Hi all,
My first adventure into public this past Saturday!
The previous week began and I am thinking finally I get to have a makeover, go out and interact with others while dressed! I have been looking forward to this for a long time! What to wear? I need both a day and formal evening outfit! Ok, try on about six different outfits and try to make up my mind. Finally, Evening dress selected and put in suitcase one other dress in as a backup. Both are velvet just below the knee type dress. One is black velvet dress with a 1 ¼” strap on each side other wise the shoulders and arms are bare, Black velvet short jacket to go with this dress, one string of pearls around the neck for a simple but elegant look. The other dress is a dark purple v-neck but covers the shoulders and is short sleeved, fits nice not too tight. No, this dress is dressy but I think the black one with the short jacket is a better choice for the occasion so the purple one will be my backup! Whew! One decision down (only took me three days so far!) I am really starting to understand the trials GG’s go through for planning an evening, clothes wise! Ok now I have to figure out what to wear after my makeover, I will have evening makeup on so I want to wear something nice but not too much because I want to shop on a Saturday and have no excuse like working or such, so I will stand out not being dressed like other girls shopping (very casual dress on a Saturday style, Capri’s, jeans, sweats around here). Jean skirt won’t fit the makeup so undecided on what to do! Well do what every guy does in this situation, procrastinate until the last minute and then just pick something out of desperation! Yep, that is what I will do! Well the time has come! Throw in a couple of choices so I really do not have to make a decision (I can hold off a little longer
). The hotel has an iron at it so I can make things look their best! I can now have a drink because I need it and it is Friday night!
Sleep is probably not going to happen, hopefully makeup covers bags under eyes and eye drops will clear redness. 2 am, sleep finally comes and wakeup is about 4:30 am. Not a problem, have eternity to rest in peace!
It is finally Saturday!
I started the weekend by shaving everything I could reach in the morning and getting ready for the evening. Being very careful not to nick myself I shave the face twice and kept asking myself what am I doing? I should just call and cancel my makeover! I am just a guy in a dress and there is no way makeup will make the kind of difference to change that! (Right and wrong on this). Finally say just go! I have to know what it is like! Say good bye to the unknowing SO and head out. Stop at the bank and get some cash, oh, get extra hose, if I don’t I will need them for sure! Girl Scout motto? Oh I do not have any feminine sunglasses, Kmart to the rescue! Thanks Karen! I can get L’eggs silken mist in both jet black and suntan beige there as well as some lotion for my dry skin from worrying so much this week!
The event for Saturday evening was the Majestic Hearts show in Denver (Majestic Hearts is a pageant that started four years ago by the late John Lowe as a way of raising funds and awareness for AIDS research.). I was meeting (first time I am seeing most of these folks) with some of the TSK members (in the Denver area) before, during and after the show, had a great time socializing with them.
My next stop is at Macy’s near by the hotel to see if they have some black velvet shoes to go with my black dress but none there in my size 10. Get a call from one of the TSK members I am to meet later in the day to coordinate the time and place. She asks me if I am nervous and after a healthy I just saw my life pass in front of me pause I shout out on the phone in the store I am ready to have a cow but other than that everything is fine! Still in drab thank god! Great, already getting looks and I haven’t even dressed yet, oh well think of it as practice at being stared at! I make it to the hotel and they let me check in early so I can have a room close to where the makeover will be done and I can hide in my room until the evening comes! I met with Phyllis of Phyllis’s Fantasies for the makeover (first time ever with makeup on). I have to ask her to shave my back (have not figured out how to do that just yet, and haven’t been able to go to a salon for help, although after today the inhibitions are getting a lot lower!) During the makeover, she has the competitors for the show coming through while I am dressed in a black pleated skirt with a white v-neck light sweater type top I am really not ready for others to see me, oh well I can always hide in my room until it is time to leave tomorrow! Plucking of eyebrows begin, just a little cleanup she says. I am starting to wonder if I will have any left and yes it hurts! The first few are not too bad but as she continues it becomes more painful! Think of something else until she is done. Eye liner is really hard for me, that pencil touching the lower lid made me blink and my eyes water, takes several minutes to overcome that! Put the wig on and finally look in the mirror! Boy do I look different! I do not recognize myself! Ok, we’re running a little late for the rehearsal that she needs to be at and out the door we go to the ballroom in the hotel. Talking about deportment and such she tells me to not walk so fast girls are smooth and flowing so I slow down trying to do what she has told me, then she says NOT NOW! We are in a hurry girl! So we speed back up again! She tells me Sue Ann just has to see me now that I am done (had a good conversation with Sue before the makeover) Ok, folks are being nice to me, hotel staff is obviously use to seeing guys in dresses and it is not a big deal! So I boldly go where intelligent people with my looks would not, out the door of the hotel and off to shop!
I went to Macy's by myself and tried shopping a little (VERY NERVOUS and yes I forgot my camera, darn) as this is the first time I have ever let others even see me dressed (I had met another CD on-line and after talking for a few weeks met him at his home and he was wearing a skirt so I changed also but we stayed around the house and just talked and shared experiences. One person in the relative safety of a home is a start but not like what I am doing today). Hiding behind my makeup helped! I got clocked by 2 possibly 3 sales associates, most everyone else seemed to busy with their own thing to notice a short fat guy in a dress. I think the makeup, nicer clothing and nervousness as well as other things I do not even know about yet drew to much attention. So I left because I was too nervous to continue and had lost the shopping urge. Also, having a cow in public is probably not the best way to maintain the low profile I had hoped for! On the road out at a traffic light a couple of teenage boys and girls in the vehicle next to me stared at me in my truck, I think trying to figure out what I was, that was nerve wracking also! I went and met a TSK member at Starbucks (got clocked by the attendant taking the money but he was cool about it and polite) others inside and out did not seem to notice, and we talked there for a while. We then hit the Dress Barn (thought about trying something on in the store but did not see anything I really wanted in my size except a blouse but did not want to mess up my hair by pulling my sweater off so missed out there) and I had to get some Dr. Scholls for my heels (feet shrunk and they were tending to come off while walking, I had picked these shoes because of there comfort) so went into Albertsons (everyone was too polite or too busy to notice me in these places and having some one to be with was a huge relief). Went over to a couple of other TSK members home and visited with them while they got ready for the show. Rushed back to the hotel where I had a room and got ready myself, just changed into a nice dress (Black dress, black hose with open dressy evening sandals). Enjoyed the evening and talking with many different folks and learned about them. So I basically spent 14 hours dressed in public, letting well over 200 people see me not counting while in traffic (I had to remind myself to drive like a girl, just one in a ¾ ton truck! Get out of the way, can’t you see I am late for shopping!
Dana
