It's a Magical Place

One of the ladies in our local trans group (Julie) knows one of the regular performers in a local drag show.  She invited our group to join her at a recent show; she attends regularly, both in drab with her wife, and dressed (solo).

Julie wanted us to all meet around 730.  I left early so I could take my time finding a place to park

see anything different?

(parking in DC is not always easy) and so I could screw up EVERY ONE OF THE THREE ROUNDABOUTS I HAD TO GO THROUGH.  If I decided to stay on the outside lane, it exited the circle too early.  If I determined the inside would be better, it was blocked from where I wanted to exit.

We beat Julie anyway, and there were two other girls there when we arrived.  If memory serves, it was Linda and Erica, both looking lovely.

I was worried about what to wear.  I knew I could be as outrageous as I wanted to be; I was in a safe place but I did have to walk from the car to both the restaurant and the apartment so I went for what I considered "dressy" but not "clubby."  I've worn this dress before but it's been a while.  I wore it when I drove to Richmond in 2011 and to my therapist's office in 2012.  I'm still sticking to my safe heels (that toe is not where I want it to be yet) so I wore black hose to go with the black and white dress.  I did wear my hip/butt pads; the dress looked better that way.

I'll tell myself I didn't want to upstage the performers until I believe it. :)

The performers came by before the show and did a little private preview for each table ~ kind of like a warmup for the studio audience before the show starts.  Most asked us our names and introduced themselves.  None of the (almost all male) dining crowd cared or stared.  Even the queens just treated us as any other table, which I found interesting.  You'd think they'd consider us sort of kindred spirits, although for the most part we were a straight table. I'm guessing most if not all of the performers were gay.

Let's see....  There were seven of us.  As far as I could tell, we were the only non-performing transpeople there.  Christine (sans Pamela), our hostess for the soirees, was present (and she left before I got to say goodbye!).  Wearing a strapless dress was Julie.  Of course Julie was there!  It was her party. :)  And I have to mention Athena ~ this was her first time out!  I bet it won't be her last.  She seemed so comfortable and natural as a girl.  And, of course, Charity was there, which meant I could have tee martoonis. 

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Fur What It's Worth

Steffi went to a yard sale.  She saw something she wanted, but it was $50.  She talked them down to $20 and walked away with a mink stole.

Some of the ladies couldn't resist modelling it.

Claudia

Connie

Jazmine

Joann (hostess) in fur and Claudia

Michelle

Steffi, Queen of the yard sales!

Working Backwards

I've been out a few times, events I haven't written about yet.  I'm going to start with the most recent: last Saturday.

Saturday was Kim's biggest, best clothing swap yet.  It was publicised on the local t-groups.  There were vendors, raffles, food, and 300 or so women there.  I'd say there were maybe eight t's among the g's.

Typical scene (it might be wider than the screen; a click will help):

Anyone see Waldo?

At one point, many of the local girls sat down for a bite:

That's Kelly up front on the right, and Star and Andrea on the left.  I think that's a bit of Steffi behind Kelly, and Stephie is looking at the camera from the back.  I think Sharon was Desperately Seeking a Non-Ham Sandwich. :)

At one point, someone came up to me and told me she was a member of Christine's trans-group but I had no idea who she was: for some reason, she was dressed as a guy.  To each their own.

Alas, I wasn't in the pictures, since someone had to wield the camera.   I wore a blue maxi-dress and slides, and since Charity had to work, I got to practice my own makeup for a change.

I spoke to a number of women there, mostly little things: comments on their haul or what they were looking at.  At one point I said "I was hoping you'd put that down" and I snatched up a top (8P ~ it went down again).

I also spoke to one woman and asked to take her picture ~ I said she had "won first place:" she was carrying three huge bags full of clothing.  She laughed and said "I was trying to keep a low profile."

It was a long walk back to the car and along the way a woman who was just getting there asked where the

entrance was (I told her, and told her it was nearly over ~ she said she was picking up a friend).  In the parking lot, another woman said "how'd you do?" and we briefly compared notes.

I figure either (a) I pass pretty well, or (b) people are fine with how I present.  Either way is fine with me and proved once again that a swap is a great and safe place to go out and mingle with civilians, especially if you're like I was when I started going out: I did not want to interact with men.  Almost no men there, except for one vendor and Kim's husband and he's as accepting as anyone I ever met.  And that girl dressed in guy clothes.

So, how did I do?  I had brought in several very nice dresses, a skirt, and a blouse (none fit well) and I was happy to see that they all found new homes.  I didn't see a lot that I wanted to bring home, but I found a dress that Charity might like and a couple of tank-top-style camis for me.

Star and Andrea had mentioned to Charity that they'd maybe like to get together for dinner that evening.  Steffi was stag (doe?) that weekend and asked if she could come along.  We happily agreed, and the five of us had dinner at a local Tex-Mex restaurant.  Steffi went shopping and on other errands; I wore the same outfit I had to the swap.  It was pretty comfortable and kinda cute.  Alas, I forgot to get pictures of our gang.

For those keeping track, I didn't need to use the ladies' room at either the swap or the restaurant.  Even with a margarita.  (At the restaurant, not the swap.)

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