The people you bump into

My frequency of outings en femme hasn't improved. I realised yesterday morning that my legs were too hairy to disguise with pantihose, and the weather was too hot and muggy for anything thicker so I made an appointment to get waxed from the waist down and to get my lashes tinted. The earliest appointment available was in the afternoon, but allowed me to check out an op shop on the way, which resulted in a purchase of a brand new dress for $10. :)

Sadly, because of the weather, the trip home was abnormally slow and I simply didn't have time to dress and go out to the cafe night.

I had been getting my nails done every 3 weeks, but lately they've been growing so fast that I've had to get them done more often. I would like to get them done about every 2 1/2 weeks, and had made my next appointment for this Friday. Even though I'm still not working at the moment, I need to go to a work related meeting on Friday so I brought my appointment forward to today.

When I got up this morning, I was still hoping to go to my appointment en femme. Then, after I'd had breakfast and done a 40 minute session on the treadmill (now 6km/h up a 3 degree incline), I realised that I really had to wash my hair. By the time I'd showered including washing my hair, then dried and straightened it, I was running too late to dress for my appointment.

So, after my nail appointment in boy mode, I walked to the building society to withdraw some cash. I had to open my wallet carefully and the teller, who I've known for years and almost certainly knows about me, commented about the fact that I was being careful with my nails and I told her that I'd just had them done.

While I was in the branch, a woman walked in and I greeted her. She didn't seem entirely sure who I was until I joked that she didn't recognise me because I wasn't wearing a dress. She laughed, as she suddenly realised where she knew me from. She used to be a regular patron at the same cafe as we go to for our Tuesday cafe nights and I'd bumped into her in Charlestown square a couple of times.

I joked to the teller that I didn't know how they'd react if I came in wearing a dress and she responded that it wouldn't phase them. There was nobody else waiting so I got my internet tablet out, loaded a recent wigless photo and showed it to the teller. Her comment was that I looked so different that she wasn't surprised that the other woman hadn't recognised me. Realising that there was now someone waiting, I left it at that.

I walked up the street and bumped into the same woman again in the first of three op shops that I visited before going home.

I can see myself going to the building society en femme sometime soon. :)

Weight and sleep update

I'm not sure where I'm at right now.

I don't feel depressed, but I feel like I'm exhibiting symptoms, including some comfort eating. I'm just not interested in doing anything except concentrating on getting my sleep pattern and my exercise regime sorted out.

I've been in bed by midnight for the last 12 nights but after the first 4 days it became a struggle and has been consistently within 5 minutes of midnight.

I've done at least 30 minutes on the walking machine twice each day, gradually increasing the speed from time to time. I also set up the walking machine so that I can watch DVDs while I'm working out, and started watching the series NCIS from the beginning. Since the episodes are about 42 minutes, I'm now doing 40 minute sessions and I'm up to 6km/h.

I know that my stamina is improving, I'm building muscle on my calves (not sure if that's a good thing or not) and I'm gradually sleeping better but I still don't seem to be losing any weight. Before I started this I was gaining weight so stabilisation is a start. :)

I also need to get my mornings working better before I return to work. I've been off work since before Christmas, and hope to be back working by next week. In the meantime, I've started my morning exercise sessions. Initially, I was getting up, having breakfast then getting onto the treadmill. Somewhere along the line, I started checking Facebook etc between getting up and having breakfast. I've got to stop that, because I'm not going to be ready for work early enough in the mornings at the current rate. I think that I might have to adjust my goal to be in bed by 11:30 instead of midnight before the end of this week, too.

Sadly, I haven't been out to a cafe night in the past 2 weeks. This week, having been off work for so long, I even lost track of what day it was and didn't realise that it was Tuesday until about 6pm, when I should have been almost ready to walk out the door. Tonight is the first Wednesday of the month, meaning that it is a Central Coast cafe night. If I go, I'd need to leave by about 9pm to have any chance of getting to bed before midnight and even that would be a struggle. Hopefully I'll get home from today's errands early enough!