Two And Half Trips Within Two Weeks!

First We Headed to…

Jaco, Costa Rica for my birthday! What a beautiful area. The people were kind and the only issue we had was trying to navigate all those zeros on their money (oh and some guy who sang a little song about seeing too many lesbianos.*insert eye roll*)

We stayed in an Airbnb which was housed in a housing complex where it appeared to be a residence for the Ticos (the locals). There was a pool and hot tub at the entrance of the complex. We were never able to get in either of those because they stayed relatively full all day. The temperature stayed in the upper 80s. We instead chose to dip into the ocean waters at Jaco Beach. Many local families were there enjoying the beach as well. The water was warm, but the sand was a bit rocky.

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  Jaco Beach

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  Strike a pose

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We had plenty choices for places to eat, but my favorite meals were eaten at the sodas, the “mom and pop” restaurants, located on roads just beyond the main strip. We spent our days strolling up and down the strip, enjoying iced coffee or ice cream. I fell in love with a restaurant called The Green Room. The vibe was really chill and they had live music every night we were there.

The Green Room

We decided to go to Manuel Antonio National Park as an excursion. A chartered bus picked us up nice and early and drove us about an hour and a half away to a restaurant where we had a light breakfast. As soon our group, which consisted of us and two families with older children, our tour guide met us at the restaurant to take us to the long line of people waiting to enter the park. Our guide had someone holding our spots and I was SO glad because the line was SUPER long and it was SUPER hot outside. While we waited in line we saw the cute but mischievous monkeys as they plotted how to steal food from the people in the picnic table area.

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  Sneaking up in the background

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  Sloth as seen through our guides telescope

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  Happy to be hiking

This park was so awesome and we were so thankful to have the guide. He pointed out spiders, frogs, hummingbirds and the absolute best sight–the sloths! Especially the baby sloths. We would have never seen these were it not for his guidance as well as his high powered telescope. After the tour we played at the beach and then headed back to the restaurant for lunch before the long ride back to Jaco.

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  Yummy! Costa Rican Food

The last night there we stayed up the whole night because we had a very early flight. Costa Rica truly showed us “Pura Vida” and I look forward to the day I can return.

Sunset at Jaco Beach

In Two Weeks We Were Off To…

Bali!! The beautiful Bali. First we spent our days in the beach area of Seminyak. It was sooo busy with people and stores and restaurants! And scooters! So many scooters! I welcomed our time at the beach which was very peaceful and calm. We stayed at Uma Sapna which was in a great location. Off the heavily trafficked area of “Eat Street” (Jalan Oberoi also called Jalan Laksmana) although only a short walk. We had a villa with our own little plunge pool. The pool was small but just large enough to enjoy a dip after walking in the hot Bali sun. I loved the friendliness of the people and the smell of incense that wafted from their spiritual offerings that lay everywhere along the streets.

One night we were there we went to check out the gay nightlife which was a short taxi ride from our villa. The area was packed and there were drag shows and people just enjoying a beer. The only annoying thing was all the cigarette smoke we had to endure at every bar and restaurant. We have gotten used to that not being a thing where we live. We still managed to have a good time though. I pride myself on being a decent navigator so when we were ready to leave I suggested we walk back. It was dark, but we felt safe and made it back with no incident.

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  Fun in the Sun

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  Seminyak Beach

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  Happy Hour

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  Bottoms Up Lounge

Highlights of this leg of our trip were parasailing at Nusa Dua Beach (unfortunately we have no pictures), visiting the huge sculpture at GWK Cultural Park, where we saw traditional dancing, and going to Padang Padang Beach where the water was calm and the monkeys were gangsta.

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  GWK Park

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  Traditional dancers

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  GWK Statue

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  Entrance to Padang Padang Beach

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  Padang Padang Beach

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  A monkey drinking someone’s bottle of tea

After Seminyak we headed to the more peaceful Ubud. Our host was the gracious Putu who made us feel as though we were in the home of a relative. Our rooftop room was beautiful and the view was amazing. Once again we chose a prime location for our stay. We were just off the main street and were able to walk short distances to the Ubud market, bars and restaurants. We were able to hear live music every night.

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  Monkey Forest Road

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  Traditional home cooked meal

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  Breakfast at Putus

Putu brought us breakfast every morning and even made us a traditional home cooked meal the night before we left.

Creating a fiber arts project with the people who traditional create the art is one of the things on my bucket list. So I signed us up to learn how to make Batik. We traveled to Denpasar and sat with women and men who create this beautiful art. We were shown how to make the picture of our choosing. My mouth dropped when I saw the image she chose because there were so many lines that would have to be traced with wax. Then painted. The process was calming and I was very proud of how our pieces turned out.

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Next Up…The 1/2 Trip…

I was sad to leave Bali, but we were headed to our new adventure. A day and a night in Taipei City, Taiwan. I was very nervous about visiting Taiwan because we know nothing about their language or culture. But it turned out to be an amazing trip. We stayed in a studio in the bustling area of Wanhua District. The night we arrived I was tired and she was hungry. Thank goodness I wasn’t starving because all that we could find were places that offered pork or beef noodles.

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The next day, using iffy GPS and my sense of direction we found a place that sold all vegan food! We ate there, then found some delicious bubble tea. I like how they asked how sweet would you like your tea based on percentages from 0-100%. She got 30% and I went with 70%! Next we found a bookstore that was in this mall. I was in heaven! There were no bookstores to be found on my previous trips. Believe me, I looked.

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There were a ton of 7/11s, so we stopped in one and bought 2 cans of Taiwanese beer. Then headed back to the Airbnb studio before leaving for our 15 hour flight back home.

We Tied The Knot!

August 31, 2017. We did it! We were chatting about the future and trying to decide what we’d want this day to be like. We were set on August 2018, but then looked at each other and almost in unison asked, “Why wait?”

We chose to get married on the anniversary of the first day we met. City Hall would be the location–followed by a photo shoot in downtown Chicago. Her friend from high school offered to be the photographer and met up with us right before the ceremony. Just to think, when we first met, marriage for same sex couples wasn’t federally legal.

As you can see by the heavy grins in the photo it was a great day. We plan to have an anniversary party for friends and family this August. We didn’t intend for it to be a secret wedding, but we decided to tell only after it was done. Some friends felt slighted but this day was 100% about us. We’ll get those friends fed and full of booze in a few weeks.

Back Seat Driving On The Bourbon Trail

Drunken Fun in Kentucky

Friends of ours invited us to ride with them for a quick trip to Louisville, KY to experience the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. They, like us, are a Black Lesbian couple and at no point during our wonderful weekend did this become anything of issue. We spent the whole day Saturday and a portion of the day on Sunday visiting distilleries along the trail. Each distillery offered a unique experience and were very enjoyable.

Here’s a recap of our trip:

June 10 12:30pm

Our first stop was the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. At the front desk we obtained our Kentucky Bourbon Trail Passports. The passport contains pages for the ten distilleries that are members of the trial. Evan Williams provided two options for tours, a one hour and a 30 minute tour.  We chose the 30 minute one so we could hit up as many distilleries as possible. After purchasing our tickets we were lead down some stairs and after one of the guys in our group was given the password we were allowed into the secret space.  We were transported back in time to a 1920’s speakeasy.  Our guide, who was dressed as a 1920s bartender was very enjoyable and knowledgeable. He offered healthy tasting pours and partook in the shots along with us. We left with a little buzz and a free glass.

1:45 pm

After a hot and sweaty trek up Main St. we headed to Angel’s Envy. Which had up to this point been my favorite choice for bourbon. Angel’s Envy just recently joined the Bourbon Trail in February and has an online only reservation policy. Unfortunately, they were completely sold out for Saturday and Sunday. We just got our passports stamped, took a few pics and trudged back to where we were parked.

3:00 pm

We took the scenic 15 minute drive, directions supplied by GPS and arrived at Stitzel-Weller home to the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience.  Unfortunately, Bulleit only offers one hour tours and the small tasting portion was not a great reward for this hot, slightly boring tour. Bulleit should learn from the other distilleries and offer a shorter option to the visitors who are just trying to learn about the bourbon and not all the history about where the founder grew up and attended school. I did taste a bourbon that I really enjoyed and stood out because one of the people in our party remarked, “Mmm hmm!” after sipping it. After this tasting it was time for lunch. We tried out Seafood Lady and ordered the Full Combo- one crab claw, shrimp and some fries and hush puppies. Meh…

6:00pm

What a fun place Jim Beam is! It’s very modern and located on the very touristy 4th St. We decided not to do the tasting but instead just sat down for cocktails. One of us ordered a ginger ale slushie and two of us ordered Kentucky Mules. We got two drinks on the house and chose a double shot of  Knobs Creek Single Barrel Reserve and I think they got the Jim Beam Black Label.

June 11 2:00 pm

Day two and we’re ready for more tasting! This leg of the journey lead us to Lawrenceburg, KY to Four Roses Bourbon distillery. The drive in was beautiful and looked like “real” Kentucky, with farm houses and greenery all around. The tasting was given in a gazebo and the weather was wonderful to sit out and sip. The portions of the sips were small, but it was enough to prompt us to buy our first bottle. Apparently the reason I had never heard of Four Roses was because until not very long ago it was cheap wino status whiskey. The new owners came in and rebranded it and now it’s reaching it’s “Before Bond” status. Every distillery we visited up to this point told the story that James Bond with his  vodka martini-sipping self single-handedly ruined the bourbon industry. We got a free glass at the end of this tour. Now we can sip our Four Roses Yellow Label bourbon in Four Roses glasses.

Ready for the Four Roses Experience

Four Roses Swing with a guest appearance by a finger tip

Welcome back home cocktail

 

Off the beaten (bourbon) path… 

3:00pm

We traveled to Frankfort, KY for the Buffalo Trace Distillery experience, since around 2010 they are no longer a part of the official trail. The best part of their tasting? Absolutely free! We tasted some vodka, something that was like moonshine that made me shudder and a very smooth bourbon called Eagle Rare. We tried the Buffalo Trace Cream Liqueur and mixed it with root beer. It was yummy but that itty bitty tasting cup would probably be all I could stomach of that.

This was the end of our tour. Many of the distillery tours end around 4pm. On the way back home we stopped back by Evan Williams so our friends could purchase a bottle of McKenna Bourbon. We also visited the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory and got a few gifts for our people.

There was so much we couldn’t do here due to such a limited time frame (none of us had to take any time off work for this trip). Louisville is a great options for a short getaway for people living in Chicago, Indiana and Ohio.  Or people that enjoy learning about the history of bourbon or just want to drink a bunch of it.

 

 

 

 

 

Myrtle in May

Our First Hurrah in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

What can I say about Myrtle Beach? A retired person’s paradise? A biker’s dream weekend? What I’m hinting to is we are neither of those but we still had a good time. The condo we stayed in was cute. We were only on the first floor but the view of the pools and the ocean was just what I needed to get out of my “Chicago state of mind”.

We immediately put on our swim gear and headed to the beach. She wanted to get in the lazy river in the pool area but I was ready for the salty water of the ocean. Besides, when we did finally get in the lazy river was EXTRA lazy and we did all of the work with feet and hands to move through the winding course of it. BORING!

The ocean on the other hand was fun, fun, fun! Well maybe I’m exaggerating but I liked it. I even saw a shark! So exciting! Later that night we snuck back down and skinny dipped for like 10.5 seconds each.

We ate a good dinner at the Noizy Oyster. We each had Manhattan Martinis and shared a steam pot that had crawfish, shrimp, crab legs, potatoes and corn. It was tasty and I was thankful for the leftovers later. The star of the meal was the hushpuppies and the honey butter. Yum!

The one thing I can say is that Myrtle Beach needs to get their coffee game up. Too watered down, every time we tried. Besides the coffee, everything else was good enough. She ate some $0.60 wings on the Boardwalk which seemed to be good (I don’t eat chicken) then we people watched until we felt some raindrops. The wind was also on vacation with us. The night before we left it was windy and stormy and lead to some great sleep!

The highlight of the trip for me was driving the jet skis. We took a Uber to Myrtle Beach Watersports which sat at a marina surrounded by big boats and huge homes. The water at the marina looked like coffee (hmmm….) and was really calm. Perfect for a beginner like me. I rode on the back for a little over half the ride, then I was ready to give it a try. WHEW WEE! It was so much fun! The faster I went the more fun it was. I am ready to ride in the waves of the ocean now… I think.

Here are a few more pics from our trip:

The balcony

The Condo from the outside

Oyster shell landscaping

Street Art

The view from the balcony

Lulu’s for breakfast

“Stairway to Heaven”

Huge succulents

 

Next trip: Kentucky Bourbon Tour… How will this play out for two, Black lesbian couples?? We shall see…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love Is In The Chilly Air

March came…and went…

I didn’t write a post for March but that was because I didn’t have much to share. We have been trip planning and we did take a family trip to the Dells but because there was SO much water I didn’t take pics because I left the phone at the villa.

Family time is so important to me. I really wanted to take a longer road trip to Washington, DC to the Natural Museum of African American History BUT the time and money it would take to get there just did not work for us.

We had a ball in the water though! We went on water slides and in wave pools and chilled out on the lazy river (except when we made neverending laps around the river in a  river against my son who can never take an L gracefully).

Another exciting thing happened this month! We went to a very lovely wedding. And we had a BALL! And we were crute! Listening to their vows and seeing how elated they were made me excited for our big day (which is just a little twinkle dust in our minds at this point). I have been writing a few lines here and there for my vows since I knew I wanted to marry her. But their vows made me want to dig deeper. Their words to each other and in front of all those people (yikes!) were so moving. The emotional exposure and vulnerability their vows contained sent me back to my notes. I’m quite guarded with my feelings but hell, if I’m going to do it, I may as well let the world know how I feel! Well actually we plan on having just a few close friends and family, but still.

BEFORE (Jack Daniels)

AFTER (Jack)

Yay! The BEACH!

Up next? Our trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in May. It is STILL in the 50s here and the only reason I’m not losing it is because we have strings of 70° weather thrown in here and there. So I am really looking forward to sun, sand, and ocean. YES!

 

 

 

 

Finally Home!

Our First Trip to Africa!

In May 2016 we booked our flights and Airbnbs for South Africa. What an AMAZING time we had. We booked a flight with a long layover in Madrid, Spain and had an opportunity to explore there too.

While in Madrid we walked and walked around in a chilly ass circle before settling in to this really cool place called Mercado De Miguel, an indoor market place with tapas and spirits. It was so trying to get to the Sol stop because we don’t speak Spanish and the train was a little difficult to navigate. But I’m happy I was able to experience Madrid. Not sure I’d return (maybe in the summer…)

5 Plus 10 hours Later…

FINALLY! We landed in the amazing country of South Africa! First stop…Jo’burg!

The Airbnb loft was located in the Maboneng District. This was THE best area for our first trip. We lived like locals the time we spent there. Restaurants, lounges, art galleries, music and cool looking people helped us fit right in. A friend asked if we were able to be touchy feely in South Africa. According to her we’re the “PDA couple of the century.” I told her YES! In Johannesburg we saw SO many couples like us. And quite a few gay guys too.

In addition to all this greatness, the value of the Rand is much lower than the dollar so we ate and drank well for cheap. Our biggest expense were the ubers we took everywhere. The internet had me spooked about public transportation. Driving a rental was also out of the question because they drive on the other side of the car and the street. Even one of our uber drivers drove on the wrong side once and there was a van headed straight towards us.

Soweto was just was just as dope. I kind of felt like I was back in Chicago in Washington Park at one of the festivals. The LoCrate Market happens there every first Sunday. There was music, vendors and delicious food. We walked the street where Mandela lived and saw his house. The people there were chill and I’m glad we were there in time to check it out.

One night we kept hearing some music (Hip Hop) being blasted from a little ways off from the loft. We asked the security guard if he knew where it was coming from. He lead us down a dark street to a restaurant with a rooftop lounge. There was only a handful of people there but they were having a great time and the music was on point. We got a drink and danced until last call. Then we headed downstairs to this really nice wine bar. Surprisingly, we were the only people in there. The bartender was really nice and suggested some places for us to see before we left.

The Apartheid Museum visit was a must. When I taught 4th grade I always taught about Apartheid and its parallels to the Black Power/Civil Rights movement here in America. I learned so much and felt emotional at times. I’m glad we went.

I was sad to leave yet excited for the next part of our journey. Cape Town! We stayed right by the beach in Milnerton on Woodbridge Island with a beautiful view of palm trees and Table Mountain. We were literally steps away from the beach. Our first day there we were so eager to make it to the beach that we rushed out and then got pelted by the sand. It was their windy season but we didn’t care (for a while).

We took the bus which was kind of like a hybrid of a bus and a train and went to Long St for burgers. Long St reminded me a little of Bourbon St in New Orleans with its balconied buildings and people of all ages and shades kicking it in the various restaurants, bars and night clubs. It was a Wednesday evening but it was as live as a Saturday night.

The next day Wine Flies came and picked us up for a winery tour. This was one of my best experiences ever! The van arrived right before 9am and shuttled us to the first estate in Stellenbosch. The first stop was a tasting with chocolate pairings (heaven!) the last stop was with cheese pairings (almost as heavenly!). In between we met a few dogs, saw some cows, zebras and had a very intimate encounter with a weird carnivorous chicken. We were dropped off loaded and stocked with several bottles of tasty wine.

Our last night there I had to have the seafood I’d been craving the whole trip. The restaurant was near V&A Waterfront and the service topped the food. But I was satisfied and afterwards we walked to a small shop and sat outside and ate gelato before heading back to our Airbnb.

On our last day we had a while before our flight so we walked to their local hole in the wall for a meal. Then we shared one of our bottles of wine and hung out on the beach. Luckily we were near done before the teenaged lifeguard told us we’d be fined R750 if we were caught drinking by the police. My last moments in South Africa were spent watching children who were also enjoying this lovely place.

This trip had everything I live for: different and incredible scenery, great food and drinks and beautiful people.

Our ad for South African soda

 

P.S. I got a ring!

My beautiful ring!

View from part II of her proposal

 

 

 

 

 

Byyyyyyeee 2016!

My Birthday and Bringing in the New Year

My birthday celebrations continued and were actually a lot of fun. The 80s was the theme for the last part of the year. What I thought was an 80s style ugly sweater that I bought for an Ugly Sweater party that was cancelled, everyone else thought looked rad/fly/dope. So we decided to wear our ugly sweaters and meet up with friends on Christmas Eve at Lagunita’s Brewery for beer and bar food (yay! Loaded nachos!).

After the brewery we headed to Emporium  in Logan Square for some 80s style arcade fun. They were even playing the movie Gremlins on these huge screens (which came out in 1984) I was very tipsy but I was still beating ass at air hockey. We didn’t win at foosball but who cares! The night was complete after a trip to our favorite fried shrimp spot, Goose Island.

Waiting for beer flight

The bar was packed…no it wasn’t

Cheese its almost my bday

She looks like she knows what she’s doing

On December 25th at 1 something in the morning we went on a romantic walk on Michigan Ave. The weather and the company was just right. Happy Birthday to me!

Prince and George Michael Helped Bring in the New Year

We got all dressed up and had a wonderful dinner at Calo Ristorante  in Andersonville. Then we drove to Boystown for dancing and cocktails and a mini Burlesque performance before counting down to 2017! We had a really awesome year and I can’t wait to see what the new year brings.

 

Last year we created gratitude jars and each time we felt thankful we would write a little note of thanks. I believe concentrating on the good helps to keep your perspective on the positive and it outweighs the bad in your life. Here’s to looking on the bright side, growing with those you love and fighting for the things you care about.

 

 

MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING!!!!!

Yes I am always overly excited about my birthday…

I typically want to celebrate my birthday, if not the whole month of December, at least several days leading up to it. So far this year we have spent 3 awesome days and 2 glorious nights at Kishauwau Country Cabins in Tonica, IL near Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Park to celebrate.

The first time we went to Kishauwau was a couple of years ago when we hadn’t been dating for too long. To our surprise we would do a lot of getting to know each other because there is absolutely no cable and no internet and no phone service. We had a great time and got a little more comfortable being in each other’s space. We spent time eating at a Cajun restaurant, wine tasting at a local winery, horseback riding and hiking. Here are some pics from our first trip:

This time we knew what to expect and looked forward to unwinding, unplugging, and having some quality alone time.  I didn’t want to make ANY plans outside of the cabin. Just her, me and some board games and some DVD’s. Because it was for my birthday she made a wonderful french toast with fresh berries and whipped cream breakfast and dinner was my fav! Crab legs and salmon!  I don’t have many pics because, well it was a pretty private affair,  but here’s what I did document:

Craft beer…Yay!

Nothing like a cold one

Product placement: View from our window

Before we made it to the cabin we decided we’d be spontaneous and hopped off I-80W and checked out The Lone Buffalo  and Tangled Roots Brewery. We started with the beer flight and had shrimp and a huge plate of fries..um, I mean pub frittes.

It was a weekend I will never forget–simple and sweet.

 

 

Co-habitation Nation

Moving In and Other Fun Stuff

We had spoken about moving in around August but when August was approaching we both got cold feet (or something) and realized we weren’t ready. I decided to choose a date because moving in was something that we both knew we wanted and I was getting tired of the constant bag toting back and forth. So in September I suggested the move in date be December 1. She said ok but I later found out that she was still feeling a little apprehension. After all, we were both taking a risk–her having to decide to share her space and me having to decide to leave my space behind.

Fortunately we both became comfortable with the timeline and began looking forward to the adjustment of shared space. Starting in mid November I began bringing my things over and moving in and by December 1st  I was almost completely moved out. I can take my time moving some things out because my parents were my landlords. I have pretty much closed that door and slid right on in the new one. This house is a now a home for us both and it has been a really beautiful transition.

Ladies Night @ B.L.U.E.S. Chicago

I have been craving live music and our plans for our date night never happened (we were supposed to go hiking at Swallow Cliff–we’ll make it one day), so we ended up at B.L.U.E.S. Which is a small hole-in-the-wall on north Halsted St. I was doubly excited because the night was dedicated to women. However, when we arrived we learned that the “women’s night” was really just an open mic that was hoping for random women to show up and bless the stage. One young woman showed up and sang two songs (one in Russian!) I’m not going to lie, I was hoping for the next CoCo Taylor or Etta James to belt out some blues, but it was cool. The musicians were great, I enjoyed listening to their songs about smoking weed, and I always have a great time when I’m with her. Not to mention the Goose Island fish and shrimp we ate on the late night. Good times…

 

 

Ohhh…October

Date Night and Other Fun Stuff

Our October date night, according to the cards (see Blog Post #3-12 Months of Date Nights…), we were supposed to go to a pumpkin patch. But far more romantic (for me, anyway) was for us to go back to the place where my feelings began to shift from a general interest in getting to know her to a hmm…I like this woman.

On one of our outings when we first started dating we had THE perfect date night. The only part of the date that was planned was to meet downtown at the Chicago International Film Festival. After that,everything else was spontaneous and so much fun! For October it was a very warm evening-I don’t think we even needed a jacket.

After the movie we walked to the restaurant, Wildfire. Then we decided to walk over to Andy’s Jazz Club for drinks. While sitting and chatting in that club something in me shifted. I had an overwhelming feeling of wanting to be closer, physically. I wanted her to place her hand on my knee or something. Of course I was too shy to touch her, especially because I couldn’t read her. I couldn’t really tell if she liked me too.

Posing on the red carpet

Two years later here we are, back at the Chicago Intl Film Fest. This time we didn’t skip through the city afterwards. We just went home. Not to say this year we less fun, it was just way more chill. Hopefully not a sign of us getting older.

The After Party

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween-Chills and Thrills

For only the second time in my adult life I dressed up for Halloween. She has said that she likes dressing up and I decided not to be a killjoy and get into too. Having complementary costumes is a must for couples right? So I tried to figure out something we could wear that would not cause me too much anxiety. I don’t like makeup, wigs, etc.  After throwing out a few suggestions I came up with Arthur and Muffy. Very simple and super cute. We found a couple parties to step out to and was joined by my sis-as a very accurate representation of The Mad Hatter. Unfortunately, I can’t say our costumes were so on point. We had quite a few people wondering who we were supposed to be.

But some people knew right away. One woman was quite pleased to see our costumes because Arthur is one her favorite cartoons (mine too!). Dressing up is fun. I just might do it again.

 

The Mad Hatter is up to something

Next month is the last month that was pre-planned. I’m not sure what’s on the card. Then next up is December- my bday!! I’m so excited! I can’t believe how fast 2016 is going. Stay tuned cuz it ain’t over yet…