My Roadtrip to Hamvention

Wednesday, May 13

To avoid the morning commuter traffic, I left as soon as possible after getting out of bed, so I forgo dressing as a woman in exchange for preferred traffic conditions.

Except for a 10-minute back-up due to construction in Scranton, the trip went smoothly and I reached the half-way point by mid-afternoon and got a room in a Travelodge near the intersection of I-99 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I could have continued driving, but check-in time at my hotel in Dayton was 3 PM, so there was not much point in driving further just to cool my heels in the hotel lobby waiting to check-in. (In the past, I would make the 727-mile trip in one shot both coming and going, but for the last 10 years or so, I have split the trip to Dayton in half in order to conserve energy for the two days at the convention.)

Turns out, there was a not so obvious truck stop across the street from my hotel room and for most of the night, I was kept awake by tractor trailers downshifting to make the left hand turn into the truck stop. Even earplugs did not help and I probably got less than three hours of well-needed beauty sleep.

Thursday, May 14

Unable to sleep, I rose early and had plenty of time to get ready, so I was all woman when I went to the hotel restaurant for the complimentary breakfast buffet.

What I Wore ― Blue jeggings from Dress Barn, black tunic top from Avon, black patent heels from Payless over Victoria's Secret bra and panties, a forgotten company's waist cincher and Berkshire nude thigh-highs. I accessorized with silver door-knocker earrings from Napier, silver dangling heart bracelet, black watch and a black hobo bag, all from Avon. For driving, I switched to black mid-heel wedges from Payless, which I am wearing in the accompanying photo.

The restaurant was quiet with about a half-dozen customers. The waitress was pleasant and treated me like a lady, but my woman's intuition told me that she suspected that something was amiss and that I wasn't.

After a filling, but uneventful breakfast, I returned to my room, finished packing, moved my luggage to the car and went to the front desk  to check out. The woman who checked me in the previous afternoon when I was in boy mode was working the desk. Now I was in girl mode; nevertheless, she was pleasant, all smiles and never let on that she suspected anything, although she most likely knew because I checked in under my male name and she was viewing that information as I checked out.

I sashayed to my Subaru and headed due west;  next stop: Dayton (actually Miamisburg).

Wearing Zoe

Grayson Perry's Claire

Fear and Loathing in Ohio

My annual Hamvention "booth babe" photo

No offense, but in general, Ohio is not the most liberal area of the old USA. So every year, when I begin my journey to Hamvention, I am a little concerned about receiving negative reactions while tripping through Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

And on the heels of all the recent media attention on transgender issues, I was more concerned this year. Whereas, in the past, most civilians were not attuned to transpeople, so I could slip by and be taken for a big, old ugly woman. Now that the civilians are more aware transgender-wise, I might be more closely scrutinized and exposed as a big, old ugly guy wearing a dress.

I had two choices:

1) Take no chances and go to Hamvention as a guy, or

2) Throw caution to the wind and go to Hamvention as the woman I am

I selected the option number 2 and as it turned out, I had nothing to fear. I knocked it out of the ballpark.

I heard nothing but female pronouns throughout the weekend that were expressed without hesitation.

Whenever I walked through the Hamvention throngs, the mostly male crowd parted the way to let the me through.

Whenever I approached a Hamvention booth to more closely view a gizmo, the booth staff dropped everything to do my bidding.

Women (strangers and friends alike) complimented me on how I looked.

Women included me in the club on a couple of occasions during the long weekend.

Men checked me out. Some had the nerve to hit on me. One guy even gave me his phone number! I am used to men checking me out. Usually, they are my peers age-wise, but at Hamvention this year, I even noticed younger men checking me out.

I attribute my success to some subtle changes.

When I met my fellow board members for dinner Thursday night, the wife of one of the board members remarked, "She looks different."

And I did look different.

I lost 5 pounds.

My makeup was spot-on mainly due to finally getting the correct foundation color thanks to Sephora's Color IQ.

My new Kris Jenner hairdo is so stylish and a perfect fit for me, not to mention it is the first large-sized wig I ever owned and fits my head like a glove!

I knew had my act together and was completely confident as a woman.

Wearing Marc New York

Bride and bridesmaid femulations

I'm Back

Our regular scheduled program will return tomorrow, but I just want to post a short note that I am back home after an extremely busy trip to Dayton, Ohio, to attend Hamvention. The photo shows the ensemble I wore Thursday evening for dinner and my group's board meeting (Fashion to Figure dress, Payless pumps, Avon watch and vintage silver earrngs).

Scarce

I will be scarce the next few days as I travel to Dayton, Ohio, to attend Hamvention. As in past years, I will be very busy, so I cannot predict how often I will be able to post to the blog, but I will have a lot to write about after I return home Sunday night.

Post Bruce Jenner and all the media attention that transgenders have received lately, I wonder if anyone will broach the subject with me in Dayton. For what it's worth, none of my ham friends and acquaintances have ever brought up the subject in the past except to ask what name I was now using, so I don't know what to expect this trip.

As I mentioned before, I will be staffing the TAPR suite of booths (numbers 451 through 454) off and on Friday and Saturday. If you are going to the convention, stop by and say “Hello!”

Just a reminder, please send me all your femulation questions and I promise to answer them as soon as possible. My e-mail address is stana-stana at sbcglobal.net.

Later!

Wearing Boston Proper

A pretty contestant in a 1984 womanless beauty pageant

What's up my sleeve?

I try to wear long-sleeved shirts in boy mode as long as possible into the spring in order to prevent my arms from tanning inappropriately for a woman. By that I mean having a visible tan line approximately three-quarters of the way up my arm when I wear a sleeveless dress or top.

Until this past weekend, the weather has been cooperative and I was comfortable wearing long sleeves during our cool spring. However, summer arrived suddenly the past few days with temperatures peaking in the mid 80s (F). But I have stuck with long sleeves in light of my upcoming long weekend as a sleeveless woman.

Two people wondered why I was wearing long sleeves in the heat and my excuse was that the days started off on the cool side, which was true, but not the truth.

Some people have opined that I might be better off wearing long-sleeved women's garments. Then my tan would not be an issue. But my retort is that my arms are more feminine than the average guy's and I like to show them off.

In the past, I've used self-tanning creams and lotions on my upper arms to even out the tan, but I don't like that solution because it takes days of daily use before it is effective and the you must continue to use the stuff in order to maintain the "tan." And some brands have a strong odor.

Online, I read about another solution that sounds more attractive: using a sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher. That sounds like the ticket and I am going to try it.

Wearing Just Fab

Cindy née Richard and Natalie née Nathan

Assumption

Having femulated as long as I have femulated, I have gotten a little jaded and assume that everyone knows everything I know about femulating successfully. However, when I do my workshops or read my mail, questions come up that make me realize that I assumed incorrectly, that is, everyone does not know everything I know about femulating.

So this week, while I am away at Hamvention (with little time to blog), flood my mailbox with questions that you have about femulating. Ask me anything and I will answer your questions after I return home and get back to blogging.

Meanwhile, I leave you with a question I received recently along with my answer.

"Stana, hoping you can help with this question. I maintain my legs, chest, arms clean shaven. However how do keep one's back clean shaven."

I use Mangroomer for my back. It is a battery-powered electric shaver with a folding arm that allows you to reach the unreachable regions of my back.

And so, ask questions!

Wearing Julia Jordan

Lolita

Kathi's Favorite Photos (of Kathi!)

Hello Stana!

I've read your blog for years now and never thought I could contribute. Now that you have the "Favorite Photos" section, I guess it's my turn.

I have not one, but three favorite pictures (math was never my strong suit). As you can probably tell, I love some black and white. Why? Although the colors are cute on me, the main reason is that I am totally color-challenged. I couldn't put an outfit together to save my life.

My favorite place to shop is White House Black Market. Why? Well, the clothes are stinkin' gorgeous, the staff are very friendly to people like us, and for someone like me who wouldn't know fuchsia from chartreuse, everything in the store goes with everything else. It's like Garanimals for crossdressers! :)

I love the picture of the skirt, black ruffled top and shrug the most because it was a mistake. I didn't think the self-timer on the camera fired, so I was walking towards it to hit the button again. The camera fired when I was halfway there. As a result, everything just . . .  worked.

The flash was too bright, softening the details of my craggy guy-face. I was closer than it thought, so it was out of focus (you're welcome!) I was in mid-step, so my (non-existent) hips were positioned just right, my huge shoulders were at the perfect angle and unlike most of my other pictures, I actually looked,. . .  well . . .  not like my usual "guy in a dress" pictures. I was and am still to this day, stunned that I could look like that.

The other two pictures were on the same day, but in a slightly different outfit. I have a little black dress that seemed a bit short (with my freakishly-long legs, a knee-length skirt becomes a miniskirt all too easily). While shopping one day, I found a gorgeous duster. It made me feel like a showgirl! When I put the outfit together, it was awesome. While I didn't feel as pretty as my "mistake" picture, I still felt,. . .  well, at least vaguely feminine.

I have others pictures, but this is all I'll subject everyone to for now. Growing up, I never thought being a skinny dork would be a good thing. Seeing these pictures, however, makes me reevaluate myself just a bit and count my blessings.

Kathi Lake

Calling all girls! My open invitation to post your favorite photo along with the story behind it and the reason it is your favorite photo still stands, so don't be shy, send me your fave foto. ― Stana

Street style, Spring 2015

Femulating in the Fifties

Lauren's Favorite Photos (of Lauren!)

Hi Stana,

Hands-down, this is my favorites. It was our wedding day and to be the bride was a dream come true!

Thanks,

Lauren


Calling all girls! My open invitation to post your favorite photo along with the story behind it and the reason it is your favorite photo still stands, so don't be shy, send me your fave foto. ― Stana

Wearing Alexia Admor

Wearing their prom dresses in a womanless beauty pageant

Spring Cleaning

Satellite view of my repurposed tackle box

Before my recent days out as a woman, I fumbled through my makeup box trying to find stuff. My makeup box is actually a large fishing tackle box that I bought at Walmart years ago and it is so full of stuff that it is difficult to close. Such is the fate of an Avon representative who samples nearly every new makeup product that Avon introduces!

It was time to do some spring cleaning. I emptied the box and vacuumed out all the dust and makeup crumbs cluttering the box.

Next, I sorted through every item in the box and disposed of old makeup, especially old eye makeup which is a potential bacteria breeding ground. I also threw out makeup in colors I will never use (like dark purple lipstick) and makeup I used once, did not like and never used again.

I organized the remainder and packed it into the box, which is now much lighter and will require less fumbling to find what I need.

And with that I leave you with some excellent makeup tips from Elle via Good Housekeeping: 5 Makeup Mistakes That Make You Look Older (and the easy ways to avoid them).

Wearing Versace

Cathy Lane AKA Peter Lappin of Male Pattern Boldness fame

Got Bags?

I like bags almost as much as I like shoes, but in the recent past, I obtained bags that I do not like ― two bags, one under each eye! 

I have tried different “solutions” to get rid of my bags, but the only thing that worked is Photoshop… until now.

Good Housekeeping regularly sends me e-mail ads and one of their recent ads was an offer to try out Hydrolyze 90, a product that eliminates dark circles, wrinkles and bags around your eyes. The trial offer cost a mere $1.98, so how could I resist?

Over two weeks ago, I received my trial offer. Included were two tubs of Hydrolyze Under Eye Treatment, 30 packets of Instant Effect 90 Second Wrinkle Reducer and a bottle of Hydroxatone Age-Defying Toner. 

I started using the Hydrolyze Under Eye Treatment immediately applying a dab under each eye in the morning and evening. After 18 days, I noticed that the wrinkles around my eyes are less noticeable, but I did not see any difference in the bags under my eyes. Truth be told, since I started using the product, I never missed a morning application, but I have missed many evening applications, so the results might be better by now if I remembered to apply the cream every night before going to bed.

When I was doing my makeup before going out two weeks ago, I decided to try the Instant Effect 90 Second Wrinkle Reducer. I opened a packet, squeezed the product onto my fingertip, swept the product under each eye and did not move a facial muscle for 90 seconds. Immediately, I could feel my skin tighten under the product and when I looked in the mirror, I was shocked. My bags were gone! I looked 20 years younger! I was in love with the product.

Then I applied liquid foundation. The liquid loosened the tightness and my bags were back. I did not reapply the product over the foundation because I feared that it would create a mess that would take time to fix and time was not on my side. My guess is that if I had applied a powder foundation over the product it would have held up.

Reading online reviews of the product, I noted that the product is only effective for 4 to 6 hours. So in my case, after half a day I would have to remove the foundation and the product, then reapply the product and the foundation if I wanted to be bagless all day long. So it is not an ideal product for a day at the office, but would be perfect for a half day out as a woman or a night out with the girls or a photoshoot.

On the other hand, the long term effect of using the product might do more bad than good according to a review on Paula’s Choice. So buyer beware.

Personally, I am going to keep the product around and use it for special occasions.

Wearing JB by Julie Brown

Actor Chris Tanner in the 2014 film The Gays.

Got Radio?

Stana in Dayton, May 2013

One week from today, I will be on a 725-mile roadtrip to southwest Ohio to attend the annual Hamvention, the biggest ham radio convention north of the South Pole. I have attended Hamvention about 27 times over the last 37 years, the last five times as a woman as I will next week.

Attending Hamvention, I have met about a dozen other trans hams over the years who attended in boy mode. Through this blog, they knew where to find me and we connected.

If you plan to attend Hamvention this year, I hope you will stop by the booths I will be staffing on and off Friday and Saturday: booths numbered 451-454 ― just down the aisle from the huge ARRL exhibit.

Wearing Jacquemus

Femulator, circa 1970