Halloween Is Coming!!

[Missy]

Hi CJ:

That was a really lucky find. I believe I would have bought them all. LOL. I have never seen any that were more sheer than 15 denier. I occasionally do find some vintage FF's in thrift stores but they never have my size. We do have fun looking for them though.

Missy

[Jadeanne]

Hi all,

CJ,

Thanks for your vote, I think Moonbeam might be the winner. I reserve the right have her resemble a gypsy, depending on which skirt and clip earrings I feel like wearing.

This Sunday I will also be chauffering 3 older ladies to and from church. After church is the Sunday School party. My wife is a teacher and one of the party organizers, so after church, I will be driving the ladies back, then possibly getting a pizza and maybe a stop at a beverage store for some non-alcoholic beer (I can't drink the real stuff with all the arthritis medications I take).

My change from male mode to femme costume would be getting home from church/food pickup.

I did toy with the idea of changing before the pizza and beer run. If the Red Sox win the World Series, I could have topped my wig with one of my Yankee caps and had the excuse that I had the choice of wearing a Red Sox uniform or my femme costume, and I thought the Red Sox uniform was much less dignified .

What I'm most likely going to do is not change until after I get home with food/drinks.

If I change into Moonbeam, I'll be wearing a $2 black witch wig I bought 2 years ago. I'll probably be doing very little makeup, maybe some lipstick and nail polish. I'm putting my digital camera batteries in the charger now so there may be a picture of Moonbeam.

Another factor in favor of Moonbeam is that we are having company starting on Tuesday (election day), my older sister in law and her GG housemate. Two years ago when they visited around the same time, I greeted them at the door as a male hippy wearing the black wig. They had a great laugh, took my picture, and emailed it to the other 2 sisters, who also got a good laugh from it. If they see the black wig, it's not a new thing. I keep my 4 blonde wigs on a shelf in our bedroom closet that's not very easily visible. They didn't see them last year.

Jadeanne

[Jessie]

Last night I went to Haloween Party with my mom. Had fun see pictures of the two of use together. We finally dewteremed that I was the Nanney and she is my charge and I was not doing a very good job. (Notice in her right hand)

Jessie

[Jadeanne]

Jessie,

That was a cute picture - I really like both of your outfits.

Jadeanne

[DonnaT]

CJ,

Checked out your your new photos. Whew! So, what did the staff at the restraunt say?

[CJ]

Hi all,

Thanks, Donna, for the gallery comments.

It felt a little strange. I've been out and about before but, except for once a long time ago, never in the daytime. I got to the retaurant at around 10:00 yesterday morning, thinking the breakfast rush would be over. It was. It was quiet enough that I had a chance to sit and chat with the staff. Of course, I never imagined I'd still be there when lunchtime came around. The place packed up (it's pretty small: 35 seats or so). But the lunch crowd (many of them regulars known to me) never got to see the "Red" me, because not an hour after my arrival I went home (I live acros the street from the place) to get out of the heels--my feet were killing me! I took the opportunity to change into a black skirt, a brunette wig, and sensible shoes. I trust them enough to have left my purse (red, of course) and my camera right there on the table.

You know, they loved it. The cook didn't recognize me and still had trouble recognizing me when I spoke with him. It's the wig, maybe, I don't know. Now, the boss, that was another story. The boss was blown away. He insisted on having his photo taken with me. Of course, Lynn, the waitress, didn't have a problem with my appearance; she's actually the one who's been insisting (ever since she found out I was a CD many months ago) that I come to the restaurant dressed. She wants to take me out to the local club with friends of hers, but that's not going to happen; I'm just not a club person. The boss would like me to go back as the brunette, once in a while. I don't think so, either. It was just too much work, this transformation. Ugh! It's nice to know that the opportunity is there, though.

The reaction from the customers was mixed. Most just ignored me. Some had a ball. Others gawked. One tried to, well, hit on me, I guess, but totally stopped cold when he heard my voice. His eyes nearly popped out of his head! Ah, Halloween! Another, a regular, told me I looked "fat" as a woman, and then proceeded to offer me a cigarette--something he's never done for me in drab. Go figure. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Still, it's certainly not something I'll be doing every weekend. Fun fact: on the way home, I walked over to the convenience store to buy a couple of packs of cigarettes. The owner knows me pretty well; I've been going there almost daily for my cigs for a year and a half. Well, I walk in. He says hello. I smile back as I walk up to the counter and ask for the usual. He just stares at me. "The usual?" I can see that he has no clue, even when I tell him my brand. And then I say, "William! It's me, it's me!" He was floored. His face lit up and he said, "well, you're very pretty today" and we both burst out laughing.

Yes, yesterday was a good day. Thanks for asking, Donna. Now, I'll just be going back to soaking my feet...

Love,
CJ

[Jadeanne]

CJ,

All I can say is WOW! What great pics with your 2 different looks for the woman in red, not to mention all the photo editing artistry!

Thank you for sharing your adventure with us!

Jadeanne

[Beauty]

Hi CJ,

Thanks for sharing your story about your Halloween I was captivated by every word.

I loved how you described the different people and they way they reacted to you dressed. Not even so much a reaction as the way they hung out with you. I totally felt like a fly on the wall. Your friends in real life are very cool people. Especially from your description of them.

Your outfit sounded wonderful too. Oh yes, I guess yesterday put an end to a long dry spell of not dressing all the way too, right?

I think it rocks (your entire day yesterday) Congrats!!!

I love your new profile picture too!!!

Beauty

[Jadeanne]

Hi all,

My Halloween didn't turn out quite as planned.

The day before, we stopped at an Avenue store with some coupons and one of the things we bought was a long sleeve v neck animal print top.

The morning started out fine - my wife dressed for church and the following UNICEF party in my animal print short sleeve top, animal print skirt with a ruffle, and borrowed my goldtone and enamel bracelet. She was going to wear the new top to church, but the v neck was too revealing without some other clothing changes she didn't want to make on Sunday morning. She also tried on but declined my dangly leopard clip earrings. She wore her hair in a ponytail with an animal print scrunchy.

When we went to our regular place for Sunday breakfast, she got compliments from several of the waitresses.

I dropped her off at church, then went home, put the set of camera batteries in the spare pocket of the digital camera case, checked out the forum, then picked up the 3 elderly ladies for church. After getting to church, I snapped a few pictures using the batteries still in the camera from last summer. When they ran low I put in the ones from the charger, and they didn't work .

After church, I drove the 3 ladies back to their apt building, then parked and went in to help another older lady we know to reset her clocks to Eastern Standard time.

After getting back home, I moved the cars back in the driveway and carried the plastic chairs in from the porch. My wife got back just as I was finishing.

I was planning on dressing as Moonbeam and doing my first picture session, but not having the digital camera working killed that idea.

We had some lunch and took an afternoon nap. She didn't wake me up, then we got several phone calls, and there was no time to dress before the trick or treaters started showing up.

At least I was wearing a feather mask while I was handing out small bags of mini pretzels - had about 35 show up in groups. Each group had a few small children in costume accompanied by older siblings/friends.

I did get comments about my mask - my response was that you are wearing costumes and masks, so I can wear a mask. One smaller child said that they were wearing a wig. I said that I was wearing my bald top wig and everybody laughed.

It wasn't exactly what I expected to do, but I got some enjoyment from it.


Jadeanne

[CJ]

Hi all,

Beauty,

Thanks for the comments! I really did have fun. And, yes, it definitely broke a spell for me--I'd gone six months without dressing fully, like that. It was a blast. Still, it's a hell of a lot of work. Too much for me, maybe. I'm starting to think that, perhaps, I'm satisfied with being an "occasional" gal.

You know, still, I didn't want it to end; when I left the restaurant, I almost turned left instead of going home, to go to the nearby outdoor shopping plaza and engage in a bit of window shopping. But I chickened out; I am so not used to being out in the daytime like this. It's freaky. Still, given the mostly favourable (or, at least, indifferent) reactions from most people, I might consider doing so in the future (going to the plaza, I mean). I might do it at dusk on a Thursday or Friday, when the stores are open later. I know quite a few of the merchants on the plaza and, as far as I can tell, pretty much all of them would be okay with my showing up as Christina in their stores (except, maybe, for the bunch of guy's guys down at the DVD store).

In the aftermath, I'm finding that the people I saw on Sunday morning treat me differently now, for some reason. It's strange. They're more, I don't know, respectful, in a way. It's bizarre. I went to the restaurant for lunch yesterday afternoon and everybody was very solicitous toward, and interested in, me in a way they never were before. Plus, nobody seemed to be freaked out by my now very thin eyebrows (Love [SO] would have a fit if she saw me! ). The boss was disappointed I didn't do a repeat performance, yesterday. I told him, "Halloween is over, man." He knows I'm a CD, though, so he and the other staff members are hoping they'll see Christina again. Maybe.

You know, I've already gotten comments from GG's that I was too over-the-top (and that my boobs were too big and my skirt too short). You know, I agree. And I knew this going out the door but I figured, what the heck? it's Halloween... I'll let a little fantasy dimension slip in. I hope you all know I wouldn't dress like this if I were truly "out and about." Maybe more like the brunette Christina (with smaller, more realistic boobs). Anyway, that's in the future.

Jadeanne,

Sorry to hear your plans didn't turn out as expected. Maybe next year. You know, that's one thing I made absolutely, positively sure of, that my camera battery was fully charged. The next step for me is to teach some of the people at the restaurant (both staff and customers) how to take a picture; I was amazed to see they had so much trouble with the little screen at the back, to get me centred (you have no idea how many pix of legs and arms and half-faces and table corners I've had to delete! ). Oh well. Technology.

Anybody else out there have a fun Halloween? Jessie? How did your costume turn out? Did you have your mom's help? Anybody else? Let's hear it, folks!

Love,
CJ

[CJ]

Hi all,

A postscript to Halloween:

Last night, I went to the head office to print out my Halloween photos. I went there because my own printer doesn't do photos. There wasn't supposed to be anyone there. And, at first, there wasn't. So there I am, all my photo stuff laid out on the desk, the photos slowly--excruciatingly slowly--printing out. Then, I hear the door unlock downstairs. My heart leapt up in my throat; one of those classic "crossdresser-caught-in-the-act" moments. I left everything running on the computer, but I rushed downstairs to investigate. Well, we met halfway down/up the stairs and gave each other a scare. To my immense relief, it was one of my own team colleagues, a woman who definitely knows and is fascinated by my feminine tendencies. So she came up to chat for a while, even though she had work to do. We looked at the pix together and she offered her opinion on many of them. This led to her suggesting (and she'd done this before) that I make an effort to keep my face free of hair at all times and even to consider electrolysis on my eyebrows. Her argument? That way, it would never be too obvious to anyone else when I've had a "crossdressing fit." She has a point. That point was reinforced this morning when I chatted with a forum member who thinks that, based on my gallery "boy mode" shot, a mustache and beard don't "do" anything for me. Well, I don't know about the electrolysis, but I'm certainly debating the idea of going clean-shaven as a matter of routine. It's just that the "complex" I grew up with about having a wide nose and fat lips tends to resurface when my face is naked. Still, I'm not preoccupied about it enough to not consider the possibility of going beardless. We'll see.

Love,
CJ

[DonnaT]

Then, I hear the door unlock downstairs. My heart leapt up in my throat; one of those classic "crossdresser-caught-in-the-act" moments.

Had one of those moments at the Office a few years ago. I'd usually get here a few hours before anyone else. One of my secretaries came in early and caught me dressed. stopping.

Luckily she was cool with, and being from China she said is wasn't out of the ordinary there.

[Jadeanne]

Hi all,

This is a really interesting thread.

CJ,

As for your woman in red being a bit over the top, isn't Halloween about dressing to fulfill your vision?


I checked my 3 sets of camera batteries (each 4 AA NIMH rechargables) and the fault was with the charger. I bought the charger from Radio Shack a few years ago and I think the electronic timer may have started shutting off too soon. I have another, non timer charger that takes 16 hours to fully charge a set, and all 3 operated the camera fine after the low tech recharging.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to dress almost anytime, so I may try for a photo session soon - my visiting sister in law will be here just a couple of more days. I don't really do makeup, so will probably wear one of my feather masks so I won't crack the camera lens .

Jadeanne