Carla Stevens
11-23-2012, 11:17 AM
Did what? I hear you say.:heehee:
Long post alert.
I've not been an active member of the forum for 6 months, so bear with me whilst I re-cap a little.
I'm still in the closet to friends, family, neighbours etc & my dressing has always been limited to dressing at home & even this was & still is limited by the fact that I live with my retired father who doesn't know about Carla.
12 months ago tomorrow I decided to make a small step & visited Dee Selecta, a CD'ing shop in Bolton.
I went in guy mode to suss the place out. Dee made me feel at ease, so I decided to book a make-up lesson for the following Saturday.
This was the first time I had dressed infront of anyone.
Since then I've visited Dee's fairly regularly over the winter of 2011/2012 & this gave me a chance to relax & dress for more than a hastily grabbed half hour or so at home.
In February this year I combined a mid-week visit to Dee's with an evening at Manchester Concord, a support group that meets in the Gay Village area of Manchester. It was my next stepping stone to getting out & about, especially as a couple of the regular girls persuaded me to head out around some bars.:D
I repeated this again in the middle of May & this was my last chance to dress for 6 months.:cry:
Late spring through to mid-November is a busy time at work, so I don't have the time or energy to dress.
Anyways, now to the point. What did I do?
I finally managed to pluck up the courage to head out into the general population as Carla.:D
It took some planning, but I'd decided to combine another mid-week visit to Dee's, a visit to Manchester Concord, an overnight stay in a hotel on Canal Street & a shopping trip around Manchester all whilst dressed.
I got dressed at Dee's, spent the day there then drove into town, parked up & walked to the hotel.
I was nervous checking in, but the receptionist wasn't fazed, she'd probably seen it all before.
After a quick change into some heels I headed to Villaggio's to grab something to eat with some of the regular girls, then headed upstairs to the meeting.
A few of us then headed out to hit some bars & I was going to make the most of it as I didn't have to worry about getting changed back into guy clothes & heading home.
Let's just say that I certainly made a night of it as I didn't get back to my room until 1 am.:heehee:
Next morning after breakfast I got dressed & did my make-up again & checked out of the hotel.
I was a little nervous walking back to the carpark, as it was now broad daylight, but nobody batted an eylid.
I chucked my luggage into the car then headed off on foot to walk into the shopping area.
I couldn't believe I was doing it, but it felt great.:D
I was jut another girl in the crowd. Everone was in ther own little worlds & those that looked at me just saw another girl out shopping. What a feeling.
I even walked right through a group of workmen on a break, right through their line of sight. Woohoo. If I can manage that I must be 'blending in' fairly well.
Wandering around inside the Arndale Centre was a little warm as I'd wrapped up well as it was cold outside, so I had to head outside to cool down. The only downside was that the strong winds kept blowing my hair into my face.:rolleyes:
I bought a few items of clothing from Primark. The checkout girl sussed me as soon as I opened my mouth as I can't do a convincing femme voice, so stuck with my guy voice.
I had a good wander around Debenhams, but decided that all the stuff I liked was far too expensive. Wandering around & mingling in close proximity to other customers was interesting & nobody seemed to give me a second look.
Occasionally I'd get a glimps of myself in a mirror. Very odd feeling. There's me out in a shop, dressed.
I decided to have a coffee in Costa & again used my guy voice. The guy serving me didn't batt an eylid & was polite.
Rather than sit in a corner & 'hide behind a pot plant', I decided to plonk myself down right in the middle of all the other customers.
If anyone did suss me, I didn't notice as there were no long stares or confused looks.:)
My dress style is pretty much casual everyday anyway & I certainly think this helped me to 'blend in' along with understated everyday make-up.
Now in the past, I've read other peoples accounts on the forum of getting out & about & thought I'd never do it myself. I didn't believe that you could move through the streets & crowds unseen, but now I believe.:D It's fantastic.
The support from reading other girls stories has given me the strength & courage to do it myself.
Thank you all & I hope that my story may just help another girl to gather the courage to step out for the first time.
Go on girls, you know you want to.
I just need to find an opportunity to do it again now I've finally made that HUGE leap out of my deep closet.
Luv Carla
Long post alert.
I've not been an active member of the forum for 6 months, so bear with me whilst I re-cap a little.
I'm still in the closet to friends, family, neighbours etc & my dressing has always been limited to dressing at home & even this was & still is limited by the fact that I live with my retired father who doesn't know about Carla.
12 months ago tomorrow I decided to make a small step & visited Dee Selecta, a CD'ing shop in Bolton.
I went in guy mode to suss the place out. Dee made me feel at ease, so I decided to book a make-up lesson for the following Saturday.
This was the first time I had dressed infront of anyone.
Since then I've visited Dee's fairly regularly over the winter of 2011/2012 & this gave me a chance to relax & dress for more than a hastily grabbed half hour or so at home.
In February this year I combined a mid-week visit to Dee's with an evening at Manchester Concord, a support group that meets in the Gay Village area of Manchester. It was my next stepping stone to getting out & about, especially as a couple of the regular girls persuaded me to head out around some bars.:D
I repeated this again in the middle of May & this was my last chance to dress for 6 months.:cry:
Late spring through to mid-November is a busy time at work, so I don't have the time or energy to dress.
Anyways, now to the point. What did I do?
I finally managed to pluck up the courage to head out into the general population as Carla.:D
It took some planning, but I'd decided to combine another mid-week visit to Dee's, a visit to Manchester Concord, an overnight stay in a hotel on Canal Street & a shopping trip around Manchester all whilst dressed.
I got dressed at Dee's, spent the day there then drove into town, parked up & walked to the hotel.
I was nervous checking in, but the receptionist wasn't fazed, she'd probably seen it all before.
After a quick change into some heels I headed to Villaggio's to grab something to eat with some of the regular girls, then headed upstairs to the meeting.
A few of us then headed out to hit some bars & I was going to make the most of it as I didn't have to worry about getting changed back into guy clothes & heading home.
Let's just say that I certainly made a night of it as I didn't get back to my room until 1 am.:heehee:
Next morning after breakfast I got dressed & did my make-up again & checked out of the hotel.
I was a little nervous walking back to the carpark, as it was now broad daylight, but nobody batted an eylid.
I chucked my luggage into the car then headed off on foot to walk into the shopping area.
I couldn't believe I was doing it, but it felt great.:D
I was jut another girl in the crowd. Everone was in ther own little worlds & those that looked at me just saw another girl out shopping. What a feeling.
I even walked right through a group of workmen on a break, right through their line of sight. Woohoo. If I can manage that I must be 'blending in' fairly well.
Wandering around inside the Arndale Centre was a little warm as I'd wrapped up well as it was cold outside, so I had to head outside to cool down. The only downside was that the strong winds kept blowing my hair into my face.:rolleyes:
I bought a few items of clothing from Primark. The checkout girl sussed me as soon as I opened my mouth as I can't do a convincing femme voice, so stuck with my guy voice.
I had a good wander around Debenhams, but decided that all the stuff I liked was far too expensive. Wandering around & mingling in close proximity to other customers was interesting & nobody seemed to give me a second look.
Occasionally I'd get a glimps of myself in a mirror. Very odd feeling. There's me out in a shop, dressed.
I decided to have a coffee in Costa & again used my guy voice. The guy serving me didn't batt an eylid & was polite.
Rather than sit in a corner & 'hide behind a pot plant', I decided to plonk myself down right in the middle of all the other customers.
If anyone did suss me, I didn't notice as there were no long stares or confused looks.:)
My dress style is pretty much casual everyday anyway & I certainly think this helped me to 'blend in' along with understated everyday make-up.
Now in the past, I've read other peoples accounts on the forum of getting out & about & thought I'd never do it myself. I didn't believe that you could move through the streets & crowds unseen, but now I believe.:D It's fantastic.
The support from reading other girls stories has given me the strength & courage to do it myself.
Thank you all & I hope that my story may just help another girl to gather the courage to step out for the first time.
Go on girls, you know you want to.
I just need to find an opportunity to do it again now I've finally made that HUGE leap out of my deep closet.
Luv Carla