Salty Sunday Swim

Today we had a blissful swim in the salty tropical waters off Miami Beach. We are so lucky to be able to walk to the beach; Mr. Wonderful just finished his summer classes and it was time to hit the water.

We swam in the ocean as kids together; whenever we go in now as adults I have a flashback to that and we turn into kids in the water. We frolic, hug; waves crash over our heads and into our noses... we walk on sand and seaweed.

The clouds were thick so it wasn't too hot;
we had a good swim under wild tropical skies
...until my meteorologist spotted the lightning.

"Party's over?" I asked. "Party's over." he answered.
Not really, we went and people-watched on Ocean Drive.


Just another Sunday afternoon in South Beach. Wish you were here!
What were you up to this weekend?

Vacating the "Vacation" Home...Off to Colorado!

Breakfast at the airport...on our way to Colorado!!!

my holiday shirt!

Our breakfast view


Hello, Lovely Friends!


Mr. Wonderful and I are blogging from the Miami International Airport this morning... what a beautiful place for breakfast: Illy coffee with whipped cream and Valhrona cocoa in Terminal H/J and we are enjoying a wall of palm-treed windows onto the world... TAM Brasil plane with signatures all over the plane body, Air France, Air Canada... I love airports!


Miami traffic speeds along the highway in the backdrop; in front of us the airport employees are driving the luggage trucks and vans and walking around the runway...we are all waking up.


Classical holiday music plays in the background and planes lift off...


We are in high spirits after LAST NIGHT: our bartender/angel on earth at the Blue Moon made us buttery nipples, (good holiday drink... just like the butterscotch candies!) margaritas, and finally, chocolate covered grasshoppers to send us on to our holidays and travel this morning...our friend who was with us also drove us to the airport, and texted for coffee please on his way to get us... ; )


Mr. Wonderful is tres excited for the winter storm on a "collision course" with Colorado... we are going to get there just in time!


How are your holiday adventures so far???

xoxo,
Miss Bliss

P.S. Here's the trip update!

How was your holiday?

image from here

Hope you enjoyed! What was your favorite moment? favorite moments???

Mine included having time to walk the beach and see the surfers ride their boards...

and watching movies with Mr. Wonderful

and a few night swims with a margarita or mojito...

and having Mr. Wonderful outdo himself with the holiday menu... I think a cooking tornado occurred in Miami Beach this Thursday... I made a pecan-topped pumpkin pie and some dark chocolate macadamia fudge, but the rest, the rest of the holiday extravaganza was in his hands and he delivered above and beyond!

My favorites were his oyster stuffing and the four cheese macaroni... and the Provence-spiced roasted potatoes, but the vegetables he used to hold up the turkey while it cooked were incredibly yummy, and so were the mashed potatoes... not to mention the french bread and brie and gouda with grapes on the side...

Fortunately we had the weather for walking the beach a lot and jumping in the pool a lot...

What moments did you enjoy most?

Perfect Saturday Evening...

1.) Mr. Wonderful making a delicious dinner

2.) The Blues! BB King, John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters, Chuck Willis... crooning into the night....lilting saxophones and jazz piano keys and electric guitar and the voices...

3.) candles flickering on the table

4.) flowers in the vase

5.) perfect red wine

6.) palm trees outside our window

7.) our neighborhood hotel bar, the Blue Moon for a few more drinks and its heated pool calling us for a night swim under the stars....

How was your Saturday night? What is your perfect weekend evening?

pics: 1,3 and 2, here

Decorating with... Love Poems

Who can resist a love poem every once in a while?

Tonight I hand-wrote out a few (edit: previously published ones...) to hang in our beach apartment

in order to surprise Mr. Wonderful, especially with one of our faves.

Here you go:


Love is a place
& through this place of
love move
-with brightness of peace-
all places

yes a world
& in this world of
yes live
-skilfully curled-
all worlds.

-e.e. cummings


Do you have a favorite love song or love poem?

Have a lovely day...

image from: here

Pumpkin-liciousness and loving fall...

source

Yesterday Mr. Wonderful and I went off to Boca Raton to pick up a Craigslist purchase I had been eyeing: an adorable vanity.
Will post soon, promise. ;)

On our way back, we stopped in Ft. Lauderdale at a Farmer's Market, Brother's, on Stirling Road and 7. Almost missed it because it is a bit hard to spot, attached to some other place that is closed, but I am soo glad we stopped and found it. Our refrigerator looks a lot like a farmer's market now. Profusion of pears, abundance of apples, melee of mushrooms, chock-full of cilantro and cucumbers, well, you get the idea.

The pumpkins outside were enormous!

For now, I am happily done with a day of teaching, and Mr. Wonderful is done with class and on to the UM Atmospheric Club! I am soooo excited for him; this is his second club meeting.

To come from where we started in Miami this time last fall to this year and its events is nothing short of exhilarating!

Did I say I was excited that he has an"Atmo" Club to enjoy??? Have I mentioned that the love of my life was so worth the wait?

cheers,
Miss Bliss

Well, Hello There! Summer update

I've missed you! Mr. Wonderful took me on a little road trip, one that involved bubbling in-room jacuzzis, and a visit to Greenville, SC, for the first time to visit family who just moved there.

The time since I last blogged has included:

1.) hosting a niece, nephew, and friend sleepover, (in our tiny beach apartment!)...it was their FIRST slumber party. They rocked out.

2.) floating in the ocean and getting more than my fair share of sun

3.) visiting family and hanging out on the back porch in South Carolina

4.) shopping at outlets along I-95

5.) losing one of our kitties :( it was Mr. Wonderful's "baby"... only 3 1/2. He spent several nights at the vet and was diagnosed with kidney problems and wasn't going to get better.

6.) having some serious drinks after that happened...

7.) then taking the road trip, which I thought was good to get our minds off what just happened instead of being in the newly changed house...

8.) seeing my step-dad fight neuropathy, and my mom taking amazing care of him...

9.) seeing my hubby and parents have the best visit ever since it was just the four of us for the first time since we got married... every other visit has been a major life event not really allowing a quality time kind of visit...

10.) riding along I-95 and listening to Mr. Wonderful sing along with the radio to songs such as "Come From a Long Line of Lovers..."

and I will leave you with those lyrics:

I bought a beautiful diamond ring I offered it to the sweetest thing I know
And she said she would take it
We started making some wedding plans she looked at me and she took my hand
And said are you sure we can make it
I said my grand dad's still in love with my grandma
I said my dad still thinks my moms the sweetest thing he ever saw

I come from a long line of love
When the times get hard we don't give up
Forever is in my heart and in me blood

You see I come from a long line of love

Years went by and we had a son now he thinks he found someone for him
And they're planning a wedding
He called me up on the phone today just to see what I had to say to him
Did I think he was ready?
I said what his grandfather used to say to me
Its been handed down for ages it runs in our family

You come from a long line of love
When the times get hard we don't give up

Forever is in your heart and in your blood
Son you come from a long line of love
We come from a long line of love

dancing in the rain in your swimsuit

right now my 8 year old nephew and 37 year old husband are outside in the rain here in South Beach; when my nephew asked if he could put his suit on and go out in the rain, we said, WHY NOT?

we just finished a morning of no tv, etc, and talking about the importance of using your own imagination...

so now my hubby has donned his cowboy hat...(hello Colorado state of mind) and he and the neph are exploring the gently rain soaked world.... it is a soft musical rain...

life is good... my heart is happy... they said they just saw "the biggest puddle on the planet!"

to see an 8 year old enjoy walking around barefoot in the rain, and stick his head under a gutter of rain water, because he could, because his aunt said, okay, and start asking questions about the world out there, hanging out with his uncle and lizards and tropical life and bugs, puddles to splash...

we are happy to be making such memories for him (and us...)

This life of yours: sum up in ten words!

There's a lot in just a few words... :)

Soul Pancake posted a good question: what is your ten word biography?

My little draft for today:

Decided lover, ocean-goer, sister, aunt, writer, reader, good-chocolate-lover.

Okay, I couldn't get it under ten words this time! Maybe if I combined writer and reader into "intellectual" ? ;)

It's hard... what's yours for today?

"hope has you covered" Nesting...

"Hope has you covered" found on shutter sisters, by photographer Jen Lemen.
Thanks to Jen for permission to use here!

These images are so powerful to me... I've never seen birds right out of the egg before like this. It made me think of my next youngest sister, and her children. The birds seem so ugly yet so beautiful! That's not why they make me think of family, though... ;) Somehow these bald and somewhat fuzzy baby birds immediately made me think of her... a tough "chick", yet super tender right beneath the surface. And, since her kids came along, showing more tenderness than ever... These birds and my sisters and I have/had a long way to go from that "hatching" stage, and lots of love was immediately formed at the beginning of our young lives.

Are these birds hugging??? Mr. Wonderful says, well, they are huddling together, they don't necessarily hug, but if they lean up against each other, they conserve body heat. How's that for the science answer ;)

When we fell in love, "Lean on Me" was one of the songs playing on what we think of as our magical soundtrack everywhere we went that weekend... "Lean on Me" played continuously... everywhere! The KIND Coffeehouse in Estes Park, CO, the sushi place by the Butterfly Pavilion he surprised me with going to... He actually made some jokes with me about doing the bright bits in his nest to say, join me, I am ready to nest, like birds do... when I went to visit on that fateful trip, he had Belvedere's Belgian chocolate, Lush, eucalyptus aromatherapy essential oil over the candles, Tea Tree Paul Mitchell shampoo... not to mention Harry Connick Jr. "For Once In My Life"... and the instantaneous beautiful snow fall as we drove up from Boulder to Nederland, well, you know it was all over... ;)


These little birds, my sister and niece and nephew, my Mr. Wonderful--we'll continue to lean on each other, and I hope you have wonderful people to lean on, too. Sometimes we just have to hang in there and do just that, swallow our egos, enjoy the ride and hold on to the important people in our lives....


Thanks to Jen for the beautiful and inspiring pictures!!! Check her out!!! Do you have a favorite photo or photographer??? What picture really resonates with you?

Back To School!!! Summer School, for starters!

Have I *mentioned* that Mr. Wonderful

got accepted into University of Miami?????

(where I earned my master's in creative writing?)

He is now a... 'Cane!!!

Have I mentioned that we went and got him registered for summer classes??????

Have I mentioned how happy we are about this????

For beautiful vintage postcards of the campus,

click here.... and Enjoy!!!

Is Lilly worth it? ----Splendid Spring and Summer Dresses--for the little girls in your life

Here are my favorites from the Lilly summer collection for girls... (as I describe later-- not so much a fan for adults right now.)

So, Mr. Wonderful and I are *hoping* for a baby. I have three younger sisters, and hope for a little boy, after having my nephew in my life. Although I am dreaming of a little one, (and hoping for a boy,) these dresses are just too cute.



I am not too sure about Lilly Pulitzer for adults; I suppose that is because when I first became familiar with the brand, it was through seeing little girl's dresses in the Palm Beach, FL, area. So, I just love their classic shift with all the adorable prints, just for little girls. And the four-almost-five year old niece I have doesn't like dresses... or pink... just purple, and pants that are soft and good for bike-riding. :)


I like the one with coral, and the vintage lace ones, and the hot pink... some of the vintage ones available on e-bay, etc. are adorable, too.


Which ones are your favorites? Is it too much to spend for a child's dress? (They start around $100, hence I was thrilled to find them 2nd hand for my niece for 5 dollars) Or is it worth it if you love it?

breakfast in bed

Miss Bliss writes: This morning, before I went off to teach, I was spoiled with breakfast in bed. Mr. Wonderful made DELICIOUS broccoli cheddar omelettes with cracked pepper. No excuse for not waking up...

It is so nice to be loved! By the way, our friend in New Mexico tells us sometimes, well, that could rot your teeth... We know. We figure somebody needs to be happy. :) Score!

Starry Beach: Savoring Bliss

One of the best moments of my life to date:

Mr. Wonderful and I walk to the beach, a few blocks from home, and watch the moon rise over the turquoise water. We are snuggling on the sand, coating ourselves with it, and not worrying about getting all sandy....

The ocean water lulls us into total relaxation, we listen to the waves and hold each other. The lights on Ocean Drive come on, and the moon light shines on our skin and the sea. We just stay there, not rushing, just listening to water, feeling the breezes, just breathing... and the stars come out...

Just one moment of our lovely life. We marveled over how people buy cds to hear the ocean, and we just walk there, soaking it all in. We stopped for a glass of red wine and an "Almond Joy" on the way home at the Blue Moon...why not... life is meant to be savored one drop at a time...

How do you savor life?

xo xo,
Miss Bliss

patience, my dear! on breathing, healing, and going back to school

Dear Kind Readers,

Mr. Wonderful is going back to school. The road has been a bit bumpy, but he is hanging in there. I thought for sure this would be a brilliant idea, because imhyao, he is brilliant, an absolute genius for sure. Studying his passions in a university environment would be something he would enjoy, I was certain. He wants to do weather and environmental research, and basically advise the weather announcers what is going to happen. He is all about weather and science, marine, tornadoes, you name it. The above images make sense to him, and fascinate him. Just having the conversations with professionals and experts is an experience I want him to have. The degree would just be the paper work to open doors in order to do what he loves...

He is a true renaissance person: sciences (atmospheric, earth, etc), history, politics, photography, writing, you name it. After we got together, I thought, I WANT him to have the opportunity I had in going to college. (He went to the Coast Guard right after high school, then worked, then went to theology school, then worked, then volunteered, and worked, gave his all to a church, all at the same time, you get the idea.)

He was able to visualize going back to school after some months, and was finally willing to apply and take time off work for going back to school at age 36. I also have a work benefit for spouses to go to school, with a substantial chunk of tuition covered.

Part of the reason I returned to Miami, with him in tow :), was for him to go back to school.

As I say, there has been a bump or two in the road. And I love him so much, and it is hard to see any bumps. We did not sign up for any more bumps. So basically, it has taken longer to get the process going than we expected. I am afraid he has gotten a bit taken aback with it all.

I do think things have unfolded a certain way for a purpose, and I have been hoping to get him to de-stress along the way and he has. That has been very important for his health! Just breathing and dreaming was his job, I told him. For the first time in his life, after giving more than was imaginable his whole life, I just wanted this childhood love/love of my life- of mine to breathe and heal from our unbelievable life stories.

This week we will learn more, and he will be on his way, I project. Any support you want to send him on his way back to school, now entering late thirties, and rethinking all our "masculine" and "marital" stereotypes, would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

We have basically said screw it to all the "shoulds" of everyone else's, and decided to live life on our own terms from here on out, and we just need the universe to catch up, on his school entry front.... but again, I know the timing has been right, and just love him so much and do not want the timing being different than expected to get him down.

I told him, yes, it's a pain, and anything worth doing is not so easy or everyone would do it. This process is not easy, but worth doing, we both agree. We are on the way, just doing things our own way, in our own timing. There is no rush, I keep saying to him, we have the rest of our lives, and it is not about pressure. The trip when I first saw him two years ago, and we knew we'd get married, we agreed, there had been "enough bullshit to date."

Now, on to the bliss................

deciding on joy: a love story just beginning

Philly Sunday School troublemakers circa 1984!

Miss Bliss writes:

We can't control a lot in our lives, but Mr. Wonderful and I keep refocusing on the joy. Mr. W and I went to elementary school (and spent all of our childhoods together) near Philadelphia, and parted ways soon after when my parents split up.

Although we only saw each other periodically in our teens, for *some reason* he stopped off in the midwest to see me on his way to California for the Coast Guard right out of high school. (now we joke about how I should have just jumped in the car and joined him for the trip across the country...that would have saved a lot of trouble for us both for the next 17 years!)

We would not see each other again until our early 30's. When our little school had a reunion, I flew from Miami to Philly to attend. Sadly, Mr. W. was not attending since he was busy moving to Colorado.

Still, he invited me to visit in Colorado, and I accepted, never dreaming I was about to have a most wonderful reunion and be visiting my soon-to-be husband.

I flew from Miami to Denver this time of the year two years ago, and he says he knew when I crossed the street where he was waiting for me. We were married two months later, and I moved to Colorado. (the orchids on the right are his photo from our honeymoon!)

Now we are in Miami, and open to adventures, of course.

I get caught up with worrying, sometimes, and he reminds me, we aren't going to worry about any of that stuff...

We consider ourselves "two years old" in love, that is. We are embracing life, and relearning to see the world fresh... so much joy to be felt. When we first hugged, he said, "Where have you been?" I knew what he meant. We had finally come home to each other.

top photo credit: zazzle

Birthdays and the Narcotic aka Ben and Jerry's

Miss Bliss writes:

Mr. Wonderful did have a great birthday... we especially enjoyed the Ocean Drive drinks: Modelo beer and rum punch. I am looking forward to our next year of his life together and hope it is his happiest yet.

The other night, he kindly walked to our little South Beach bodega and brought back Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk for me and Ben and Jerry's Banana Split for him. I read the ingredients, but they did not the list the narcotic they obviously put in their product... guess it's just the chocolate.

"Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos." -Don Kardong

pic source

bliss seekers

I once read a book called Girl Seeks Bliss, and it made a lot of sense! So much non-bliss automatically falls in our laps, we have to arrange some bliss and be able to have free time for bliss to just cross our paths!

Last night my Mr. Bliss, aka the chocolateshoesandcoffee poster, (and founder!) made me some Ghiradelli Double Chocolate brownies, and kicked it up with dark chocolate M and M's on top. Yum!


For my birthday this year, he bought me a two month yoga card I requested... sadly I haven't been going as much as I should, but we are coming up on some time off, and I will be able to use it a lot more. Looking forward to the yoga happy body during our time off, and lots of beach walks, salty swims, and writing.


Hope you are having a blissful weekend!


What brings you bliss???

Valentine's dinner

For Valentines, we went to an Indian restaurant at 530 Ocean Drive; it was called Ishq, "love."
We lucked into a table that was not right on the crowded sidewalk, but a bit off from it; we were still able to enjoy the ocean breezes and people watching as always.

G. ordered our drinks; they were special V-day versions: a Malini, a sparkling wine with candied ginger, A Shalimar, an amazing saffron infused vodka martini with almond and cream liqueurs, espresso, accented with espresson, vanilla and rose essence infusion, and a sugar and red spiced rim. It may sound a bit busy, but no, it all worked together for blissful yumminess. The candied ginger in the champagne was exquisite!

These drinks were sooo good. A martini with espresso? Who would have thought of this? Ishq did. We had two.

For appetizers, we enjoyed some coconut Naan bread with an assortment of spreads, including spicy mango chutney and pickled mango. We had the appetizer sampler: samosa, aloo chat, a cucumber and chickpea/yogurt salad; vegetable bhajia tikki, and a potato creation. Delicious!

We shared the goan snapper with tumeric dusting, in a coconut curry sauce, with a steamed basmati rice, and we ordered this plate spicy... YUM. One of the wait staff tried to give us plates to share the order, but we opted for the romantic Valentine's route of sharing our plate.

No room for dessert, but no worries, G. had picked up some Ghirardellia 60% cacao Dark squares with caramel on my birthday, Friday the 13th. Lucky for me!

The service here is the BEST we have had in SoBe, and G. says the fish is the best thing he has had in SoBe. Blissful Valentine's dinner for lovers of bliss.

reclaiming joy

today my sweet husband did laundry... crisp clean sheets are one of my favorite things... the first night you sleep on them is the best... that moment of crawling in when the day is over and being covered with soft sheets to snuggle in for the night... another favorite thing is having him shake the sheets out over me to tuck me in... those seconds when the sheets hover over the air and settle over my skin... happy stuff... the little stuff is so good...

...like a few pieces of cold dark Hershey's chocolate from the fridge tonight...

I have another birthday! Another wonderful thing to celebrate.

I've been wondering about my childhood years... do not have a lot of photos of childhood and wonder, just wonder, about who I really was back then, before the analyzing mind started, just happy as a kid before life was serious and I started working on not having it be so serious.

Step by step and moment by moment we are reclaiming joy in life.
I had no problem totally freaking out about how things "should be"...an easy mode to spin one's wheels in...

what if things go wrong, we ask ourselves, I say now, and what if they don't; what if we end up truly happily ever after? and this is happily ever after... each day, each moment, right now... sitting next to each other on the couch and being held and loved.

tonight I came home and he insisted I stop doing it all and join him on our new couch, and both cats were on the couch with us, completely asleep, snuggled into sleep, this is our little family now, and it is wonderful...