This is a local favorite restaurant, deli, food canteen truck etc. You eat here and you’re bound to see many locals at this eatery. They probably know you by name.

Please comment and announce your favorite. These votes count, so get your friends, associates, whoever to vote. Help us spread the good word on St. Thomas Restaurants.

Don’t forget to vote for (click on the links):

Best I Wanna Get Romantic Later

Best Hoity Toity Restaurant

Best Newbie Restaurant

Best Brain Freeze

Best Finger Lickin’

Best Spicey Meatball

Have you joined our St. Thomas Facebook Group? If not click here:

St. Thomas Facebook Group

Here’s some funny stuff:

You gonna join our group? You know you wanna. Come on, join. JOIN- JOIN-JOIN

Here comes my first rant of the year…

The USVI Government (tax collector office) just sent out the 2006 tax bills (that’s not a typo). They had all the properties assessed a few years back when real estate was, let’s just say much higher. Now real estate is MUCH lower, yet I have to pay the assessed value from years ago?

Add to this mess that I’m probably going to receive the 2007 tax bill this year, who knows when I’ll get 2008’s bill. So I’m going to be stuck paying 3 years of tax bills because of their complete incompetence. And at the higher assessed value from years ago.

This is complete highway robbery. And do you think they’ll fix the darn potholes with any of that highway robbery money?

This is the restaurant you take the woman you love and or lust for. The food is presented well, the atmosphere gets you in the mood. If there is one place to show the one you love or lust for a good time this is it.

Please comment and announce your favorite. These votes count, so get your friends, associates, whoever to vote. Help us spread the good word.

Don’t forget to vote for (click on the links):

Best Hoity Toity Restaurant

Best Newbie Restaurant

Best Brain Freeze

Best Finger Lickin’

Best Spicey Meatball

One of my client’s, Tony Bernstein came in for the weekend to talk branding strategy, here are a few pics from our time spent on St. John snorkeling and Jost Van Dyke:

Tony snorkeling

Nicci and I

Soggy Dollar at White Bay on Jost Van Dyke

I suggested Tony increase his marketing budget and then handed him another Painkiller

It’s only 13 days until the Buzz 5th Birthday Party Bash on March 7th on St. Croix at the Fort Christian Brew Pub. Yea boy, $2 Heineken’s, 2 bands and free giveaways!

Did you know you can listen to the Buzz through your computer? I didn’t but guess what, you can! Check it out by clicking the link below:

Listen To The Buzz On My Freakin’ Computer!

How cool is that?

Want the details on the Buzz Birthday Party? Click the link below:

The Buzz Birthday on March 7th.

Nicci and I are counting down the days!

The other day we received a nasty comment from someone (he’s never commented nicely). Every blog has these nah-sayers and haters.  He’s mad because we write on St. Thomas while only living here for 3 years and in his opinion we have to be here 10 years before we can give our thoughts and experiences.  This un-named person asked why we spend so much time on what he called an “insignificant blog”?

Here’s the answer:

Hi Scott,
“I love your blog. My first trip to St. Thomas was in the winter of 1981 & have been there many times since. Although I can’t get away this winter, I’ll still be able to “visit”, thanks to you & Nicci.”
Regards,
Mary

I emailed the local who left the nasty comment and asked him to meet me for a beer. I hope we can get together. What are your thoughts St. Thomas?

Who doesn’t love Italian food? This is the time to let us know. Who’s your very Favorite Italian Restaurant in St. Thomas?

Please comment and announce your favorite. These votes count, so get your friends, associates, whoever to vote. Help us spread the good word.

Don’t forget to vote for (click on the links):

Best Hoity Toity Restaurant

Best Newbie Restaurant

Best Brain Freeze

Best Finger Lickin’

Well actually we’re 3 years old but on this domain we wrote our first post on February 18, 2008…so technically I guess we’re now year and one day old, but who’s counting! (I am)

We’ve been enjoying our blog and hope you have too.

Thanks for reading

Last Wednesday we went to Indigo for a birthday dinner in honor of our awesome buddy Tripp, otherwise known as Sam, or Secret Appraiser Man! Well, he’s not secret…but it sounded like Secret Agent Man so I went with it. But yes, he does home appraisals on the island. (need one? let us know!)

Indigo put on a good spread, we hung out with great friends and had a fun night even when the power went out halfway through! Ah, the power of a cell phone as everyone trained their phone lights on the table and we continued with no issue.

We’ve known Tripp for almost two solid years; he’s been the boyfriend of my friend Jen for one year – they met during her vacation last February and now live happily on the Northside with four cats and one soon-to-be-huge dog!

That’s right, people really do fall in love on vacation and make the move to the Rock

Happy Birthday Tripp! (check out the cool cake Jen made!)

We enjoyed your birthday week full of great dinners and a lot of laughs!!

Big news coming from The Buzz, 104.3.

They’re turning 5 and throwing a VI Massive birthday party on St. Croix. Knowing the Buzz as well as I do I can only say one thing, get the frig over to St. Croix for their birthday party bash!

As you know Nicci and I are BIG fans of the Buzz. We wrote about them here.

Here are some details of the big party:

March 7th on St. Croix at the Fort Christian Brew Pub.

The Fort Christian Brew Pub (340) 713-9820) is located in Historic Kings Alley along the picturesque Christiansted Harbor boardwalk.

They will be having some kick-ass entertainment for their party. Project 80’s (they played Yacht Haven Grande on New Years Eve) will be smashing out the 80’s tunes like this one:

They do a great cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” as well.

Also performing is Kurt Schindler, check him out:

We’ve never seen Kurt but he looks pretty damn cool.

The party is being brought to you by The Buzz, Heineken, Cape Air, The Palms and you guessed it…The St. Thomas Blog! You know if we endorse it, it will rock!

Fort Christian Brew Pub will be serving food all night and Heineken and Heineken Premium Light’s will only be $2. C’mon, $2…but wait…there’s more:

Heineken will be giving away coolers, t-shirts and hammocks. I want a freakin hammock!

…ah, these are just representations of the free stuff

Nicci and I will be posting updates to remind you guys of the big party on March 7th at Fort Christian Brew Pub.

Here I am on the Buzz with Web and Cristina (The Morning Dizzaster):

I’m the non-sexy one on the right…

Join their Facebook Group by clicking here:

Buzz Rocks!

So come out and party with The Buzz on March 7th on St. Croix at the Fort Christian Brew Pub!

Living in St. Thomas can certainly be challenging at times. What really makes you go crazy?

Up until Feb 8 you have been very cooperative…sunny, clear – fantastic!

On Feb 8, however, you took a turn. A shady, cloud-covered, rain-spotted turn. We stopped at Emerald Beach (near the airport) for a couple of hours on that day to let our guests enjoy the sun and surf one last time before stepping on their plane…and you rained on that party.

On Feb 10 I had a day off and we decided to hit the beach for some sun and tourist-watching. Well, the sun was out for a short time…and then? Shady, cloud-covered and rain. At first just a drizzle of rain that caused in a small percentage of tourists to roll up their towels and scoot undercover while the majority says to themselves (and anyone listening), “We’re in the caribbean, it only rains for minutes…right?” while searching desperately for blue skies from their beach chairs. However, on that day you kept up the cloud-covered drizzle while one by one people decided that this was not the beach day they had in mind and moved in line to wait for a safari cab to remove them from their misery. We stayed put, missing the sun and watching the scramble, until you turned up the drizzle into an actual rain. A gets-you-wet-in-a-minute rain that pushed us out of our beach chairs, into the car and away from the day. Boo.

Yesterday we woke up excited for a sunny day at Magens, our regular Sunday get together full of food, fun and rum. The outside skies seemed clear and bright in the morning, and stayed that way until we reached the beach around 11:30. I took a long walk in the water with Island Newbie (not so new anymore…) and we watched as the clouds came, turned dark and started spitting rain. Ugh. We got back to our beach spot, sat down and for the rest of the day begged for the sun to come out for good. Fortunately for us you finally did, at the late afternoon hour of 3:30/4-ish. Until then we endured shade, drizzles and at one point a solid little rain that almost propelled me from my chair to my couch.

So, in conclusion, I’d like you to, well, knock it off. Or pick different days…like non-weekend days…in which to drop your rain. Normally we love the rain, it fills our cistern and waters our plants, but you can do that through the night while we sleeping, not when we have our toes in the sand and are hoping to get a little color before Monday morning approaches.

I hope we have reached an understanding.

Sincerely,

Da Bloggers

Here we go folks, the St. Thomas 2009 Carnival is just 2 months away!

Schedule

Sunday April 12th: Prince & Princess Show, 5pm – Lionel Roberts Stadium

Saturday April 18th: Queen Selection Show, 8pm – Lionel Roberts Stadium

Sunday April 19th: Toddlers Derby, 5pm – Lionel Roberts Stadium and Traditional Games, 7pm – Lionel Roberts Stadium

Monday April 20th:  Hospital Carnival, 6pm – Schneider Hospital lobby

Tuesday April 21st: Junior Calypso Competition, 8pm - Lionel Roberts Stadium

Wednesday April 22nd: Cultural Night, 8pm – Lionel Roberts Stadium

Thursday April 23rd: Latin/Calypso Night, 8pm – Lionel Roberts Stadium

Friday April 24th: Opening of Carnival Rides, 6pm – Fort Christian Parking Lot and Soca Explosion, 8pm – Lionel Roberts Stadium

Saturday April 25th: Calypso Revue, 8pm – Lionel Roberts Stadium

Sunday April 26th (my birthday!): Water Sports, 10am – Charlotte Amalie and Steelband Jamboree, 5pm – Lionel Roberts Stadium

Monday April 27th: Opening of Carnival Village, 6pm – Fort Christian Parking Lot

Tuesday April 28th: Pre-Teen Tramp, 6pm – Rothschild Francis “Market” Square to Children’s Village and Senior Citizens Quelbe Tramp, 8pm – Rothschild Francis “Market” Square to Carnival Village

Wednesday April 29th: Cultural Fair, 8pm – Emancipation Garden

COME JOIN NICCI AND I FOR J’OUVERT!

Thursday April 30th: J’ouvert warm-up 12:30am (that’s NOT a typo) then J’ouvert at 4am (again, NOT a typo) – Veterans Drive and V.I. Lottery Local Calypso, 8pm – Lionel Roberts Stadium

Friday May 1st: Children’s Parade, 10am – Rothschild Francis “Market” Square to Lionel Roberts Stadium

Saturday May 2nd: Adults Parade, 10am – Western Cemetery to Lionel Roberts Stadium and Fireworks, 9pm – Charlotte Amalie and Last Lap, 10pm-2pm – Fort Christian Parking Lot

This was taken from the VI Daily News so please double check before going out

I was really trying to avoid getting my St. Thomas U.S.V.I. drivers license but I got tired of the mean women at Magens Bay charging me a full rate because I didn’t have my USVI license (and trust me, they knew I was local). But that’s another story for another day.

This is how easy it is to get your USVI license:

The St. Thomas Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is open from 8am-3pm (closed during the many, many, many holidays). Their phone number is 340-774-5765.

Here’s what you need:

1. A Valid Stateside License

2. Social Security Card

3. Passport or Birth Certificate

That’s it!

Fill out the “Intial/Renewal” Form, stand in line and pay the $45 fee (remember to smile and say “good morning” or “good afternoon”). Then you’ll need to wait for them to call you to get your picture taken. The St. Thomas DMV will take your stateside license and give you a new USVI license.

I arrived at 8:30 and was done by 9.

12-18-09

***** I’ve heard they’ve changed it a bit and you now need to bring your driving record from your last state. That stinks. *****

We just found out that our very cool neighbors will be leaving the island within the next month. They rock, so when we found out we were disappointed – for completely selfish reasons. After that we were disappointed for them, after all, they seem to be completely enjoying the island life and I’m not sure how psyched they are to be returning to the mainland.

They came into Shipwreck for lunch the other day and I was asking them if they were at all excited to be moving back to a land where conveniences are at your fingertips…like pizza delivery, grocery stores that have everything you need all the time, home appliances that aren’t eroding from salt air, a mass selection of everything schools/pharmacies/clothing stores…you know, the basics. They were kind of ‘eh’ on the whole subject, they’ve adapted to island life and the fact that there’s not a Dunkin Donuts on every corner (or anywhere for that matter).

Which makes me wonder, are there things I’m missing? Of course. Let’s start with the first thing Scott and I do when we get back to the states for a visit – we spend the first couple of nights gorging on food delivery…chinese, pizza, subs, you name it – we call them and they bring it right to the door, luxury! Next on my list? Driving a couple of towns over to meet up with my old co-worker for lunch and gossip – either at a restaurant or shopping. Oh shopping! I miss shopping! Kohl’s is a store that we used to browse during many a lunch hour, spending our Kohl’s coupons the best way we could. I supposed I could use Kohl’s promo codes for online shopping, but it’s not really the same as browsing the racks while getting the dirt on old co-workers from your bud, right?

Another store I loved to browse with my old roomate was Urban Outfitters, although I’m not sure if that store stretches past MA…? Either way it’s a cool store to check out, in person or online, especially if you can hunt down some Urban Outfitters coupons for some good old bargains!

What else do we miss? Live music, both concerts and in bars. Yes, there are concerts and music on the island, but not like back home. No Def Leppard, Earth Wind and Fire or Journey coming to the nearest ampitheater. Back home we follow a handful of fantastic cover bands that play around our area, something we really miss down here. Occasionally there’s an opportunity to check out some music here, but it’s not really the same. Another thing we miss? Driving faster than 35/40 mph…on flat roads!

We miss friends and family, of course, that’s a given

So, back to our neighbors, who are filling the time they have left with everything they love down here – good restaurants, boating trips, beach days…or just chilling on the deck watching the waves while sipping drinks. I’ll certainly miss their two-year old yelling my name from their deck!

You guys will fall back into mainland life in no time, but you’ll always remember our margarita night!

Our friends and family love to visit us during the cold months. Here’s a picture from our friend Scott…

as they say “a picture is worth a thousand words!”

Social media has made the world very small. Someone created a group called WAPA Sucks! I can’t imagine why? Check it out by clicking on this link:

WAPA Sucks

Maybe enough people will join and things could change? I just thank my lucky stars that I bought a 40KW generator.

This is a brand new restaurant on St. Thomas…

Oh, their skin is so soft and they are so cute. The furniture still looks great, the owner still smiles. This place is probably super busy because they are the new hot thing on St. Thomas.

Please comment and announce your favorite. These votes count, so get your friends, associates who ever to vote. Help us spread the good word.

Don’t forget to vote for:

Best Of St. Thomas 2009 – Best Brain Freeze

Best Of St. Thomas 2009 – Best Finger Lickin’ Food

C’mon guys, get behind your favorites!