love and rum // lime & coconut

Luke and I are high school sweethearts. Long story short I asked him to our senior prom, he reluctantly said, "okay," and the rest is history...or something like that. Because of this fact, Luke and I are lucky enough to have a huge group of the same friends from high school. They're the kind of people you know way too much about and in turn know way too much about you. The kind of people who, regardless of how much time has passed or how scattered we are across the country (seriously from Minnesota to Florida to Washington to Colorado to West Virginia), the second we get together it's like no time has passed at all.

Last summer, the lot of us flew down to the US Virgin Islands for the wedding of one of our own. We spent our days in the warm, turquoise waters, toes in the white sand, eating big family-style dinners, and drinking fruity, rum drinks. The Virgin Islands is known for producing rum. In fact, they are so proud of their rum that we were all offered numerous shots of varying flavors, from banana to coconut, upon our arrival at the airport. We, of course, after hours of stressing out about possibly missing our connecting flight in Miami just to make it in time, took them up on their offer, and thus began the best trip of our lives.

So we spent our days cramming nine people into a five-person Jeep (yes, you read that right), beach-hopping, hiking, sipping rum out of glasses and actual coconuts, and celebrating our dear friend Bryant and his new wife, Jenny. On a side note, I have literally never met two people more meant to be together. The phrase two peas in a pod doesn't even begin to describe their relationship. I remember saying more than once that I felt so lucky to be there, the most beautiful place I've ever been, with my most favorite people. I could have cried...in fact I probably did because, well, you know, the rum was really flowing in our hilltop villa, and ya know what else was flowing? The love. So this is to those people. The ones I see just a few times a year. The ones who will keep my secrets, will laugh with me, will keep me feeling forever young, will have my back always. The ones who will be in our life forever. These types of friendships are rare, so if you're lucky enough to find it, hold on for dear life...and maybe go to the Virgin Islands, where the love and rum are always flowing.

L I M E & C O C O N U T
from The Beach Bar in Cruz Bay, St. John USVI

This was the specialty drink served at The Beach Bar in Cruz Bay. We stopped by after one of our days at the beach. We showed up exhausted, sun-kissed, skin covered in dried sea salt, and we sat at the bar knocking these back one after another. It is creamy and fruity and I was sure after we left we'd never have something like it again. When Luke and I got back to West Virginia and started missing our friends we decided to figure out how to make our beloved tropical drink on our own, only to discover that The Beach Bar had it posted on their website. Well that was easy enough. So we sat on outside, just like we did at The Beach Bar, and we knocked back one after another, imagining a colorful sunset, and the warmth of being surrounded by some of our favorite people.

I N G R E D I E N T S

1.5 oz Cruzan coconut rum
2 oz. Rose's lime juice
1 oz. Coco Lopez
1/4 of a lime (rind and all)
splash of Sprite
slice of lime for garnish
1 c. ice

D I R E C T I O N S

Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Putting the entire lime in the blender unpeeled is key to the flavor. Enjoy immediately!