Alright, I’ll confess, Laura totally inspired me – her most recent post made me nostaglic not only for the islands but also for blogging. Plus, my dad, a long-time Franklin Covey disciple, has this thing that you should start every day with Planning, Solitude, and Journaling (PSJ, for short). The idea, I guess, is that you should take time at the beginning of every day to prioritize, center your chi, and get the creative juices flowing.  That seemed like a thing I could get behind, so here we are.

Let’s see, I suppose the most logical thing to be journaling about would be the whirlwind of thoughts and plans and strategies that keeps me awake for an hour after I turn out the lights every night. It’s not a strictly stressful whirlwind, mind you. It’s sort of equal parts challenge and excitement…with a healthy portion of intimidation thrown in, if I’m being truthful. Making a living as a writer was always sort of the plan, through college, and now that I’m faced with the reality of actually, y’know, doing it…it’s a pretty heady sort of thing.

As with anything, though, I think it’s about striking a balance. I have to spend some time on the big picture, find-a-niche, prioritize-potential-markets, blaze-a-career-trail type questions, but I also can’t let that stuff get in the way of the actual researching, pitching, interviewing, transcribing, writing, editing, fact-checking and emailing rounds and rounds and rounds of check-ins, follow-ups and clarifications. So the frequent gear shifts between the big picture stuff and the day-to-day is taking some getting used to…but I’m up to it.

Alright, I’m pretty sure that covers my the J in my PSJ for this morning. Box, consider yourself checked. : P

Kelly O.

p.s. The first redesign I went through was pink…and short-lived. Just so you know.

Seriously, how delicious do those samosas look!? They’re from Sweet Plantains in Coral Bay (incidentally, also the home of Laura’s header-image lanterns). Also, they are delicious.

On a related note, this is the photo page for Red Sunset Photography – a bunch of the villa and boat shoots that Ella and I have done are up there, if you want to check them out. (I didn’t take any of those pictures, I was just the photo assistant for most of them – I staged stuff (all the food, flowers, etc.), moved things, swapped lenses, made sure the photographer ate, etc.).

Back to work! Just wanted to share some of it with you lot!

Kelly

Thanks JohnO!

- Kelly

p.s. Life here’s good. Working on wrapping up the December issue, and getting super-excited for my first on-island Christmas – I ordered my tree the other day!!! : )

I am back from my birthday mini-break, and have brought back (admittedly paltry) photographic evidence. It was a great trip, and I definitely look forward to going back to Tortola again for some more exploring. The coolest part was that all of an hour elapsed between getting on the ferry in St. John and parking my rental car at the seaside hotel. Awesome! : )

Anyway, here’s the pictures:

Tortola Mini-Break

And for next time, the things I intend to document include:
- The super-beautiful north shore road – you’re liable to get splashed by the steadily crashing surf as you drive along, all unsuspecting.
- Smuggler’s Cove – my beach of choice for this trip. Great sand and shade. Perfect water. A ramshackle, but full-service beach bar. Ideal.
- The Tamarind Club‘s nifty swim-up bar. (They serve a mean fish & chips.)
- The view out across Beef Island to Virgin Gorda from the Ridge Road. Holy cow.
- The inventive and elegant Dove restaurant in Road Town. Also, their food.

But for now, I hope you enjoy the panorama shots!

Cheers,
Kelly

Fact Three: I am really looking forward to my birthday – I will be getting off this rock and visiting another rock for a couple of days. I will not be able to use my cell, nor have internet with which to obsessively check my email. I will sleep in. I will get tan. I will drink refreshing rum drinks and do nothing that even resembles work. I realize a lot of you think that this is all I ever do, but you are mistaken, and I am REALLY looking forward to acting the tourist for a couple of days. Like a lot. *contented, anticipatory sigh*

Fact Four: I’m going back to work now. Have a nice night, y’all.

Kelly

I’m literally speechless…
Kelly

Click for a small album of my bug-hunting adventures!

Killing time while we wait for the printers to get back to us with final proofs! Halloween issue, FTW.

KellyO

So you can Google the sucker if you like, but most of the pics you’ll find won’t look like the kind we have in the Caribbean. (Ours is just a different, apparently seldom-photographed, variety.) A Tarantula Hawk is a wasp. A four-inch-long wasp. Whose thorax is as big around as my thumb. So I’m standing in the surf shop with Alex and we had one of those moments where I’m listening to him talk and then suddenly my eyes focus on something behind him and go all wide. This wasp flew into the store, attracted by the lights (it was nighttime) and started just sort of buzzing around. Wasn’t aggressive or nothin’, but there was no one in the store (slow season is boring) and so Alex and I spent a good 20 minutes checkin’ it out.

As insects go, this sucker was beautiful. Its (giant!) body and wings were irridescent blue-black and it’s little feeler/antennae were bright orange. It got itself tangled in some cobweb, so we had lots of time to look at it while it wrestled free.

It wasn’t ’til I got home and Googled the sucker, though, that I discovered how horrifying it is. Not only is the sting of the female reputed to be the most painful wasp sting in the world (though not deadly), but their namesake is super-gruesome. The female captures a tarantula and paralyzes it. Then, she drags him back to a burrow – either one she’s built, or the poor tarantula’s own – lays a single egg, and seals the whole thing up with the paralyzed tarantula inside. That way, when the egg hatches, the larva has a nice warm meal waiting for it. O_O Augh! Poor bastard.

Island living is never boring, I’m here to say. No one I’ve talked to has run into one of these before, though, so don’t be thinking (you know who you are!) that these things are everywhere. We just got lucky. : )

Back to work (and then to sleep)!
Kelly

p.s. I just discovered - thank you, Wikipedia - that the Tarantula Hawk is the state insect of New Mexico. Obviously.

Working a TON this week at the surf shop then managed to procure the weekend (what!? two in a single month!?) to finalize the Fulbrightness. I will only let the internet distract me briefly, this week, see if I don’t!

Kelly

Plus, I’ve got a working draft of my personal statement for my Fulbright application (due in just weeks now – yipes! O_O). Slow but surely, though, my to-do list is being winnowed down. Deep breaths.

What else do I have of note? Oh, go listen to Imogen Heap’s new album: http://www.imogenheap.com/ellipse/ No, seriously. Go. It’s fabulous.

Oh! I really love my new wallpaper:

It’s very summery, I think, though it does make me pine for decent produce. Oh heirloom tomatoes, I miss you so. (This came, btw, from interfacelift.com. If you haven’t been, you should.)

Until next time,
Kelly