Leslie Langford
03-11-2010, 11:40 PM
I just came back from an all-day shopping excursion en femme earlier today (gotta take advantage of that unseasonably mild spring weather hereabouts - LOL!) wearing my favorite between-season shopping ensemble: a dark brown suede jacket with matching silk scarf and necklace, multi-colored (brown, gold, tan, burgundy) brocade Nygard top, camel-colored Conrad C pencil skirt, light tan pantyhose, and light cognac 2 1/2" heel Luca Ferri loafers set off by a matching croco patterned purse. Very lady-like and age-appropriate, and also elegant enough for the SA's to take notice and comment on favorably, yet not enough to attract too much attention (and stares) from among the rest of the unwashed masses typically found in a suburban mall setting, with most of them, of course, being attired in the standard-issue Walmart chic that seems to be de rigueur these days.
I shopped in all of my usual haunts (the Bay, Sears, Winners, Ricki's, Le Chateau etc.), thoroughly enjoying the positive vibes that kept washing over me from the SA's who seemed to be going out of their way to serve this elegant "lady" who had just come in every time I set foot in a different store. I'm on a tight budget these days, so I had to pass up a number of great finds, but one that stands out was a Jones New York dress at the Bay that fit me like a glove, and much better than any other one in recent memory. Of course, having lost over 15 lbs. since New Year's Day after cutting out all sweets and junk food (Yeah, having your family doctor tell you after your last annual physical that your blood sugar is too high and that you're moving into the pre-diabetic zone can be a strong incentive :sad::doh:), I've also dropped down almost 2 dress sizes :thumbsup:, and women's clothes fit me much better overall, making shopping even more enjoyable these days.
But in keeping with the title, here are some of the highlights of my shopping trip that are humorous in retrospect, but oddly enough, also hardly fazed me at the time, showing me yet again just how comfortable I have become shopping en femme:
- I am surrounded by stay-at-home neighbors, and the ones directly across from me and beside me seem to practically live outdoors when the weather is nice. I've gotten a pretty good handle on their daily coming-and-going routines and always wait for an appropriate window of opportunity when heading out of my house en femme so that I can slip out unnoticed. This morning, the ones beside me were nowhere in sight, and the woman across from me had just headed out for what appeared to be her usual Thursday errands. Assuming that the coast was clear, I made my move, but just after I exited my garage and was backing down the driveway, who comes barrelling down the street right towards me but the woman from the house across from me. Murphy's Law strikes again - and evidently, she must have forgotten something. Instinctively, I headed back up the driveway, repositioned the car, and then backed down again, but this time I exited it in the direction opposite to where she was. I don't know how much she saw of "Leslie" in that brief moment, but I did notice her looking my way from out of my rear-view mirror as I drove away. It'll be interesting to see if in the next few days, she mentions the "strange" woman she saw driving off in my car the other day, and I'm already crafting a story for that eventuality.
But the funny thing is - unlike what might have been the case in the past, this time it really didn't bother me, and I just kind of laughed it off as a "wouldn't you know it?" and refused to let it ruin the rest of my day and my planned shopping trip.
- Returned one dress at Sears and exchanged another one for a size smaller :heehee:. I had bought both last week in drab; this time I was doing the return/exchange en femme. When I handed the cashier my VISA card and she tried to call up my account, she appeared puzzled when the name that came up on her screen was my wife's name, and not the one on my credit card (mine is somewhat unusual, and while it does not scream "male", it wouldn't necessarily be taken for a female one either). I instinctively blurted out "That's my wife's name", and as soon as those words left my mouth it was almost like watching a car wreck happen in slow motion. Funny thing though - I made a quick recovery when she nonchalantly answered "Oh, that's your wife's name?" and then proceeded to get my particulars to update the account while not even batting an eye. Then again, since same-sex marriages are legal in Canada, maybe she just thought that we were a committed lesbian couple. Anyway, the rest of the transaction went smoothly from that point onwards, and she politely wished me a good day at the end of it without any further questions, comments, or even the hint of smirk (or even worse, a disapproving scowl). I guess that proves yet again that when it comes to the retail industry, we CDer's have almost become mainstream and valued customers as more and more of us dare to venture out in public without guilt or shame (and of course, help the merchants stay afloat with our hard-earned $ in this challenging economy ).
- While I was in a fitting room in the Bay store trying on a number of selections (including that "killer" dress) I overheard a conversation between what appeared to be (i.e. judging from her voice/accent) an elderly, prim and proper, and veddy British lady in the adjoining cubicle and her equally elderly (and perhaps a bit hearing-challenged and befuddled) husband. Seems that the old boy kept trying to get into the change room area so that he could hear her better, while she repeatedly tried to keep him at bay by calling out to him that men were absolutely NOT allowed inside the ladies' dressing room area, and implying that dire consequences would surely follow if he were caught doing so. I guess she wasn't aware of the CDer in the cubicle next to her happily trying out an assortment of potentially new spring outfits and trying his best to stifle a hearty chuckle, especially knowing that the fitting room attendant seemed to have had no problem showing him to his cubicle while carrying his armful of selections, and then hanging them up for him as she smilingly wished him good luck with his choices :eek::D.
Two things became abundantly clear to me again at the end of the day as I completed yet another successful and thoroughly enjoyable shopping trip en femme:
1) I am getting so used to this sort of thing and it is now becoming such a routine non-event for me that it borders on the scary, and I sometimes have to shake my head to make sure that I am not dreaming. I worry that I am starting to lose my "filter" as I continue to push the envelope of my public outings and that one day I will get "busted" and find myself in deep doggy-do. Time will tell...
2) The flip side to the above is that I have yet to have a bad experience when I am out en femme, and SA's and other people that I have come into contact with have been incredibly nice to me and have gone out of their way to make me feel accepted and welcome. I have never once been made to feel like a freak which, of course, is the nightmare of every CDer who desperately wants to, but has yet to find the courage to go out in public en femme.
Then again, maybe I worry too much and need to stop feeling guilty about doing something which is fundamentally so harmless, and yet gives me such immense joy and a sense of finally feeling complete. In short, by doing what I do, I have simply taken the repeated advice of those "sisters" here who have gone down the same path before me, and I have accepted the wisdom which their age and experience has brought them - in essence, Carpe Diem ("Seize the Day)" as the Romans used to say.
We only get one shot at life, and in the end, none of us get out of it alive anyway. In my case, I am trying to make sure that every day counts, and that I will not be facing the Grim Reaper one day with a host of regrets that I didn't allow "Leslie" to flourish to the best of my abilities while I still had the chance.
If this is food for thought for others here who have been grappling with similar doubts and concerns in the past, then so much the better...:gfi:
I shopped in all of my usual haunts (the Bay, Sears, Winners, Ricki's, Le Chateau etc.), thoroughly enjoying the positive vibes that kept washing over me from the SA's who seemed to be going out of their way to serve this elegant "lady" who had just come in every time I set foot in a different store. I'm on a tight budget these days, so I had to pass up a number of great finds, but one that stands out was a Jones New York dress at the Bay that fit me like a glove, and much better than any other one in recent memory. Of course, having lost over 15 lbs. since New Year's Day after cutting out all sweets and junk food (Yeah, having your family doctor tell you after your last annual physical that your blood sugar is too high and that you're moving into the pre-diabetic zone can be a strong incentive :sad::doh:), I've also dropped down almost 2 dress sizes :thumbsup:, and women's clothes fit me much better overall, making shopping even more enjoyable these days.
But in keeping with the title, here are some of the highlights of my shopping trip that are humorous in retrospect, but oddly enough, also hardly fazed me at the time, showing me yet again just how comfortable I have become shopping en femme:
- I am surrounded by stay-at-home neighbors, and the ones directly across from me and beside me seem to practically live outdoors when the weather is nice. I've gotten a pretty good handle on their daily coming-and-going routines and always wait for an appropriate window of opportunity when heading out of my house en femme so that I can slip out unnoticed. This morning, the ones beside me were nowhere in sight, and the woman across from me had just headed out for what appeared to be her usual Thursday errands. Assuming that the coast was clear, I made my move, but just after I exited my garage and was backing down the driveway, who comes barrelling down the street right towards me but the woman from the house across from me. Murphy's Law strikes again - and evidently, she must have forgotten something. Instinctively, I headed back up the driveway, repositioned the car, and then backed down again, but this time I exited it in the direction opposite to where she was. I don't know how much she saw of "Leslie" in that brief moment, but I did notice her looking my way from out of my rear-view mirror as I drove away. It'll be interesting to see if in the next few days, she mentions the "strange" woman she saw driving off in my car the other day, and I'm already crafting a story for that eventuality.
But the funny thing is - unlike what might have been the case in the past, this time it really didn't bother me, and I just kind of laughed it off as a "wouldn't you know it?" and refused to let it ruin the rest of my day and my planned shopping trip.
- Returned one dress at Sears and exchanged another one for a size smaller :heehee:. I had bought both last week in drab; this time I was doing the return/exchange en femme. When I handed the cashier my VISA card and she tried to call up my account, she appeared puzzled when the name that came up on her screen was my wife's name, and not the one on my credit card (mine is somewhat unusual, and while it does not scream "male", it wouldn't necessarily be taken for a female one either). I instinctively blurted out "That's my wife's name", and as soon as those words left my mouth it was almost like watching a car wreck happen in slow motion. Funny thing though - I made a quick recovery when she nonchalantly answered "Oh, that's your wife's name?" and then proceeded to get my particulars to update the account while not even batting an eye. Then again, since same-sex marriages are legal in Canada, maybe she just thought that we were a committed lesbian couple. Anyway, the rest of the transaction went smoothly from that point onwards, and she politely wished me a good day at the end of it without any further questions, comments, or even the hint of smirk (or even worse, a disapproving scowl). I guess that proves yet again that when it comes to the retail industry, we CDer's have almost become mainstream and valued customers as more and more of us dare to venture out in public without guilt or shame (and of course, help the merchants stay afloat with our hard-earned $ in this challenging economy ).
- While I was in a fitting room in the Bay store trying on a number of selections (including that "killer" dress) I overheard a conversation between what appeared to be (i.e. judging from her voice/accent) an elderly, prim and proper, and veddy British lady in the adjoining cubicle and her equally elderly (and perhaps a bit hearing-challenged and befuddled) husband. Seems that the old boy kept trying to get into the change room area so that he could hear her better, while she repeatedly tried to keep him at bay by calling out to him that men were absolutely NOT allowed inside the ladies' dressing room area, and implying that dire consequences would surely follow if he were caught doing so. I guess she wasn't aware of the CDer in the cubicle next to her happily trying out an assortment of potentially new spring outfits and trying his best to stifle a hearty chuckle, especially knowing that the fitting room attendant seemed to have had no problem showing him to his cubicle while carrying his armful of selections, and then hanging them up for him as she smilingly wished him good luck with his choices :eek::D.
Two things became abundantly clear to me again at the end of the day as I completed yet another successful and thoroughly enjoyable shopping trip en femme:
1) I am getting so used to this sort of thing and it is now becoming such a routine non-event for me that it borders on the scary, and I sometimes have to shake my head to make sure that I am not dreaming. I worry that I am starting to lose my "filter" as I continue to push the envelope of my public outings and that one day I will get "busted" and find myself in deep doggy-do. Time will tell...
2) The flip side to the above is that I have yet to have a bad experience when I am out en femme, and SA's and other people that I have come into contact with have been incredibly nice to me and have gone out of their way to make me feel accepted and welcome. I have never once been made to feel like a freak which, of course, is the nightmare of every CDer who desperately wants to, but has yet to find the courage to go out in public en femme.
Then again, maybe I worry too much and need to stop feeling guilty about doing something which is fundamentally so harmless, and yet gives me such immense joy and a sense of finally feeling complete. In short, by doing what I do, I have simply taken the repeated advice of those "sisters" here who have gone down the same path before me, and I have accepted the wisdom which their age and experience has brought them - in essence, Carpe Diem ("Seize the Day)" as the Romans used to say.
We only get one shot at life, and in the end, none of us get out of it alive anyway. In my case, I am trying to make sure that every day counts, and that I will not be facing the Grim Reaper one day with a host of regrets that I didn't allow "Leslie" to flourish to the best of my abilities while I still had the chance.
If this is food for thought for others here who have been grappling with similar doubts and concerns in the past, then so much the better...:gfi: