit and while they both have their loyal followers, we each decided to go with Gourmet, because we're classy like that. We enjoyed the travel pieces, restaurant reviews, delicious recipes and gorgeous gorgeous photography (I decided to save mine to frame the covers upon receiving the first issue) and it will be sorely missed in our households.

Adieu, Gourmet.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Settling in in St. Thomas

We arrived at Cyril E King Airport in St. Thomas ten days ago and were promptly met by a member of the bomb squad ... ominous beginning? Not so; he's our housemate! Larry gave us a lift to our new casa de la montaña and back down to the local marina bar for drinks and delicious grub (I'd almost bought a sandwich on the plane but it was SEVEN DOLLARS!!!). We met Diane, who owns a huge sailboat over on St. John and she promised to take us out soon! After briefly seeing Evan as he headed to his second job, we returned home, organized a bit and crashed for the night - necessary since I hadn't slept at all in preparation for our 7am flight!

I love places where you deboard onto the tarmac like in old movies

It was cold cold cold on the plane and hot hot hot on the ground - hence: fogged lens!

The next day we switched the two twin beds from our room with the king from Larry's as well as a dresser and we were finally set up! No pictures of the room yet as it's sorta a constant mess. If I every straighten it up well enough, I will take one I guess. The view from our bedroom window, now, that I have taken pictures of!

See the previous post for more pics from our window

Later that day we ran errands to Kmart (literally the best they've got here) and the supermarket. Jake and I then cleaned every dish, utensil, cup, cupboard and appliance in the kitchen and put everything away until our housemates arrived from a boating class they are all taking and we had our first house meeting! Everything went smoothly, it's gonna be a relaxed house, and we're already planning our first BYOB housewarming party!!

During our errands we set ourselves up on Larry's mailbox, so here is our new mailing address:

Jacob and Katharyn Hunka
8168 Crown Bay Marina, STE 310 - 343
St. Thomas, V.I. 00802-5819

Since our first few days we've explored a bit (they drive on the left here!),


seen a few beaches (3 so far!),


run some more errands (Cost-U-Less bulk store cost us more), and followed up some job leads: Jake and I had an interview from a yacht racing company yesterday that went very well and we're going out on a sail with them this Saturday! Fingers-crossed we get the jobs!

I leave you with: the iguana on Magen's Bay Beach

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Panoramania

Some shots I've pieced together of the island so far:
(click for larger images!)


Hull Bay


View from our room at 7am


Noon view from our room


Bedroom sunset view

Monday, September 28, 2009

We've finally arrived!!

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI

This is the view from our bedroom window... AHHHmazing!
Day shot to follow, promise!

Monday, September 21, 2009

What Kate is...

Reading



Doing

Laundry :(


Anxiously Awaiting

6 days.........

Friday, September 11, 2009

What Kate is.....

Reading
Yes, more Nora Roberts. Leave me alone.

Watching
We got half way through before Jake needed bed, but we have seen it before.


Sunday, September 6, 2009

Piss off your server

I can totally tell these guys are douches.

Things you can do to piss off your very kind and usually tolerant server:

Request the menu presentation despite having (all) seen it a million times.

Try to cram 5 adults into a booth and when that obviously fails, pull up a chair in the aisle. Refuse a larger table.

Refuse a menu card, saying you already know it all so well you can order without it. Proceed to order all sorts of items not on the menu like rice. And onion rings (wtf?).

Pick all the crust off the onion loaf and then ask your server for another, but JUST THE CRUST. (muffin-tops Seinfield episode, anyone?)

Order a whiskey sour. Send it back after a sip for an amaretto sour. Send it back saying it's "too strong" and order a mojito. Tell the manager you didn't like it and have it taken off the bill. But oh no, don't stop ordering cocktails you obviously don't want!

Ask your server to repeat the seafood options for the surf&turf special (which is already way under priced) as many times as possible and refuse to understand.

Order a salad but then modify it beyond recognition. Example: order the salad of iceberg and romaine lettuces, blue cheese dressing, egg and anchovies; change to only romaine, pre-chopped up, add tomato, no anchovies, add onion and bacon but leave the egg. Thanks. A lot.

Take over 1.5h to eat your entree at 11pm and refuse to let the server take any plates away when he/she asks if you're finished with the BONE. Four times.

Join a random table that is almost finished and talk to them for an hour. Bonus points if you order white wine in a red wine glass, take 40 minutes on that, order another but tell the server you'll want a cappuccino after the 2nd glass (your 5th+ of the night) which you'll also take 40 minutes to drink just so she has to stand around waiting for you to let her only table finish so she can go home. Make sure it's a Sunday 'cause they're supposed to close (early) at 10pm so you can keep her extra late!

Walk in 3 minutes before closing, tell you server you want to "take your time" and when you finally order, tag a souffle on the end. (this is a really good one cause you'll not only piss off your server, but you'll REALLY piss off the pastry chef!!)

Call 2 minutes before closing and say your 5 minutes away, hold the door!

...I'm getting steamed just thinking about it.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

To tattoo or not to tattoo?

To date, my body is unmarked, other than pierced ears and the odd scar here and there. Friends as well as family have taken the tattoo plunge, some multiple time, but it was never for me... until now?

Jake has been (pretty seriously) planning to get a tattoo of the Czech Lion on his right shoulder blade since we lived in Prague but, for one reason or another, it hasn't happened yet. Now we have a friend who is very into everyone getting tattoos together - perfect time for Jake to finally do it!!


The thing is, Jake would feel more comfortable finally taking the plunge if I were to jump with him but...

I'm on the fence.

As I said before, I'd thought about tattoos, but always eventually declined, mostly for the reason that I couldn't think of anything I liked enough or felt strongly enough about to permanently imprint, engrave, tattoo upon my body. And on top of that, where would I get it on myself?!

I may be making it sound like I'm being pushed into this, but despite always coming to a negatiive conclusion, I've actually thought about tattoos a lot and now we've come up with a wonderful, appropriate, and I feel, the very ME idea of a map. A world map tattoo.


And it took my amazing husband who knows me so well, maybe better than myself to come up with it.

If it's going to happen, it's going to happen soon!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

New Scooter!

As you can see, it's quite the designer vehicle! Snazzy gray camo, boomin' speakers, custom chrome foot pads... gonna be good time zipping around the island on this baby!!!


Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Cabin Fever

As our departure at the end of September approaches, I realize IT IS NOT APPROACHING QUICKLY ENOUGH!

Baltimore is making me stir-crazy!!

Jake has gone to Pittsburgh for 5 days to visit family. I'm home with nothing to do (besides packing, cleaning, more packing and cleaning, laundry, using up food before we move out, and cleaning) and as the bro and I have two days off mid-week, he suggested CAMPING! We LOVE camping!

So, spur of the moment, I think we'll head up to the Deep Creek area with a stop in Htown for the tent tomorrow! Nature, here we come!

It got me thinking about rustic cabins, the woods and nature-as-decor, so, for your viewing pleasure, the results of wasted time browsing the internet decorating a house I don't have!

Love the light and the simplicity - easy to go overboard with "rustic."

I'm a sucker for cute S&P shakers!

Maybe not what you think of when you think rustic cabin but as my "rustic" tends towards the french/euro chic rusticity, here we have modern rustic.

These house numbers come in multiple finishes, but I think I prefer the antique copper since it's coloring is the brown-est and woodsiest.

More of an Out of Africa rustic camping safari resort chic ;)

I love the warmth and coloring of this braided rug.

And for that touch-of-class: Bears motor boating in a Chriscraft: