Joanie CD
03-14-2022, 01:29 PM
WARNING: long post
tl;dr: Had a great afternoon/evening in Palm Springs, including going to a bar dressed for the first time ever.
Last week my wife and I spent a week in CA -- five days in Palm Springs, and two in Los Angeles. I had to work two of the days in PS, but we had three days for vacation. Most of the vacation time I spent in male mode, but I had one day to dress, encouraged by my amazing wife.
I had brought an extra "girl" bag with several tops and bottoms, plus all the usual accessories. So, around Thursday noon, we went to get a pedicure at a salon we had visited on previous trips, but the place was under new management, and we didn't like the vibe. We went back to our AirBnB, and did each other's toes. Not the whole spa treatment, but we removed the old polish, filed the nails, and put on new colors. I did a sort of subtle teal. We've done our own pedis before, and it's pretty fun.
I ended up, on my wife's advice, wearing black denim capris, a blue heather long sleeve top, and dusty rose sandals, with hoop earrings and a nice necklace. I did my basic makeup and she helped with a little blusher, and used a little 'product' on my hair. I just go out with my natural short-ish hair; I'm too lazy to deal with a wig.
It was a WONDERFUL afternoon. We drove to downtown Palm Springs, parked, and walked up and down the main drag. I went into a couple of shops. As usual, no torches, no pitchforks. Of course, Palm Springs is a gay mecca, and extremely welcoming of everybody.
There is a huge (26' tall) statue of Marilyn Monroe (in her famous subway grate pose from "The Seven-year Itch") in downtown, so we drove near there and wandered around, taking pictures of each other. A woman admired my necklace, which made me feel great, and we chatted with several other tourists about directions, etc. Again no one batted an eye at this oldish, overweight man in women's clothes.
Then we went to this great bar that we had found the day before. It's in the back of a wine and spirits shop, and when we went into the shop, the woman who worked there said "welcome, ladies". Of course this completely made my day. I was on cloud nine.
You go up a ramp in the back of the wine shop to the bar. It's made from parts of an old airplane fuselage, with rows of seats like an airplane, and pictures behind the windows of everything from landing in Paris to Samantha from "Bewitched" flying by. We sat in actual first-class airline seats and ordered drinks.
This was the first time I've ever gone into a bar or restaurant dressed. Only recently, I gathered up the nerve to pick up a takeout order. It went SO well! It was really not any different than going in drab, except of course I loved loved loved being dressed.
After we had been there a little while, two women came in and sat sort of behind us. After I overheard them talking to some other patrons about a musical they were producing about PS, I got up and went over to ask them more about it. They introduced themselves, and I said "I'm Joan" and added "or John", and they couldn't have been more friendly and supportive. We ended up talking quite a bit about the musical.
After our drinks, we drove to a restaurant and ordered takeout in person, hanging out in the waiting area for our food, and then took our dinner back to our lodgings and watched TV while we ate, all wit me still dressed. It was a wonderful afternoon and evening, and I am so appreciative of my wonderful wife who enabled and supported me.
I'm posting this to encourage others to be braver. I used to read about sisters on this site going out and thinking "I am not ready for that!", but here I am, and I did it, and you can, too!
tl;dr: Had a great afternoon/evening in Palm Springs, including going to a bar dressed for the first time ever.
Last week my wife and I spent a week in CA -- five days in Palm Springs, and two in Los Angeles. I had to work two of the days in PS, but we had three days for vacation. Most of the vacation time I spent in male mode, but I had one day to dress, encouraged by my amazing wife.
I had brought an extra "girl" bag with several tops and bottoms, plus all the usual accessories. So, around Thursday noon, we went to get a pedicure at a salon we had visited on previous trips, but the place was under new management, and we didn't like the vibe. We went back to our AirBnB, and did each other's toes. Not the whole spa treatment, but we removed the old polish, filed the nails, and put on new colors. I did a sort of subtle teal. We've done our own pedis before, and it's pretty fun.
I ended up, on my wife's advice, wearing black denim capris, a blue heather long sleeve top, and dusty rose sandals, with hoop earrings and a nice necklace. I did my basic makeup and she helped with a little blusher, and used a little 'product' on my hair. I just go out with my natural short-ish hair; I'm too lazy to deal with a wig.
It was a WONDERFUL afternoon. We drove to downtown Palm Springs, parked, and walked up and down the main drag. I went into a couple of shops. As usual, no torches, no pitchforks. Of course, Palm Springs is a gay mecca, and extremely welcoming of everybody.
There is a huge (26' tall) statue of Marilyn Monroe (in her famous subway grate pose from "The Seven-year Itch") in downtown, so we drove near there and wandered around, taking pictures of each other. A woman admired my necklace, which made me feel great, and we chatted with several other tourists about directions, etc. Again no one batted an eye at this oldish, overweight man in women's clothes.
Then we went to this great bar that we had found the day before. It's in the back of a wine and spirits shop, and when we went into the shop, the woman who worked there said "welcome, ladies". Of course this completely made my day. I was on cloud nine.
You go up a ramp in the back of the wine shop to the bar. It's made from parts of an old airplane fuselage, with rows of seats like an airplane, and pictures behind the windows of everything from landing in Paris to Samantha from "Bewitched" flying by. We sat in actual first-class airline seats and ordered drinks.
This was the first time I've ever gone into a bar or restaurant dressed. Only recently, I gathered up the nerve to pick up a takeout order. It went SO well! It was really not any different than going in drab, except of course I loved loved loved being dressed.
After we had been there a little while, two women came in and sat sort of behind us. After I overheard them talking to some other patrons about a musical they were producing about PS, I got up and went over to ask them more about it. They introduced themselves, and I said "I'm Joan" and added "or John", and they couldn't have been more friendly and supportive. We ended up talking quite a bit about the musical.
After our drinks, we drove to a restaurant and ordered takeout in person, hanging out in the waiting area for our food, and then took our dinner back to our lodgings and watched TV while we ate, all wit me still dressed. It was a wonderful afternoon and evening, and I am so appreciative of my wonderful wife who enabled and supported me.
I'm posting this to encourage others to be braver. I used to read about sisters on this site going out and thinking "I am not ready for that!", but here I am, and I did it, and you can, too!