gillian1968
05-20-2009, 09:32 PM
Hi Girls - just warning you now, this is a long one and a completely selfish post LOL,
I'd been planning on taking a day away from work for some Gillian time with my wife since she said she missed Gillian last week. Today was the day...
I started early with hair removal and showering. I dug to find a stretchy underwire bra that fit my new size 10 TrueKare imperfect (? they look perfect to me) forms.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to wear but put on my blue skirt with the knit waist and a t-shirt and found I had no shoes to go with them. So I put on my black & white floral skirt and borrowed a nice black top from my wife, and put on my black strappy heels - in hindsight not the best choice with the 3" heel :)
My hair was the next challenge, I have two wigs - a wavy brown wig and a straight black one - both shoulder length. Since the Gal's Spring Fling a few weeks ago though, I've gained confidence in just wearing my own hair - and because there was a chance I'd be trying on clothes I decided what the heck. I blow-dried it to give it some body, and styled it as best as I could.
My makeup was ready, purse packed, and we were ready to go. Of course, while I needed 4 hours to get ready my wife only needed 1/2 an hour... It's just not fair! We took a stop through the Starbucks drive-through and drove into Toronto.
We decided to actually park in the Eaton's Centre - and ended up way up on the 4th floor... and as luck would have it picked the entrance with only stairs, no elevator. I knew I was going to have sore feet soon, so we decided to focus on shoe shopping to start.
Walking through the Eaton's Centre en-femme was a completely new experience for me. We stopped in lots of shoe stores as well as our usual haunts like Sephora's and Laura's. As it neared lunch-time it got fairly busy but I was a little surprised it didn't faze me a bit. I think the nervousness had left me shortly after I got out of our parked car.
Sales people were all friendly and helpful. The odd double-take from various random people but nothing obvious and not a single bad look or word was made. Browsing alongside other women, passing people in the stores, chatting with the cashiers, it's hard to explain but it felt surreal that it was all just so normal.
Something new for my wife was us being referred to as "ladies" :) we'd be standing looking at a pair of sandals and the SA would come up behind us and say "Can I help you, ladies?" - I was beaming and felt just so good. I didn't get a single "sir" and I got lots of "ma'am"'s.
We had lunch at Mr Greenjeans - I was a little nervous being pinned down to a single table and not having an exit plan LOL but it went great - well except for all the calories in the Chicken Penne pasta I had :) Yummy :) We were seated near a couple other table's that were all women and while I got the odd glance I reveled in the fact that I just didn't care what other people thought - I was out and comfortable and having fun.
My wife and I have such a wonderful time together - she says that my personality is different while en-femme. I'm nicer to be around, and we think it's just because I feel more comfortable as Gillian and I'm able to shed some of the stress I carry around with me that makes my male self a little grumpy.
I wasn't brave enough to tackle the bathroom issue when we finished lunch, so I hung around while she went and then we were off. Several people waiting around the bathroom but again, nothing hostile, just the odd curious glance. Our feet were still sore so the climb back up the stairs to P4 was a long one.
On the way home, we decided to stop in to Payless in Pickering where I've shopped a couple times before (in drab) and have had good experiences with one of the sales girls. She was there today and when she offered her help "Hello, ladies, anything I can help you find today?" I looked up - it took her a minute, I could see her pause, then she recognized us and made the connection between Gillian and my male self, then she smiled - like she was pleased to make the connection... we found 2 pairs of shoes today to bring home :)
I even found a pretty pair of girly sunglasses for $10 (we both forgot our sunglasses at home) so my eyes got a rest driving home.
I had such a good time today. My size 10 forms didn't seem too huge like I'd feared. No scene was made, nobody pointed and laughed. We got "ladies"'d and I got "ma'am"d all day. I got lots of time to practice my girl voice. And we've decided this will be a regular outing for us.
I don't think I'll ever be content to sit around at home dressed again - I'm so spoiled!
-Gillian
I'd been planning on taking a day away from work for some Gillian time with my wife since she said she missed Gillian last week. Today was the day...
I started early with hair removal and showering. I dug to find a stretchy underwire bra that fit my new size 10 TrueKare imperfect (? they look perfect to me) forms.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to wear but put on my blue skirt with the knit waist and a t-shirt and found I had no shoes to go with them. So I put on my black & white floral skirt and borrowed a nice black top from my wife, and put on my black strappy heels - in hindsight not the best choice with the 3" heel :)
My hair was the next challenge, I have two wigs - a wavy brown wig and a straight black one - both shoulder length. Since the Gal's Spring Fling a few weeks ago though, I've gained confidence in just wearing my own hair - and because there was a chance I'd be trying on clothes I decided what the heck. I blow-dried it to give it some body, and styled it as best as I could.
My makeup was ready, purse packed, and we were ready to go. Of course, while I needed 4 hours to get ready my wife only needed 1/2 an hour... It's just not fair! We took a stop through the Starbucks drive-through and drove into Toronto.
We decided to actually park in the Eaton's Centre - and ended up way up on the 4th floor... and as luck would have it picked the entrance with only stairs, no elevator. I knew I was going to have sore feet soon, so we decided to focus on shoe shopping to start.
Walking through the Eaton's Centre en-femme was a completely new experience for me. We stopped in lots of shoe stores as well as our usual haunts like Sephora's and Laura's. As it neared lunch-time it got fairly busy but I was a little surprised it didn't faze me a bit. I think the nervousness had left me shortly after I got out of our parked car.
Sales people were all friendly and helpful. The odd double-take from various random people but nothing obvious and not a single bad look or word was made. Browsing alongside other women, passing people in the stores, chatting with the cashiers, it's hard to explain but it felt surreal that it was all just so normal.
Something new for my wife was us being referred to as "ladies" :) we'd be standing looking at a pair of sandals and the SA would come up behind us and say "Can I help you, ladies?" - I was beaming and felt just so good. I didn't get a single "sir" and I got lots of "ma'am"'s.
We had lunch at Mr Greenjeans - I was a little nervous being pinned down to a single table and not having an exit plan LOL but it went great - well except for all the calories in the Chicken Penne pasta I had :) Yummy :) We were seated near a couple other table's that were all women and while I got the odd glance I reveled in the fact that I just didn't care what other people thought - I was out and comfortable and having fun.
My wife and I have such a wonderful time together - she says that my personality is different while en-femme. I'm nicer to be around, and we think it's just because I feel more comfortable as Gillian and I'm able to shed some of the stress I carry around with me that makes my male self a little grumpy.
I wasn't brave enough to tackle the bathroom issue when we finished lunch, so I hung around while she went and then we were off. Several people waiting around the bathroom but again, nothing hostile, just the odd curious glance. Our feet were still sore so the climb back up the stairs to P4 was a long one.
On the way home, we decided to stop in to Payless in Pickering where I've shopped a couple times before (in drab) and have had good experiences with one of the sales girls. She was there today and when she offered her help "Hello, ladies, anything I can help you find today?" I looked up - it took her a minute, I could see her pause, then she recognized us and made the connection between Gillian and my male self, then she smiled - like she was pleased to make the connection... we found 2 pairs of shoes today to bring home :)
I even found a pretty pair of girly sunglasses for $10 (we both forgot our sunglasses at home) so my eyes got a rest driving home.
I had such a good time today. My size 10 forms didn't seem too huge like I'd feared. No scene was made, nobody pointed and laughed. We got "ladies"'d and I got "ma'am"d all day. I got lots of time to practice my girl voice. And we've decided this will be a regular outing for us.
I don't think I'll ever be content to sit around at home dressed again - I'm so spoiled!
-Gillian