Saturday, May 16, 2020

Weekend Women

How many of us are “weekend women?” Stuck in boy mode 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and then the weekend arrives and we can let our girl out.

I guess we all start out as “weekend women,” but discover that weekends aren’t enough, so we squeeze weekday evenings into our femulating schedules.

But that is not enough either, so we take vacation days and sick days off from work so we can experience womanhood more fully out among the civilians.

That’s not enough either and “full-time” beckons.

Some of us take that great leap and live as women 24/7, but most of us have to be satisfied sampling womanhood when we can on a part-time basis.

And so it goes.





As I wrote in my previous post, I participated in a Zoom videoconference on Friday, so I dressed pretty for the event.

Since only the upper third of me would be visible, I could have gotten away with just doing my hair and makeup and wearing a top and some jewelry, but I dressed up from head to toe as ca be seen in the photo above. The conference was scheduled to last for 7 hours with two breaks, so I figured it was a good opportunity to break in my new Nine West pumps, which I wore for the duration of the conference even though no one could see them!




Source: Mimemoi
Wearing Mimemoi

Friday, May 15, 2020

Friday is for Femulating

What’s Good for the Goose Dept.

Woman are shaving their faces (and men are shaving their legs).

According to this Good Housekeeping article, “Face-shaving is totally normal for all genders.” The article proceeds to list the 10 best facial razors for women and girls like us, but says nothing about the best leg razors for men.

He’s a Lady Dept.

The directors and officers of my ham radio group, which I serve as a board member, newsletter editor and leggy secretary, usually meets in Dayton on Hamvention Thursday. Although Hamvention was cancelled, we are still going to meet via a videoconference, so I will be dressed pretty for my premier appearance on Zoom today.

The directors and officers of my group can be divided into two groups – six fellows who knew me as a guy (and now know me as a girl) and three fellows who know me only as a girl. The former treat me the same as they always did, while the latter treat me as a lady. The difference is so obvious – the latter group is very polite and conduct themselves as gentlemen when dealing with me. I love it!




Source: Boston Proper
Wearing Boston Proper





Our I, as in I’m “Not a Civilian?” is a Louisiana Lass, who attended Istrouma High School in Baton Rouge in 1968.




Wearing Dress Barn tunic and JustFab Sophie peep toe pumps
Wearing Dress Barn tunic and JustFab Sophie peep toe pumps for my May 6th photoshoot.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Woman Within

We regularly receive women’s clothing catalogs from various online merchants. Whether we purchase women’s clothing for me or my spouse, we charge the purchase on my credit card. As a result, all the women’s clothing catalogs, not to mention all the wig catalogs, are addressed to me. It doesn’t bother me, but I wonder if the mailman notices? Especially the aptly named “Woman Within” catalog, a name that always makes me smile when I pluck it from our mailbox.

Don’t know why, but that reminds me of our niece who worked summers at Victoria’s Secret. She mentioned once that the store averaged at least one male customer per day who was purchasing bras and/or panties for himself and how their bra fitter frequently had to fit males for bras.

I was not out to our niece, otherwise I would have asked her for details. But it does indicate that our trans sisters have enough confidence to shop for themselves at “Vickie’s” and they are not alone. (I’ve often shopped at Vickie’s for myself and was fitted for a bra at the store our niece worked at, but not while she was on the staff.)

And so it goes.





Source: Venus
Wearing Venus




H is for Hard to choose between these two “Not a Civilian?” beauties. “Corinna” hails from Hooks High School in Texas, while Miss Jim is from Harrison High in Evansville, Indiana.

H is for Hard to choose between these two “Not a Civilian?” beauties. “Corinna” hails from Hooks High School in Texas, while Miss Jim is from Harrison High in Evansville, Indiana. 




Wearing Venus pleated sweater dress and Payless Janine pointy toe pumps
Wearing Venus pleated sweater dress and Payless Janine pointy toe pumps for my May 6th photoshoot.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

My Start

I received an e-mail that posed the following question: How did you get drawn into the crossdressing world?

Here is my story.

When I was a kid, I was intrigued with disguises. Being a creative sort, I assembled my own original costumes for Halloween rather than wear something off the rack. However, I would never be caught dead in a dress; all my costumes were male-themed, for example, monsters, pirates, ghouls, but not girls.

When I was about 10 or 11 years old, one of the newspapers my Dad bought (the Daily News) began carrying weekly thumbnail-sized ads for 82 Club, a New York City nightclub that featured female impersonators. Each advertisement exclaimed, “[insert name here] is no lady!” (like the ad above) and contained a photo of a beautiful female impersonator.

Up until then, I was only familiar with the Milton Berlesque variety of female impersonation, so the advertisements fascinated me. The beauty and authenticity of  the impersonators amazed me.

Every week, I anxiously awaited the appearance of a new 82 Club advertisement and I was seldom disappointed as male after male was shown transformed into a beautiful female.

I was so intrigued that a male could transform himself into a gorgeous female that I decided to experiment with female impersonation myself and soon I was slipping on my first pair of nylons and heels. Using my mother's and sister's wardrobes and cosmetics, I tried to transform myself into a young lady.

I enjoyed every minute of it, but I started feeling very guilty. None of the guys I knew did what I did. I wondered if something was wrong with me. (Sound familiar?)

But, I did not stop and I continued experimenting, while fine-tuning my femulating skills in the process.

And that’s my story.

(Caveat Emptor: This post is a re-post of a post from the past.)




Source: Intermix
Wearing Carolina Herrera





The letter G stands for Gobs of Good-looking Girls – so many potential “Not a Civilians?” that I could not select just one! Our leggy beauty (top left) hails from Galena (TX) High School, while our fashionable lass (top right) comes from Graham (NC) High School. The formally outfitted gal (bottom left) is from Guymon (OK) High School and our pretty Erik (bottom right) is out of Granite Hills High in El Cajun, CA. 

What do these girls have in common that gives them away as not necessarily civilians: thinned and shaped eyebrows, just like the avowed femulator below.





Wearing Calvin Klein dress and Nine West Tomalah Ombre pumps
Wearing Calvin Klein dress and Nine West Tomalah Ombre pumps for my May 6th photoshoot.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

No Ohio Blues

I am sad today because I will not be traveling to Hamvention this week to see my ham radio friends and acquaintances. Since 1978, I have made the trip to Hamvention over 30 times – the last nine times as a woman and was disappointed, but not surprised when they cancelled this year’s event because of the Impeached President Virus.

I will really miss the opportunity to present as a woman full-time for a five-day stint. It is usually one of the highlights of my year. Also, I had planned to fly to Dayton this year, which would have been my first time flying pretty.

C'est la vie!




Source: Boston Proper
Wearing Boston Proper




Our F (for femulate) “Not a Civilian?” beauty hails from Ferris (Texas) High School 




Wearing a Rubber Soul tee with JustFab tweed high-waisted shorts, JustFab crop jacket and the wrong shoes.
Wearing a Rubber Soul tee with JustFab tweed high-waisted shorts, JustFab crop jacket and the wrong shoes for my May 6th photoshoot. (I should have worn a pair of black high heel pumpss or my new Nine West Bliss pointy toe pumps.)

Monday, May 11, 2020

It’s Monday

It’s Going Away Dept.

Seven months ago, I discovered Gold Bond Ultimate Neck & Chest Firming Cream. It helped the sun damage on my neck and I used it every day.

It seems that Gold Bond has discontinued the product. Old stock sellers are the only source these days and eventually, they will be out of stock, too.

There are other neck firming products for sale and I was wondering if anyone can recommend one before I blow dough on a pig in a poke.


It’s Toni Time Dept.

With all the barber shops and hair salons closed, we now have an excuse for wearing long hair and giving ourselves home perms to look more presentable.


It’s My Wife's Idea Dept.

My spouse orders clothing online. With her M.S., she does not go clothes shopping in brick and mortar stores even when they were open.

She recently ordered two pairs of capris on sale ($30 for the pair). When the order arrived, she tried them on and they were too big. She did not want to exchange them for a smaller size and asked me to return them for a refund.

Before I packed up the pants for shipping, I decided to try them on and they fit me perfectly (a Misses size medium, no less). So I decided to keep them rather than pay $10 for the privilege of returning them for a refund.

I told my wife what I did and she said that maybe I should just order woman’s clothes for myself in the future.

What a great idea!


It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Dept.

Snow squalls here Saturday! Can’t believe it. I don’t ever recall falling snow here in May!





Source: Boston Proper
Wearing Boston Proper




1999 Elysian Fields (Texas) High School
For our E “Not a Civilian?” selection, it is obvious to me who is not a civilian in this 1999 Elysian Fields (Texas) High School “opposite sex day” photo.





Source: Wearing New York & Company and Payless
Wearing New York & Company high-low dress and Payless high heel sandals for my May 6th photoshoot

Saturday, May 9, 2020

Someday Funnies



Happy Mother’s Day

(I have told this story here on past Mother's Days, so you may have read it before and I apologize for the rerun. But just like some of the reruns on television, some are worth repeating.)

Mom was the most influential person in my life and influenced my penchant for crossdressing in a number of ways.

She was beautiful and did not need makeup. Lipstick, powder, and rouge were all she ever used. I know because I enjoyed watching her put on her minimal makeup.

She always dressed like a fashionable lady and that was difficult to accomplish because money was tight when I was a kid. As a result, Mom sewed her own clothes, as well as clothes for my sister. 

I guess I was jealous of my sister and wished that Mom would sew something for me, but there were few sewing patterns for boys' clothing. However, I would have been perfectly happy if she sewed a pretty dress for me like she did for my sister.

My Dad was a great guy, but he was not around much when I was growing up. He worked all the overtime he could get to make ends meet. For a few years, he also had a second job. 

I can remember way back to my earliest memories when I actually thought that my father was a visitor because his appearances at home during my waking hours were so rare. So, during my formative years, Dad was at work, while my Mom was at home raising my sister and me.

Since I was raised in an environment where the father figure was absent most of the time, it is no wonder that I tended to follow in the footsteps of the only parental figure available to me, my Mom. As a result, I admired her and wanted to do the things she did. I did not know it at the time, but she was my role model.

I was a creative kid and Mom encouraged my creative side. I loved sports, especially baseball, but I was not very good at it (I could hit the ball a mile, but I threw "like a girl"). So early on, I knew what my strengths were. 

I spent a lot of time writing and drawing and my mother supported and encouraged me. Eventually, I became a successful professional writer with a lot of thanks going to Mom.

I looked like my Mom's side of the family and inherited many of her features like her long legs and her facial features. When I do my makeup just so, I look a lot like her; people would mistake us for mother and daughter, i.e., if she were alive and I dressed en femme in her presence.

Besides influencing my creative side, she also influenced my penchant for being feminine.

Mom often commented that because I had such nice legs, I should have been a girl. If she had made that comment once, I probably would have forgotten about it, but it seemed to me that she made that comment whenever she saw my legs bare. Don't you think that may have influenced me?

She also made comments about the way I walked. She said I "tippy-toed," i.e., I walked on my toes. I assumed from her comments that tippy-toeing was not the correct way for a male to walk, but I did not know how to walk any other way. She never showed me how I was supposed to walk, so I just kept on tippy-toeing.

I don't tippy-toe any longer. As I grew older, I must have figured out how to walk like a male. However, all my early years tippy-toeing may have facilitated my walking in high heels because ever since I slipped on my first pair of pumps, I never had a problem walking in heels.

I did not think that Mom knew about my crossdressing, because she never broached the subject despite the fact that I often got into her stuff and even ruined some items that I found out the hard way, were too small for me. I was very much in the closet then and I was just as happy that she did not know. But, she knew.

As newlyweds, my wife and I crossdressed for a Halloween party and when I mentioned our party plans to Mom over the phone, she asked if I had taken my box of "stuff" with me when I moved out.

I don't recall my response, but at that moment, I knew she knew. She never mentioned it again and neither did I.

However, once in awhile right up to her death, she would ask me, "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

I always thought she was referring to my crossdressing when she asked and I always said, "No."

In retrospect, I wish I had confided in Mom about me becoming a woman. She was so loving and so supportive that I think she would have helped me. (She was a great seamstress by the way and I can only dream about the outfits she might have sewn for her male daughter.) But, I did not confide in her and I regret it now.

But, if there is a heaven, I am sure Mom smiles down on me when she sees her firstborn dressed en femme enjoying her time as a woman.

So, Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

Your Loving Daughter,

Stana




Source: Venus
Wearing Venus




Wearing LTD tunic, Hue tights and Payless Janine pointy toe pumps
Wearing LTD tunic, Hue tights and Payless Janine pointy toe pumps for my May 6th photoshoot

Friday, May 8, 2020

On My Feet

Tanit commented on my photo in the Femulate Illustrated post, “Very nice - show us the shoes!”

Her wish is my command, so here are photos of my new shoes.

Nine West Bliss pointy toe pumps in a metallic paint snake print (these are “killer” heels and they will require some breaking in before I will feel comfortable wearing them out):



JustFab Sophie peep toe pumps in natural (these 3.5-inch heels are very comfortable and very cute – love the tiny gold padlock):



And I just ordered these from Nine West, their Beck ankle-strap pumps in ivory:






Source: Venus
Wearing Venus




D is for Davis (Louisiana) High School in 1968
D is for Davis (Louisiana) High School in 1968, where we find today’s “Not a Civilian?” Runner up is a Downey, California miss, who has appeared in this blog in the past.




Wearing JustFab tweed high-waisted shorts and crop jacket and JustFab Sophie peep toe pumps
Wearing JustFab tweed high-waisted shorts and crop jacket and JustFab Sophie peep toe pumps for my May 6th photoshoot