Giving Thanks on Water
It's been a little while since I've contributed to the blog, so here's a quick update to A Day in the Life of the Wallkoffs:
Wendy and I have been pretty busy lately. During the past couple of months, we have only looked at a couple of wedding venues and we haven't made any significant progress in getting closer to setting a date. I know that we're not in a major hurry, but still, it's a little disappointing when things feel stagnant. Wen has been traveling on business and keeping to a crazy schedule and I've been hiring/training new staff and remodelling the house in preparation for Wen's parents to come visit at Xmas (sewer lines are going in this week!). Unfortunately, there's been little time for much else. Life has felt fast and we're both ready for things to slow down.
I had a seminar to attend on Fri and half of Sat, but we purposely made an effort to leave the rest of this weekend free so that we could spend some quality time together. The weather was ideal on Sat. in Santa Cruz and Capitola. We went to Capitola village and had a late lunch on the water just before the sun set. It was gorgeous! We were supposed to go out for a nice dinner that night (partially because i realize that Wen hasn't seen me dressed up and looking nice in a long time. When I'm not at work, I'm in jeans/cap or something comparable which is not so exciting, so i figure that i should take her out someplace nice every so often and then she won't forget that i can look pretty when i want to ;) lol. Anyway, we accidentally ate so much at our lunch in Capitola that we had to call off the dinner and postpone for another time. We went to go see "Open Season" at the movies instead. It's a kid's animated flick which I generally like, and so it turned out to be an hour and a half of mindless entertainment, cuddles, and sugary snacking goodness.
Today we did some antique shopping in SC before I headed back home to Oakland. I bought an early 1940's wall-phone(it has a cloth cord and one of those trumpet-shaped ear pieces and only 6 different buttons to push) and an old 1940's black metal typewriter. They will both go in my house nicely:)
I'm getting excited about going to Mexico next month. Wen and I booked a cruise to the Mexican Riviera so we can spend a whole week doing nothing. As I mentioned, life has been so hectic lately, that we decided it was wise to book some time away from the "have-to" list, so we are headed south at Thanksgiving. We've taken cruises to Alaska and to the Carribean in the past year and a half... she didn't think she'd like it much, but now she's hooked. She, for the sake of teasing, teases me about being some suburban, golf-playing, pottery-barn shopping, cruise-taking chick and I tease her about being a hippie, scent-free, hemp-wearing, hairy co-op chick from the communes of SC. In a way, we're both right (sort of)... except we both often fit into eachother's categories. I like green living and she thoroughly appreciates the evil empire of pottery barn.
For the perfect cruise, we purposely try to book on a ship that has the oldest travelers aboard so that it's quiet, the dance floor is sizeable and the music is good (by our standards). Lol. Okay, well maybe not quite the *oldest* travelers we can find. Middle of the road is good. For balance, we also look for the ships that use alternate turbine engines that burn less and cleaner fuel:) It's funny, because the last trip we took on Celebrity cruise line, this woman in her 40's approached us one night and said that "we all (including herself)"seemed to be the youngest passengers on-board and weren't we sick of the hideous old-fart music? uhhhh.... NO. If she was looking for the party ship, she obviously missed the boat. As for us, we do just fine dancing to the old music until the wee hours of the morning. And I have to tell you that by day 3, something really wierd happens... Day 1): People stop and stare a little. What are these two girls doing holding hands? We're from Nebraska and have never seen this. Day 2): Are you sisters? Day 3): Oh my God, you are the dancers. Where can we learn to do that? We went to the club lastnight just to watch you. Where are you going to be dancing tonight? It's really funny that by day 3, they forget that they used to be homophobic (like last week). People stop staring and they wave. As far as I can tell, we're usually one of the only really visibily gay couples on-board these things and people act like we're right out of queer eye for the straight guy and they compliment Wen's dress shirts and want to know how they could possibly move their hips with cuban motion. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen but I'm convinced that it's the dancing that brings people together. It spans gaps you'd never imagine could be bridged. For example, last trip, a couple of older gentlemen (in their 70s) who were there with their wives, told us that they thought we were the nicest dressed, classiest looking couple on the ship. What are the chances of that? Now, granted that one of the gentlemen was actually wearing an ascot which prompted me to consider what they might be doing later that evening when their wives had gone to bed. Hard to say. (If any of you own a real ascot I apologize for the presumption, but am curious to know what occasion might prompt you to actually wear it?) Anyway, as a result of the good experiences we've had, we actually gravitate toward booking the "regular Joe" vacations as opposed to something on Olivia (gay cruiseline), for example. On Olivia, there'd be lots of girl-drama and too much "cruising" for our taste (and we've sworn that off:-). So off to Mexico we go... just us, the token "California gay ambassadors and dancers extraordinnaire" and not a care else in the world. It should be a glorious Thanksgiving.
Sorry family. Rob and Chris always cook the BEST Thanksgiving meal, but I assume they'll forgive us this year for being absent and hopefully will invite us again next year. I'll miss the pumpkin pie. We're likely to pick up again on our wedding planning when the holidays have passed and life has settled a bit - and don't you worry, we'll keep ya'll posted!
Wendy and I have been pretty busy lately. During the past couple of months, we have only looked at a couple of wedding venues and we haven't made any significant progress in getting closer to setting a date. I know that we're not in a major hurry, but still, it's a little disappointing when things feel stagnant. Wen has been traveling on business and keeping to a crazy schedule and I've been hiring/training new staff and remodelling the house in preparation for Wen's parents to come visit at Xmas (sewer lines are going in this week!). Unfortunately, there's been little time for much else. Life has felt fast and we're both ready for things to slow down.
I had a seminar to attend on Fri and half of Sat, but we purposely made an effort to leave the rest of this weekend free so that we could spend some quality time together. The weather was ideal on Sat. in Santa Cruz and Capitola. We went to Capitola village and had a late lunch on the water just before the sun set. It was gorgeous! We were supposed to go out for a nice dinner that night (partially because i realize that Wen hasn't seen me dressed up and looking nice in a long time. When I'm not at work, I'm in jeans/cap or something comparable which is not so exciting, so i figure that i should take her out someplace nice every so often and then she won't forget that i can look pretty when i want to ;) lol. Anyway, we accidentally ate so much at our lunch in Capitola that we had to call off the dinner and postpone for another time. We went to go see "Open Season" at the movies instead. It's a kid's animated flick which I generally like, and so it turned out to be an hour and a half of mindless entertainment, cuddles, and sugary snacking goodness.
Today we did some antique shopping in SC before I headed back home to Oakland. I bought an early 1940's wall-phone(it has a cloth cord and one of those trumpet-shaped ear pieces and only 6 different buttons to push) and an old 1940's black metal typewriter. They will both go in my house nicely:)
I'm getting excited about going to Mexico next month. Wen and I booked a cruise to the Mexican Riviera so we can spend a whole week doing nothing. As I mentioned, life has been so hectic lately, that we decided it was wise to book some time away from the "have-to" list, so we are headed south at Thanksgiving. We've taken cruises to Alaska and to the Carribean in the past year and a half... she didn't think she'd like it much, but now she's hooked. She, for the sake of teasing, teases me about being some suburban, golf-playing, pottery-barn shopping, cruise-taking chick and I tease her about being a hippie, scent-free, hemp-wearing, hairy co-op chick from the communes of SC. In a way, we're both right (sort of)... except we both often fit into eachother's categories. I like green living and she thoroughly appreciates the evil empire of pottery barn.
For the perfect cruise, we purposely try to book on a ship that has the oldest travelers aboard so that it's quiet, the dance floor is sizeable and the music is good (by our standards). Lol. Okay, well maybe not quite the *oldest* travelers we can find. Middle of the road is good. For balance, we also look for the ships that use alternate turbine engines that burn less and cleaner fuel:) It's funny, because the last trip we took on Celebrity cruise line, this woman in her 40's approached us one night and said that "we all (including herself)"seemed to be the youngest passengers on-board and weren't we sick of the hideous old-fart music? uhhhh.... NO. If she was looking for the party ship, she obviously missed the boat. As for us, we do just fine dancing to the old music until the wee hours of the morning. And I have to tell you that by day 3, something really wierd happens... Day 1): People stop and stare a little. What are these two girls doing holding hands? We're from Nebraska and have never seen this. Day 2): Are you sisters? Day 3): Oh my God, you are the dancers. Where can we learn to do that? We went to the club lastnight just to watch you. Where are you going to be dancing tonight? It's really funny that by day 3, they forget that they used to be homophobic (like last week). People stop staring and they wave. As far as I can tell, we're usually one of the only really visibily gay couples on-board these things and people act like we're right out of queer eye for the straight guy and they compliment Wen's dress shirts and want to know how they could possibly move their hips with cuban motion. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen but I'm convinced that it's the dancing that brings people together. It spans gaps you'd never imagine could be bridged. For example, last trip, a couple of older gentlemen (in their 70s) who were there with their wives, told us that they thought we were the nicest dressed, classiest looking couple on the ship. What are the chances of that? Now, granted that one of the gentlemen was actually wearing an ascot which prompted me to consider what they might be doing later that evening when their wives had gone to bed. Hard to say. (If any of you own a real ascot I apologize for the presumption, but am curious to know what occasion might prompt you to actually wear it?) Anyway, as a result of the good experiences we've had, we actually gravitate toward booking the "regular Joe" vacations as opposed to something on Olivia (gay cruiseline), for example. On Olivia, there'd be lots of girl-drama and too much "cruising" for our taste (and we've sworn that off:-). So off to Mexico we go... just us, the token "California gay ambassadors and dancers extraordinnaire" and not a care else in the world. It should be a glorious Thanksgiving.
Sorry family. Rob and Chris always cook the BEST Thanksgiving meal, but I assume they'll forgive us this year for being absent and hopefully will invite us again next year. I'll miss the pumpkin pie. We're likely to pick up again on our wedding planning when the holidays have passed and life has settled a bit - and don't you worry, we'll keep ya'll posted!
posted by Anonymous at 9:19 PM
3 Comments:
nice update!
When we went on a cruise on Princess in May, there was an official, ship-sanctioned GLBT Social every afternoon. It was listed under activities every day in the ship's newsletter, and someone from the Activity Director's staff coordinated it. And we had a very elderly crowd, too -- a six day Transatlantic crossing followed by ports in European cities doesn't attract the young and partying crowd. So I was thinking that was getting to be the norm.
My girlie, Donna, has been on numerous cruises (not Olivia) and loves them. Once of these days we will go on one together. I want to do one where I can go snorkeling, kayaking and parasailing and all that stuff...oh and shopping!
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