Kitchen

Today was an interesting day in the chatroom. As many of you know, I spend (way too much) time in the TG Chat (and if you haven't been there, it's a nice place to hang out. Just treat the girls respectfully!!). We were having a discussion on relationships and dressing when one of the girls said that if her boyfriend dressed, she would leave him. I stopped for a minute after that. This was a TG girl (granted, I don't know her situation) and she wouldn't date a crossdresser. This caused a bit of a stir in the ranks and I asked her why. She didn't really have an answer...except that she wants a manly guy and that would be a turnoff. Anyway...another girl, who is post-op, came in and I posed the question to her. She had a wonderful answer!! She said, she wouldn't leave him, but wouldn't want to see it and would put major restrictions on him. And that she wouldn't want to go through what her wife went through. That got me to thinking: I probably have it pretty good. My wife is a wonderful, caring person and I dropped this bombshell on her 6 years ago. I have certain restrictions on my girl life....am I ok with it? At times, I guess I am. I am upset, though at the fact that in less than 30 days, Diana will disappear from view until the fall. But is something like that worth leaving her for? Of course not!! It just makes me realize that I am extremely lucky to have her in my life and lucky that Diana is around for the time that she is. I could be like some girls who's spouses won't even let them dress and throw all their clothes out. Anyway...I'm beginning to ramble a bit and will probably go in at some point and correct (or delete) this entry 'cause it's really not going anywhere. I think I'll just wait until I can get out again and write about that stuff...

Remember when I said, I'd just wait until I got out and write about that...well, yesterday was that day. *smile* I had a free day to myself, so I decided that I would take full advantage of it. After renting my hotel room (since my wife doesn't like me sneaking out of the house dressed during the day), got changed and headed out. My first stop was the Franklin Mills Mall outside of Philly. If you've never been there, the place is huge! My wife actually bought some stockings instead of knee highs at one of the outlet stores, so I said I would return them. I thought I remembered where the store was and parked my car at one of the entrances...well, of course, I picked the wrong one and had to walk the entire length of the mall to get where I was going. It was nerve wracking, but mostly my feet were killing me by the time I got there. The lady at the store was very nice and while I was there, picked up two bras (buy one- get one 50% off sale) and another package of stockings for myself...as well as the knee highs my wife was looking for. She was also nice enough to take a few pictures for me. Figuring that I was already out dressed, I did what any other girl would go...kept shopping!! *smile* My next stop was a shoe outlet store in the mall, where I tried on some really nice stuff...but still out of my price range. I did the self portrait/mirror picture for that. I walked back and had to still stop a few times to rest my weary feet...but, I did try something silly. I walked into one of those maternity stores and asked if I could see what I would look like pregnant..I took the small pillow (for 3 months) and tried it...I think I look more fat than pregnant, but she was also nice enough to take a pic or two for me. I got back in my car, elated from the experience, and started driving back to NJ. On the way home, I stopped at my favorite Goodwill store and tried on another wedding gown. (This is where it gets funny) I tried it on and it fit...except that I couldn't zipper it over my chest..no big deal. I peaked my head out the dressing room door and found another customer who I asked to take a few pictures for me...under the pretense that I was showing the beadwork on the gown to my friend. She was kind enough to take all the pictures I needed..making sure that we could see the beading and that the pictures were to my approval. By that time, I was getting a headache from not eating. I drove across down to a food store that has an eating area upstairs. I had brought my laptop with me (and I spoke to some of you then), plugged it in and hung out for 1/2 hour. Unfortunately, the place was incredibly crowded and I'm sure I got read quicker than a cheap paperback novel. The final place was my local wig shop. She had sold me my stuff but never saw me all dressed. She thought I looked really nice. I took a few minutes ('cause she had to leave early) and tried on three new styles..one I really liked. We took a few pictures, but I didn't like the way they turned out..so you'll never see them here. I went back to the hotel, got changed and drove home. After dinner with some friends, I went back to the hotel, got dressed again and headed out to Bounce . I thought I might be meeting up with someone from our Yahoo Group but he never showed up...and the place was dead...I managed to take a picture of my outfit in the bathroom (shows you what kind of night it was) and drove back to get changed. Going out and doing normal girl stuff during the day is becoming SO exciting! Almost like a drug! I have noticed, for those of you thinking about doing it, that even if you get read no one says anything. I'm sure that the girls in the maternity store were laughing at me after I left, no one said anything while I was there. They treated me like any other customer. Everyone in the shoe store did their thing and didn't pay any specific attention to me. The ladies in the outlet store were incredibly helpful and assisted me in finding the bras that I needed... even letting me try them on to make sure they would work for me. It was a fun fun time. I might be able to get one more time in before having to stop for the summer...at least I hope so.

Phew!! It's been a long halloween season but I'm glad it's over. For the past two months (which feels like it was years) I was working for a Halloween store. Before you ask, yes, I did find the time to play with the costumes..*giggle* The job wasn't bad, just very long and exhausting. The business is very intensive for a very short time and it's draining. Anyway, the real reason I'm writting today is to tell you about Halloween day. I decided to get dressed up and go into work. My wife wasn't very happy about it, but I really didn't care...it was actually the first time that I really didn't care. Anyway, I started out with a cheerleaders outfit that I've had for some time. Everyone was very very impressed with my makeup job..even though I told them that my wife helped..*giggle*. After a while, the outfit got very warm so I changed into a BatGirl outfit that was used for marketing in the store. I bought that on November 1st for about $5.. So I hung out in the BatGirl outfit, freaking people out all day. It was so much fun. When the store closed, then I really got to play. I tried on just about every costume in the store. Unfortunately, only two looked good on me (I'll post them soon). One was a cat outfit and the other was a stewardess dress (which I did buy). It was great...kind of sorry that Halloween only comes once a year...of course, I will be going out again as soon as I get a free moment.

Yes...this is 2009. Yes..it's been two years since I've written anything down. I've been busy..*smile*
Not much has really happened in the last two years that was worthy of any notice. I've gone through 3 jobs since my last writing and have been out a handful of times since. The reason that I decided to write today is that I just had a FANTASTIC weekend at a film convention in Ohio. You may well ask "What in the world does a film convention have to do with dressing?" A fine question, thank you. It was an opportunity to get out and give Diana a bit of breathing room. After driving 7 1/2 hours and spending another 6 hours going through the convention floor and watching painfully bad movies (that I HIGHLY recommend), I decided that I would dress up for the evening. Well, that was the last time I wore a pair of men's clothes until I left on Sunday morning. The best part was that no one paid very much attention to me...good or bad. One lady mentioned how much she liked my shoes and a singer in one of the bands told me that I looked really good...I have to remember to ask them what I can do to look better next time that happens. (That's a rant for another time) But the best part was Saturday night. I had just finished watching the "A Gastly Ghoul Night at the Movies" show and decided that since I had to leave before 8AM, I would head back to my room. So I took my tired legs with my painful shoes and hiked across the parking lot to the hotel room. As I stopped to fix my shoe, I heard a "WOW!" behind me. I turned around and this very nice looking gentleman was walking up to me. He apologized for starling me and we talked for a few moments. He then asked very politely if he could pick me up. You couldn't wipe the smile off my face..*smile* He said that he had noticed my legs while sitting at the show and thought that I looked very pretty. I politely told him that I couldn't, since I had to get some sleep before I left the next morning. I always find it amazing that guys come up to me at the worst possible times to try to pick me up. Anyway, I'm not sure if he realized that I was a guy (although, I'm sure he did) but I never like to take the chance on being with someone who might not know. Being at a bar on drag night is one thing...but being hit on in front of a Super 8 Motel in Strongsville Ohio at a film convention is something entirely different. But it is nice to be thought of, right? Maybe another time, I guess.

Since I brought up the subject...When I was at the convention, as I said, one of the singers in the band that was there came up to me and told me that I looked really good. I took it as a compliment, which it was, but that got me to thinking later. Obviously, she knew I was a guy...girls don't go up to other girls they don't know and tell them how good they look, right? I would love to have had the forethought to say to her "Thank you..but what gave me away? What told you that I wasn't a real girl?" I wouldn't want to put someone on the spot and embarrass them, but it would be nice to figure out what I can do to make myself more feminine. That is the idea, right? One of the guys on stage called the "girls" in the audience TRANNIES and I was sort of offended by that. I'm not a tranny...that has a pretty negative connotation. I'm just trying to look as good as I can when I go out and hope that I pass. That's it..and any suggestions from GGs who think I look good would be greatly appreciated..even if I can't pluck my eyebrows or get rid of my Adam's apple.