Aunty Marlena e-mailed me links to some Web sites documenting recent womanless beauty pageants. The best of the batch was a March 27 pageant at American Legion Wright Brothers Post 210 in Montgomery, AL.
Being a fashionista who buys online, I receive a dozen e-mails everyday advertising specials from the various online merchants I have bought from in the past. I usually look at the specials from my favorite online merchants like Spiegel, Newport-News, and Jessica London, but I seldom buy anything.
(Updated Below) Two years ago, I wondered here how many female models were actually males.
This morning, I went into the kitchenette at work for a coffee refill and found my female friend, Nan, who knows all about Stana, talking with another woman, Liz, who does not know about Stana, but might suspect something because she saw me crossdressed twice for two company Halloween parties. (I changed their names to protect the innocent.) 
Nearly two years ago, one of my credit cards offered free subscriptions to a bevy of magazines. The only magazine in the bevy that interested me was Harper's Bazaar. "Sophisticated, elegant and provocative, Harper's Bazaar is the fashion resource for women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture." That sounded like me, so I signed up for a free subscription.
On Monday, I wrote about my closet. That writing included a photo of my closet with my female clothing hanging on the closet rods and my high heels in shoe boxes stacked on the floor. 
In the past, a very popular topic here has been the coverage of womanless beauty pageants, fashion shows, and other public events in which "civilian males" impersonate women. ("Civilian males" are non-professional female impersonators.)
It has been three months since our last Famous Females of Height List update, so it's about time for another.
My wife and I "share" a walk-in closet off our bedroom. I write "share" because she uses four racks for her wardrobe and I use one rack! To make matters worse, my one rack contains both my male and female wardrobes.
After posting My Life – Part 1, one of my blog readers asked if it was true. I assure you that all “My Life” postings are true.
With regards to my Mom acknowledging my femininity in Part 1, I don’t know if she was intentionally trying to make a woman out of me, but on countless occasions, she pointed out physical characteristics of mine that she thought were feminine. Intentional or not, her words stuck with me and probably had some affect on my psyche.
Regarding the image above, I admit that I never looked like the leggy blond in the image above, but the spoken words above are true or in close proximity thereof. And the same circumstances occurred on more than one Halloween occasion.
My girls’ night out last night was fun!
(That’s me in the photo just before I left the house.)
I met Diana at the Real Art Ways parking lot. She left her car there and I drove our mini-carpool to downtown Hartford to dine at Vito’s restaurant.
We found a parking place on the street right in front of Vito’s and when we entered the restaurant, we discovered that we were the first diners of the evening.
Our beautiful waitress, Ashley, addressed us as ladies and she could not have been more pleasant. I had their “Fiocchi Pasta,” which is
stuffed with four cheeses and pears in a sweet and spicy cream sauce. It was excellent.
The restaurant was very quiet. We were the only diners most of the time; a few diners finally trickled in just before we left the premises.
The last time I dined at Vito’s on a Thursday evening a few years ago, the place was near capacity attendance, so the contrast was stark. However, a party of 40 had reservations last night, so I expect things got livelier after we departed.
Back to Real Art ways for their monthly “Creative Cocktail Hour” and we were first in line to pay to enter.
We bought drinks, viewed the artwork that was on display, then we staked out a table where we sat, chatted, and people-watched for about an hour. A few old friends came by and we renewed acquaintances.
Then we bought another round of drinks (non-alcoholic, by the way) and went outside on the patio to get some fresh air.
One of my blog readers recognized me and introduced herself as a daily reader and fan of the blog. I was happy she stopped to say “hello,” because it is always great to meet one of my readers in person.
The trans crowd was not. Last few times I attended the “Hour,” there were usually a dozen or so transgirls present. Last night, I counted six including myself. Go figure!
Throughout the evening, I noted my interaction with the civilians. Males would look at me and nothing more. On the other hand, if I caught the eye of a female, she would invariably smile and I would returned the smile and if she was close enough, I would say “hello” and she might return the greeting, but nothing more.
As our evening wound down, we sat on a wall-length bench outside the main exhibit area next to a female couple. After awhile, Diana decided to leave, but I wanted to hang on for a little while longer, so I remained seated.
Shortly thereafter, while one member of the female couple was off doing something, the other female engaged me in conversation. Turns out she is the partner of the woman whose art exhibit had opened last night. They are from Brooklyn and we chatted about NYC and Connecticut, etcetera, etcetera.
We had a pleasant chat for about 15 minutes. As we were running out of things to talk about, I decided it was a good time to gracefully exit the premises because it was approaching my bedtime and I had to get up at 5:45 AM. So I excused myself, thanked her for the conversation, and worked my way through the crowd to my Subaru awaiting me outside.
The evening out was superb and I look forward to my next outing en femme.
It should be fun and I am looking forward to another opportunity to be en femme.
Caveat emptor: I have no formal training in the arts related to femulation. However, I do have over 45 years experience practicing those arts and have become so adept at them that I pass more often than not.
Inexpensive wigs are attractive to femulators because they are inexpensive. Their attractiveness ends there because a cheap wig by any other name is still a cheap wig.
When you wear a cheap wig, there is no fooling anyone that the hair on your head is fake. And when people see that you are wearing a wig, they might examine you more closely and find other clues that give away your natal gender.
I have owned a few cheap wigs in my time and I have photos wearing those cheap wigs that convinced me to go upscale in the wig department. “Upscale” meant spending $99 rather than $49 for a wig.
It was an improvement, but not good enough. A $99 wig was still relatively inexpensive for a wig (it was just more expensive "cheap" wigs).
Also, I did not know what wig was best for me. I tried different styles, different lengths, and different colors, but always avoided blond shades and short lengths.
I avoided blonds because I thought that blond was oh so drag. All the boys who wanted to be girls wanted to be blond girls.
Also, I avoided short lengths because I thought my head was too big to be properly covered with a short wig.
A trip to a pro convinced me otherwise.
Annually, a local wig shop hosts a meeting of my support group. A few years ago, I was the hostess, which meant that I showed up early to bring the refreshments. I had no intention of buying a wig; it was just another opportunity to be out en femme, so I was happy to be the hostess and not necessarily a wig customer.
We had an excellent turn-out and new wigs were flying out the door throughout the evening. As things were winding down, the wig shop owner, Kathy, said it was my turn. She sat me down at a mirror and went to the back room to fetch a wig she thought would be perfect for me.
A few minutes later, she returned with a short blond wig.
I thought to myself, "Oh no; she's is making a mistake."
She pulled the wig over my head, finger-combed it a bit, and then let me look in the mirror.
In a very soft voice, I said, "Oh, my god!"
The wig looked absolutely fabulous on me and I did not think twice about purchasing it.
That wig (“Ryan” by Noriko) cost about $333, but it was worth every penny. It pushed my femulation skills up a few notches.
I lost count how many times people complimented me about my hair and how many times those same people were shocked to find out I was wearing a wig. (I never received such reactions wearing my $99 wigs.)
So the bottom line is (1) seek out a professional wig seller for advice concerning the best wig color, style and length for you and (2) be willing to spend much more than $99 for a wig.
The majority of my shoes are high heels and most of my heels are three to four inches in height.
I am very adept at walking in high heels.
I never had a problem walking in heels. From the first day I started wearing heels when I was a teenager, I took to them like a duck takes to webbed feet. I only wish that all my heels were as comfortable as I am walking in them.
That being said, the fall shoe styles have been showing up in the usual places on the Internet and I am in awe at the highness of this fall's heels. I cannot recall such a proliferation of heels over four inches in height (except maybe on the fetish shoe sales web sites). Lots of 4-1/2 heels and some topping the 5-inch mark on such non-fetish web sites as Spiegel, Newport-News, Metrostyle, Payless, Norstrom, Macy's, etcetera, etcetera.
The "new arrivals" at Newport-News (pictured above) are typical. From left to right is their patent stiletto platform pumps" with a 4-1/2-inch heel, a T-strap sandal with a 4-1/2-inch heel, a cutout ankle boot with a 5-inch heel, and a sequined platform pump with a 5-inch heel.
I really like the cutout ankle boot, but can I handle a 5-inch heel? One thing for sure: at 6'7", I would be outstanding in my heels!
I do not mix politics with this blog unless it has a direct connection with transgender issues, so bear with me as I step onto the soapbox today.
Next Thursday, I plan to take the afternoon off to dine at a nice restaurant in downtown Hartford and after dinner, swing over to the monthly Creative Cocktail Hour at Real Art Ways.
About a half-dozen years ago, a group of us girls decided to break ground by attending the Creative Cocktail Hour. Since Real Art Ways was an artists' enclave, we figured the atmosphere would be diverse enough for us transgirls to fit in, so we took a chance. Turned out that we were accepted with open arms.
The Hour has become a regular place for transgirls to go and be seen every third Thursday and you can count on a dozen or so of us to show up every month. Truth is, I have not attended The Hour in over a year and I am looking forward to getting reacquainted.
My next opportunity is a one-day photography seminar that I will attend next month in Hartford. It is 10 AM to 5 PM event with a one-hour lunch break.
In addition to other tasks, I am also the on-staff photographer here at work, so I am attending the seminar to help improve my photographing skills.
One more thing... I heard a rumor that my workplace is doing something Halloweeny this year. If that's the case, I plan to costume up as something girlish (and maybe ghoulish) for that event.
All is not perfect with my new "Chanel" suit.
Anime, manga, role-playing, cosplay, etc. dominate Deviantart. Since I am not very familiar with those worlds, some of the references escaped me, but crossdressing is crossdressing and I appreciate the trans-related Deviantart works nonetheless.
After spending hours browsing Deviantart, I decided that my favorite work is a piece created by rocketdave titled Memory Lane. Its caption reads, “As he feared, introducing his girlfriend to his mother results in the revelation of certain aspects of his childhood he would have preferred remain buried.”
Memory Lane appears at the top of this blog.
For the sake of variety, I bring you Thursday Hot Pants (instead of Thursday Shorts).
Good News: Dress Barn called and the dress I fell in love with (the midnight blue leather-like sheath) arrived at the my favorite Dress Barn store in my size. I picked it up during lunch and now I can't wait for the right occasion to wear it out.
I had not, so I read it and was in awe.
Meg's comment about the article was "It makes me wonder how my life would've been different..."
For me, I don't have to wonder.
If there had been a transgender camp for kids when I was young and if my parents had sent me to that camp, I have no doubt that I would have lived my life as a woman.
Instead of transgender camp, my parents sent me to Young Marines camp where I did not fit in and was shunned by my fellow Young Marines and the elders who ran the organization.
I guess it was my parents' attempt to make a man out of me, but I hated every minute of being a Young Marine because it was such a bad fit. I tried to be a good soldier, but I just did not fit in.
I would have preferred joining an organization like the Boy's Auxiliary of the Girl Scouts where I would have flourished, but such an organization only existed in my dreams and I had to suffer as a Young Marine until I quit.
It was the first time I wore a full application of makeup since I began using the ANEW Lash-Transforming Mascara + Serum from Avon. A “full application of makeup " means at least two coats of mascara (because I always miss a few eyelashes applying the first coat).
After the second coat, I couldn't believe my eyes! No exaggeration: my eyelashes were so full and long that it looked like I was wearing false eyelashes. Even without mascara, I could tell that the lash serum was working, but I had no idea to what extent it was working until yesterday. Wow!
I was out the door about 9:15 AM wearing my short black bubble skirt, black and white animal print blouse, black and white strappy high heel sandals, suntan pantyhose, silver jewelry, and a black and white purse.
The skirt was most definitely short exposing about six inches of leg above my knees. Some people will say that I was not dressing for my age. Those people are correct, I was not dressing for my age, rather I was dressing to feel good. It was a beautiful summer day and the day made me feel young again, plus I have nice legs, so I said to myself, "You go, girl" and I did.
Throughout the day, I did not receive a discouraging word about my appearance. On the contrary, one of the students at outreach wrote in her comments, "Stana looked great!" and one of the other outreach presenters wrote on Facebook that I looked "stunning."
An uneventful 30-minute drive found me on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University, but the parking lot where I usually park was closed, so I had to try the next parking lot, which is manned by manly security guards, who I would rather avoid, if possible, when I am en femme.
I pulled up to the security kiosk and one of the security guards saddled up to my Subaru, "Can I help you, Ma'am?"
In my breathiest voice, I explained my parking needs. (I find that speaking with my normal voice in a breathy manner is very effective for femulating.)
He was very solicitous and I think he would have parked the car for me if I had asked!
I parked the car, checked my makeup in the rear view mirror, and exited. I had about 40 minutes to kill before class, so I poked around the campus looking for a photogenic spot where I could set up my camera with a 10-second timer and pose for a few self-photos.
I found a hallway in a classroom building with a colorful mural background on one wall and benches on the opposite wall where I could set up my camera. I took a few photos (like the one accompanying this post) and headed to the classroom to do outreach.
We had six presenters for outreach for a Human Sexuality class of ten students. We six each gave a brief bio and then we broke up into three groups to do Q&A with the students.
Don't know if it was a lack of caffeine or the mid-summer "why am I in school during the summer" blues, but the students did not have many questions averaging just one question per group. So we talked more about ourselves and our experiences, hoping that our words would draw some more questions out of the students, but it didn't.
Personally, the Q&A was disappointing, but I hope our words helped the students get a better understanding of the citizens of the Trans Nation.
After outreach, Professor Schildroth and four of us presenters dined at a restaurant on Whalley Avenue in New Haven. Last time we ate there after outreach, one of the presenters mentioned to me that while we were seated in the restaurant, the whole restaurant staff came out to gawk at us. (I missed it because my back was to them.)
So, I was on the alert for anything untoward, but no one seemed to pay us any mind… not the staff or the other diners. The waiter referred to us as "guys," but he did that at the other tables he waited which also had female diners, so I assume he was not making any statements about us.
The food and conversation were very good and we parted ways about 2 PM.
There are a lot of shopping opportunities on the route back home, so I decided to take advantage of those shop ops.
First stop was Dress Barn in Hamden. I poked around and found a very interesting number: a simple sheath dress with a cross-over of material at the bustline. What was interesting was the material: a soft midnight blue colored material that looked like leather (for $39, I know it was not leather).
The largest size on the rack was 14, but it looked like it might fit when I held the dress up to myself in the mirror. So I was off to dressing room to try it on.
I slipped the dress on and it was gorgeous! Its soft leather-like material clung to my curves and its hem was just above my knees, but I could only get the zipper up half way. Darn!
So my next stop was another Dress Barn 15 minutes up the parkway. This particular Dress Barn is my usual Dress Barn, where I am known en femme and en homme.
I searched the store and could not find the dress. A saleswoman came to my aid. I described the dress to her and she eventually found one (and only one) on the rack, a size 10, but she saved the day by telling me she would get one in my size and give me a call when it came in.
While I was searching, a 20-something female customer was checking me out and smiled at me when I caught her eye. Later, I saw her with another 20-something female customer; both were checking me out and both smiled again when I caught their eyes. Were they checking out the "tranny" or admiring my fantastic fashion sense? I like to believe the latter, so that's my story and I'm sticking with it.
My next stop was Macy's in the Meriden mall. When I was shopping there with my wife ten days ago, I saw some items that caught my eye, so I wanted to check them out en femme.
Macy's was very quiet (except for the click-click-click of my high heels on their wooden floor) and I had the dress department to myself. I perused all the racks and found a dress that retro (and you know how I like retro).
I tried it on, it fit, and I bought it, but now I am having buyer's remorse because when I looked at the snapshots I took trying on the dress in the dressing room, it looks too tight around the bustline. So I will try it on again at home and decide whether to keep it or not.
After Macy's, I called it a day and what a wonderful day it was! When I dressed in the morning, I felt so euphoric and that feeling stayed with me throughout the day. Dressing completed me and it was wonderful to be complete.
I am out en femme today, doing outreach in the morning, dining out for lunch, and don't know what (maybe shopping) in the afternoon.
My New Suit My "Chanel suit" arrived in yesterday's mail from Jessica London and it fit perfectly.
It helped that the jacket and skirt were separate sales items, so I was able to order the jacket in one size and the skirt in another size.
My top and bottom are not the same size. My top is bigger, so if I buy a dress or a suit that is not composed of separate sales items, I order the size that will fit my top, which often results in room to spare in the bottom.
I’ve thought about padding my bottom to fill in the spare room, but I have not resorted to that yet.
I'd love to wear my new suit when I do outreach on Monday, but the suit is tweed and fully lined, so it would be much too warm wear it now, (The temperature around here has been in the 80s and 90s for most of the month with humidity all over the place.)
Instead, I plan to wear a white short-sleeved T and a black pencil skirt with a wide black patent belt. I will accessorize with my black and white bag and black and white high heel sandals. I will have a photo to post here early next week.
Regular readers of this blog know that every day I change the "Femulate Her:" and "The Femulated:" images in the left sidebar. However, I liked the current combination of Heidi Klum and Chris Williams so much that I decided to leave them be for another day.
And thank the Goddess, it's Friday!
The first opportunity was to go out one day during my mini-vacation.
Lately, my wife has been frustrated shopping for clothes and thought that she might have more success at consignment shops. I offered to take her to the consignment shops in the area and asked her if she would mind if I accompanied her en femme so I could better enjoy the consignment shopping experience.
(For a long time, I have been plotting on how to get my wife to get to know Stana better. One way I came up with was to go out shopping together as girls. I have been sitting on this idea for a long time trying to get the courage to spring it on her.)
Amazingly, she had no problem with me dressing en femme to go shopping with her. She was only concerned that I should wear clothing that I could take off and put back on easily when trying on clothing at the shops.
Our plan was to hit the consignment shops on Tuesday.
Monday afternoon, my daughter's car died. AAA towed it to our mechanic, but he said he would not be able to look at it until Tuesday.
My daughter needed her car for her job. So Tuesday, we had to wait around for the mechanic to fix her car and when fixed, I had to drive my daughter to the garage so she could get the car for work. That meant I could not get dressed en femme until I returned home because my daughter, although very supportive, does not want to be seen locally in public with Stana.
By the time the car was ready, it was too late and we cancelled out plans to go shopping. I did not feel badly about missing the opportunity to go out en femme. The shopping trip was insignificant, but the fact that my wife agreed to go out with me en femme was very significant.
If you read this blog regularly, you know that I am a fashionista, that is, "a woman with a penchant for shopping and a natural flair for combining both current and vintage fashionable trends."
Back in the spring, when I informed Human Resources that I am transgender, I actually informed the HR Director of the division of the company that employs me. The HR rep for our location was out on that day and the Director, who happens to have her office in our building, was sitting in for our local rep.
Sadly, the pickings were slim and I did nor find anything of interest in my size. There were some new fall items on display that caught my eye, but I was looking for summer wear because I have some summertime opportunities to go out en femme coming up.
Next week, I am taking a mini-vacation and on whatever day I am free of family obligations, I will go out en femme. Not sure what I am going to do, but whatever it is, it will be as a lady.
The following week, I will be doing outreach for a Human Sexuality class at Southern Connecticut State University. This is the same outreach gig that I have been doing for years, however, this is the first time I've done it during the summer; all the previous gigs were during the fall and spring semesters.
Next month, I may attend another ham radio convention en femme. Unlike the Dayton Ohio Hamvention I attended in May, which is an international event attracting 20 to 30,000 attendees, next month’s event is a regional convention, the biennial New England ham radio convention in Boxboro, Mass, which attracts about 1,000 attendees. I have made no definite plans yet, but it is on my radar.
Please read the rest of the story here.
"We sure spend a lot of time talking about ideal female beauty—and why women spend so much time obsessing about it. But what if we lived in a world where women had always been the kings, the presidents, the bosses (and, thus, the arbiters of beauty)? Perhaps we’d call it a 'Gynocracy'—a place where superficial women would set the standards for attractiveness, and men would have to conform to them."
You can read the rest of the article here.
