LeannL
12-20-2010, 12:23 AM
First, pardon the long post. Hopefully my out and about story will help someone else to take the plunge.
I have had some time alone this weekend, so Leann needed a long weekend. I decided that I needed to do some partying so I headed eventually to the Boston area to meet up with a few of my friends and to meet many more.
The weekend started Thursday which was basically a preparation day. When I have these long weekends, I will go a bit further than normal. So I started off with my new lace front wig. It is a bit darker than I wanted but I still think it works (even if the contrast in the pictures isn’t great). I have always wanted long hair in real life and to get the sense of having the hair, I glued the wig on for the weekend. It has been an interesting experience and I still need to learn more about how to do it efficiently. As I did last year at this time, I also put acrylic nails on. I do my own with one of the kits you can buy at Sally’s or Walmart. After a bit of work, I had nails that were long and smooth and painted a nice red. I ended the day by doing a test drive in a neighboring city by going to Goodwill to pick up a “new” suit and then dinner at a Chinese Buffet.
Friday was my day to travel. After I did some early morning teleconferencing, I got dressed. I decided to go as a business woman by wearing a black skirt suit with a white turtleneck and black boots with a 3.5 inch heels. After finishing packing – I can’t believe I couldn’t pack it all in one suitcase – I hit the road heading for Providence. I stopped at the Providence Place mall to look for some Christmas presents and then made a side trip to drop off some Christmas cards to some doctors I had seen during the year. As usually happens when I go to this mall en femme, I ended up giving a number of people directions to stores and how to work the parking kiosks. After the trip to the doctors, I was happy to get back in the car as I haven’t really worn these boots when there was a lot of walking to do and my feet were really sore.
The next stop was the motel in Waltham which I got cheap through Priceline. I checked in without any incident. The receptionist didn’t flinch when she looked at my driver’s license. On checking out, I made a comment about how well she handled it. She answered “Well I am from New York. So I’ve seen it all.” We had a nice conversation after that. I guess there must be a lot of transpeople in New York :)
My first party of the weekend was next. I was visiting the Sisters of Boston for the first time. They meet at the Peabody Marriott which was only about 20 minutes up the road from where I was. I decided to wear one of my shorter skirts and a purple turtleneck. I changed to a more comfortable set of boots. On the way out, I asked the receptionist if she thought that the skirt was too short for someone my age. She took her time looking it over and said I was fine. (Reproduced picture below.)
148596
The Sisters meeting was fun. It was Ashley’s birthday and there was another group in the bar celebrating one of the women’s birthday. So we combined some of the celebrations and had a lot of fun. She even joined us in their traditional after party picture. One downer though was associated with the Sisters’ collecting money for a Christmas Charity. They originally planned on giving the money to Toys for Tots. Unfortunately, the Marines decided they did not want our money given the source. So, the Sisters are looking for some other group who realizes that the important thing is who gets the benefit and not who gives the money.
I did a few errands on Saturday morning and then got ready for my next party. A group called the Queer Women of Color (QWOC) in Boston was putting on what was called a Lesbian Power Lunch to benefit some youth GLBT activities. The name was meant to be an inside joke since actually everyone was welcome. So after corresponding with them a bit, I signed up and told the organizer that I looked forward to the lunch even though I wasn’t quite a woman and I didn’t have much in the way of color. I made it into Copley Square to the Mexican restaurant where it was being held. When I arrived, I was could not have been greeted any nicer. I had a really great time to say the least. There was one transman named Gunner there and the rest were, I presume, lesbian women. As a lawyer, Gunner has been working on Trans rights in Massachusetts for a number of years and was interesting to hear his assessment of what was currently working its way through the legislature. Part of the conversations I had was about how our struggles (LGB and T) were similar yet different. I was disheartened to hear from someone who worked with GLAD about the struggles some people are still suffering housing, employment and other forms of discrimination. It was also fun to listen to a group of women who were speculating on who was a lesbian (Oprah, Dolly Parton, Condoleezza Rice, etc.) and if their networks of lesbian friends could reach someone who knew the subject well enough to confirm their sexual preference. For the record, the lunch was fun; I was not the only one in a skirt (see reproduced outfit below), not the only trans person and not the only one without color. All of the women (and one man) were very nice to me.
148598
After a brief nap and a change of clothes, it was off to the TCNE Christmas party. It was a very nice, mellow party with live guitar, flute and harp music. It was good to see a number of people that I have met before, some that I met at the Sisters meeting the night before and some new ladies. There were a number of ladies that traveled great distances including several from Worcester and one from Springfield. They have more endurance than I since they had 1 to 2 hour drives after the party. (Being in my narcissistic mode, the outfit I wore to the party is shown below.) I was in bed by 1 AM but needed to get up early to go to church with the 9 AM Mass.
148595
Up at 6:30 got me ready in time for Mass. (The outfit is shown below.) The receptionist I checked in with confirmed that I could leave after 11 AM. So after Mass I had breakfast at Friendly’s and gassed up the car for the trip home. All I can say is that the gas pump nozzle didn’t have a clip to hold the valve open and I froze my legs and butt of in the cold, sub-freezing wind holding it open.
148594
Back in the hotel, I changed into my “traveling” outfit. I figured that the right skirt with heavy tights could work as I planned on doing some shopping on the trip. See the picture I took when I got home below. The first stop was the Burlington mall. I checked out the MAC store as I heard that they had brush sets for sale but they were sold out of the useful sets. Barnes and Noble had a few books I needed for presents so I made a quick purchase there and was off to find a Borders. The one nearby had NO parking so I hit the road. I found another Borders on the trip back near Worcester. I found another present but one of my quests – a Scramble game book – could not be found. I worked with one of the SA for about five minutes going through the shelves to no avail. After picking up a cocoa at Starbucks, I checked out and then let the charity organization wrap the package for a donation.
148597
All that was left was to make it home which I obviously did. To sum up the long weekend, I enjoyed the time being Leann without an option to go back to my male persona (I didn’t bring any male items with me on the trip which was a problem as I realized after I left that I left my male wallet behind and it had my insurance card in it – a lesson for others before we find out the hard way why we shouldn’t do this.) The glued on wig will work well when I get the hang of it and I make a few modifications. My time with each of the three different party groups was most enjoyable and I also realized that I have reached a point where wearing a skirt or a dress isn’t a thrill (as in, “Will someone read me with it on?”) anymore; it is something I simply enjoy. Lastly, I interacted with a lot of people outside of our community given what I did other than partying. All treated as I would expect. I hope that this story will give others the boost they need to go out if that is their ultimate goal.
I have had some time alone this weekend, so Leann needed a long weekend. I decided that I needed to do some partying so I headed eventually to the Boston area to meet up with a few of my friends and to meet many more.
The weekend started Thursday which was basically a preparation day. When I have these long weekends, I will go a bit further than normal. So I started off with my new lace front wig. It is a bit darker than I wanted but I still think it works (even if the contrast in the pictures isn’t great). I have always wanted long hair in real life and to get the sense of having the hair, I glued the wig on for the weekend. It has been an interesting experience and I still need to learn more about how to do it efficiently. As I did last year at this time, I also put acrylic nails on. I do my own with one of the kits you can buy at Sally’s or Walmart. After a bit of work, I had nails that were long and smooth and painted a nice red. I ended the day by doing a test drive in a neighboring city by going to Goodwill to pick up a “new” suit and then dinner at a Chinese Buffet.
Friday was my day to travel. After I did some early morning teleconferencing, I got dressed. I decided to go as a business woman by wearing a black skirt suit with a white turtleneck and black boots with a 3.5 inch heels. After finishing packing – I can’t believe I couldn’t pack it all in one suitcase – I hit the road heading for Providence. I stopped at the Providence Place mall to look for some Christmas presents and then made a side trip to drop off some Christmas cards to some doctors I had seen during the year. As usually happens when I go to this mall en femme, I ended up giving a number of people directions to stores and how to work the parking kiosks. After the trip to the doctors, I was happy to get back in the car as I haven’t really worn these boots when there was a lot of walking to do and my feet were really sore.
The next stop was the motel in Waltham which I got cheap through Priceline. I checked in without any incident. The receptionist didn’t flinch when she looked at my driver’s license. On checking out, I made a comment about how well she handled it. She answered “Well I am from New York. So I’ve seen it all.” We had a nice conversation after that. I guess there must be a lot of transpeople in New York :)
My first party of the weekend was next. I was visiting the Sisters of Boston for the first time. They meet at the Peabody Marriott which was only about 20 minutes up the road from where I was. I decided to wear one of my shorter skirts and a purple turtleneck. I changed to a more comfortable set of boots. On the way out, I asked the receptionist if she thought that the skirt was too short for someone my age. She took her time looking it over and said I was fine. (Reproduced picture below.)
148596
The Sisters meeting was fun. It was Ashley’s birthday and there was another group in the bar celebrating one of the women’s birthday. So we combined some of the celebrations and had a lot of fun. She even joined us in their traditional after party picture. One downer though was associated with the Sisters’ collecting money for a Christmas Charity. They originally planned on giving the money to Toys for Tots. Unfortunately, the Marines decided they did not want our money given the source. So, the Sisters are looking for some other group who realizes that the important thing is who gets the benefit and not who gives the money.
I did a few errands on Saturday morning and then got ready for my next party. A group called the Queer Women of Color (QWOC) in Boston was putting on what was called a Lesbian Power Lunch to benefit some youth GLBT activities. The name was meant to be an inside joke since actually everyone was welcome. So after corresponding with them a bit, I signed up and told the organizer that I looked forward to the lunch even though I wasn’t quite a woman and I didn’t have much in the way of color. I made it into Copley Square to the Mexican restaurant where it was being held. When I arrived, I was could not have been greeted any nicer. I had a really great time to say the least. There was one transman named Gunner there and the rest were, I presume, lesbian women. As a lawyer, Gunner has been working on Trans rights in Massachusetts for a number of years and was interesting to hear his assessment of what was currently working its way through the legislature. Part of the conversations I had was about how our struggles (LGB and T) were similar yet different. I was disheartened to hear from someone who worked with GLAD about the struggles some people are still suffering housing, employment and other forms of discrimination. It was also fun to listen to a group of women who were speculating on who was a lesbian (Oprah, Dolly Parton, Condoleezza Rice, etc.) and if their networks of lesbian friends could reach someone who knew the subject well enough to confirm their sexual preference. For the record, the lunch was fun; I was not the only one in a skirt (see reproduced outfit below), not the only trans person and not the only one without color. All of the women (and one man) were very nice to me.
148598
After a brief nap and a change of clothes, it was off to the TCNE Christmas party. It was a very nice, mellow party with live guitar, flute and harp music. It was good to see a number of people that I have met before, some that I met at the Sisters meeting the night before and some new ladies. There were a number of ladies that traveled great distances including several from Worcester and one from Springfield. They have more endurance than I since they had 1 to 2 hour drives after the party. (Being in my narcissistic mode, the outfit I wore to the party is shown below.) I was in bed by 1 AM but needed to get up early to go to church with the 9 AM Mass.
148595
Up at 6:30 got me ready in time for Mass. (The outfit is shown below.) The receptionist I checked in with confirmed that I could leave after 11 AM. So after Mass I had breakfast at Friendly’s and gassed up the car for the trip home. All I can say is that the gas pump nozzle didn’t have a clip to hold the valve open and I froze my legs and butt of in the cold, sub-freezing wind holding it open.
148594
Back in the hotel, I changed into my “traveling” outfit. I figured that the right skirt with heavy tights could work as I planned on doing some shopping on the trip. See the picture I took when I got home below. The first stop was the Burlington mall. I checked out the MAC store as I heard that they had brush sets for sale but they were sold out of the useful sets. Barnes and Noble had a few books I needed for presents so I made a quick purchase there and was off to find a Borders. The one nearby had NO parking so I hit the road. I found another Borders on the trip back near Worcester. I found another present but one of my quests – a Scramble game book – could not be found. I worked with one of the SA for about five minutes going through the shelves to no avail. After picking up a cocoa at Starbucks, I checked out and then let the charity organization wrap the package for a donation.
148597
All that was left was to make it home which I obviously did. To sum up the long weekend, I enjoyed the time being Leann without an option to go back to my male persona (I didn’t bring any male items with me on the trip which was a problem as I realized after I left that I left my male wallet behind and it had my insurance card in it – a lesson for others before we find out the hard way why we shouldn’t do this.) The glued on wig will work well when I get the hang of it and I make a few modifications. My time with each of the three different party groups was most enjoyable and I also realized that I have reached a point where wearing a skirt or a dress isn’t a thrill (as in, “Will someone read me with it on?”) anymore; it is something I simply enjoy. Lastly, I interacted with a lot of people outside of our community given what I did other than partying. All treated as I would expect. I hope that this story will give others the boost they need to go out if that is their ultimate goal.