Author: Erin

Tomorrow?!

Posted on by Erin

This has been a super trying and difficult few weeks with hurricaneS, a wedding, and 25 family and friends. However, I would like to preface this with the fact that I am not a writer, nor do I pretend to be. I am just a girl telling my story.

I don’t even know where to begin. If you have read my previous posts you know that I am a physical therapist living on the island of St Croix, planning a wedding to my best friend, Blake.

Bear with me as a backtrack a few weeks….September 5th, our sister islands, St Thomas and St John were devastated by Hurricane Irma. we did not know why or how, but St Croix was spared the devastation. Even though we did not get as damaged or destroyed from Irma, we still had some difficulties resulting from her. Blake and I did not have power from September 5th until September 17th. During which time we slept on couches to be near the door to get some air flow, showered in buckets, made any and all food on the grill. Yes we had a roof to live under, but life was far from easy.

 

The light at the end of the Irma tunnel was the fact that September 16 was the start of the much awaited “wedding week” . September 16 we slept in a king sized bed, September 16th we slept with air conditioning, September 16th  we took showers and didn’t worry about running down the generator. September 16th we thought our problems were over and our biggest worry was how we were going to get all the family from the airport.

We did get all family members from the airport to Carambola Resort on North shore where all the family was staying to celebrate the unity of Blerin.

As soon I returned from my last run of guests back to the report, I find my fiancé at the bar and this is when I learn the Maria has turned into a Tropical Storm. The ever optimist in me says “Tropical storm, we can do, tropical storm may get us wet, but it won’t stop our wedding”.
Maria gets pushed out of the mind and the two families get to enjoy a nice family dinner together…not knowing that this would be the only one of the week.

I did not sleep at all that night. I was monitoring Maria’s every move, hoping, praying, willing Maria to move from the current path of hitting St. Croix dead on.

September 17th makes its appearance and I start the day with a morning walk with my parents on the beach collecting seaglass. It was such a beautiful morning, exactly what I envisioned our first beach day with the family to look like.

I rush to get my suit on and get down to the beach to enjoy every minute of this gorgeous day, knowing in the back of my head that this may be it for the week.(Of course I am annoyed that my rhinestone bride bikini had not yet arrived in the mail…a detail that will seem minute in a few days).

I get a few games of paddle ball in with my mom, dad and siblings . A game that is a staple in all beach adventures with our Davidson family of 5. While playing a three way paddle ball game with  Colin and my dad, I get called over by a family congregation of girls. Among which is my grandma, mom, soon to be mother in law, and aunts from both sides.

During an intervention of sorts… the idea of moving the wedding to TOMORROW (September 18th) was presented to me.

TOMORROW? I did not mentally prepare for tomorrow. Tomorrow is not what I planned. Tomorrow is too soon!

Tomorrow it is.

Let’s get married…she says.

Posted on by Erin

Hi! It’s me., Erin. It’s been a very, very long time since my last post. I have no real excuse besides the fact that I got lazy and stopped. I could say life got busy, or work was stressful, or I simply did not have time… but that would be a lie.  I was just plain lazy.

I’m currently “inspired” to write this post, due to some very unforeseen and upsetting circumstances. As Tropical Storm Maria decides what she is going to do with this island I call home, I have a lot of thoughts running through my mind.
Let’s take a step back…

November 13, 2016.
“Erin, will you marry me?”
This it the simplest question I have ever been asked. A question that I answered, without hesitation.. “yes!”.

While I have SO many stories leading up to this day, September 16, 2017, I find it most appropriate to simply start with TODAY.

I spent the majority of the day picking up and excitedly greeting my family and soon to be family. While jokes of hurricanes were thrown around, it wasn’t until about 5pm when I realized our jokes…may actually be reality.

Enter Maria. 

“Don’t get married in September, its hurricane season.”

“September?! ohhhh”

“Oh…wow..good luck!”

All statements Blake and I heard when we  excitedly announced our very special wedding date of September 21, 2017.

For 10 months, I, with the help of MANY, have planned, plotted, coordinated, created every minute detail to make this day absolutely perfect for me and Blake. It’s kind of funny how you get SO wrapped up in the details and then a potentially devastating, uncontrollable event threatens to arrise and none of those details matter anymore. Instead, I sit here thinking….I don’t care if I don’t have the special roses I ordered, or the guava filled cupcakes we loved, or if we even get to dance to “our” song…instead I sit here wondering….will we even get to be married? Will our Island be ruined? Will our family be safe?

 

Perspective.

 

More on #OfficiallyBlerin to come.

Beachbody Coach

Posted on by Erin

Hey guys! Its been a hot minute since I have posted. Life has been pretty crazy lately; mainly in the job facet of my lifeIMG_4002(but that’s for another post 🙂 .

As you most likely know, a few months ago I became a Beachbody coach. Some of you are already insanely annoyed by the increase in workout and motivational Facebook posts(sorry, not sorry). And, hopefully, some of you find it fun, inspiring, and enjoy reading it(thanks!). Either way, I am having a blast doing it.

Why Did I become a coach?

I may not have always been as fit as I am now, but I always “tried” or thought I was trying to get in shape and be healthy. While on my journey to health, I often encouraged my coworkers, family, and friends to do it with me. After all, achieving something is always more fun with someone else by your side. For years, I have unofficially been “coaching” the ones in my life towards better and health and fitness.

When the opportunity arose to be a Beachbody coach, like most people, I was very hesitant about it. I actually said no to even doing the work out programs and shakeology for AT LEAST a year. I didn’t want some girl “motivating” me to get my butt in gear when I thought that was what I was already doing. Well, it’s been one of the best decisions of my life and that “some girl” has become one of my great friends. I can’t believe it took me so long to commit.

What even is beachbody?IMG_4224

Beachbody is an umbrella name of a company that is comprises of health and wellness tools to lead a healthier life. It has well known work outs such as P90x, insanity, etc. Another large part of beachbody is meal replacement shakes (Shakeology).

What is Shakeology?

These are all natural, plant-based shakes contain phytonutrients that work to fuel the body after exercise. It also containIMG_4387s probiotics that helps regulate digestion, and essential amino acids to help repair muscle after exercise. There are several flavors and the options to create new recipes are endless. I am never bored and I now crave my shake every single day. I have been getting pretty creative with my shakes too…with my newest creation chocolate oatmeal cookie…YUM. The part about it is, it tastes like I am cheating but I am totally not! WIN-WIN-WIN!!

Why does beachbody programs have such a high success rate?

ACCOUNTABILITY!!! As a coach, I run accountability groups every month, all month long. Every-single-day I post in my groups about challenges, motivation, inspiration. My challengers ask questions, share recipes, share struggles, and they encourage each other. In this type of environment people thrive off seeing other people taking the proper steps towards health and fitness. I am having an absolute blast running these groups and learning so much!

One of the main reasons that a lot of diets and work out plans fail is because there is not accountability aspect. No one is checking in on you DAILY, seeing how you are doing, caring about your struggles, offering solutions for a better day. That’s where I come in. I LOVE seeing people succeed and if I get to be a tool to aid in someones success, even better.

Why am I on a diet?

I AM NOT! Beachbody is NOT a “diet” and it is not only for people trying to lose weight. I am at my goal weight and am firmly in maintenance mode. I have toned up quite a bit. “Diets” don’t work. You must be the change you want to see. I drink my shakeology and do my workouts daily because I have changed my lifestyle.

Don’t think at-home workouts work?

You are so wrong. I thought the same thing. I pretty much said there is no way I would ever do them and if I am not spending hours in a gym then I am not working hard enough. Oh man, I was so wrong and I am SO happy that I was wrong. I am currently doing 22 minute hard corps. It is literally 22 minutes long and I do it in my kitchen or in my front yard as I watch the sun come up. Here I am on week 8 (of 8) and I have never been so toned and strong in my life.  This brings me back to the accountability piece…it makes you WANT to do it and stay committed. I have not missed ONE day of my program (even while I was on vacation I did my 22 minute hard corps).

Haven’t worked out in a while? Don’t think you can do it?

Beachbody has hundreds of work out programs. There is something for everyone, even kids! There is a program to fit all needs/wants/goals, with different levels of difficulty based off of where you are in your fitness journey. Most work out programs also have modifiers that give you a good place to start with.

I could go on for a while..but I will wrap this up.

Lastly, being a coach and being a part of the beachbody family has completely improved my confidence and my overall mental and emotional help. It gives me complete support in everything that I do, it has reconnected me with many old friends (which has been amazing!!), and it has boosted my confidence tenfold.

 

♥Be the change you want to see. And as always beYOUtiful ♥

Loan secrets revealed!

Posted on by Erin

So after my previous post about hitting a milestone in my loan repayments,  I had a lot of people message me asking me what the secret or trick is…well unfortunately, there is no secret to paying them off quickly, but I do have a several tips that may be helpful. If I can do it, you can too! Here we go.

STEP ONE: Make a budget and stick to it!

Sit down and take a look at all your monthly expenses:  minimum loan payments, car payments, gas, groceries, rent,  going out money, etc. Anything and everything that you typically spend every month.

Now, look at your checking/saving account…do you have at least 3 months safety net if something were to happen to you?
If the answer is NO…then don’t pay extra towards your loans until you have a solid safety net.

If the answer is YES…figure out if it’s more than 3 months or exactly three months. When I sat down and looked at my numbers, I realized that I had too much money just sitting in my checking account for no reason, doing nothing! I know, I know, what a problem to have, but it’s a stupid problem and will cause me to have to pay my loans off longer.  If you fall into this category take that extra chunk money that is beyond the safety net and put it towards your loans.

STEP TWO: Organize your loans!

Make a spreadsheet of ALL your loans listed from greatest interest rate to lowest interest rate. In the spreadsheet, also, put the minimum payments down so you have everything all in one list. See the loan at the top of the list? That is where ALL you focus will go when paying extra towards your loans. Do not deviate to another loan until the highest interest loan is gone.

STEP THREE: Where does this extra money come from?

Unfortunately, student loans are not proportional to the amount you get paid(unless you are on a special income-based repayment plan). Because of this, most of us aren’t just sitting on extra money to throw towards the loans each month. Hmm…so what to do??
GET ANOTHER JOB. We are young, we are resilient, we have more energy now than we will in ten or twenty years. Take advantage of that. I have one to two additional jobs beyond my full-time 40 hour work week. I work my butt off and I am always looking for more work to do.

Do I want to go home after work and eat dinner and go to bed? YES
Do I want to pay off my loans faster than the 25 years on minimal repayments? YES

Which one do you want more?

For me, paying off my loans is my NUMBER ONE financial goal. I am NOT a financial adviser and I do not claim to be an expert, but this simple three step equation is helping ME pay off this massive amount at a much faster rate…so something must be working 🙂

Every CENT that I make (after I make sure my safety net is intact each month) goes towards the loan at the top of my list. I do not eat out as much as I used to, I do not shop as much I used to. I shop smart. Also ask yourself…is this item something I NEED or could this money goes towards my loans instead? I ask myself these questions almost EVERYDAY when I want to buy something frivolous for myself.

 

 

 

*Also, it is important to give credit where credit is due. Blake helped me organize and prioritize my loans. I would probably still be throwing my “extra money” all willy-nilly to the “lucky loan” that I randomly chose each month. In this case, don’t try to spread the wealth like I did. Reason #501 why I am grateful this wonderful man came into my life.

 

 

LOAN UPDATE

Posted on by Erin

This is a very exciting post for me. To many people, this won’t seem like an accomplishment, but I am very proud of myself.

Quick  Review!

I graduated May 12, 2012 with my doctorate degree with $200,000 in student loans. I had never felt so depressed about graduating as I did the day I opened my “debt envelopment” and read that massive number. Despite my best intentions to start paying off my loans immediately upon graduation, instead of waiting out my my “grace period” …I did not do this. (Word to the wise, if you CAN, do it! The sooner you start paying..the sooner it will be paid off…simple right?). I think about how much further along I would be had I not wasted those first 6 or so months. Ah well, you live, you learn, and you pass it on. I started paying the moment  I “had” to start paying…which was November and December 2012.

Here I am almost exactly 4 years to the date of graduation and 3.5 years since I started paying off my loans… and I am excited to report that I have dipped UNDER 100 grand!!! Wooo!

As I have explained in previous blogs, I did not pay my loans in an organized and sensical fashion the first, about, 3 years. The last 10 months, I have been paying off loans, or putting extra towards the loans with the highest interest rate and, slowly, working my way down the list. Yes, $99,394 is still A LOT of money…but it is also A LOT of progress in such a short amount of time.

According to my calculations, I have just over two years left of these pesky loans and then this huge burden will be lifted and I can start paying for other things I want, haha.

 

 

 

 

BUT, I have been forced to learn SO much about loans, money borrowing, budgets, interest rates, monthly payments…and you can’t put a price on that 😉

 

My happy place

Posted on by Erin

Everyone hatenniss a happy place. It could be the beach, maybe a vacation spot, a restaurant, the library…any place where you are content and able to put aside life and just….be.

For me…it is on the tennis court. I am so happy when I am out on the court playing tennis. It’s that one thing a week that I consistently do.

The past couple days I was in a tennis tournament. While, yes, I was extremely nervous and scared, I was so happy to be competing out there on the court.

I feel extremely blessed that I had such great friends who took time out of their Thursday and Friday nights to come support me.

Thursday I played in mixed doubles. We were supposed to start at 7pm, I think we walked on the court sometime after 9 and got off after 11. My friends could have easily said “its too late” or ” I need to go to bed” and that would have been TOTALLY understandable…but they didn’t. They stayed up past their bedtimes to cheer me on. Thanks guys.

Friday night I played women’s doubles. One of my friends brought work there to still be able to support me since my match was before the work day concluded.

The last tournament I was in, I was pretty adamant that friends do not come watch me. I was too nervous and scared. Well, I am over that now and grateful to everyone that came!

It’s fun having something you can do when you at 5, 25, 105. Tennis is a lifelong sport and I am so excited to be “back in the game” if you will.

Tennis has been a good way to meet other people on this island where we already have a common ground. I have met so many people that I probably would never had met off the court and that’s part of the beauty of tennis.

 

 

 

By the way, I lost…but I had SO much fun. And really…isn’t that the point?

My Island

Posted on by Erin

I’ve reaIMG_2033lized I have had a lot to say about the downsides of the island..but I haven’t reported on too many good things..I do like living here..honestly!

To the left..this is sometimes my gym…all year round. This is one of the beaches on the island where (on my few and far between days off) I like to do TRX classes. How many other people get to strap their TRX bands to palm trees, feel the ocean breeze as you work out, and take your mind off the pain by taking in the morning views? Not too many people that’s for sure!

 

 

IMG_2889You can go to the beach ALL YEAR LONG. We don’t have “beach season” and “summer”. Any day, week, month the beach is always an option…and that is pretty sweet. Need a quick tan for that wedding back in the states? Go to the beach for an afternoon or two and give your tan a little “booster shot”.

 

 

 

 

IMG_3184

 

This my what I wake up to daily. I open my eyes and without even getting out of bed I get to admire the beauty of a sunrise. It does not get old. Almost daily Blake or I look at eachother and say “look at the sunrise!” with same awe as we did the morning before. St. Croix is the eastern point of the United States. We are among some of the first people to watch the sunrise every day. Pretty cool!

 

 

 

IMG_3191

Here is another one of our view. It’s just too pretty for words. I am so lucky.

 

Those are some of the greatest things about living on island..the simply beauties of the world that I get to be a part of.

A few other fun/silly reasons I like living on an island in the Carribean:

  • I don’t have to have the nicest car, or even a nice car at all. No one really does. “Island cars” are real things. This saves a bunch of money.
  • Because it is nice all year round, I get to spend almost all my time(besides work) outside. Most restaurants and bars are open/outside. There are very few activities that require you to be indoors.
  • I complain A LOT less about being cold. Don’t get me wrong, I am cold right now as I write this on a mid April night in the Caribbean. To me, it cools down at night during the “winter”. Nothing a sweatshirt or a blanket can’t fix!
  • People like to visit! As we all know, I hate being away from family and friends. Living in a vacation destination, my friends and families are a lot quicker to jump at the opportunity to come see me. YAY!!!
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My number one, favorite thing about living on this island is getting to spend every day with the love of my life. I am grateful every day for him.

The Price to live in Paradise

Posted on by Erin

Okay! It’s been a hot minute since I posted. Here goes.

The price to live in paradise: It can be quite hefty.

I have been on island one year and one month. In that brief time, I have had several good friends leave the island and many factors have played a part:

  • Job Satisfaction
  • Family
  • Convenience
  • Money (both in jobs and cost of living)
  • Or maybe simply it was always a short term thing

Let’s talk about the first one real quick, as I see it a lot. Why is it so hard for professionals to find happiness in their jobs down here? The equation seems so easy. Well, when one of the main variables are missing, job satisfaction is not achieved. Imagine if several are missing? Sounds miserable.

Some people have the ability to move to paradise and not have to work as hard as they once used to. That is awesome and definitely a goal of mine. Many of us don’t have that option right now and are forced to get super creative to find job satisfaction while maintaining a particular lifestyle in this paradise.

Not everyone has the patience, time, or resources to “get creative” while pursuing job satisfaction and unfortunately this leads to a very large turn over on the island. 

Second is family. Both maintaining the family you have and the thoughts to expand your family. Being away from aging parents and close siblings can be so hard. It is something I struggle with often. If you read my family post, you know family is extremely important to me. Likewise, expanding your family down here can be super exciting, but very scary too.

Money. Ah, the root of all evil. Paradise can be expensive. Nothing else needed here.

Some people move down here knowing its temporary. It could be for the season, for a year, or simply for a week. However long, goodbye is inevitable.

It’s hard saying goodbye, and unfortunately, it is another price you pay to live in paradise. There are constant goodbyes.

We just said goodbye to yet another great couple of people. They are some of the very first people I met when I moved to this island and happened to be my next door neighbors.

I am a firm believer that if you are not happy with something in your life then fix change it. I am happy my friends are moving on to, hopefully, bigger and better things, but they will be sorely missed.

I am sure that the longer I am on island the harder my goodbyes will be.

For me, I will continue to work on being creative to maintain happiness  and continue to “pay” the prices of paradise to prevent myself from having to be the one who says goodbye. I will continue to say goodbye to people that I have created many memories with and I will continue to make to new friends.

 

 

 

 

Family

Posted on by Erin

image1 (2)I have not lived at home in about 10 years (wow, yep my 10 year high school reunion is this year!) It’s really during these 10 years that I truly discovered how important family is and how much they truly mean to me.

My parents are two of the most supportive people I know. I have made some pretty crazy decisions that may not have been the ones they would have made for me (ex: moving to St. Croix), but they have always been 100% behind me. I don’t know that I could be so comfortable traveling throughout the past few years, moving every few months, had I not had such strong familial support. I know that  I can always go home and will be welcomed with open arms…and that’s one comforting feeling. Thank you for listening for hours on end about my day, my dilemmas, my success, my failures. Thank you for teaching me the value of a dollar, the importance of hard work, and the courage to do anything. 

I am the middle child, the only girl, the rose between two thorns if you will. Those two thorns happen to be my brothers. When I was little, I would never have said having two brothers was a positive thing. Now, however, I am so grateful my parents blessed me with two extremely different, but amazing, brothers. My brothers have become my good friends. Siblings are the only people who truly know why you turned out the way you did. They are the only people that share the same life-shaping experiences. They are the only people who know what’s it like to have your parents. Siblings are also the people that still get to call you out for doing stupid stuff and not get in trouble for it. Do we still fight? Absolutely. The cool thing is, the three of us have been instilled with such strong family value, at the end of the day, we are still friends. Thank you mom and dad for my siblings.

Grandparents. Unfortunately, I never met one of my grandmothers. I hear she was an amazing lady, I am sure she has been watching over me my entire life. One of my grandfathers was also taken much too soon. He was a kind, generous man, I wish we had had more time in my adult years together. I am, however, extremely fortunate enough to have grown up with my other set of grandparents. They made it to almost every dance recital (15 years), too many sporting events to count, every graduation (I had quite a few). They have never missed a birthday, a holiday, or any day that may have been even just a little bit special to me.  Being married nearly 60 years, they have shown me what lasting marriage looks like, the work it takes to make it last, and the family that can grow from just two people. Calling them my grandparents isn’t a big enough word to describe what these two people are to me. They provide me with constant, unwavering support each and every day.  I may not tell you enough, but believe me, I know how blessed I am.

My best friend. Boy am I lucky that we were two little brats that decided to be brats together one day in 4th grade. Calling us friends is almost insulting. You are my sister, my confidant, my partner in crime, my secret keeper, my clown, my cheerleader. You are my person and that is all that needs to be said.

I am grateful for the family I have acquired over the years through my many travels. I have fully learned that family does not always mean by blood. It is this family that gets me through my day to day life. Thank you.

I have so much other family that this blog post would become a book if I wrote about everyone. Know that each family member has shaped me in some way and each member means something different to me. I am so excited my brother is getting married, giving us so many excuses to bring the whole family together for something positive.

I don’t get home nearly as much as I want to or wish I could. My heart breaks a little every time a miss a birthday, a holiday, and a family dinner. I may not get to be there for everything, but I have learned to make the absolute most of the time we do get.

On that note, I get to go home in SIX DAYS to see so much family; both given and chosen. I cannot wait.

 

 

Do you live to work or work to live?

Quote posted on by Erin

Why do you do the job you do?

Is it because…
You’re passionate about it?
You make good money?
You feel you have to?
There is nothing else to do?
It pays the bills?
You have no idea?

I fall under a few of these categories…and sometimes my answer changes, depending on how my  I feel on any given day.

I have been in a bit of a rut lately with work. I assume this happens with most people and hopefully..something happens that reminds you of why you entered your chosen career path.

I hit a milestone with one of patients last week. This patient is a unique situation, definitely not one you learn about in school. I have had to come up with all sorts of “out of the box” ideas on how to help. I find myself looking forward to my sessions, and Friday we achieved something that made me, the patient’s family member and the patient jump for joy, high five, and hoot and holler.

THAT is why I do what I do.

________________________________________________________________________________

A few days have occurred between when I started this post and now. Since then, I’ve had another session with the patient and hit another HUGE milestone.

I am grateful that I still find patients that excite me even when I am not feeling great about my job as a whole.

Back when I was living in Greenville, South Carolina, I had a patient’s family member (not from the United States) say something that resonates with me quite often.

“You Americans…you live to work…in my country…we work to live”

A large part of my move to the island was to “cease life” and “follow a feeling” rather than follow the “rules” of life I thought I had to follow. I knew I was living to work and hoped moving to the island would help me switch to “working to live”.

I was faced with the hard truth, that with hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans…I may need to spend some time living to work before I got the luxury of working to live. I’ve discovered that you pay a price to live in paradise…my price was taking a paycut. I am more stressed on this island working several jobs, making less money than I have ever made in the states…but I think my hard work will pay  off…and I will make the switch to “working to live” long before many people ever get to.

(SIDENOTE: I feel I need to add…that while my work life may be more challenging on the island, many facets of my life have greatly improved.)

 

SO, I ask you. Do you live to work or work to live? Is your path leading you to where you eventually want to be? Are you at a roadblock? If so, evaluate what you are doing and how you can change it.