real out ways

Left work, got home, got dressed, and was out the door by 4:45 PM to meet D for dinner at 5:30 PM.

I had a last minute wardrobe change. I planned to wear a long brown-toned flutter dress with a pair of brown sandals with 3-inch spike heels (a real sexy shoe). I even painted my toenails the night before and dug out my toeless pantyhose to wear with the outfit. Two problems: the dress was low cut in the back and back hair was showing that I just could not reach with my razor and the dress was tight. I have put a few pounds since I bought that dress and those few pounds made the difference from a dress fitting live a glove to a dress that is too tight. At least I am now motivated to lose those few pounds I put on and I even shunned the Friday donut/bagel continental breakfast at work.

So, I wore the dress I wore during my Dayton, Ohio outing last month. For shoes, I wore my 3-inch chunky heel black patent leather MaryJanes with white piping. I was also wearing my new wig for the first time.

Traffic was light for the rush hour and I arrived at the restaurant at in plenty of time. Diana is a regular at this restaurant and I have eaten here once before. The staff (all family it seems) is very friendly and addressed us appropriately, ("ladies" and "Miss"), which made the experience even more pleasant. We ordered our meals, chit-chatted, ate the Mexican cuisine, and we were back on the road around 6:30 PM. On the way out of the restaurant, another female patron checked out my outfit and smiled. I smiled back.

It was a short ride to Real Art Ways (RAW). I followed Diana in my car and I am glad she knew the way because we rode through parts of Hartford I have never seen before (and don't want to see again!)

RAW was hopping! It was the biggest crowd I have ever seen there. Among the crowd were about a dozen transwomen including two that were new to me: Emma (it was her first time at the RAW cocktail party) and Megan, who I have "talked" to online, but have never met in person. Actually, I did not have an opportunity to meet her last night; Diana pointed her out to me from afar.

It was the first day of summer and there were lots of beautiful women wearing their summer dresses. I believe it was the dressiest non-trans event I have attended since the last wedding I attended. Some of the women were drop dead gorgeous.

I sat awhile hoping to engage someone in conversation, but although a lot of people (mostly female) looked and smiled, no one sat down to talk.

It started getting stuffy inside, so I decided to go outside (the crowd inside and outside were about equal in size). There I met Roberta and Michelle and we chit-chatted a bit. There were two 40-something fellows standing next to me and one said to me, "I hope our smoking isn't bothering you."

I hadn't noticed the smoke and pleasantly told him so in the most feminine voice I could muster.

He then said, "I think your dress is beautiful, but the shoes just make your outfit!"

I was a bit embarrassed and thanked him politely for the compliment. Then, I started to notice the smoke, so I moved on.

By the way, I received a number of compliments on my outfit and new wig… all the others from transwoman or real women. I was puzzled. Was this fellow straight and trying to engage me in conversation? Or was he gay, read me as a transwoman, and just being complimentary? Or was he a tranny-chaser?

I blew my opportunity to find out and should have conversed a bit to sate my curiosity. I guess I am a little frightened about conversing with men while I am en femme. I love conversing with women, but I only managed to talk with one last night (Lonnie), who I had met the last time I attended the cocktail party (she thought my new wig was "chic.")

I ran into Audrey and Jude talking with the guy who flies the hot air balloons that Jude chases. I asked Audrey to take my photo. She insisted that we go inside to take my photo next to the artwork on display. Bad idea! The overhead spot lighting designed to highlight the artwork is not good for individuals posing for photos in front of the artwork. The result is above; click on it to see it larger.

I was tired and bored and left the party at 9:30 PM.

I had a good time (anytime time out en femme is a good time), but I got bored talking to transwoman about trans stuff. Next time, I will try to be more outgoing and try to strike up conversation with the non-transfolk.