New Dress

Bought a cute new dress today at Kohl's.  I was very impressed with their selection.  There were loads of cute dresses.  Many of the cutest dresses were for younger girls but there were plenty in every style.

This lace dress is probably designed for someone much younger than me, but I just like it so much.

Of course, I don't look anywhere near as good as the model, but it's such a lovely dress.  The lace is so soft and feminine.  I really like the way I look in it.  I'd like it even better if I lost a few pounds, but that's a goal for another day.

It probably seems silly for me to blog about buying new shoes and a new dress, but it's been a long time since I've bought shoes or dresses.  It's such fun bringing my purchases home and seeing how they look.  This dress works really well with the gold shoes I bought yesterday.  I just need an excuse (and opportunity) to meet up with other girls for a nice dinner and a few drinks.

I love this look

I love the way this girl looks. 

All the pieces of her outfit work together so well and it's just such a fun look.

Today was one of those days --- from Thrill of the Heel

New Shoes!

I love shoes, especially high heels and it's been a long time since I treated myself to a new pair.

I went to Payless the other day.  It was fun just to see what they had in stock in my size.  One of the great things about Payless is that most stores have a good selection in larger sizes (I take an 11).

I found several shoes I really liked but decided not to buy them.  I already have plenty of shoes and don't have many chances to wear them.  I liked the shoes but buying them just didn't make sense.

The next day, I found myself wishing that I had bought the shoes.  I didn't need the shoes, but I did want them.

So, back to the store again.  Found the two pairs I had seen the day before.  I just scooped them up.

When I went to pay, the sales associate commented that the shoes were very nice and said she thought the color of one pair was really cute.

Couldn't wait to get home and try them on.  I love the way they look and feel.  Here are pictures of my new heels.

If I were a woman in my 50s, I most likely would not have bought these shoes.  They're silly, not practical, not suitable for a woman of my age...

However, one of the consolations of being a crossdresser is I get to buy and wear cute, impractical shoes like these.  Now, if I can just find some time to wear them with some cute outfits...

Tumblr Links

I already spend too much time on-line but I've found a few tumblr links that I like.  Instead of joining tumblr, I'm going to put some links here.  I suspect I'll wind up joining tumblr at some point, but this is my weak attempt at showing some restraint.

Clusters and Constellations  ok this isn't even a tumblr link but I liked it so here it is

I'm a PFLAG mom

Miles Tasteful TG Caps

Ashley Kate's Tumblr  so many cute girls in gorgeous outfits

Crossdreamed

Boy Princess

Hipster Teen

Joanna's TG Captions

Modern Goddess

I Was A Teen-age Be-All Stalker

I wasn’t really a stalker.  As for teen-age, that ship sailed a long time ago.  I did stop by Be-All for a brief time yesterday

Be-All is a transgender conference held in the spring just outside Chicago.  More information at http://be-all.org/

I’ve never officially gone to Be-All but I have visited.  A few times during the past few years, I’ve taken a long lunch, changed in the car and just walked around the hotel.  I love going out but between my home situation and the sad fact that I’m not passable in the least, I never have a chance to be out as Linda.  During the previous years, I did visit, it felt so great to be dressed and walking around a nice hotel.  In the day time and knowing that it was perfectly fine.  Staff at the hotels where Be-All has been held have always been very nice.

Be-All usually has a vendor area.  One year, I spent about an hour visiting various vendors.  The IslandGirls, a wonderful Chicago TG group which has since disbanded, had a booth that year.  I spent about 20 minutes chatting with the girls there.  It was so nice.  When I left, the girls gave me a hug.

Between time commitments and my wife’s very strong disapproval to my going out as Linda, going to Be-All as an official attendee is out of the question.  We currently have a kind of uneasy truce and as nice as it would be to attend Be-All, I don’t want to roil our currently somewhat peaceful waters.

This year, Be-All is taking place at the Downers Grove Doubletree, a hotel and convention center about 10 minutes away from where I’m working.  Although it’s nice to know that a conference like this is taking place and other people like me are visiting with each other and enjoying each other’s company, it’s also very frustrating that this conference is going on nearby and I can’t attend.

Because work has been very busy, I wasn’t able to work in a long lunch this week and had resigned myself to not even stopping by.  However, I was able to take an hour yesterday and decided I’d stop by, even though I’d be in my regular guy business casual clothes.

As I arrived at the hotel, girls were lining up to go into a large conference room for lunch.  One of the cool things about Be-All, at least for me, is that the people who attend run the gamut in attractiveness and “passability.”  I’ve attended a few TG gatherings where I’ve been intimidated by how good the girls look.  While Be-All attendees generally dress nicely (there’s a general rule against “bearded men in dresses”), there are many attendees who look like me – a little older, not as slim as they used to be and with facial features that aren’t very feminine.  And they still looked great to me.  Just stopping in and seeing these girls helped me remember that there’s a large community out there that I’m a part of.  That felt good.

So I mostly just walked around a little, tried not to look creepy or stalkerish, trying to look like I was going to a meeting at the hotel or lunch.  I didn’t want to start up a conversation with any of the girls.  What would I say?  For some of the girls, this was probably a very special time out with others like themselves.  I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable and didn’t want to come off like…well, I don’t know, but I was happy knowing the girls were enjoying being out and didn’t want to spoil anything.

So, I guess I was a little bit of a stalker.  Didn’t mean to be, but I wanted to be there but didn’t know how to be there.  Does that make any sense?

I left after only about 15 minutes.  Maybe some day, I’ll be able to attend Be-All as Linda