A Deliciously Embarrassing Moment

[SharonDenise]

This will be a longer post but I think you'll be entertained by it. I had a deliciously embarrassing moment that I'd like to share with you. I only recently started getting all dressed up with actual places to go. I attended the Chicago Gender Society's December dinner dance. I thought, GG's buy special dresses for special occasions, why not me? I ordered a floor length evening gown in two sizes from a major department store. I had to return one and have the other one altered. I went en drab (with the necessary under dressing) to the store and walked up to the appropriate counter. I returned the one dress to the sales associate and told her I needed to have the other one altered. She then asked where the person was that needed to be fitted for an alteration. I sheepishly pointed to myself and said, "That would be me." She was with two other associates who all acted very professionally, as if this happens all the time. She led me through a fitting area back to a dressing room where I could change into my gown. There were ladies waiting to be fitted and I felt them staring and wondering why I was there. I changed into my gown and also inserted breast forms to fill out the dress. I donned heels also. As I exited my room to join the queue, I just wanted to melt into the wall and not be noticed. The ladies reacted positively when they saw me in my gown. I was given compliments and was asked where I was going to wear the gown. I was glad that I actually had an occasion coming up that I was wearing the dress for. My turn came and the seamstress pinned the new hemline as if men come in all the time to have dresses altered. It was an embarrassing moment but I enjoyed it immensely.
On the day of the event, I went for my first manicure/pedicure which I already previously posted about. I then had a makeover done by Janna of Janna's Studio. She transformed me into a beautiful, much younger-looking, lovely lady. Janna also accompanied me to the dinner dance where we both had a wonderful time. The experience was made better with Janna putting me more at ease. I hope you enjoyed this post.

[Amy Fakley]

What an awesome adventure, Sharon. Thanks for sharing.
you gotta post some pics of your new dress! :-)

[Ashley1212]

Great story. Nice to see you had a good time.

[S. Lisa Smith]

A wonderful adventure!!

[Julie Denier]

That's terrific! Cheers to another Chicago-area girl. And Amy is absolutely right -- we're going to need some photos. I bet you looked fabulous ;)

[SharonDenise]

Well, here is another embarrassing moment for me. I technically don't know how to post pictures.

[DeeNile]

Thats pretty incredible. i am nowhere near that brave to go and do something like that! Good for you! Now where is this dress?

[Jamie Christopher]

Great read and post Sharon! Like the others I sure would like to see this gown... maybe some folks could walk you through getting these pics.... anyway

Thanks for sharing,

Jamie

[JessMe]

WOW! That's a great story!!! I'm glad to hear that you had such a positive experience!!

[Rogina B]

I am happy to know that Janna is still with us. She has always been a real friend of the Chicagoland community!

[Julogden]

Sounds like a great time! Now, as others have said, let's see the pictures. :)

[Nadya]

Thanks for sharing! I definitely do not have the confidence to do something like that. :)

[SharonDenise]

Lisa,
I'm not sure if you want me to reply or if "Please call me Lisa" in red is part of your icon. Puzzled!

[S. Lisa Smith]

"The please call me Lisa" is my signature line. People were calling me S. Lisa and I prefer Lisa.

[jazmine]

That is Awesome!!
Thanks for sharing!

[SharonDenise]

Janna is alive but not very well. She is currently taking chemotherapy. She is going to give me a makeover for Chi Chapter's Queen of Hearts pageant coming up soon. I asked her to also do me for Chi Chapter's Spring Fling. I started taking makeup lessons from her, too. I've gone en femme with her twice to dine at her favorite restaurant. She makes the experience of being in public non-threatening and enjoyable. Maybe she could help me post several pictures that I would like to post. However, from what I've noticed, I think her computer level is about the same as mine. I could ask my one daughter that I came out to. But, I have not yet have any real discussions with her about my cross dressing, much less shown her pictures of me as such. ( My better half of 40+ years died last year. She did share and support my desire to wear women's clothing.) For you techies out there, I don't have a smart phone. I take my pictures with a digital camera that I have yet to download into my computer. My favorite cropped picture of me from the dinner dance was done on Walgreen's computer so I only have prints of it.

[Sometimes Steffi]

I'm excited that you were brave enough to do that. I'm not sure I would have been so brave, although I did have a gown altered at a private tailor.

I hope the people who are fearful of even going into a women's clothing shop see that doing so is survivable.

[justmetoo]

Sounds like fun. I don't see any reason for embarrassment though.

[DanaR]

Very nice story, thanks for sharing with us.

[bridget thronton]

Wonderful adventure - thanks for sharing

[donnalee]

Posting is easy; basically it's uploading a file. Click "go advanced" in the reply dialogue and scroll down and click on "Manage Attachments". Click browse and direct it to the picture's location on your computer. There are size limitations listed in the dialog. JPGs, which is the suffix of most picture files, are limited to 99.7K, so you may need to resize an image with graphics software to make the file uploadable.

See? Easy!

[Marcelle]

Hi Sharon,

What a great story and a very interesting take on an embarrassing moment. It was nice to see there was no issues from the ladies also waiting and things went well. I think we forget just how difficult it is to do things "en boy" vice "en femme" and this would be a good example. I am glad you had a great night.

Hugs

Isha

[Claire Cook]

Hi Sharon,

What a great experience! You've given us a wonderful take on "passing" ... clearly you passed as who you were, and those ladies in the shop certainly passed! The dinner dance sounded marvelous.

Hugs,

Claire

[HollySmtms]

Great story, I enjoyed reading it, thanks for sharing!

[SamanthaSometimes]

What a wonderful story and thanks for sharing. Each of those embarrassing moments are an opportunity to become more comfortable in unusual situations. Well, that's the way it feels to me when the event is over and I'm looking backwards at what seemed embarrassing at the time.

[kimdl93]

I must confess some envy. I've been out a lot, but never had the experience of being fitted for a gown or attending an event of that kind. Sounds like great fun!

["Gabriela"]

Such a great story! I feel a little envious to be honest hehe! I'm really happy for you.

Hugs!
Gabriela

[Beverley Sims]

Sharon,
With a little support you can do just about anything.
I am glad it went well for you.

[SharonDenise]

Here is a recent picture of me.240961

[Rogina B]

There's Janna!

[SharonDenise]

That is the evening gown that I wore and that is a picture that was taken at the Chicago Gender Society December dinner dance. Yes, I'm sitting on Janna's lap from Janna's studio. If you think I look great, its because of Janna. I did have to go by Janna this evening to help me get this picture posted. She is way ahead of me in using this technology.

[Persephone]

Awesome!

I think you should take a picture to the SA's that helped you so that they can appreciate how good you looked.

Hugs,
Persephone.

[charlenesomeone]

That was indeed awesome, you rock girl.
Looks like it was a wonderful time.
Hugs

[Claire Cook]

Sharon,

You both look wonderful. Janna did a superb job of marching the makeup to the dress -- what a lovely color! And yes as Barb said you really ought to bring that photo to the dress shop.

[kaleyg]

Way to go girl! That took real bal . . . uh . . . courage!

[Julie Denier]

Great pic -- you look lovely! ;)

[Mark/Rebecca]

She looks like she is proud of you. (and you look a little nervous) I must say you look a little like sisters. You are very pretty and adventurous. You remind me what a gift crossdressing can be.

[Alice_2014_B]

I read the story like I was there, super nervous. Such an awesome experience at the store and ending very well on into the evening. Thanks for sharing.
:)