Vision Award

I have many updates to post - not sure I'll get them all done tonight, but here's one I'm especially proud of.

Our company presents annual awards they call "Vision Awards". There are several different categories, mostly around customer service, operational efficiencies, etc. They are normally given to project teams. Well MY TEAM won the 2008 Vision Award for a project that we worked our butts off on for the last year and a half or more (lots of travel, many sleepless nights on support calls, and some very long hours).

The awards banquet was back in April, and is attended by upper management so I wasn't there. :( That's okay it was black tie and all that fancy stuff. But they did put together a very nice dinner for the teams that were involved in the project. And we received our very own Vision Awards during the dinner on Monday night.

Troy tried to photograph it...but it was tough. It's glass with the gold accents and then the award name, etc and MY NAME are etched into the glass. It's very cool.

I'm debating if I take it to work and put on my desk (our cleaning people are not the carefullest of folks) or put it here at home in the China cabinet - which holds no china! :) It would have a nice home among the Snoopy and Captain Morgan items. LOL

So that's been my excitement for the week.

St Thomas - here, there and everywhere

Here are some pictures from when we were out and about on the island.

Troy at dinner at Fat Turtle. It's a cool "bar" on the water down near where the cruise ships dock. There is shopping and a few other restrauants around.

A bit hard to read in this size - but it's one of the gazzillion "Keep Left" signs on the island. They drive on the left in American Cars. It's quite the experience. Thankfully Troy does the driving.

It just isn't right. There are times when we turn and I start to freak that he's on the wrong side before I realize where we are. Left on Red...it takes some getting use to.

Sandy and Sunny - or that's what I named them anyhow. These two cuties were just off the road as we turned on to the road to the condo. Down the entire road to the condo there is farm land owned by the government. They lease it to residents for $1 a year per parcel (1/2 acre) to anyone that will farm on it. So there are varying "farms" as you drive. I learned which spots in the road to hold my breath. :)

The Steep road down to the condo....and a view of the water.

It's a bit blurry. The waitress at A Room with A View took our picture during our last night on the island. It took some arm twisting, nagging and pouting but Troy finally took me out to a nice dinner. We had a great time. And I got to wear the fabulous sun dress that Beth and I found at JCP while we were out shopping before the trip.

The View of the city lights from A Room with A View.

St Thomas - The Family

For those that know us - Troy was raised in St Thomas till he was about 14. So St Thomas is not only a vacation for us, but a chance for him to see the family that is still on the island. His mom's parents, her two brothers and many other relatives are still on the island. It's funny how many family members come out of the woodwork when you ask your future MIL for addresses for the wedding. :)

"Amigo" - Troy's Grandfather

Granny - I swear that if I went digging through the old pictures Troy gets the same pose from Granny every year. For being in her mid-late 80's she's a fiesty one.Granny and her Sister Noel

One of Troy's Cousins little girls - I'm still learning names. She's Uncle Moe's grand-daughter and he has her spoiled rotten (though he won't admit it LOL). She's shy at first but then a total ham after you are around her for a little bit.

Her little brother. He was such a happy boy. And so many faces

The newest addition to the family. She was born in February.

St Thomas - Atlantis....80+ Feet under the sea

There is a tourist attraction in St Thomas (and some other places around the world) called Atlantis. It's a submarine designed to take tourist down to see the reefs and what now on the bottom of the ocean. The one in St Thomas was closing at the end of May so Troy wanted to go see what it was all about.

Here is a picture of me on the boat that took us out to where the sub was "docked". It was very hot and humid on the boat as they had all the windows zip tied shut. We found out why as we made our way out and hit some big wavs! :)

The top of Atlantis. It was a tight fit inside. It held 48 passengers and the pilot and our tour guide. There was a bench down the middle that people sat on back to back, looking out the portals. The hardest part for me was going down the ladder into the sub BACKWARDS. I'm not a huge fan of stairs to begin with, and then you want me to go down backwards. Lovely!

They said to add about 10 feet to the reading in the sub to figure out how far down we were. (the sensor was on TOP of the sub). This was the farthest down we went.

We were lucky enough to board in the first group so we had not only the view out the side windows but also out the front.

A school of blue fish. The water was a bit cloudy - they said due to some algea that had moved into the area.

Troy and I during the ride.

A nice lady was willing to take a picture of us on the bow of the boat after our trip.

I have to say, it's cool to say we did it, but honestly I wasn't THAT impressed. Even though the water was suppose to be cloudy because of the algae, the guide did say that the colors are not anything like what you see in the magazines even under normal conditions. It's was $90 a piece for us to take the trip - not sure I'd say it was worth it.

St Thomas - Cute Babies

So while at Magens Bay our first morning there were two mothers with these two cute baby girls playing in the sand and water. Troy wasn't using the camera at the time (shocking) so I asked him to set it up on auto for me (I haven't mastered all the settings on them yet - they are way too advanced for me).

So I went over to chat and see if they would mind if I took some pictures. We got their email address and sent them the pictures when we got home. They really enjoyed them. Here are a few of my favorites.

This is the cutie pie that first caught my attention. She was having a great time in her makeshift pool mom had dug for her.

Isn't she just a doll? I feel bad that I forgot her name.
The girls (yes the one in the blue suit is a girl), crawled up the beach and had fun looking to see how far mom was going to let them go.

Eventually Maddie made her way back. (notice the sandy tush at the top of the picture...so cute), and she finally came crawling back too.

Then some cuddle time with mommy after rinsing off.

St Thomas - Magens Bay

Mr. Elliott dropped our rental jeep off at the condo the evening we arrived so we could head out first thing in the morning to Magens Bay. For those that don't know Magens Bay is one of the top ten beaches in the world. Last year I learned why! The sand on the beach is so soft, the water is very clear and so blue, and because of it's location and the small islands at the mouth of the bay the water is usually pretty calm.

Troy tends to get occuppied with pictures of the pelicans and other birds diving for fish when we are there. :) I'll spare you the hundreds of pictures he took of those. :) But here are a few of my favorites.

Me wandering down the beach. This is right around the spot we plan on getting married at next year. While there that day we saw FOUR weddings take place. It was exciting to think that Friday before Memorial Day next year one of those couples would be US!!

Troy caught me sitting in the sun reading.

One of the birds diving for fish. We found out from the bartender that these are called The Brown Booby. At first when he told Troy this I thought he was kidding, so I had to look it up when we got home, and sure enough. I like how they look like fighter planes when they are in their dive.

And Mr. Troy - WITH his camera of course.

We spent the morning on the beach and then headed up to the bar for lunch and some drinks. St Thomas is pricey as it is, but apparently being one of the top beaches allows total robbery...a burger, just the burger mind you, was $9.75. Two burgers and a side of fries cost 23 bucks! DOH! Thankfully the drinks were more resonable - 6 bucks a piece, and since liquor is cheap down there they are VERY generous with it. WoooHooo Three drinks and I was so done!

ST Thomas - Dorothea Beach where we stayed

I know everyone has been wanting to see pictures from our trip. Sorry for the delay...the day after we got home I came down sick and am just now bouncing back.



Thursday - Arrival Day



Our flight was about 30 minutes late leaving ATL. Nothing like delaying paradise. The majority of the flight was bumpy. But we finally arrived. We had rented a condo on Dorothea Beach (a "rural" part of the island it said in the listing on Homeaway.com). Patty and Peter the owners of the condo where there to pick us up at the airport. It was nice to not have to deal with the rental car at the airport (bad experience last year).

Off to the condo we go. We drove through parts of the island that did not look familiar (not only to me, but to Troy too). And eventually Patty started pointing out a few landmarks as we approached the road to the condo. We turned on the "road"...it was bumpy, windy and steep. No wonder they said we'd need a jeep. But in the end it was totally worth it. Here are some pictures from the beach.

This is from the lawn outside the condo. Yes we were THAT close to the water.

PARADISE!!

And here I am so excited to be on the beach.

Troy hiked out to the end of the points on both sides of the bay during our trip and this is one of the pictures he took looking back towards the condos.

There are plenty more....we (well mostly Troy) took close to 2,000 this trip. Yes he's a bit obsessed. :)