Hi there, it’s been awhile!  Today’s video explains why that is.

We’ve now been on our little rock for over 3 years.  After 3 moves and 2 category 5 hurricanes, we are still here and celebrating LIFE!  This weekend, we celebrated with a variety of live music, Mardi Croix, our new local brewery, and a hike to the Tidal Pools. Today’s video also features some of our favorite people + animals and I share some of my all time favorites like what I’m currently growing in my garden, my go-to beautifying and nurturing smoothie recipe, and hacks to being the best version of myself!

My Favorite Green Smoothie – Updated Recipe

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Ingredients

• 2 cups coconut water
• 2 tablespoons baobab powder
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground flax, soaked chia and/or raw hemp seeds
• 1.5 cups frozen packed moringa leaves – or 2 cups frozen packed greens of choice
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated turmeric and ginger
• 2 frozen spotty brown bananas
• 2 cubes frozen passionfruit/lilikoi or fruit of choice

Instructions

1. Blend everything together.
2. For a smoother texture, blend the coconut water, baobab, flax/chia/hemp, greens and turmeric and ginger first. When creamy, add in the fruit and blend again. Add more liquid if you desire a thinner consistency.

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Here’s my superfood smoothie guide and a how to on homemade baobab powder.

2018 was a yet another whirlwind of a year.  I became a first time auntie, spent my 33rd birthday atop a holy mountain, released my new ebook, Beginner Vegan, returned to our island home after being separated from it and my husband after hurricane Maria, spent my free time working a fruit farm, moved closer into the rainforest, helped with two beautiful weddings, lived and traveled in a camper through the ring road and beyond in Iceland, brought presents to the children at a home in Kenya with my love, expanded our businesses together, and delved deeper into meditation and mindfulness which have both been significant game-changers for me.  Here are a few highlight pictures from the year.  I am so beyond grateful to be able to spend my life creating and relishing from the deep well of love, strength, freedom, and exploration.  Thank you for being a part of my journey and allowing me to share some of the things I love with you.

Baby Darron.  Le sigh.

Spending time with baby bro before he moved to LA and I returned home to St. Croix.

Little lady’s first snow.  This island pup was not a fan.  Despite blistering sunshiny days, Nala will still sunbathe so the snow was just shocking to her.

Seal watching on one of our last days in the west fjords of Iceland.  We had successfully completed everything on our list we had set out to do and were driving back towards Reykjavik when an obscure turn that really should not have caught my eye did and we decided to amble down its rocky path just to see and was greeted with pudgy, playful seals playing in the water and bathing on the rocks.  It was such a sweet way to end the trip.

In between were many days of exploration, hikes, dinner parties, sailing trips, lazy beach days, concerts and festivals, new friends, and lots of good food.  But don’t be fooled, this is real life, after all.  It also involved panic attacks, weeks of torrential rain storms accompanied by power outages and and weeks of down phone and internet, work stress, mishaps and miscommunications, “crying days”, dishes that broke or things that got lost.  Here’s the real highlight though.  With each year I work diligently on my inner demons, traumas and hurt, the stronger and stronger I get.  The point here is that I can learn from my triggers, rain can most certainly bring on rainbows, being disconnected without phone and internet can help you appreciate the silence and simplicity, stress can be seen as part of the yin and yang alongside happiness and I’ve learned to distinguish the differences between distress and eustress (also, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger), mishaps and miscommunications can be primed as an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and refine your output and connections, sometimes it does a body good to cry, and dishes can always be replaced as can those things that are lost.

2019 is going to be the best year yet.  Trust me.

This fresh Korean cream cake is my absolute favorite cake of all time.  If you’ve never had an Asian bakery style cake, you’re really missing out.  The fluffy chiffon cake layers are the only base worthy enough to slather liberally with the light and airy frosting it’s traditionally paired with.  The taste is subtly sweet and citrusy with a light as a feather texture and a fresh fruit crown, making it one of my most popular recipes here on the blog.

My chocolate peppermint cookies are a great versatile cookie that I often turn into my hot cocoa cookies.  These are soft and cakey cookies that just scream festive holiday flare.

If you’re looking for something effortless yet tasty, my “Christmas crack” aka chocolate saltine toffee is for you.  It’s a very forgiving, set it and forget kind of recipe in the vein of crispy rice squares or muddy buddies.  The bonus is that it doesn’t take that much more effort to make a party sized tray of these or to jazz it up with sprinkles, fleur de sel, toasted nuts, candies/caramel drizzle/marshmallows, white chocolate or graham crackers.

My snowball cookies are great if you’re looking for cookies with a longer shelf life.  Tip: ceylon cinnamon really kicks these up a notch.

Finally, if you’re looking for a treat that you can make ahead and not have to worry about, my no-bake cookie dough truffles are a great option.

Tip: rum can be substituted for the milk and vanilla extract for boozy holiday truffles.

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It’s often hard on a little tropical rock like ours to get into the holiday spirit, especially when it’s pretty much 85 degrees all year round but, I’m hardly complaining.  I’m grateful we’re not bombarded with ads and billboards.  Back in the states, I’d grab holiday-themed lattes with friends bundled up in my scarf and mittens,spend weekends at the outdoor skating rink and drive around the neighborhoods we knew that were the best for their Christmas light displays.  It’s a bit more difficult to do that here so here are a few ways that I’m getting into the holiday spirit.

Setting the mood by diffusing a DIY holiday essential oil like clove which I have laying around anyways for boosting my toothpaste.  I may even whip up a simple peppermint sugar scrub while I’m at it.

Rewatching childhood favorites like Home Alone.  We didn’t have many proper traditions growing up but one unofficial one my siblings and I would partake in would be to watch all of the Home Alone movies.

Swapping my usual tropical drink with a festive one like my salted caramel hot chocolate.

Holiday baking!  I started a bit early in November with my apple pie baked apples and brought them to a party.  They were a huge hit!

Listening to untraditional Christmas grooves on my favorite independent, commercial-free internet radio, SomaFM.

Stringing up sparkly lights.

Mailing out Christmas cards.  I’m pretty bad about this but this year, I plan on finally getting around to it.  While I’m at it, I’m putting together little “baskets of cheer” for those who could use a little bit including the cards, my homemade candles, soaps, spiced jackfruit seeds (in lieu of nuts), moringa flower hard candies, and christmas cookies.  I just got a reindeer cookie cutter that I’m excited to try out.

3 organic ingredients for a natural lip stain that’s naturally beautifying with protective oils, vitamins, and antioxidants. This easy DIY is quick and simple, perfect to gift this holiday season. All the moisture, shine and blush minus the toxic chemicals, artifical colors and scents.

My lip balm videos are some of my most popular ones.  I’ve made the classic version, a holiday pumpkin spice and hot cocoa variety as well as a vegan one.  Today, I’m bringing you another simple recipe but one with a naturally rosy blush tint.  I’m often asked if petroleum jelly can be used instead of beeswax or candelila wax.  I thought it was important enough to answer again here.  I personally don’t use or like vaseline as it’s a by-product of oil refining.  It’s neither sustainable or eco-friendly so I try to use something like an unpetroleum multi-purpose jelly.

The beeswax or candelila wax work in conjunction with the coconut oil for a creamy consistency that is protective and moisturizing with the beet powder lending color along with vitamin c and antioxidants.  The helichrysum essential oil is optional but I’m very infatuated with it at the moment.  Everything is energy and helichrysum happens to vibrate at one of the highest frequencies.  I’ve been obsessed with not only diffusing it, but incorporating it into my husband’s noni salve, and incorporating a few precious drops into my facial oil blend.  So much of what we apply to our skin is then absorbed into our system.  It’s the reason I started cleaning up my beauty routine on both the inside and out.  It’s another reason I don’t use petroleum jelly, especially on my lips.  We inadvertently swallow a lot of our lip products so with the one I’m sharing today, you can not only feel good about using it, you can rest assured its quality.

No chemicals, no funky or scary ingredients, no artificial colors, scents or preservatives.

4.0 from 1 reviews

Tinted Lip Balm – Easy, Organic 3 Ingredient Lip Stain

 

Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Serves: .30 oz

Ingredients

• 1 ts organic beeswax
• 1 ts organic beeswax
• 2 ts organic unrefined coconut oil
• 2 ts organic unrefined coconut oil
• ½ ts to 1 ts very fine beet powder
• ½ ts to 1 ts very fine beet powder
• Optional: 1 drop of helichrysum essential oil

Instructions

1. Melt the beeswax and stir it together with the coconut oil. You can re-melt both together if it begins to solidify too quickly. A microwave or stovetop both work here.
2. Vigorously stir in the beet root powder and any desired essential oil/s. Make sure it is very finely milled. I create a fine dust myself with dried beets but you can also use store-bought beet powder.
3. Right before pouring, strain through a cheese cloth or very fine strainer.
4. This makes 1 lip gloss pot of balm or fills 1-2 lip balm tubes.

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A long weekend is always welcome but this one was particularly delicious as it capped off a whirlwind of a month with a nice and relaxing end.  We enjoyed a laid back Thanksgiving  meal with island fam then attended the largest Jump Up of the year in Christiansted.  ‘Jump up’ means ‘to dance’ and simply put, this is the spirit of this traditional street party featuring local food, art, culture, Mocko Jumbies {stilt dancers}, steel pan drummers, quadrille dancers, fire dancers and more.

It’s free to attend, fun for the whole family and happens just 4 times a year on Friday’s in Christiansted along the boardwalk from about 6-10 pm.

1. February on the Friday closest to Valentine’s Day
2. May on that first Friday
3. July on the Friday closest to Alexander Hamilton Day
4. November on the Friday after Thanksgiving

I almost always get to meet viewers at these Jump Up’s so if you see me, come say hi!  I give great hugs.  You’ll often spot me at the fire dancing show or in line for fresh sugar cane juice.  A fresh local coconut with local rum is also a very popular choice.  J is a huge fan of roti {west Indian styled flat bread wrapping curried filling from goat to conch} and pates {empanada-type snacks filled with everything from lobster to chicken}.  You can also find local fruit drinks like sorrel or maubi and handcrafted jewelry or crucian honey and mead along with lots of other goodies.

A long weekend also meant extra beach days from west to east, including diving, foraging for coconuts, and exploring.  I even get to try sprouted coconut for the first time.  The island really struggled after Maria and it’s only just now that my fridge is fully stocked with fresh cocos which is hands down, one of my top 3 favorite things ever.  The mango trees are coming in with a late and confused flush but I have high hopes that they will return with vigor next year.  Regardless, I am happy to show you my full fruit haul in today’s video and gleefully dig in to all the tree-ripened fruit Mother Earth still gifts us with.  There’s not much that rivals the pure, unadulterated joy of picking sweet fragrant fruit, still warm from the sun’s beams for me.

It’s definitely been awhile since we had a long relaxing weekend with nothing on the agenda but enjoying our little rock.  All the recent rain has transformed the entire island into a lush green landscape and everyone is back on the beach and limin’.

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You shouldn’t move to St. Croix {or the Caribbean} if…

If you need all the modern conveniences that stateside living has to offer

There are no ubers, postmates, amazon prime and the like.  Chain restaurants (we have maybe 3 or 4) are rare and free shipping doesn’t seem to apply.  The one “mall” we had got destroyed in Maria.  It consisted of just a handful of stores, no food court to speak of, deserted, unlit corners with a bottom floor that was largely abandoned minus the college that was operating out of it.  Currently, there are plans to revamp it to offer a more “mall experience.”  However, I will be shocked if it is anything like in the states, still.  Here, everyone shops at Kmart when back in the states, we didn’t even have one in a 100 mile radius anymore.  One of my Crucian friends once told me,  “It doesn’t matter who you are, you’re still shopping at the Kmart just like everybody else.”  The prices are high and there isn’t a great selection and I find myself wistfully yearning for Trader Joe’s (kidding, not kidding).

Hurricanes

Living through Hurricane Maria was one of the top 10 life defining experiences of my life.

The large transient population

I can’t tell you how many times we developed close relationships with people only to have them move away.  Island life is not for everyone.  Life is definitely more difficult here and since living here, we’ve probably lost a dozen or so amazing people back to the states.  It’s a known fact here that it takes people awhile to warm up to you because this happens so often.

Island time

Most times, it’s refreshing and affords the opportunity to “stop and smell the roses,” but other times, it goes at an excruciatingly snail pace and it feels like it takes days to weeks to get done what would take only hours in the states.  It took us almost a year to get our business license when we first arrived and the same went for getting electricity and internet back after Maria but hey, there’s virtually never any traffic anywhere you go and beaches you get all to yourself can be a regular thing.

Bugs or wildlife

This was particularly bad post-Maria as all the bugs seemed to move in all at once but even on a regular day, there are bugs galore.  One of the first things I do every morning is sweep up dead millipedes and jack spaniards from our kitchen floor.  Along with them are the regular suspects like mosquitoes, the ever annoying ‘no see-ums’, roaches, wasps, lizards, moths, you name it.  We have a dozen little lizards running around our house at any given time.  We welcome them and even give them names.  My favorite one is Penelope who is the littlest one of all not being more than an inch or so long.  J also guides bees out to a dedicated watering hole outside as well.  I never really mind any of the bugs really until it’s the dreaded centipede!  Nala has gotten really good at warning us about them now –an occupational hazard of being an island pup, I suppose.

Expense

There’s not much to say about that except you can subsidize your costs by being extra resourceful, maintain a DIY attitude and grow your own food.  These are the ways we thrive in abundance here.

Schooling

I can’t personally attest to the schooling here but my friends present me with a mixed bag.  However, most of them send their kids to private school {there are also pockets that home school} as the general overall opinion of the public education here is not positive.  Private school is said to run something like $15k a year.

No individual health insurance

Also {no personal experience}, but we also hear that the health care system here isn’t the best.

Potholes galore 

We ditched the idea of having a pretty car way before we even moved here as it was never a priority for us.  It was a good thing we did because the potholes are no joke here.  Our trip in Kenya proved they have better roads than most on our island.  A lot of the roads here aren’t paved or if they are, haven’t been kept up with in a very long time.  At our last place, it took 15 minutes up a very rocky, never-been-paved road where a storm washed out part of said road.  Last I checked, it still hadn’t been filled in.

With all that said, if you’re still here reading on and still feeling the call of island life, here’s what I love about living in the Caribbean.

Year round sunshine

It never drastically veers from 85 degrees and I find it warm enough to swim 365 days a year.  Rainy season gifts us beautiful rainbows and you can still wiggle in beach days.  Oh, and the Christmas winds that blow through to cool you down throughout the year?  It’s absolutely delicious bliss.

Island family

After Irma, St. Croix united in our efforts to help our devastated sister islands.  After Maria, we helped each other.

The best beaches

Turtle Beach on Buck Island was rated one of the most beautiful by Travel and Leisure and National Geographic.  Sandy Point is a local favorite and there are dozens upon dozens of beaches no more than 10 minutes away no matter where you are on the island.

A natural life

Since moving here, I’ve spent more time hiking, swimming and overall ‘earthing’ more than I have ever before.  The nice year round weather makes this possible and when you’re surrounded by striking cacti dotted mountains to the east and lush rainforest to the west with a postcard beach just minutes away at every turn, it also makes it easy.  My husband regularly spears supper and has joined many groups on island that particularly combat the invasive lion fish.  He’s managed to fuse a hobby and his passion for environmentalism.  For me, meditating on the top of a jaw dropping peak, snorkeling amidst the brilliance of a mermaid world or kissing beneath some of the most intense tropical sunsets all sums up for me what feels like the most natural way to live my life.

Rich culture and fantastic food

There is history everywhere on this island from the broken shards of chaney and old coins that can still be unearthed today to the sugar mills sprinkled throughout the island.  The colorful tapestry of food can be seen through offerings of Indian or Trinidadian bites, Caribbean pot fish to fine dining and food trucks or Ital cuisine.  We make our own rum, host our own food festivals and celebrate every day with local farmers producing exotic fruits or regular festivals that boast Johnny cakes and Mocko Jumbies.  Mango season alone instantly seduced me.  I am currently working my way through the 15 varieties (there are 100’s more!) that my friend has growing on his property and it’s tough to say which I like best because they’re all so good.  Before moving here, I had no idea how different each kind of mango could taste with some growing as big as my head!

If the pros seem to outweigh the cons for you like it does for us, check out my ebook, Moving to Paradise.  In it, I carefully detail what it takes to make the move including the before, during, and after process with fun stuff mixed in like the best happy hours, cheap eats and local digs.

You know how it says when it rains it pours?  In this case, it’s been very literal.  The past two weeks have seen torrential rainstorms and we experienced blackouts and loss in phone and internet service (which the latter for me lasted for more than a week).  This time was also during J’s sailing trip so not only was he out at sea and unable to communicate with me most of the time, I didn’t have any service anyways.  Of course it all coincided with Thanksgiving being tomorrow, finding a new place to live, and 3 of our closest friends returning back to the island at the same time and helping them move as we moved ourselves.  Most importantly, all of this was going on as I became an auntie for the first time!  My mother who has never traveled overseas alone made her first solo journey to Rotterdam to meet her new grandson and hopefully, when things settle down here, we will be on our way to meet the little one soon too!

Needless to say, there’s been a lot going on and I haven’t updated on Youtube as much as   I have on Instagram.  However, I will be returning to my video schedule here very soon.  In the meantime, we have been carving out a place on our friends beautiful property as we build our forever home in the rainforest.  The goal is to build something self sustainable where we can grow as much of our own food to our hearts content.  I was sad about leaving behind many of my mature fruit trees but I’m glad to see wild papaya, lilikoi, carambola, noni, caribbean plum and sour orange all thriving here just beyond our doorstep.

A new friend gifted me some basil and I plant some of that and show you around our new place and its own wild nature.  Since Maria, I’ve been magnetically pulled back to what first thrilled me about living on our little rock.  Maria ravaged so much of our natural abundance here but I’m happy to report that it’s all coming back and coming back bountifully.  The beaches now have most of their sand back, late season mango that missed their initial turn are making their fragrant effort and what once stood as naked, brittle limbs now proudly display brilliant foliage setting the bees and butterflies abuzz and aflutter.

Baobab, the super fruit from the tree of life (or upside down tree) that has reigned as a life giver possessing life giving and medicinal qualities with some that are 2500 years old.  Unfortunately, in large parts of Africa the baobab tree is struggling with worrying rates of decline linked to climate change.  This decline is even more significant as these trees as notoriously resilient.  After Maria, these stood tall and untouched.  These trees are impressive to behold, some as large as houses and with so many wonderful qualities embedded in most every part of the tree, this precious tree needs to be preserved.  I am grateful that beyond the African savannah, they were introduced to my home here on my island of St. Croix.

According to researchers, they are the largest flowering tree with the greatest longevity (3,0000 years!)  They call it the “upside down tree” due to its root-like branches and they call it the tree of life as its cultural significance has been cemented it its ability to store water in their massive trunks that in turn, can quench the thirst of both human and animal, especially during the dry season along with the fact that its leaves can be eaten as a green vegetable, its bark can be used for household goods like cloth, rope, baskets, etc and both its fruit and other components can be applied as medicine.

Being rich in vitamin C and antioxidants, it has quickly become a buzz word surrounding beauty and health care products in the states.  Today, I’m breaking down some fresh baobab to harvest the pulp and collect the powder.  I most often use it in smoothie bowls or chia puddings but I also like to use it in a tropical mask by simply combining freshly foraged papaya for its enzymes, raw local honey for its antimicrobial qualities, homemade coconut yogurt for moisture, probiotics and its ability to bind the mask and lastly, the star ingredient of fresh baobab powder.

Here’s the finished product that I store in a bpa-free glass in the fridge and here’s how I did it:

Fresh fruit will generally dry on the tree.  I bring it in and typically allow it to crack open on its own.

The interior will reveal a brain like structure with a webbing of fruit fiber.  You simply disentangle the white fruit pulp from it and set them into a colander.  You can set the velvet shell aside for decorative purposes.

I simply sift the powder into a clean bowl.  You can rub the seeds together to help it along.

The seeds are also edible and can be roasted.  The pulp itself tastes like apricots to me and have been described as having a lightly tart and sweet flavor.  Their natural creaminess can be harnessed into a mylk.  If you can’t obtain fresh baobab where you are, this is also a great alternative.

What results is a food that contains 3 times more vitamin c than oranges that is rich in potassium, fiber and alkalizing power with twice the antioxidants of goji berries, blueberries and pomegranates….combined!

Truth be told, I wasn’t too concerned about self care in my early 20’s.  Thankfully at the very least, I always washed my face and moisturized but that was pretty much the extent of my self care rituals back then.  I’ve come to realize that true self care isn’t just about pretty pink bubble baths and binge eating (or not) that pile of chocolate.  It’s the nitty gritty inside out that yields long term health and happiness that I’m interested in.  The following 6 self care habits are unassumingly simple but have exponentially improved both my health and happiness .

Meditation and aromatherapy.  Meditation is something I recently started taking seriously and boy has it made all the difference in the world.  I have entire posts dedicated to this topic like Meditation 101 and Meditation Tips.  Long before meditation came into my life, aromatherapy was always there.  Nowadays, I combine the two for a truly elevated experience.

Intuitive living.  For me, this means saturating in nature, leading a minimalist life focused on experiences rather than material possessions, trusting my gut and allowing it to lead the way, being in tune with my body and wading through the very human criticisms that can sometimes obscure the path to my inherent well of spiritual desires.

Mindfulness.  Pause.  Breathe.  This is still a work in progress but even the subtle shifts have been dramatic.  This can mean anything from unplugging from social media and clearing your morning to focusing on yourself and being truly present in the moment.

A diet rich in whole foods.  Hydrating on a cellular level with fresh local abundance has brought me more in sync with nature, nourished my body and soul and has lent me a sustainable spark of energy.  Why?  How?  You can read more about this journey in my ebook, Beginner Vegan.  To take it a step further, growing your own food forges such a deep connection with the soil that produces it to the actual meals that nourish your body.

Set intentions.  This can be through a physical planner that you scribble in daily before bed or affirmations while you meditate.  Your reality is an extension of your thoughts and behaviors.  Pour love into it.

Travel.  It really is true what they say.  Travel is the only thing that you spend money on that makes you richer.  I am forever changed by the Monk in Thailand who blessed me and my husband with our Sak Yants, witnessing the majesty of the Serengeti and the lions that we were told we probably wouldn’t see, bringing gifts to the children of Narok or enjoying the best amarena gelato by the Spanish Steps with my love that I can still so vividly taste.