In Heaven. Beauty Heaven, that is!

I've had a relatively good month this month. I got out a total of 7 times, so the month averaged once every 4.4 days. I had hoped to go out again yesterday, but was too tired and got up too late to be able to.

The highlight of this month was a day in Sydney last Saturday. After spending about 3 hours getting myself ready, I drove to the Balmain offices of the website Beauty Heaven as one of about 18 guests for an open day. The unusual thing was that it was an organised event where I was the only transgender person there. Normally, I'd either go out shopping alone, or I'd go to an event with other TG people.

As far as I know, everybody else present was a cisgender female. I've been active on that site for quite some time, which is how I came to get the invite. I've also been open about myself, so everybody present knew about me. Because of that, I didn't pass, but it didn't matter. Within minutes of meeting, people who I'd talked to online became friends who I felt like I'd known for years.

It started literally from when I parked my car. The woman who had parked next to me only a few seconds earlier was one of the other guests, so we walked from the carpark to the building together. Being the first two to arrive, we were immediately sat down at the manicurists' tables and given manicures using Orly products. The photo above shows the beautiful job that my manicurist did. Almost as soon as I'd finished there, someone dragged me off to do a brief video blog, which I'm praying never sees the light of day!

There were so many brands and so many products, I don't really remember them all. Looking back, I think that the highlight of the day wasn't the pampering or the products given to me during the day, or even the remarkably heavy goodies bag given to me at the end of the day, but getting to sit and chat with a group of girls including members and staff from Beauty Heaven, and the acceptance that was part of that. I was told by one of the staff that I was courageous (which I've never really thought I am), and another appeared genuinely shocked when I mentioned that I am 40. I'm still wondering how old she thought that I was. :)

After the open day, I drove to a friend's place in Hornsby to visit for the first time. After parking in the street around the corner from her apartment building, I realised that I couldn't find the piece of paper that I'd written the instructions on. Fortunately, I'd already used google maps to wok out which building it was, and the only possible problem was whether I remembered the unit number correctly or not. Happily, I did get it right, because I punched the number into the keypad and she buzzed me in without any drama. We sat and chatted for several hours, catching up on many years. I finally left around 10pm, arriving home at 11:30pm, a full 12 hours after I left home.

Obviously, there was no way that I was going to take that beautifully applied nail polish off, so it stayed on Saturday night and most of Sunday. I had an unexpected visitor on Sunday afternoon. My brother, who I mentioned back in February 2008, didn't speak to me for 9 months after he found out that I was a crossdresser. It was somewhat funny making an effort to keep him from seeing my nails, because I have no idea how he would have reacted if he had seen them. If he did see them, he didn't say anything, so the "don't ask, don't tell" status quo was maintained.

Sadly, the impending return to work on Monday meant that the nail polish had to come off Sunday night.

More out than I know?

Woo Hoo. Another blog post less than a day after the last. :)

A couple of interesting things happened last night, which make me wonder about how people perceive me in boy mode.

Yesterday, I had some private messages back and forth with a woman I met last year through work. She informed me that she guessed back then, based upon certain details of my appearance, that I was a crossdresser. She didn't say anything at the time, or indeed since, until I sent her a friend request on Facebook from my femme profile.

The other interesting thing happened when I went to put fuel in the car last night. When I went to pay, the female console operator commented something like "I wish I could grow nails like that. Mine are crap." It wasn't the first time I've had someone comment about my nails when I was in boy mode, but I think that it was the first time I've had a comment from someone who didn't already know me.

It's got me thinking about just how obvious it is to people who see me in boy mode, that I'm a CD. Do I care, and do I want to make changes to make it less obvious? I'm still thinking about that.

Given that my receded hairline means that I always wear a wig when en femme, I'm wondering if I'm being silly letting my hair grow long. After all, the longer my hair, the harder it is to hide under a wig. I'm wondering if I should cut my hair shorter, or make an effort to try one of the topical applications that are supposed to re-grow hair so that I can go without a wig.

Actually, now that I think about it, I'm wondering if what I want to do is make changes that might make it more obvious, like going back to having my lashes tinted? :)

Three times in four days

Yes, I've done it again. I've been so busy that I've missed out on blogging things as they happen and now have to go back and try to cover a few weeks in a catch-up post.

I've now worn the black and white long sleeved dress that I mentioned in my last post. It's nice and warm and fits beautifully. Sadly, it didn't fit my wife, so that's one that we won't be sharing.

I finally decided to make an effort to get some weight off. The best way I can find to do that is to walk for about an hour every day. With how much I have to cram into my days, I decided I'd try to do it at night instead. Great theory. I managed to walk a few nights, missing Tuesday nights when I went out for dinner. Work got the better of me, and it all fell apart. I'm going to keep trying, because I know that it's the only way I've ever managed to lose a reasonable amount of weight.

I've managed to pick up another nice wrap dress and a brown cord jacket in the past few weeks. The dress is a Tightrope brand, similar to two other dresses that I have that I really like.

Last Sunday was interesting. My friend Christina suggested a few weeks ago that we might go to the Maitland markets, and last Sunday was the day. I got up at 6:30am, which is very unusual for me, particularly on a Sunday. Up at 6:30, out of the house en femme around 9:15. Christina drove us to Maitland, where we spent a few hours walking around the markets, then drove to Morpeth for morning tea.

Tuesday night, I went to the Newcastle cafe night as usual, and wore the dress that I picked up the week before.

Wednesday night was the first cafe night at Norah Head, on the Central Coast. Christina came to my place and I drove us there and back. It was a great night, and it was hopefully the first of many, as it is planned to be a monthly event.

So, between Sunday and Wednesday, I went out en femme 3 times in 4 days. That's certainly helped my average, but it's still well below my target of once every 5 days.

While out shopping with the family on Thursday night, I decided to put a $20 Tree of Life voucher I'd won towards buying a smaller silver pendant than the rose that I often wear. After looking at a couple, I chose one that was $35. There was a 20% off sale, so it cost me just $8! I plan to wear that sometime very soon. :)