December

For lack of a better title, I'm just going to call this post "December," because I'm going to go over some of the fantastic adventures I went on in the month of... guess it. No, not May, December! (sorry, that was a bad joke.) 
This has been a pretty good month. I mean, half of it was off from school, how could it not be a good month? Actually, I take that back, this has been a FANTASTIC month. 
To start off my wonderful December of 2017, on December 10, Rayna and I took another trip up to the Big Apple. Why? To see a Broadway show of course! It was a fantastic day, if I do say so myself. We got up bright and early (or early for me, a teenager) to travel up, so we'd have plenty of time to walk around New York and get lunch before our 3 o'clock show. We ventured to the Rockefeller Center to see the giant Christmas tree... Which I found to be actually quite ugly. It's not the pretty sort of pine tree, the only thing it really has going for it is its size.  

Then we went to see Kinky Boots. Which, by the way, was fantastic. If you read my last post describing my obsession with musicals, you would know that I already went to see a production of Kinky Boots this year. Yeah. I went to see it twice. Why? Because I love the show, and also the two original leads were back in for a limited run. OF COURSE I had to go and see it. And boy, was the show worth it. Stark Sands and Billy Porter were an absolute wonder. They had the best on-stage chemistry I've ever seen, and an extremely compelling stage presence. Seriously, I couldn't take my eyes away from them, even when they were in the background. Also, their voices... Ah. They have to have been the best performers I've seen yet. I know there's not much time, but if you can get in to see the show before they leave on January 7th, I would HIGHLY recommend it. Seeing those actors is life changing. 

Then on the 16th Serena and I headed to the Talking Teacup (my favorite place), for a long overdue tea date. :) Later that evening my family and I left our house to head to a hotel by the airport. Why? Because we had an early flight the next morning. An early flight to another one of my favorite places-- the tropical paradise also known as Saint Kitts. Getting up early isn't an issue, even for me, when you have a tropical island to look forward to. 
The flight wasn't bad. Even the layover was quick-- barely enough time for Zia and I to get frozen yogurt before we hopped onto another plane in Charleston. Then, finally we landed around 5. Thanks to family friends, instead of going through traditional customs, we went through the Yu Lounge. Meaning that we were picked up in a car, driven to said lounge, and then fed food while our passports were being checked. Seriously, a great beginning to a great trip. 

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Just shoutout to those family friends here. They made our trip to Sant Kitts a fantastic one, and also are just great people in general so. Thank you so much! Also thanks to my father for taking us there :). Anyway, that evening we went with our friends to the Salt Plage, which is an outdoor restaurant directly on the water. We would go on to eat at the Salt Plage for several other nights during the trip because of its amazing sunset and quality food. 
Then, the rest of the week was basically a variety of sun time. The for the next two days we went to a private club called the Pavilion and spent the day by the pool. Some unspoken universal law in Saint Kitts seems to be that all pools have to be infinity pools... which is fine by me, haha. 
The Pavilion had to have been my favorite place to go. Because it was a private club (we were able to get in thanks to our friends), it was very calm there, also the staff was extremely friendly and nice. (They even hugged us goodbye when it was our last day!) 

Sunset from the Salt Plage

The Pavilion's infinity pool

For dinner on our second day we went to the Salt Plage again, but on the the third day we went to the Spice Mill, which had delicious food... though, since it was outdoors and I'm a bug attractor I was quite literally getting swarmed with mosquitoes for a while. (You could see a black cloud of them around my head.) 
Then, on the fourth day instead of going to the Pavilion, we went to the Shipwreck. The Shipwreck is not actually a shipwreck, it's a beach area with a great coral reef and a restaurant called the Shipwreck. There we did several things a. lie in the sun b. swim c. snorkel. It was fun. There were also a ton of cute monkeys running around. (Monkeys are the squirrels of the island. (interesting fact: Saint Kitts has an issue with drunken monkeys aka monkeys who love to steal peoples' drinks and get drunk.)) 

Spice Mill

Shipwreck

Sunset at the Shipwreck

Then, on our third day we went on a Catamaran, which is a giant boat with like nets on the front which you can sit on. That was fun. The crew was entertaining, and we got to stop at a beach in Nevis for a couple hours. We also stopped at a place to snorkel. It was a good day. It was also quite entertaining because the boat had an open bar... And well, since everyone was on vacation they were all quite hammered by the time we got back to the dock. Seriously, I had probably 5 drinks spilled on me (not the entertaining part). There were people who literally could not walk straight, when we were in the vehicle driving us back from the harbor, we saw a guy who literally fell over and was crawling because he couldn't walk. (That's the entertaining part). The very same guy stepped on me and very nearly fell on top of me on the boat (I was very afraid of him falling on me and kept backing up until I was against the side rope, and then I was very afraid he'd fall and I'd go overboard.) 

A picture with one of the crew members

Our next and last day ( :( ) was spent at the Pavilion, much to my delight. Then we spent our last night at the Salt Plage. And... the next day we left... Well. That's sad. Oh! Just random side note, the Pavilion had these wonderful outdoor showers supplied with soap, shampoo and conditioner. These showers were private, with really cool stonework but open to the sky. 

As depressing as it was to leave Saint Kitts and return home.. Well, I'm still sad about it, but at least I got to spend Christmas in my own house with my lovely kitties. As per our Christmas tradition we went to go see a movie. Originally we planned to go see Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but, well, somehow I promised my cousin/best friend Ivan that I wouldn't see it without him so... We went to go see Jumanji instead. ( I partially agreed to go because I've heard good reviews and partially because the title has my name in it ). Surprisingly enough, I actually really enjoyed the movie-- I was laughing the entire time. 
Then I spent the 26th baking away. I think because I was on a baking fast due to having little free time during the school year I just kind of overdid it a little baking on the 26th. I started around noon, took a three hour break between 5-8 and then started up again until about 3 AM. Yes. I was baking until 3 AM. Like I said, I went a little baking crazy. My arms still ache from icing those freaking snowflake cookies. I don't know why I did it-- I hated doing it last year, and yet... Here I was again, icing a hundred sugar and gingerbread cookies. Joy. I also made a cake, key lime pie and french bread. I didn't get around to making more toffee because, well, it was 3 AM, and I still had to pack because we were leaving the next morning so... Yeah I was really done with baking by 3. 
The next morning we left to go and visit our cousins in the Middle of Nowhere, Maryland. Another Christmas tradition is the Christmas Party held at my Aunt Sharon's and Uncle John's. While I'm not exactly good at socializing during family parties, I do enjoy getting to see my cousins. Like I said before, Ivan is one of my best friends and since we live in different states we don't exactly see each other a lot. 
And now we've caught up to me time-wise. Ivan and I did go to see Star Wars today. And eh... I have to say I was disappointed. It was good, but I'm really disappointed with the way Luke was written into the movie, the tone felt odd at times, as well as some really strange dialog. All together not the perfect movie I was expecting, then again, maybe it's just because my expectations were too high, who knows. 
Anyway, it was a great year and thanks for reading! 
Anj 
P.S. If you're interested in seeing more of my very picturesque trip to Saint Kitts, check it out in my Gallery on this site. :) It will have more details along with plenty more pictures. OH ALSO BIG SHOUTOUT TO MY FATHER FOR TAKING FANTASTIC PICTURES WITH HIS PHONE AND BEING OUR PHOTOGRAPHER (and he was getting really sick of it, too. Love you, father!)