Raven 14

This time I was able to bring one of my GG friends along for Saturday. Its nice to have more genetic girls in attendance who support t-girls. But Raven weekend starts on Fridays. On Friday Paula & I drove up to the hotel that the meet & greet was at. After changing rooms once we got Paula's makeup on & got her all dolled up. This time i got the make-up on her pretty well. I implemented something i had heard cosmetologists talk about as far as shading. It all worked well. We went to the meet & greet and saw some of our old friends and met some new ones. We had a really good time and retired just a few steps from the meet & greet to the hotel room, way better than driving for an hour + to go home. Next day had continental breakfast then I was off to pick up my GG friend, Felixia, from philly. Picked her up then headed to the franklin mills mall. I still had Nothing to wear to the main event. Saturday is the red carpet, dinner & dancing. Stopped in JCPenny (I work in the portrait studio of a JCP so I has discount whoot!) Found the perfect dress & accessories and even a dress for my kid (awesome!)! We headed back to New Hope. Paula started on her makeup before we got there (as planned) so I only had to finish the work. Paula was sooooooooooooo excited to wear the dress I made for her. We all got ourselves together (a bit later than we should have cause we had plenty of time, oops) we got there still with red carpet time. Paula showed off her awesome dress. Looked beautiful! Like the prom princess of Raven 14. She got shoes just for the red carpet....then off they came cause they were super uncomfortable, but like they say, beauty is pain.
After the red carpet was dinner. Food was awesome, as usual at Raven. Marty was there again this time, but not our waiter (yes I have total waiter favouritism). Still had a bit of a chat with him. Awesome person, you should totally chat w/him if you meet him. Next off to the dance floor. I...had to consume a few amaretto sours before I could dance (I have a bit of dancing shyness). Had a few drinks, danced and made some new friends. Saw more GG/CD couples this time than before, which I thought was awesome! Also met a girl named Samantha (who a couple weeks later we, Paula, Jerome and myself took out to the mall to shop for girl clothes), who was very sweet. Also spent a good half hour or so chatting with Mercury. Kinda made tentative plans to hang out...never panned out. Maybe next time. Sunday morning we met with Jackie at the breakfast spot at the eagle diner. This time with Paula in guy mode. (We saw a few of the other girls in guy mode as well) We had a nice conversation & a nice breakfast there. Next we headed off home after a fun weekend. All in all I always have fun at the Raven weekends. The Next Raven is June 1st. I already am bringing 1 other Genetic Girl who is interested in dating crossdressers. Hopefully she'll find the girl of her dreams there. I'm hoping to bring a few other girls. We'll see.

I Love you ALL!
~Pirate Pebbs

Happy Valentines Day 2013

So, it'll probably be after V-day when you all see this, sorry. I've been sick. I just wanted to give a warm shout out to everyone out there. I also wanted to quote RuPaul and myself with this next pic and what I copy & paste below it from the Facebook page associated with this page:

RuPaul has been saying those words forever and they are true. Some people get into relationships not loving themselves and hoping the other person validates their existence. You can't go in that way; it will ultimately fail. Everyone gets depressed, sad and lonely, its no reason to hate yourself. Realize that you are worth it. You are worth your love and additionally you will be worth someone elses. It all starts with you. If you crossdress, realize its not shameful. you can crossdress and love yourself. If you can let your light shine no matter what you're wearing, people will see that. Show your happy glow on the outside and people will notice...maybe (hopefully) the right people. The people who won't judge you for wearing what makes you feel happy. So love yourselves, then love others, you will get some love back. May not be today, may not be next week but it'll happen. If no one else, Pirate Pebbs Loves You!!!

I was shown some Love today. I had a special valentine this year (first time in many years, believe it or not), you all know her as Paula. Paula (guy mode version, but i shall continue using girl name and pronouns for continuity's sake) got me a vase of flowers (including in the mix my fav flower the Stargazer Lilly) Brunch in bed (cause i've been sick and haven't left the house all week) from a favie restaurant Riverwinds (I highly recommend the place, found it from restaurant.com so if you're looking to gain loyalty as a restaurateur it works. They no longer use restaurant.com but we still go and I wish I were getting paid or free food for recommending them) and the ultimate gift for a girl like me...a new(-ish) X-Box 360!!! (i say new-ish cause its the refurbished older style 360 but exactly what i wanted cause i have a hard drive with all my saved games and i didn't wanna lose my saves and start all over again with games & extras i had) So all of that stuff made for a pretty happy v-day for me :) I...made Paula some jewelry and gave her a framed pic of us. Pics below, they're cell phone pix...i'm sick didn't feel like getting my swanky camera :p

I didn't take a pic of the framed pic, but it was in a black frame and I wrote 'Happy Valentines Day 2013' on it. Was nice. I am confident that a day will come where all my pretty GM (who like to dress en fem) ISO GG's will find who they are looking for. :)

Pirate Pebbs Loves you ALL!!!

Raven 13 part 3 - finale...finally

Raven 13 part 1
Raven 13 part 2
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Thanks to that full bottle of wine I didn't need any other liquid courage all night. We danced a bit. Met a couple of other GG/TV couples I hadn't seen there previously. Also saw a couple I had met there before. Had a brief chat with Maureen, whom I met at a previous Raven event, also had a chat with a couple where their family all know about his crossdressing for the past 6 years!!! I think that’s pretty awesome!  There were a good deal of people attending for the first time and having such a great time. I didn't have my friend there this time to take pictures so I have less than I’d like to have had. Ah well. Got to be 2am, everyone either went home or to their rooms to either sleep or party more.

The next morning we went to meet up for breakfast at the nearby Eagle Diner. There were a few people from the Raven event, at least 2 rather large tables and several smaller tables had faces I recognized from the night before. Some of the gurls were in girl mode and a few were in guy mode. Paula and I sat at one of the rather large tables surrounded by people we knew either by face or name. I sat next to an older woman I had met a few times before named Jackie. I thought Jackie was a GG supporter of T-Girls, like myself. But as I was chatting with her she mentioned herself being ‘dad’. I was floored!!! I HAD No Idea! I didn't (or at least tried) not to express my shock, in a good way. She is totally passing!!! She is also very sweet & a wiz in the kitchen. I LOVE to hear other people’s stories and she had many. Stories were told of the ex-wife (who didn't cook very well), kids and even grandkids. The grandkids know her as Aunt Jackie, which I think is cute. When they get much older and start asking questions I guess they’ll get the answers then, but for now Aunt Jackie will do. Also at our table was the Dancing Queen Linda, a few men… men…er… Men who don’t dress…I guess. Also at our table was our wonderful event host Jen!!! But…not dressed as Jen. She was in guy mode. Ok, so Paula and I were wondering what Jen looked like in guy mode. Neither of us could imagine. Actually, for a while I thought she’d already went under the knife and was full time girl but I was told that she went to work male. So my mind was kinda blown seeing her w/o boobs, wig & make-up I guess. She was still Jen. Same voice, same attitude, same zeal for life. She just looked a bit different. I saw a few others out of their girl clothes at breakfast. It was a nice time. We talked about maybe having a flag football game at another Raven weekend. That would totally be a fun thing to do, maybe a Friday afternoon in the spring or summer. We all had out meal and had a good time eating and laughing together. Then it was time to go.

The thing I like is that there are girls who go to the Raven who are at every stage of…T-Girl-ness. You have the girls Dressing and going out for the first time, girls who just like to dress up and go out who have no interest in transitioning, girls who would like to transition but because of their significant other are not. There are girls who have transitioned who are still with their spouse who are working on seeing if this life will work out for them. There are girls fully transitioned and looking for a significant other of their own, be their preference male or female…or another t-girl. I love that, though not everyone necessarily knows where everyone else is on the spectrum of things, everyone respects one another enough that no one is ever put down for being one way or another or having a gender preference etc. …Though I did hear that one girl’s spouse was disrespected by being inappropriately touched by a couple of the gurls… that totally was not cool. From what I hear this was an isolated event, I’d never been harassed in that way but I, being a natural born GG don’t go around grabbing other girls bums. It’s not cool to do to someone you hardly know.

That being said, the weekend was fun. I met new people and hope to talk to them more in the future. Next time I think I’ll see if I can gather email addys and get a conversation going that way. Maybe have a few more interviews under my belt and on to my page. It seems my 1 ‘interview with a straight crossdresser’ is the most popular post on my blog. I plan on doing a year in review for 2012 blog posting soon.

Laterz!

Raven 13 part 2

Raven 13 part 1
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I got very little sleep that night. Got up early to greet my sis when she arrived at my house. Hang out with her for a bit then we went to an early lunch (brunch) at RiverWinds in NJ. Awesome food, service & atmosphere there. I always enjoy meals there. Try the calamari, they make the absolute best!!! 

After Brunch with the sis, Paula and I stopped by a JCPennys and got a few things we needed…I think stockings were the major needed item. We also looked at the clearance jewelry. can’t remember if we got anything else. Back into the car to drive up to New Hope.

We got there…maybe around 2 or 3pm and started to get Paula ready first (as usual). I did similar makeup as the previous day but used lighter grey on the eyelids. Because of the way Paula’s dress was cut and the corset being cut the way it was, Paula’s faux boobs couldn't fit in the dress without showing through. I decided we’d try to create cleavage using make-up. I didn't have the right kind of make-up so I improvised. It didn't come out as good as expected but, looking at the pictures, it did have a bit of the desired effect. On went the corset and then the hair. Paula really like everything about the hair on the previous day so I duplicated it in a more secure way than the day before (I couldn't fine more than 2 bobby-pins on Friday). I got the hair pinned up securely with many pins. While Paula finished getting herself ready, I worked on me. I had to iron my Lehenga Choli cause…well…I didn't have it properly hanging so it was very wrinkled. I decided on wearing false eyelashes that had rhinestones on it. I said, out loud, “If these don’t stick the first time I’m not wearing them”. They must have wanted to be worn cause they went on quite easily. I used this gold make-up…stick thing (that I got from the dollar store a few months ago) on my eyes and lips. It’s the type where you can use it wet or dry. I usually use it wet. It’s more opaque when used wet, it’s more of a shimmer when dry. I didn't do much with my make-up. I bobby pinned my tikka into my hair. Pinned my hair up a bit got dressed and we got out and to the Red Carpet before it was over!!! Red carpet is from 4:30pm until 7:30pm. I think we got there around 6:45pm. We met our friend Jen and she was quite surprised to see that we actually made it out to the red carpet. We had our pictures taken on the red carpet with our friends. I…forgot to get a red carpet shot alone. Ah well. There are pictures of me sharing the spotlight with others.

I met a lovely lady there…whose name I have forgotten (Maybe Jennifer…why am I so bad w/ names???) She was tall and passing! She wondered why I was there. I told her cause I like crossdressers. She seemed quite pleased with my answer. She said she had previously believed herself to be a straight crossdresser but was recently also interested in males. She was quite interesting. She told me about how she used to wear wigs and how once the wig is on she is ‘Jennifer’. Then she decided to grow her hair out. Once there is no wig/you’re always in the wig where does ‘guy type’ stop and ‘girl type’ begin? It’s kind of perplexing. I’d love to talk to her more about her views on herself etc. I told her about my blog and wrote down my blog address…maybe I should have gotten her email? Ah well, hopefully I’ll see her again at another event and we can chat more. I ran into some other friends there. Allie came in wearing this awesome black dress with red shoes; she looked as fashionable as ever. I met another GG there who is dating a crossdresser. Her Gurl couldn’t make it that night but she still came with another friend. She made her complete outfit. The dress, which looked awesome & awesome on her, her hair accessories, the works and for the life of me…I can’t remember her name either *sigh*. I also met Lisa’s lovely lovely spouse. She was very sweet. I got to chat with her a little bit; hopefully I can chat with her more some other time. Lisa was so much happier at this Raven than the last one I saw her at. I think maybe having the love of her life there was the reason. Sometimes it’s lonely not having the one you love nearby. I can’t say for sure why she didn’t seem very happy at the last one, I didn't feel it was my place to ask, I was just glad to see her so happy at this one. After a few more pictures it was time to head over to the Raven for dinner.

We had our dinner reservations set for 7:45pm I believe. We arrived there about 7:25pm and asked if we could be seated early and we were able to. The Host there was looking awesome as usual. This evening he was wearing all white with diamond-esque embellishments on his tall white hat (kinda like the nutcracker styled only with white faux fur) and was wearing a big diamond-esque rhinestone necklace. It turns out he was a creator of costumes (awesome!). I like being crafty as well. Maybe at some point I’ll make something from scratch to wear to a Raven event. We were seated and I decided on having wine…a whole bottle of wine. When I thought about it, it was cheaper than getting several separate glasses of wine and I usually don’t change wines glass to glass. Whereas Paula…is not a drinker so…More wine for me, Whoot! After we ordered we mingled a bit with some of the girls there. Went to a few tables, made some new acquaintances, talked to a few people we had met earlier that night and the night before. At the table behind ours was a girl who was attending their first Raven event. She had a makeover by a make-up artist who often comes to make over girls who request the service. She does great work. Nikki looked great. She seemed to be enjoying herself very much. As I looked around the room I spotted a couple I had seen before who I’d only seen for dinner, usually they were leaving just after I got there (we were always running late) I wanted to talk to them… they were wearing the cutest dresses J I mentioned in my previous post about this encounter (here) finished up dinner and headed to the dance floor.
(cont. Raven 13 part 3)

Raven 13 Part 1

Ok, so I've been reallllly wordy with this post so I figured i'd break it up into bitesized chunks...you know...if you take really big bites. Also, I would have had this up days ago, but for some reason Blogspot wasn't working on Chrome (my usual browser), then I tried on FireFox and it seemed like it'd work...but no, it didn't. I'm currently using (dare I say) Internet Explorer *shudder*
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I went to the Raven 13 party on the weekend of Jan 12-14 and had fun as usual. It’s a free event and all T-girls & admirers are invited. This time I made all of the events!!! A first for me, yay!

Here is how the schedule of events usually goes: Friday is the Meet & Greet. Starts about 7:45pm and goes till 2am. Most don’t stay till 2. It’s at a bar& grill, near the Raven. Then around midnight, whoever is up for it goes over to the Raven for some dancing. On Saturday some of the girls meet up in New Hope for Shopping early in the day then get ready for the Red carpet shoot, across the street from the Raven. That starts at 4:30pm and goes till about 7:30pm. Starting at 7pm at the Raven is Dinner. Dinner is optional (not free where as the rest of the events are free) goes till about 9pm. Then the much awaited Dance Party starts at 9 at the Raven on their dance floor. That goes till 2am. The next morning about 10-20 of the attendees go to breakfast at the nearby Eagle Diner as a nice end to a nice weekend. Here is how the weekend got going for me.

On Friday I spent a couple hours honing my make-up artistry skills on Paula’s face. I am getting quite good, if I do say so myself. I applied most of the make-up. (click here for details of what I did on Paula's face)**Then I had Paula apply the Mascara. A bit of blush, some red lipstick & Paula’s face is ready. Next into the brand New Corset Paula got from Corset Story, pulled in nice and tight so Paula had a very nice Hourglass figure. Then on with the rest of Paula’s shirts…I think Paula was triple layered that day. Corset, Shirt, Sweater/jacket-y…thing with a belt around that. Next on with the wig. A while ago, I think for the Raven 12 party, Paula got a curly ponytail to attach to the wig. It looked really cute to the side as it was. This time we did something different with the ponytail. We made the wig & ponytail look kinda like a bumped up hair style. I put the ponytail just a little behind the bangs. Pulled some hair around it and pinned it into place. A while ago Paula was talking about wanting the hair up and we figured that’s be a bit time consuming and couldn’t do it in time for this raven event. Well, once Paula saw how her hair looked like that, she was sooooo happy!! It was exactly how she’d imagined it!!!. Awesome again! I put a lil black tiara in her hair around the bump and Paula looked like a princess!

We were running a bit late for the Friday Meet & Greet (as usual) So I did about 5 minutes worth of make-up on myself, pretty much just liner, mascara, concealer. Put on my dress, found a pair of shoes& out of the house we went. I didn’t even do my lips till be were outside the meet & greet. We got there after 8pm...maybe 8:30-ish. Went in saw a few friends we had met previous times. Jen (the party planner that made it all happen) Chelle & Reena was there. Plus many others we’d met previously (not all whose names I remember…yeah…I’m horrible with names, sorry girls) I ordered a drink, Amaretto Sour, one of my fav’s. …They…did not make it correctly…at all…it was horrible. I took 2 sips and had to take it back and had them make me something else. I don’t know what she made, but it was good. J I ordered food cause I didn't have time to feed myself before leaving my house. I can’t even remember what I ate, but it was good J. Meanwhile Paula went around meeting some new people. I also went around after a few minutes…it took me forever to decide what to eat. I met some girls who were at the Raven for the first time, (this was my 3^rd time) They all seemed really excited. I met another lady who sells Avon as well. She’s been doing it for a year where as I have only been for a few months. I remember one person I met is named Destiny…cause I have a lil cousin with that name so it was easy to remember that one. There is a girl there that is always dancing. She is a dancing diva!!! Every time I see her dancing I swear she must have been a cheerleader in a former life. I believe her name is Linda. I talked to her about it; she says she feels like she’s performing when she dances. She certainly looks like she’s performing; she gets my stamp of approval. J I took a few pictures and was in a few as well. We headed over to the Raven for a little bit but left early. In a few hours my sister would be touching down at the Philly airport from California. So off we went back to my house so I could await my sister’s arrival. Unfortunately, Paula started feeling ill. I think we stopped for some Dayquil on the way back which Paula started consuming.

photobucket.com/raven13party

(cont. Part 2 & Part 3)

Paula's Make-up for Raven 13

**Since I’ve been selling Avon, I’ve been using more and more Avon make-up on her face. After a good shave I used an Avon stick style concealer over the area that may later house a 5’o clock shadow. Over that I put the Avon Liquid Foundation over the area that I just put the concealer over. That way it’s double concealed. Over that and all over the face I put the bare minerals foundation etc to blend everything in. The mineral make-up makes the whole face look like it has light make-up on. You can’t tell that the beard area is heavily concealed. Awesome!!! Next I used this ‘warm’ powder mineral make-up on the contour areas. Cheeks, under chin & forehead area. I decided to kinda wing it with the eye make-up. Used some more Avon make-up. I got this huge kit of eyeshadows, blushes & lip color from avon when it was on sale for $19 now it’s back to $30-ish bucks..if its even available anymore. It has so many shades and stuff…totally worth it! I used some tips I got from watching Manila Luzon’s NYE smokey eye make-up tutorial (which I used for Paula when we went to Diamonds Karaoke the week before) but I didn’t go through the whole tutorial again. We haven’t done anything to Paula’s eyebrows (shaving, plucking etc) ever. I kinda re-shape them a bit using make-up. I use a white shimmery shadow that I got from Sephora (for free a couple of years ago) on top of the eyebrows at the outer corners to make them look thinner there. I use brown makeup on a eyebrow brush to fill in the brows a bit and make an arch with the color on the outside edge of the upper natural brow area. If that makes any sense to anyone but me. Next I used this dark shimmery grey in the crease area and a lighter grey on the eyelid. Liquid liner on the eyes with a bit of a wing tip. Paula finished up with the mascara & lipstick. Paula's face was  FINALLY done! Took us maybe 1.5 hours. We're getting better. Way down from 4 hours at the begining. Next is to get Paula to be able to do this all herself!

CD Karaoke at Diamonz

This past Friday I went to a Karaoke in the Allentown area at a place called Diamonz where I met some people from the T-Girls United meet-up group. (Before we went I looked up Manila Luzon's NYE Smoky eye make-up tutorial and made up Paula's face) Every 1st friday of the month there is a meet for the gurls up there (though every friday they have karaoke). Paula & I went up there and...well...sat around for a while till Karaoke began. We did have a few drinks first. They had a special on this shot called blue lollypop...or something like that. It was really good. I think i had 2-3 shots. After that I did order a Rum & Ginger ale (something i usually order at the bar I host karaoke at) ...it was one of the worst tasting Rums ever. Whatever brand their well Rum is (bottle looked way generic)...I hate it. I took 2 small sips, separated by a few minutes and could not stand it. I took it back to the counter and asked for just ginger ale. I didn't wanna risk another bad tasting drink. So, yeah, i guess if you go there for mixed drinks, make sure you order name-brand booze.
One thing that i wish i'd have known in advance is that its a bar that allows cigarettes. I am allergic to the smoke and I hadn't taken my allergy medicine that day but, I wasn't gonna leave. It took us 1.5 hours to get there. I figure, i'll deal with sneezing, itchy throat & congestion, whatevs. ...Ok, i thing i didn't think about was how stinky my clothes would be after i left...ah well as well.
Anywho, when karaoke started I pretty much blew them away with my karaoke prowess. (ok, i've been going to karaoke 1-3 times a week for the past 3 years now, so...yeah) I did some of my standard songs that I do well cause...well...ok, when you're at a new joint you need to put your best foot...er...vocal stylings...forward. I sang: Virtual Insanity, She (The Monkees), Hey Ya, Spiderwebs & Just a Girl. I had a lot of other songs in but, from what i heard, karaoke was unusually full that night. Not only was i singing, i was doing my lil semi-coordinated dance-like steps as well. Most everyone else who went up there were quite stiff and did nothing to try to stir up the crowd. Come on people, when you're at karaoke pretend you're a performer, its way more fun that way. Because I performed like I meant it I was well received and got a bit of cheering when they'd call me back up. Paula sang...nothing. Cause Paula doesn't feel comfortable singing in girl mode. I have no pics of me singing. I have no pix from my camera cause I was a lazy bum and didn't feel like taking my camera out. But the girl who is...the host of the event, (not the karaoke host, mind you, the KJ was Paulie. Nice guy) Antoinette, had her camera and took some pix. They're a bit grainy but the're pics. I'll post one of Paula & I at the end of this post. There were other local girls that I had seen on the Meet-Up page at the Bar who I thought were going to be at karaoke so i didn't bug them at the bar...they didn't come to karaoke, so i'll meet them some other time. I did make 2 new friends there though. Antoinette & Eadie (whose name i remember cause it sounds like my favorite ice cream brand Edy's) I wrote down the web address for this blog as well as Jessica Whos for them to peruse. They are both planning on going to the next Raven event which is coming up this Saturday, January 12th 2013. I will post more details about it...maybe tomorrow. The location etc are in earlier posts about Raven if you decide to look back at older posts. I'm tired & ready to sleep.
All in all, I had a fun time. Diamonz is a LGBT establishment. If you don't mind cigarette smoke, this is a nice place to hang out. Their karaoke book is Huge! It says their book is online but you can't access it with a smart phone. The only disadvantage to their book is that it is by song title only, not artist, but my karaoke is by artist not song title. I guess each way has its advantages & disadvantages. I was invited to 'Please come back', so I will go back. Next time I will be prepared, I will take my allergy medicine. I will probably pre-game a bit (Paula doesn't drink, Designated Driver FTW!) and I will wear clothing that I plan on washing the next day...also Coat will stay in the car.

I look forward to seeing some of you next weekend. Bye for Now :)

Pebbles, your Friendly Neighborhood Pirate

Raven 12 - Utopian Weekend 10-10-12

2 weekends ago was the 12th Raven event Hosted by Jen Bryant at The Raven which has an Award Winning Restaurant with a Bar & Club. This was my 3rd visit to a Raven event. Original plan was to stay for the whole weekend but it turned out that my weekend was kinda double booked (would have been triple booked if i'd attempted to go to Phil-Con which I realized I couldn't do). At Raven 11 Paula and I Went to the Saturday Dinner & Dance Party and Sunday morning Breakfast at the Eagle Diner. This time we went to Sliders Bar & Grill on Friday night...Fashionably late (as usual...it takes forever for Paula to get ready) While there we met up with some familiar faces and made a few new friends. I got some yummy food from the bar (and a few drinks) everything was pretty good. We had some pretty awesome discussions as well. We had a discussion with Lisa Empanada (guest writer of this post) about Straight crossdressers. ...Ok...It kinda came up due to a major Faux-Pas which I committed. I mistakenly referred to Paula in the masculine. Something I never do when referring to her online...you know...where I can edit myself when I make a mistake... The thing is, I usually see Paula in guy mode. Also Paula doesn't care if she is referred to in the masculine or feminine. Also knowing we were in the company of ‘like’ individuals I guess I was a lil more lax. I think it has to do with the divide of not really feeling like a girl but enjoying her feminine side. Well...most of it was Lisa asking Paula questions about straight crossdressers. Lisa is a trans-Girl. She identifies as female and doesn't really 'get' people like Paula who...are fine living their male lives but also like to indulge their feminine urges. It was quite interesting hearing the uber masculine things Lisa did before she became Lisa.

I was also surprised...the whole weekend how many of the Gurls were married to women. I was told by one that she considered herself a Trans-Lesbian. She believes if she were born female she'd still be attracted to women. More of the girls were married to women than I expected. I was kinda surprised  I think I'd just grouped trans-lesbians with straight crossdressers...but...I guess technically that's not true even though..I guess physically it's true. I'd always thought to myself that if I were born male that I'd be attracted to females but I was born female and am attracted to males...but I lean towards pretty/androgynous males...or males that dress like females...that look like hot chix when dressed en-fem. :D 

While we were there I told Paula, "Ok, I didn't really plan on coming tonight. I came because you wanted to come. This is a meet & great, so...go meet someone new and make friends." So I had Paula lead the way & I followed. Paula walked up to a gurl neither of us had met before & introduced herself. Her name was Charlene...or was it Charlize  It turns out that she was there because we were there. She is on the same meet-up group that we are in. She noticed that a majority of the girls on the group are way older than us but that Paula and I were around her age. That gave her confidence to come out. (Whoot!) She & Paula exchanged email addys and we all made tentative plans to hang out and see a movie. We hung out with her most the rest of the night. There were a few photo sessions that happened. Jen was posing on a pool table and other girls joined in posing on the pool tables. Even Paula joined in. I took a few shots of Paula on the pool table. Then we took a few shots in the foyer. Then the party continued at The Raven’s dance floor. Our new friend took some pics of Paula & I on the dance floor. I took a lot of pics of our new friend with her camera as well all night. She wasn't ready to have any pics taken by any camera but her own.  We left around 1:30-ish AM and picked up my good friend Jerome from a karaoke party that I couldn't attend due to the meet & greet. He was my stand in for the night with my karaoke host Dr. Thunder (yes we also do parties). We had a sleepover at my house where I got a little sleep.

I woke up a few hours later on Saturday morning. I had a religious assembly to attend from 9am-4pm. Went there and got back to my place around 5pm. Paula had already started getting ready. Jerome was just about ready. I got the rest of Paula’s make-up on her after I finished up the corset that we’d started on Friday (which I didn't mention earlier. Made another duck tape corset, this time w/boning. Paula lost a good deal of weight since we made the first one and it no longer fit properly.) I needed to put/hammer the eyelets into the corset that was nearly permanently attached to Paula the night before (I cut it off of Paula before I went to sleep). I also had to take in Paula’s red dress, she had gotten it online and it was bigger than expected. My mom helped with that by pinning it while on Paula so that I could sew it when I was finished with the corset (yes my mom is also cool with CD’s). I got myself together as quickly as I could. I wore a women’s pinstriped suit with a Black & Gold tie, and we were off. We got there…I think around 7:30PM. We were seated by the fire. Jen’s Official Photographer took a few pictures of us. We got/ate our delicious meals. I had a Manly Meal of Ravioli…Jerome had Chicken cordon blu and Paula had a chicken salad…she couldn't eat much in that corset. We saw some familiar faces from our seats as well. After we were done eating it was time to Party!

I handed the camera duties to my good friend Jerome while I go touch up my make up in the ladies room where I met another lovely lady who is married to a woman. She says when she’s dressed as a girl she feels like a girl. When she’s dressed as a man she feels like a man. I think she said she considers herself a trans-lesbian. I put on my lip color and I was off to dance & have a good time w/o having to worry about taking pics, yay! But, of course…I was a bit shy to start dancing right away…this looks like a job for Liquid Courage!!! Had a bit o’ booze. And did a bit o’ dancing mostly w/ Paula. We met up with our friend from the night before, Charlize (I really need to ask her how she spells her name), and the 3 of us danced a bit. We put what few flyers I had for my blog in Jeromes hat. Looked like a press hat after that. And he was off taking pictures of just about everyone there. At some point I met up with one of my online friends that had come to the previous Raven event but I couldn't find on that day. I saw the many tattoos and saw the face and it was them!!! Chris & her Fiancee, 2 beautiful blondes, I had to get pics with them. I planned on meeting up with them again later but, alas, t’was not to be. I also saw a GG I had chatted with at Raven 11, Maureen, was nice to see her there again & it’s so great that she supports her husband’s crossdressing! I went outside a few times; it was a bit chilly, I was so glad I had decided to wear pants at this Raven event. I sat with Paula and met a new gurl there. I think another Straight CD. We had a nice conversation which I mostly forgot cause I’d been drinking. (I really need to keep a notebook with me at these events so I could write down names and key things to remember.) Jen came and then…and then… I called Lisa, Jen. I’d have been wayyyyyy embarrassed if I were sober (but had I been sober I wouldn’t have made that mistake) But after my sincere apologies and praising her for her grace & beauty she forgave me and came over to have a picture with me. (wow…I had been rubbing Lisa the wrong way a bit too much that weekend) Unfortunately my camera started to act up around that time (I found out later that it was my external flash) so pics from about that time to the end of the night were half blacked out. Thankfully it happened at the end, instead of the beginning of the night. At the end of the night we all drove back to my place because staying locally for the night could get quite pricey. It would have been nice to stay closer and go out to breakfast w/ everyone but…maybe next time. It seemed like everyone had fun.

Raven 12 Pics

Crossdress-O-Ween

The end of last month, October, is somewhat of a crossdresser liberation time. The time, where crossdressers can crossdress in relative freedom knowing...they can always just say its a costume...
...Ok...in reality thats less than Ideal. People would prefer to dress as they'd like whenever they'd like and not be judged harshly for it. Generally around halloween time is when it happens. Guys dress as girls, girls dress like whores (or atleast its generally acceptable to do so)... and everyone can get away with it with their reputations intact because its a 'costume'.

Which bring me to this year's festivities. I...don't celebrate Halloween, but I do LOVE to dress up in costumes. A friend, a couple of months ago, asked me if I'd come to a party if she had one cause she was scared no one would come due to her being in NJ and most of her invited guests are in Philly. I told her i'd come even if no one else did. She was at least relieved. Since I'm still borrowing Paula's car (long story) I invited Paula as well. I felt compelled to ask if Paula had ever dressed as a girl for Halloween. To which I was somewhat surprised that the answer was No. I got to thinking of some of the other CD's I know...some others have never donned girl gear for halloween as well, they were afraid they'd do or say something and be found out. Yet most of the Men I know have gone girl at least once in their lives for halloween. It's like a rite of passage. So I suggested Paula do so. Paula was apprehensive to do so especially since we were scheduled to go to a party at his friend's house as well but...I can be very convincing. I told Paula I'd dress as a guy, that way there would be less to no suspicion. I'd wear a suit & tie and even don a fakie beard/mustache. Paula agreed after that. ...Turns out his friend's party wound up being in Virginia...was a bit far so we just went to my friend's party. He was a bit relieved knowing he probably wouldn't see any of his friends.

So Saturday October 27th arrived. Paula and I step out to get a few things from a few stores. Paula was in desperate need of flat shoes. Paula found that the womens shoe size that is supposed to be worn is a size 13 and that Payless has that size. My mom told me there was a Payless in a mall near my house and we should try there first. Since we had to go to that same mall anyway to get a new wig we figured we'd try there. We went to the wig store and didn't really see what we were looking for at first. Walked around a bit more and decided on just getting a ponytail extension for the wig Paula already had. We wished we had the wig with us to check if the color was right...but it was. Pebbs is the awesome!!!

Next in search of Payless...which was not in that mall. But we did some browsing in the shops anyway. We came across the Rainbow clothing store. They had some sales so we figured a browse wouldn't hurt. What we found there was pretty awesome! We found a brand new ensemble for Paula there. New shirt, skirt, leggings, jewelry, only thing we didn't find were shoes...which was our next destination. Off we went to Payless to get shoes. We went to one in Delaware...I can't remember the strip mall's name... but it's on Rt 202...the mall that also has a 5 Guys next to a 5 below...coincidence? I think NOT! lol. So we went there and found that Paula did indeed fit a size 13 shoe. Also we found some very nice flats and some wedge heeled shoes that Paula found quite comfortable. I had a coupon for 10% off but the lady who worked the register has a coupon for 30% off that she let us use! Yay! The price for 2 pairs of size 13 shoes were $30...and like 26 cents or something like that... but basically $30!!! So Ladies, if you're looking for shoes sized 13 and below check out Payless. Their website will tell you which stores carry larger sized women's shoes.

Next we stopped by the dollar store. I needed mascara for my fakie beard. I tried to use my brand new Avon Mascara and...well...the bristles are perfect for my lashes but too advanced for my face. What I needed was a cheap mascara wand. At the dollar store I knew i'd find something to suit my purposes. I found a mascara and eyeliner pencil set for $1. I got it in brown/black because black was a bit too dark on me when I tried it out the night before. I also discovered that i'd look horrible w/ a mustache.

Back & the batcave aka my house we set to putting our looks together. Paula got all dolled up, with my help of course, using some new Avon products that I bought from...myself, as well as the Bare Minerals makeup Paula purchased on a previous outing with me (click here for details on that) we got Paula looking Great! All Dolled Up Paula looked like a teenaged girl going to the prom...even though the outfit wasn't traditional prom style. I even put a tiny tiara on Paula's head.

I...looked guyish. I braided my hair back the day before. I put mascara on my brows and below my brows to make them look bigger. I noticed, guy eyebrows are closer to their eyes and girls brows tend to be above the eyes a bit more. I also put mascara in the beard area. Gave myself a chinstrap beard...it at least didn't look bad on me. I borrowed a shirt & tie from a friend and wore my younger cousin's dress pants, he and I wear the same size and I borrow his jeans often. I wore my own blazer and my work shoes which are pretty unisex. Then we were off.

Ok so we left the house about an hour after we'd planned...Making Paula look perfect was time consuming. We got to my friend's house about an hour late. Everyone thought our 'costumes' were pretty awesome. I had Made my friend's Elf costume over the week leading to the party between having to work etc. Her costume was lovely as well. Her boyfriend was the wolf man and his twin brother went as...him. lol, at least thats what he told us. It was a fun time. Ended a bit earlier than expected so we went back to philly to Dr. Thunder Karaoke!!! Where I usually co-host. Karaoke that day was at Headhouse on Lombard Street in Philadelphia. We went there I sang a song or two. Met up with some of my friends there as well. Fellow Karaoke Hosts for TNT Karaoke, Ray & Marci. It was fun seeing them there in their costumes. Marci was Storm, from the X-Men. She looked Amazing! and Ray was...one of the guys from KISS...I can't remember which guy...but he was Awesome as well!!! Dr. Thunder was dressed as...Viking Dr. Thunder! Which was also fun.

All in all it was a good night. As I reflected on my look for that night I had come to discover... I am not into looking fully like a guy. I like looking like a girl who is wearing guys clothing. I like my pinstriped suits and my fedoras but I will also wear lipstick & mascara cause thats what I like and how I like to look. Goy Style!

Laterz!

BTW, Below are some Pics. Are there any CD's out there who did dress as a girl for halloween? How's that go? I'd love to hear about it.