How's married life?

The first time someone asked that question I didn't know how to respond! How can you condense the newlywed experience adequately into one word or even a sentence? Exactly what do you tell them? I always feel a bit awkward answering this question. Home life is such an intimate side of ourselves, especially for private people like Johnny and I. (This statement coming from someone making a post that all of cyberspace will read. Eyes rolling.) Privacy aside though, married life is pretty spectacular! It has been full of tender moments, trimmed and flickering candles, soft rose petals, chocolates, and small violins playing low romantic music in the background. Cue to the child "Ewwing," and you have a pretty good picture of how married life has been treating us! Living life together in full marital bliss has been one amazing adventure wherever we find ourselves! Which just happened to be at South Smyrna Beach in Florida, where we were vacationing this past weekend! It was like being on our honeymoon again; holding hands, togetherness, and being all twitter pated like two love birds (that's a Disney reference for being crazy in love.).... Hahaha...at least, that's how we were most days outside of the 9am-5pm "Happy Cloud" window when Johnny wasn't learning how to paint "Happy Little Trees" and I wasn't enjoying the life of a beach bum. This is also a subtle reference to Bob Ross and our real intention for vacationing at the beach.

Bob Ross was an oil painter on PBS in the 1980's. He had a show called "The Joy of Painting" where he taught people how to paint an oil landscape in 30 minutes or less. He became very memorable not only for his painting, but also his humorous phrases and big hair. There is a Bob Ross remix on YouTube that is really hilarious and illustrates these characteristics. His style of painting and method of teaching have also become pretty popular and are taught at the South Smyrna Beach studio. This studio offers a certification course to anyone wanting to become a Bob Ross instructor, which interested Johnny, because he wants to expand his painting skills to other mediums. It takes three weeks to become certified as an instructor and participants are in class five days a week from 9am to 5pm.

Now you understand the "Happy Cloud" window.... and I know what you are thinking, "That's a lot of time to spend apart." You're right, but I handled it like a newlywed champ.... and probably put the best pouting two year old to shame when faced with the pending separation anxiety.... we're talking feet stamping against the floor, little fists flailing in the air, leg anchoring, and the full water works...okay that's a huge exaggeration, but it was fun to write :) In truth, for a couple that work opposing shifts we spend a lot of our time apart, which has become normal for us. I'm not saying I like it, but I do think it makes us spend our time together in more quality ways! Such as breakfast while we were on vacation. I got up early almost every morning to walk with Johnny, hand in hand, across the street to his class and eat breakfast with him at the "Wake Up Café." (Cute name huh?) For those of you who know me well, you know that getting up early, usually before 10am is a real act of interest and love. Breakfast at the Wake Up Café was our way of spending quality time in the morning. This was such a cool little café too! The restaurant was family owned and sort of sprang up from nothing. The people in there were so nice and attentive! They were oriented to sponsoring starving artists too by displaying the photography of local high school students. I ended up buying one that I really liked! If you are ever in South Smyrna, this is definitely a restaurant to pop into for breakfast!

Of course, when we finished breakfast, there was another moment of separation anxiety, which was only made better by a goodbye kiss and my recon. mission from Johnny; to find our evening entertainment and the pursuit of hunting through the shops along the beach. (I exaggerate only a little bit this time.) The shops on Flagler Avenue will certainly be getting more of my attention next time. I took my job seriously and my investigations led to there own mini adventures in the evenings when we were together. (I'll save those stories for another day though.) We really wanted to see dolphins while we were there, but we didn't have the best luck, even when we went to a restaurant called "Dolphin View." You would think with a name like that you'd see at least one dolphin, but I chalk it up to false advertising when night #2 at the restaurant was a bust. :(

Everyday, I took a break from my laborious shopping and exploration to walk back over to the studio and have lunch with Johnny. I loved his enthusiasm over his class and listened attentively to all the exciting new skills and challenges he was experiencing. Sometimes I'd even get to see his handiwork displayed on more than just his canvas. Thank goodness for baby wipes and that oil paints don't dry or he would be needing some new clothes. (Personally I don't think he needs them, but society might get distracted. :D ) For all the jesting though, I'm very proud of his work! He learned a new painting every day he was there and each one turned out beautiful, even wall worthy! Of course, he still has two more weeks before he completes the full certification course, but that just means there will be more future beach bumming and shopping for me also!



Our View from the Hotel

I won't lie... I now understand the hype about Florida and the attraction of living at the beach. Our hotel was right on it and the view from the balcony actually faced the ocean. It was a very serene and peaceful view from our perch above. We had plenty of sun and a constant breeze to temper the heat. I think we actually were graced with weather cooler than the usual thanks to the Tropical Storm blowing in from the Atlantic. The temperatures stayed in the 70-80's throughout the week and even rained on a couple occasions...the nice thing about Florida storms is that they stop as soon as they start.


Our stake and claim!

Florida isn't without a few drawbacks though... I don't know if I could part with the hills and mountains of Tennessee. The flatness of Florida is a bit overrated and don't get me started about the sand fleas. Apparently, they loved me and my O + blood, because I was their constant snack when we walked the beach in the evenings. I learned partway through the trip that "Skin So Soft" is supposed to work wonders as a deterrent. (I'm tucking that nugget away for our future trip.) The sand fleas aside though, the beach was very pleasant. We played in the surf for most of our first day there and I'm sure we stuck out as tourist for it, because we must have spent hours jumping into the waves as they rolled in and we were knocked over by them. SO MUCH FUN! And of course, no trip to the beach as a couple is complete without a heart in the sand with your initials! We claimed several areas on the beach with hearts, because I'm also a bit of a perfectionist and had to have the perfect shot. Johnny humored me (or was just really patient!) I don't care, because the perfect picture now graces Facebook as my cover photo! I've included it here with a few of my other favorites from the trip.



Sitting in the lap of a Shrimp Gentleman. His wife is
gaping in the background!

Another of my favorite pictures, was taken just outside this restaurant called Dixie Crossroad. The picture is of me sitting in the lap of a shrimp I fondly named, "Gumbo." Isn't it cute? Johnny always likes to try out the local foods when we go places, so we took the opportunity to meet up with some of our Floridian friends and try out this restaurant they recommended for its authentic Floridian food. What's awful is that I don't even remember what I ordered, only that it was good. I blame the stimulating conversation with our friends and the distraction of the big fish/turtle pond outside the restaurant for my lack of memory. The restaurant actually provided pellet food to guests who wanted to feed the fishes and turtles. That too was lot of fun! Johnny humored me again and let me throw in his fish food too. Unfortunately, it was too dark for decent pictures. :(



This is only halfway to the top!

The last story and pictures I'll share (since this blog has become quite long) will be from our field trip to the Ponce Inlet Light Station. A lighthouse still operating on the Florida coast and open to the public for tours. Johnny and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to experience this piece of history and scaled all 203 spiral steps of "Certain Falling Death" to the top for its view. I love this picture because of the cool effects of the stairs and our flip flops (which they advised not to wear.) My prized picture however, will not be of the view from the top of the lighthouse (which was very beautiful), but below of Pirate Johnny! Aarrr, Matey! I simply couldn't resist posting this! He put the hat on in the gift shop and I had to snap a picture! This has to be one of my favorites from the trip, because it perfectly illustrates the type of relationship that we have, which is constant play, kidding, and fun! He is always doing something to make me laugh and I love that!

So I guess if anyone asks me, "How's married life?" These pictures are pretty evident of how it's going; adventurous, comical, romantic, and wildly fun!