Being Grateful

By Tami Knight

As I sat with several women in the salon waiting area for my blowout, I could not help but notice the woman to my left. She was likely in her late 60’s, very fit, gray hair with a cheerful face that invites one to say good morning. I told her that her “hair looked great as is, so what are you doing here?” She quickly sensed both the compliment and the humor and we were off chatting about being high maintenance.

One topic led to another and I added that I choose to enjoy the high maintenance! She agreed with a chuckle, so much like other wise and good-humored seniors. 

The subject changed to other matters of daily life. I shared a quote I love and often use it with young people, “You can’t be happy unless you are grateful.”

Claire came to fetch me as she was ready for me. As I stood up, my senior friend told me how nice it was to talk and I wished it didn’t have to end. Another woman seated close by who had listened smiled approvingly. I was so grateful to meet her, to give a compliment and get a pleasant conversation started. 

At 11 AM, I was off to Floras for lunch with my newest friend, Rebecca. A beautiful day, a stylish outfit for lunch out and a busy afternoon ahead of me. Life is good.

Amanda Uprichard

Rishi Kapoor femulating in the film Rafoo Chakkar, a version of Some Like It Hot from India.

Have a nice trip?

 

Wearing Bebe

Steve Buscemi femulating in the 1994 film Somebody To Love.

Three, Six, Nine

Before and After Not Dept.

Got to love this email ad that I received from clothier Club Monaco last week! The male and female models sure look alike. Is a crossdresser doing the modeling?

One-Track Mind Dept.

Only someone like me (or you) with a one-track mind would have noticed the crossdressing angle of the ad above!

One, Two, Three Dept.

One, Two, Three... I bet you never heard of that film by Billy Wilder, the director of Some Like It Hot. It is one of those films I saw as a youngster when it was first shown on broadcast television in the early or mid-1960’s that left a lasting impression on my crossdressing mind.

The film is funny, but the short crossdressing scene was worth the price of admission. I won’t give away what happens, but the femulation was impressive, at least to this tween because it was the first I witnessed where the femulator was dressed in contemporary clothing as compared to the guys in Some Like It Hot, who were dressed in 1930’s drag.

One, Two, Three Again Dept.

You know how certain songs remind you of certain things in your life. 1-2-3 by Len Barry does it for me. That song always reminds me of New York City rock radio with Cousin Bruce Morrow spinning the discs at WABC. (77 WABC was my favorite radio station back then.)

One, Two, Three Yet Again Dept.

What is your favorite version of the film The Taking of the Pelham One Two Three (or 123)? I prefer the 1974 version with Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. The 2009 version with Denzel Washington and John Travolta is my second choice. Don’t care much for the 1998 television version.

Wearing Bebe

Dee, Before and After
Click here to read Dee’s frequent and entertaining missives.

Someday Funnies

 

The Someday Funnies logo above is based on the logo of Famous Funnies, which is “considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book” (source: Wikipedia). Famous Funnies was published by Eastern Color Printing Company, where my father worked as a printing pressman all his working days and I worked summers at various jobs.  

Wearing Staud

Roger Taylor, Peter Straker and Freddie Mercury femulating in The Great Pretender music video. Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Stuff 10

By J.J. Atwell

Hello All

JJ is back with more stuff! This is my 10th installment of this little corner of Stana’s Way. Many thanks to her and all you faithful readers for following along with my Stuff.  

Bra Size Again

In episode nine, I introduced the subject of boobs.  I’m back with more stuff about boobs. We talked about finding the right band size and experimenting with cup size for the most pleasing presentation. Before moving on, I’d like to also caution you that no matter what bra size you settled on, that doesn’t mean you can just buy any bra in that size.  

Yes, that’s right. The same way clothing sizes vary by manufacturer, so do bras. So don’t just buy a bunch of bras online simply because they are “your size.” Once you find a good fit, stick with the same brand. But even then, don’t be surprised if there is a difference between different models by the same brand. If you talk with your SO or an understanding GG about it, you’ll find they have experienced the same issue.   

If that’s not enough to think about, let's consider what happens when we go on a diet or perhaps, wind up putting on an extra 10 pounds over the winter. Yes, that changes your bra size. Those bras that originally fit you so well, now don’t. Time to go up/down a size?  

But that presents us with another issue: how does our weight change affect our cup size? When GGs gain/lose weight, it's likely that both their band size and cup size change, usually proportionally. On the other hand, a CD’s breast forms don’t change sizes when we gain or lose weight. To confuse the situation further, cup volume changes according to band size.  That’s right, the cup of a 38C bra is larger than it would be in a 36C bra. So basically, it’s time to start all over finding the right size bra.

I hope all this talk about bra sizes hasn’t confused you. I’ll just remind you that it's probably a good idea to check your bra size every year, just like GGs should do. There sure is a lot of stuff to consider when selecting the right bra!  

I’ll be back

That’s it for today. I hope my stuff gives you something to think about. In the meantime, I’d welcome comments here on the blog or by email at Jenn6nov at-sign gmail dot com.

Wearing New York & Company

Arshia

Boom!

Friday evening, September 8, I am relaxing in my comfy recliner after getting the house in shape for my wife’s return home on Monday. A thunderstorm is in full force outdoors. 

Living on the highest point in the county, we are accustomed to strong storms, but this one is particularly ferocious and suddenly, a lightning strike hits very nearby. A second later, there is a flash inside the house.

The flash was the wall wart of one of our television’s blowing up taking that television with it. We also lost our landline, internet and cable television. A modem and the cable boxes were dead. The lightning also took out our garage door opener and our furnace/air conditioning unit.  That is all! (That’s enough!)

On Tuesday, Comcast fixed the landline, internet and cable television outage for “free” and my garage door guy replaced the garage door opener not for free. Bought and received a replacement television from Amazon. Waiting on our HVAC guy to submit a proposal to our insurance company to replace the furnace/air conditioning unit.

And so it goes!!!

Wearing Ann Klein

Sticking My Neck Out

People my age show their age with their necks. The most common signs of age are the development of vertical muscle bands, sagging skin and excess fat deposits. 

I am lucky. Seventy-two years old and my neck shows none of those signs (so far). 

However, once upon a time, I did have sun damage on the sides of my neck. A Sephora sales representative suggested some products, but like the foundations I have used, they only covered the damage temporarily and sooner or later (usually sooner), the damaged red skin showed through.

Perusing the Avon catalog one day, their Dramatic Firming Cream caught my eye and I bought a tub to try on my neck. Using it daily for a few weeks, I noticed some improvement – the redness was less red. Using it daily for a few months, the redness was gone! Wow – A miracle product!

Although the redness was gone, I have continued to use the Avon Firming Cream every morning after I moisturize my face.

For what it’s worth, this post was inspired by a Who What Wear article that described “15 Creams Help Firm the Neck,” but did not include the Avon Firming Cream that I have used effectively for about ten years. 

And so it goes.

NOTE: People are asking about the wig I am wearing in the accompanying photo. It is Sandie from Noriko, color is Nutmeg-F, size is average.

Wearing New York & Company

Ambiguity

By Tami Knight

Ambiguity – The quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness

The human brain is hardwired to detect ambiguity in so many ways, visually, audibly and even tactilely.

Certainly, passing is overcoming ambiguity. Nothing noticed, all is normal, people nearby have no reason to question. I have a few close girlfriends who have never known me as anything but Tami. I am fortunate that they willingly ignore any small ambiguity in any way and at all times (great stories here!).

Can we expect everyone in our world to overcome the ambiguity they sense? I think not. Will they react with some degree of hostility, disapproval or will they be gracious? This is a serious question in a time where there is much pushback on many things trans. Top of the list, minors and parental rights. Second is an individual (obviously ambiguous) in space restricted to females. If you disagree with this pushback, you are vastly outnumbered and are going to lose the argument. In my opinion, if the trans community fights hard on this, the damage to all things trans will be significant.

The third example is the adult trans person. Most Americans want to live and let live, so this is relatively safe space for those with no or very little ambiguity. Again, no absolutes here.

I had my hair done at my local Ulta yesterday. My stylist and I spent a lot of time chatting about the cut and the color highlights we achieved. I noticed a shopper choosing makeup look my way briefly, and I wondered what she was thinking. 

Fifteen minutes later I was standing in line behind this shopper checking out. She noticed me, turned, smiled and said, “Your hair is beautiful!” I thanked her and said something unimportant.

Ambiguity detected? Maybe. I pass easily, but the human brain is very perceptive at close range. Was any perceived ambiguity important to her? One would guess not. Live and let live.

Some of us are good judges of any ambiguity in our presentation, some of us are not. We all need to tailor our presentation to the appropriate stage we enter to be both safe and yes, understanding and respectful of others.

Wearing Reformation

Hanns Lothar femulating in the 1961 film One, Two, Three.

Womenswear

Wearing Qi Cashmere

Barbara, circa 1961

Early Heather

By Heather

My earliest recollection of being crossdressed was when I was a very small child.

My mother dressed me in a blue dress with smocking on the front, white socks, white shoes and a hat which I think was made of straw. I remember standing at the top of the stairs while my mother fussed to make sure everything looked just so. That is all I remember, but I know my mother took at least one photo.

Other recollections go back to my childhood when I was probably only four or five years old. 

We had a room called the play room in my parents old house. In it were all the toys that my sister and I possessed and a dressing-up box. I don’t know where the clothes came from, but I do recall there were a few child’s dresses.

The game was to march up and down the room a few times and change dresses pretending to be witches, princesses, brides, etc. I don’t recall pretending to be anything masculine. I don’t recall making any conscious choices about this or thinking that there was anything wrong with dressing up. It was just something we did.

When I went to prep school, the games came to a natural end and I seemed to forget about them. One day, however, I returned from school and saw a girl’s full-skirted petticoat with shoulder straps on my parents bed. It was obviously something of my sisters.

All reason or thought of being caught went out of the window. I stripped there and then and forced myself into it with a great sense of excitement. As quickly as I had put it on I took it off, but the sense of excitement and of having tasted forbidden fruit was there. 

This I think was the real beginning as the previous experiences gave rise to no such sensations.

Wearing Ted Baker

Yours Truly