Playing Games

Quickie poll....  Next weekend, Charity and I will be going to a T group meeting.  I suggested we do the matching dress thing again.  Should we?

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Yesterday, I went to a board gamers meetup.  A GLBT board gamers meetup.

I went in a bit apprehensive because I expected to be the only T.  Although I had sat in on GLBT gatherings before (educational, not recreational), this was the first time I would "stand out" as Meg.

I was also a bit apprehensive because I didn't know any of the games they were planning on playing.

And, to add to my discomfort, I didn't know anyone there and I assumed they pretty much knew each other.

And, I wanted to get some pictures of Meg out at the event, but I didn't know if any of the guys wanted their pictures taken ~ I know some have no picture on meetup; I suspect they're in their own closets and don't want people to know about them, at least not yet.

I wore a new-to-me cowl neck sweater and skirt, and my brown boots.  Charity found the sweater and skirt at the local Goodwill, but they look nice ~ almost as if someone had bought and donated them together.  Hmmm...  My second cowl neck.  I had never worn a cowl neck before.  A new look for Meg, perhaps?  I like it but I also like necklaces and they seem pretty incompatible.

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I wrote the above Saturday night, before going out.  (Ignore the future tense, I guess.)  If the post stops here, then I didn't have time to write more Sunday night and it will come soon.

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Looking Back and Looking Forward

Looking back to Christmas:

And forward to the New Year:

 

 And a little New Year's philosophy:

I Don't Get It

Mike du Jour is a new (to me) strip.  It appeared in the Washington Post when Richard Thompson sadly was forced to retire.  Mostly, it hasn't been remotely funny.  I keep hoping.

I don't get this one.  Is it what he wished for?  He doesn't look happy; he looks bewildered.  Is it a (not funny) joke on "foundation?"  And I don't think the "Make a Wish Foundation" has anything to do with birthday wishes.

I don't get it, but I approve of the results.

Before and After

I bought a Caboodle makeup case at Ulta.  It's not the cutest case ever, but it's large and roomy and it's an amazing improvement over what I had before.  What I had before was these bags sitting on the floor of the closet.  It was mildly organised ~ if you enlarge the picture, you can see labels on the bags....  Things like "blush" or "mascara."  There were two bags of makeup and the overstuffed bag on the right is my "A" makeup ~ everything I need, in minimal quantities, for travel.  I only keep colours and items I really like in there so I know I can just toss it in my suitcase and go and I won't need to shop at my destination.  Now, I'm going through my makeup a little bit at a time ~ I'll try a new lipstick every couple of days to see if I like each and toss the ones I don't ~ again, a simple pleasure is I can throw out stuff without hiding it in the trash where no-one will find it.

Because I found myself making two bags for (for example) lipstick, one labeled "lips" one labelled "to test" I thought maybe it's time for a case.

Below are three pictures of the... I won't call it "finished product" since I think it's still a work in progress.  I want to find small boxes for the large bottom section and I may move the pencils around ~ there are three pencil holders on each side and i have lip liners on one side and eye liners on the other.

I feel good about having everything in one box instead of six or eight bags that I have to pull out of the closet every time I want to go out!

The whole, um, caboodle

The eye side; makeup on the bottom

The lip side

Happy Holidays To Meg!

When I went out to the Birchmere, I had two new items with me.

One was my purple fingernails, courtesy of Charity:

(the little red dot is the hand stamp from the Birchmere.  The rings are just costume jewelry; I picked up the bracelet at a street fair.  It fit the purple theme well.)

The other item was given to me by a reader who asked that I not mention her name:

Yes, it's a Coach!  And I love it.

Simple Pleasures: Trying On I

I think I look silly in drab with earrings.

I don't really like the look of men in earring(s) in general.  I think it's distracting.  Funny thing though ~ I don't find them distracting on women.  I guess it's like anything I'm not expecting; it becomes a focal point.  An obvious tattoo, nose piercing, port wine stain... all seem to distract me from The Issue At Hand.  No, I don't think I'm particularly ADD.  I'm not in the "ooh, a butterfly!" category at all.  Well, not more than most.

Some days, I come home and put on earrings but don't bother to change.  In general, I don't see them and Charity doesn't mind if I'm wearing earrings and whatever I normally wear during the day.

So why?

Because earrings are one of those marvelous girl things that feel OK but may cause agony after a while.  I want to wear each pair for 2-3 hours to test for comfort.  I can then put aside the ones that need to be picked up by the nice folks from the Spanish Inquisition and never wear them again.  Or, at least, I can put padded backs on them and try again.

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W00T!

W00T!  Post number 1000!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun (and femme!) New Year's Eve.

I have a little epilogue to my Birchmere story.  At least I think it's an epilogue.

Another blogger wrote about expecting the euphoria of dressing to wear off, so it just becomes natural.  I think she's missing the target.  The night at the Birchmere, I felt GREAT dressed, better, perhaps, than ever before.  I don't know exactly why.  It was close to 11 when we got home, I knew my nails had to come off, I knew I had to get up early the next day to go to work but I did not want to change, I did not want Meg to go away.

The comfort of being out as Meg was there, but the euphoria was there too.

Maybe I feel like my drab life is, well, drab ~ but my Meg life is always new, always full of new experiences....  Seeing a show, having dinner, talking to the other patrons (and musician!), just being Meg and out on the town is euphoric.  There's no other word.  And like some illegal drugs that produce the same feeling, there's sometimes a horrible let-down when the high is gone.  Sunday night, I really felt sad ~ maybe a tad depressed ~ when I pulled off my wig and knew it was over.  I wanted, more than anything, to touch up my lips and head out again.

Even sitting in the cold waiting for the box office to open in my long coat and dress and pumps was special.  It just was.

So dressing and being out felt natural and special at the same time.

I hope it stays that way.  Except for the crash.  I can do without the crash.

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