Wednesday night dinner at Swagat Indian in Beaverton.

It is Wednesday and that means dinner with my friends. We are having dinner at Swagat Indian in Beaverton. This is the first time going here although we have gone to the Swagat downtown Portland many times. We picked this for two reasons, first we were looking for a place on the West side this week, we had thought about Giovannie’s in Beaverton which I love but they will no longer do separate checks which makes it hard when you have a group that could be 10 to 15. This seems to be a lot more common now which I think is bad as you lose customers this way. it’s the reason we didn’t do the Swagat downtown this week as they will only do 1 check for groups of 6 or more which is sad as we have been going there for many years. We used to go to Screen Door in the pearl district and also Irving street tapas but they also stopped doing separate checks and we haven’t gone back in over a year. Jennifer called Swagat Indian in Beaverton and asked and they said they would do separate checks for us so we will go to a new place tonight.

I got home from work a little after 5 and started getting ready. Tonight I wanted a Cherry red lipstick and a smokey eye look and I chose my long green summer dress. I was all ready by 6pm and on my way as when I got home my GPS said it would take 51 minutes to get there. Well traffic must have cleared up as I only had a little slowing going through the tunnel and arrived at Swagat Indian a few minutes after 6:30 so I was way early. Now this place is actually in an old house, they do have a small parking lot behind it with about 8 spots but if you drive back and they are all full you really cant turn around easily so yes I had to back out down the driveway. Luckily was I got to the street a car pulled out right in front of the door which is where I parked. I saw Patty walk in and as I was getting out of my car Jennifer was parking just down from me so we walked in together. Now this is actually a small place being in a house, as you come in there is a little bar you can get a drink at but no place to sit. In the front room there are 5 tables that seat 4 and in the back room where we were there were 12 to 14 tables and yes 4 were pulled together for us to sit at. They did it in a square which was nice as it made it so we could all kind of talk with each other. There were 8 of us tonight with 2 on each side as you can see from the picture Jennifer took. It is me, Patty, Jenifer C, Jane, Biana, Alanna, Mary Ann and Jenifer T who took the picture.

Our waiter came and took our order and I got my usual, Chicken Makani which I like as it is not spicy. Yes Indian food would not be my first choice but as I always say it really is not about the food or where we go it is about being out with my friend. By the way our waiter was wonderful, and this really is a nice place. Small but very cozy and personable, if you are in the Beaverton I would check it out. Now tonight we had Jane who is our newest member, this was actually her first time out with our group. Her and her wife moved out to Oregon a few years back from the East coast and she was active in a group back there but has been looking for a group out here and came across our group. So of course we all introduced our selves and then let her tell us a little about herself which is always fun as I love meeting new people. Our group has been growing lately as Jennifer C joined last fall, and Bianca joined about a month ago so really tonight we have 3 of our newer members at the dinner. Jane seems really nice and I think she will be a good fit in our group although she does live about 1 ½ hours south of Portland so we may not see her as often.

Our food came and it was as good as the one downtown. We had a wonderful dinner and great conversation and as I said by the way they set up the tables we really could talk with everyone which in a group of 8 is nice. As always the night went by way to fast. It was about 9pm when we got our checks and I noticed our waiter did not put a tip on the checks which usually happens with bigger groups but I like this as yes I gave him a nice tip as he really did treat us well and we had great service of course they were not real busy but also the fact they were willing to give us separate checks. It was about 9:15 when we wall walked out together and left. It took about 30 minutes to get home and then it was time to wash away my makeup and go back to my male self-till the weekend. It was a nice evening though, thanks Jennifer for setting this up.

Now I am looking forward to the weekend which is Mother Day weekend and the weather for the next few days all the way through the weekend are in the 80’s to low 90’s and sunny. I would also like to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother Day. Yes I do plan to go to the Cemetery on either this weekend, it is hard to believe that it has been almost 3 years sense my mom passed away and 5 ½ years for my dad, yes I will also go on Father’s Day weekend.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing this part of my life with me.

Wednesday night dinner at Who Song & Larry’s in Vancouver

It is Wednesday May 1^st, happy May Day, and we are having dinner tonight at Who Song & Larry’s in Vancouver. I picked this place as I like it and we haven’t been here for a while but also being May 1^st I was worried about traffic in Portland as Portland has a history of May Day protests that shut down street, and widespread vandalism and I just didn’t want to be any where near Portland. Now it turns out this year it wasn’t ad, actually probably the quietest in many years. The other good thing was traffic was light today as I think a lot of people took off work just in case. I got off late today but was still home about 5PM.

I started getting ready and I took my time as it will take me less than 15 minutes to get to Who Song & Larry’s. I used a cherry red lipstick with a gloss tonight. I was ready a little after 6 and took my usual group of pictures. Yes I take a lot of pictures and delete out the ones I don’t like, this is the great thing about cell phones and digital pictures. Yes I am old enough to remember having to use film you bought and then paying to develop them and only then you could tell if the pictures were good. It was 6:20 when I left as I just figured I would be early. I got to Who Song & Larry’s at 6:35 and there were lots of parking spots so I didn’t think they were very busy. As I got out of my car I saw Barb getting out of hers so we walked in together. She comes from Portland so she left early because she was worried about traffic and didn’t have any problem. We got inside and I checked in with the lady at the front desk and she said they were cleaning up our table and it would be about 5 minutes. We have 9 of us tonight and by the time we were seated 7 of us were here.

We were seated and by 7 we were all here, tonight we had Patty, Jennifer, Alanna, Kris, Jamie, me, Barb, Gina, & Poppy. Our waitress came and took our drink order and yes I ordered my bean dip as they put cheese in it and it is really good. yes I know I tend to fill up on chips and bean dip and wind-up overeating but they really do have great food here. We ordered our food and I of course got the chicken & sour cream enchilada. We all sat and talked as we waited for our food, of course with a big group it is hard to talk with everyone. We did talk a little about our Christmas dinner we are planning, yes if you want a Saturday night in December for a group you really need to start early. We are going to do Mothers Bistro this year and they are going to break us up into tables of 4 to 6 but all close together, which will be nice as we will really be able to talk with each other and also go visit the next table. We are trying to pick which Saturday as some girls can’t make all of them but I am good with whichever one they pick. Jennifer did get our waitress to take a group picture and also individual pictures.

Our food came and as always it was really good, I really do think Who Song & Larry’s has the best Mexican food but then I also have a special spot in my heart for this place. This is the one place we have gone to the longest, there were other places before them but they have all closed. I think the first time we came here was in December of 2009. We all talked as we ate and had a really nice dinner and conversation; these dinners really are more about being out with friends then the food we eat. I really think being out and seen by people is really important as it gives people a chance to interact or observe us personally and not just make a judgement based on what they see online. After dinner we sat and talked a little bit before we paid our bills. By the way our waitress was awesome tonight so yes I gave her a nice tip. It is funny as I am a better tipper as Susan, again I think it help us look good and I figure a little extra for that is well worth it and I know some of the other girls feel the same.

It was about 9pm when we all got up and walked out together, it is always sad to see the night come to an end but I know I will see them again next week at dinner.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing this part of my life with me.

Wednesday night dinner at Outback Steak house at Vancouver mall.

It is Wednesday and tonight we are doing our dinner at the Outback Steak House at Vancouver mall. I am looking forward to it as I missed last week being in Palm Springs with Julie which was so much fun. I did make reservations Tuesday night as we have a big group again, 10 of us, it really is more to let them know they have a big group coming in. it does amaze me though to think about it as I remember back in the early days of the group, 2008 to 2010 when Cassandra and I would talk and we thought it would be so great if we could get 6 to 10 girls out on a Saturday night to Embers, a gay club that did drag shows so very transgender friendly. Now years later we can get 6 to 15 girls out on a Wednesday night to just a random restaurant, we have come a long way from those humble beginnings.

I got home a little after 5pm and started getting ready which is a lot of fun, I really do enjoy my time doing my makeup and transforming myself into Susan. Now the weather today is cool, mid 50’s and chance of rain and as we are getting close to summer I decided to wear mt red seater dress as I may not get a chance till next fall now and it is probably my favorite dress. Yes I love the color red, I also did red lipstick and a smokey eye look. I was already a little after 6 so I had a little time as it only takes about 10 minutes to get there. I arrived and parked about 6:35 and walked towards the Outback Steak House, Jan was standing outside and Gina was walking towards the door also so we all met in front. The 3 of us stood there for about 5 minutes or so just talking, again 10 years ago I would have never stood in front of a restaurant in the Vancouver Mall parking lot in plan view of everyone going by but now it is no big deal. We went in about 6:45 and several of the girls were waiting inside. I checked in and the lady said our table was ready and we were shown back, the lady seating us thanked us for our patience before we were seated which was nice but unexpected as we were 15 minutes early. I wonder if she remembered the last time we were here as when we came back in December the big group before us took their time and we had to wait about 45 minutes but that was not Outback Steak House fault. We were actually seated at the same table this time.

By 7pm we were all here, tonight we had Poppy, Trinity, me, Gina, Jan, Lynn, Patty, Jamie, Alanna, & Claire. I was able to sit at the middle of the table so I was kind of able to talk with everyone. The problem with big groups is if you are at the end of a table you can’t talk with everyone. The big groups are good as it is wonderful as I said earlier that we can get so many girls out but really for conversations a group of 6 or less is the prefect size. Our Christmas dinner this year we are looking into that, having tables of 4 to 6 all seated near each other so we can also talk between tables and move around. Yes we are already planning our Christmas dinner as it is hard to get a reservation for a big group that time of year especially on a Saturday evening. The last two years we had 24+ people which again is amazing and this year we are hoping for 30. Opps got a little sidetracked.

Our waitress came and took our drink order as we looked at the menu, of course as usual I knew what I was having when I picked this place, they have the best ribeye steak here. This is a little higher priced place but I have a gift card I bought. Now I do talk a little about my finances a little and one thing I do is I have a credit card that each quarter gives me 5% back on certain things and last quarter it was at Grocery stores like Fred Meyers so I bought a bunch of gift cards, Outback, Starbucks (which I am good for the rest of the year), McDonalds and several others. Yes I am paying upfront but it really does ad up plus a bonus I didn’t think about is the fuel rewards I get. I wound up with 4/$1 off and 2/50 cents off my gas purchases which also ads up as I usually get 10 gallons when I fill up, sorry sidetracked again. We all ordered our food and sat and talked. I tried to be involved in the conversations on both ends of the table but wound up more focused on the one to my right. Trinity has only come out a couple times with the group in the last couple years so it was nice to talk with her more. Her work schedule make it hard for her to make Wednesday night dinner but she has a bunch of vacation time she hast to use so she is also hoping to make the dinner in two weeks.

Our food came and as always it was awesome. we had a wonderful dinner and great conversation and as I said our waitress was awesome. These dinners are just such a wonderful social event and really more about being out with my friends with the added benefit of a nice meal. To get together like this is not only good for our group and members but also for the people around us as they can see we are just out having a nice dinner like they are and not causing a scene or problems. I think this does wonders for our group and the transgender community as a whole. I have said it many times before but for most people all they see or know about transgender people is what they see on the news or social media and that is not good especially social media as that is more about getting views and followers and because of that people tend to go to extremes which doesn’t make us look good on either side. When we are out this may be the only time someone see us (transgender) in real life and the impression we leave on them may form their whole view of transgender people. Hopefully what they see is just a group of friends having a nice dinner and talking with each other the same way they are and realize we really are no different. My personal opinion is always look at the good side of things. If I have a good experience I will leave a good review and a nice tip. If my experience is bad yes my tip will be lower and I won’t leave a review, yes I will never give a bad review as I disagree with trashing or talking bad about a business or someone else online, never post something you would not say to their face, if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything.

We had a wonderful evening and as always it went by way to fast, soon it was 9pm and we all paid our bills. We all walked out together and the staff thanked us for coming in and told us to come back, which is always nice. It was just a really enjoyable evening. Now I am looking forward to the weekend and a little more Susan time.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing this part of my life with me.

Sunday of Palm Springs vacation and we are having dinner at Eight4nine restaurant tonight

It is Sunday and we got up and Trixie made a fantastic breakfast for us. It was a relaxing morning as Julie has an appointment in the early afternoon so it was just a day around the house. Yes we watched the final round of the Masters. It was a nice day about 70 but a little windy. The rest of the week it will be in the mid 80’s to low 90’s and no wind. The plan was for us all to go out to diner at Eight4Nine tonight, yes a girls night out. Julie and I did go here last year when I visited her and their food is really good. It was a little after 4pm when we all started getting ready. I took my time as the plan was to leave at 6pm to go to dinner. I was planning on wearing my long dark green summer dress and new how I wanted to do my makeup. I used my vintage rose eye shadow palette from Morphe which is my favorite eye shadow look and it really was my second choice when I bought it but it gives my eyes a beautiful look. My lipstick was Maybelline superstay lip ink in the color Ruler which is a beautiful brick red color. This is my favorite lipstick brand as it stays on really well, I probably 20 different shades of this lipstick. I was al ready by 5:30pm and watched TV till we were all ready.

It was just before 6 when the 3 of us walked out to the car and were on our way. the drive was nice and only took 15 minutes or less to get there. Julie parked about a block down on the street and the 3 of us walked to Eight4Nine and went in, it is really a nice looking place inside lots of white with some pink which is nice as I like he pink color, next to red it is my second favorite color. We went in and got a table by the window just 3 ladies out for dinner. our waitress came over and took our drink order and she was really nice but I think she was new as she had cheat sheets for the different drinks. We looked at the menu and as I had a big breakfast and a small lunch I decided to have their grilled chicken sandwich. Ur waitress came back and took our order and we sat and talked. Trixie has meeting she hast to go back to Portland for so she will leave tomorrow morning and it will be just Julie and I the rest of the week so it was really nice to spend some time with Trixie. The restaurant wasn’t as busy as normal, the tables inside were full but no one sitting outside. I guess upper 60’s here is still cold where back home in Portland people are outside in shorts and tee shirts. I joke about it but later in he week when it get to the low 90’s I will be the one thinking it is too hot and everyone here will be saying this is just right.

Our food came and it was really good. the grilled chicken sandwich was awesome although a little messy as it had a really good sauce on it. Yes as Susan I am not a fan of messy foods as I worry I will mess up my makeup and as Susan wiping my face is not possible, it is little pats so I don’t wipe away my makeup. but even worse was getting the sauce under my nails, yes there is one downside to having beautiful long nails. I just had to eat a little slower and take smaller bites. We had a wonderful dinner and so much fun sitting there and talking. Julie did order a desert for the 3 of us to share which was really good and splitting it 3 ways was the right choice. It really was a wonderful night out. It was after 8:30 when we left and drove back to Julie’s house through Palm Springs and there were people out walking everywhere.

It was a nice evening out and a wonderful dinner with friends, unfortunately we forgot to get a picture so will have to remember that tomorrow. Now I am looking forward to tomorrow and another relaxing day here.

Thanks for reading mt blog and sharing this part of my life with me.

Wednesday night dinner at Mazatlán restaurant in Portland

It is Wednesday and tonight our group is having dinner at Mazatlán bar & Grill in Portland. We have gone her several times and always been treated well and awesome food. My day started off early as I did go to the gym for a little over an hour, being on vacation next week my goal was to hit the gym Monday, Wednesday and Friday to make up for missing next week plus I like going to the gym with my nails and still no comments in my male mode and only the waitress at Olive Garden as Susan. I think people don’t know what to say to a man with pretty red nails. Now this week I did need to get some yard work done and so far the weather has been rainy bit today is clear sunny skies and a high near 70 so that was my goal for the early part of the day plus I wanted to wait till later in the day to get ready for dinner. It took longer as the grass was still wet but most importantly I didn’t want to break or damage a nail. Yes as much as I love long pretty nails I will admit doing physical work is harder if you care about your nails, if you don’t care about damaging them they are not in issues. I got pretty much everything I wanted done in my yard today although it was a little after 3pm when I was done and came in to shower and transform myself into Susan.

I had a couple dresses I was thinking about wearing tonight but I also realized I would be ready a little early and wanted to go to Starbucks so I went with a more casual dress. Again this is ne of the differences between genders. A man’s dress clothes, although limited are also considered work clothes. If you see a man out in a suit and tie even in a casual setting like Starbuck’s or shopping no one thinks anything of it as it could just be what he wears to work. For woman their dressy clothes are not really work clothes but more going out clothes so if you have on a really cute dress and heels in a casual setting you do stand out more. I took my time getting ready and used my purple eyeshadow palette tonight along with a pinkish red lipstick. I finished my makeup and then texted Sherrie that I would pick her up at her Air bnb at 6:15 and then finished dressing. I was all ready by 4:30pm. I decided to go to my Sunday Starbucks as I will miss this weekend as I will be in Palm Springs visiting Julie which I am really looking forward to.

I got to Starbucks and went in and they were not that busy and in reality I could have worn a more fancy dress as it really is just the walking in and out where you stand out as once you are sitting it is not as noticeable unless you have a really revealing, low cut sexy dress which I don’t have as I can’t wear anyway. I got my drink and did some work on my computer, I am doing my yearly review of my stocks as this is the time of year they do annual meetings and I am getting all the annual reports in the mail, yes managing my finances is not something I do as Susan. I stayed here till 6pm before leaving to pick Sherri up at 6:15.

I picked Sherri up and we had plenty of time as traffic was lite tonight. We talked and caught up as we drove to Mazatlán bar & Grill. We arrived and parked just after 6:30 so we had time and sat in the car talking for 15 minutes before we went in. I told the man at the desk we were under Jennifer’s reservation and he showed us to the table, we were the first ones here. We have a big group again this week, 11 of us. Girls started showing up and by 7pm everyone was here including 2 extra’s, one girl who just showed up and one who brought her girlfriend who’s name I can’t remember so we ended up with a total of 13 which wasn’t an issue as Mazatlán was not busy. Tonight we had Me, Sherri, Jennifer, Claire, Trish, Kayla, Jenny and her girlfriend, Kris, Patty, Bianca, Poppy, and Kitty. Our waiter took our drink orders and we all sat and talked. Now the bad thing with a big group is you really can only talk with the girls next to you unless you want to talk past someone so tonight most of my conversation was with Claire, Jennifer, Sherri, Kris, and Kayla.

We did talk a little about our Christmas dinner this year as it really is time to start arranging if you want a Saturday evening. There was a thought about the Chart house which would be awesome but one of the girls checked and they require that we guarantee we spend $5,000 which with our group would be hard as we would need at least 60 girls to commit to the dinner to make that amount work and we just can’t get that many. We did talk about a couple other options and don’t get me wrong where we have had it the last two year’s was great and they treated us awesome but it was one long table in a narrow room so we really couldn’t socialize. One of the thoughts we had was instead of getting a room maybe talking to a restaurant and seeing if we could reserve 5 / 6-person tables near each other. This would be awesome as 6 people at a table is perfect for conversation and if the tables were close we could go talk to the other tables.

We ordered our food, I ordered their top sirloin with beans, rice and guacamole which sounded good, a few other girls ordered the same thing. It really was more then I needed as always I filled up and chips and bean dip. Our food came and it was really good. We had a wonderful dinner and great conversation as always. A couple of the girls did ask me if I was excited about going to Palm Springs and I told them I was, I am still planning on leaving at 7pm and driving all night as my male self. I am planning on some mascara and light eye shadow though and really thinking about a neutral lipstick. I have several that I have been testing in the mornings to see how noticeable they would be as my lips would be more noticeable then the eye makeup.

After dinner we sat and talked and a couple of the girls got up and moved to talk to people, Jennifer also took pictures of girls in groups of 2 or 3 and she did get one from the end of the table. Our waiter brought our bills and he split them out individually and there were two totals on the bill, cash amount and credit amount which was only .85 more. Now I am not criticizing this as I have said many times when we go out in a big group and places will only do 1 check this is what I was talking about. This small amount was about 3% of my bill and probably covers the credit card fee, maybe. We were all more then happy to pay this to be able to get individual checks and those who paid cash didn’t pay it. Many of us have said before we would have no problem with an extra $1 to $2 for this. I give Mazatlán bar & Grill 5 stars for doing this for us, yes would be nice to get this service for free but the important part is we get this service. The other thing I noticed is even with a group of 13 our waiter did not put a tip on it he left t up to us and I am sure he came out better this was as he really was good and I gave him a little over 30% yes Susan does tip better than my male self.

After dinner we did get up and stand around and talk a little so we could at least say hi and have a brief conversation with everyone. Jennifer is going to coordinate next Wednesday dinner again, Thanks for this week Jennifer, she is also going to host the zoom call Monday while I am on vacation. It was a little after 9pm when we all walked out and our waiter thanked us for coming in as we left which is always nice.

Sherri and I talked more as we drove back to where she was staying, which is always nice. I dropped Sherri off and it is always sad to see the night end. It was just before 10pm when I got home for the night. Now I am looking forward to tomorrow and especially Saturday when I will be in Palm Springs. Tomorrow I don’t have any big plans bit part of the day will be as Susan. Friday will be a male day as I get ready for my trip and hopefully take a nap in the afternoon to get ready for my drive.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing this part of my life with me.

Tuesday and meeting Jayne for lunch at Olive Garden in Clackamas

It is Tuesday of my two week vacation and I am going to meet Jayne for lunch at the Olive Garden in Clackamas at noon. This means another long day as Susan. I took care of a few things in the morning and started getting ready just before 10am. My look for today was my short salmon colored summer dress, black tights that come down to my ankles and of course my sandals to show my pretty toenails off as I think this is a cute casual daytime look. I was all ready by 11 loaded the bags of clothes for Jayne to look though in my car and on my way. I got to Olive Garden about 11:40 so a little early but not enough time to do anything so I parked and just waited. After lunch I do want to do some shopping as I am really thinking of getting a new swimsuit. I have a one piece swim suit I bought for my first trip to Diva Las Vegas back in 2010 which is great and I like an perfect if I am at a pool with a lot of people, here is a picture me at the pool in 2010, and now I did not go swimming. Julie has a pool at her house though which is private and I am thinking a bikini would be fun and cute, not something I would wear in public through. I checked online and Old Navy has a huge selection but the ones I liked were not available at store and only for delivery and there is not time between now and Friday so that is what I will be shopping for today to see what the stores have in stock.

Jayne showed up just before noon so I went in and met her, she was in her male mode as she is just starting out and doesn’t have makeup or wigs yet and I am hoping she can find some nice clothes in the bags I am going to give her. this is only the second time we have met so I am looking forward to getting to know her better. We were seated in a booth and started talking which is always nice, my male self is not a big talker but my female side loves to talk. our waitress came to take our drink order and the first thing she did was compliment me on my nails, she loved them and asked where I got them done. We talked briefly about nails as she had short acrylic nails but she wasn’t happy with how they were done and the salon she went to had to remove a nail for lifting and they used a paper clip to slide under and pull it off. I told her I go to Dream Nails in Vancouver and had been going there for 10 years and loved them, told her all the women there were awesome but Anna and Cathy have been there sense I started going there in 2014. She lives out by Troutdale but gets to Vancouver occasionally and said she would give them a try.

Jayne and I ordered lunch and then sat and talked. I did get to know her better and yes she really likes to wear feminine clothes and thinks it is a shame men can’t without getting looks. I think she would be happy just with the clothes and not presenting as a women but understands our group is about presenting as female in a respectful way. We are all a little different in this part of our lives, all the girls I know started their journey with clothes as for me it was makeup and I will admit if someone told me I had to choose between the clothes and makeup I would take the makeup. for me it really is about the makeup and everything else helps complete the look and most girls it is the clothes and the makeup completes their look. I did talk about the group and our group makeup and the expectations when we are out and no I am not talking being passible as we are not especially in a group. What we want is to dress respectfully to women and try and present how they would look at least to the best of our ability. Our goal is when people see us they think we are doing our best to be women and not making fun of women. We do not want a look that is half male and hale female when we are out. I am not saying that is wrong as that is a valid part of the transgender community but it is not what our group is about. We want to present fully when we are out to the best of our ability. Our food came and we had a nice lunch and afterwards we did sit and talk a little. It was almost 2pm when we paid the bill, Jayne paid hers first and actually paid the whole bill which wasn’t necessary but she wanted to so I thanked her. We left and went out to our cars and transferred all the bags of clothes to her car and I told her to take her time going through and when she was done post back to the group she had bags to pass on to the next person.

We left and I went over to Old Navy to look for a bikini and they had a very limited amount and none that I thought were cute and they didn’t have sets so you had to match bottoms and tops. I left and went next door to Kohls and they had even less of a selection. I guess this time of year swimsuits in the pacific northwest is not a hi demand item. I drove across to Clackamas town center and walked around, Victoria’s secret is just remodeling and they do have a small temporary location on the upper level till they finish in a few months. I checked out Macy’s and they had a little bigger selection of swimsuits but mostly 1 piece. I walked down to JC Pennies and they seemed to have the biggest selection but again mostly 1 piece but they did have a rack of bikinis. I did find one that was close to what I was looking for and the best part is it was pink so I went and tried it on and it fit so yes I bought it and will be taking it to Palm Springs. Here is a picture of it laid out including my pretty toenails which match my fingernails, and no I will not be posting any pictures of me wearing it as that could be scary. I did stop by the MAC store to see Tracy but she was off today so I told the lady working to tell her Susan stopped by. It was 3:45 when I left so I would have traffic going home.

I decided to stop at Toyota and get my car washed for my trip, I have free car washes there. This is so close to the Starbucks in orchards I decided to go there and write my blog from Monday and post it, plus I just wasn’t ready to go home yet. I got there a little after 4:30 and wrote and posted my blog and took care of a few other things. I stayed here till 6pm before going home and getting a light dinner and watching TV for the rest of the night.

Now I am looking forward to Wednesday and dinner with my friends at Mazatlán in Portland. I probably wont get dressed to later in the day s I do have a few things to take care of including going to the gym plus I want to look good with fresh makeup for dinner. It has been a good vacations so far and yes I am enjoying my nails.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing this part of my life with me.

Wednesday night dinner at Oswego grill in Beaverton

It is Wednesday and our group is having dinner at Oswego Grill in Beaverton and we have a big group tonight. Jennifer coordinated it for us and made reservations. But first I want to jump ahead to Thursday at work. One of the ladies at work who took her nails off a couple weeks ago came to show me her nails as she just got them done with a dark red and of course I told her I liked them; it is funny as I doubt she showed them to anyone else. The other funny thin is about a month ago one of my male co-workers noticed my nails and gave me a high five and said they looked great. Well today h said her had something to show me and was talking about how his fiancé came home from getting her nails done and was so happy with them anyways he went I got some of her polish and painted his toenails a mauve/pink color and he took off his shoes and socks to she them to me. I told them they looked great and told him he should have gone and gotten a pedicure with his fiancé. By the way his fiancé liked his toenails also. Maybe I have started something at work. Well back to tonight’s dinner.

I got home just after 5pm and started getting ready which was a lot of fun. I decided to wear my black and red dress as it is more a cold weather dress and we are in spring now. Of course how I do my makeup determines what I wear or if I have an outfit I want to wear then I do my makeup for that outfit, yes a lot more thought goes into getting ready as Susan. I was all ready by 6pm and took a few pictures before leaving. It is only 22 miles but my GPS was telling me it would take 50 minutes do to traffic so I would be cutting it a little close, it really was only 5 miles of that that was slow though and I arrived at 6:50, what did we do before GPS, last year when I left Palm Springs it told me what time I would get home and I only missed the time by about 10 minutes on a 16 hour trip, sorry got side tracked there. I parked and went in and told the man at the desk I was here for Jennifer’s group and he pointed me to the back room as they had opened it and put tables together for our group as we have 16 of us tonight. It still amazes me we can get 16 girls out on a Wednesday night and at a higher end restaurant. A few girls were there and I sat down and joined them, we all tried to get towards the center of the table so we could talk with as many girls as we could as that is hard with a big group. By 7pm we were all there. With the big group Jennifer got our waitress to take a picture from both ends of the table so the picture to the left we have from left to right, Barb, Alanna, Bianca, Vivian, Gina, Claire, Trish, Sarah, Jade, Poppy, Patty, Jennifer, me, Kris, Brenda, & Randy.by the way our waitress was awesome, she actually see happy to be waiting on us. We all ordered drinks and talked some. It was nice to talk with Bianca as she is new, Alanna met her at a NWGA event and invited her to the dinner and she is going to join our group. She is full time and came out a few years back. With a big group it is a little slower but that is okay.

Once we all got our drinks it was time to order and of course I ordered the prime rib dinner which is really good, several of us actually ordered that. Jennifer got up and went around the table taking pictures of 2 or 3 girls at a time as we had such a big group. Here is Kris and me. Our food came and as always it was really good, I would highly recommend coming here although it is a little more expensive but worth it. We had a wonderful dinner and great conversations but as always I couldn’t talk with everyone. The one drawback of a big group. It was almost 9pm when we were done and they brought us our bills. They separated it all out for us which is wonderful.so many places won’t do separate bills for a big group as there is a little extra cost and time involved but I don’t know why they just don’t and a small fee for that. Of course in some cases it may cost more. A while back we went to a place that would only do 1 check and we had 8 or us. Several girls were going to pay with cash but in the end I put the whole bill on my credit card and they all gave me cash for there dinners so they paid more in credit card fees that night, sorry got off track again. They did ad a 18% tip on the bill but that was okay as I am sure most f not all of us tip 20% or more and yes I gave our waitress an additional tip as she really was awesome. after wards I gave Bianca my e-mail address so she could contact me and I could send her the information to join our group. I also got to talk with Randy a little, I have only met her one time when she came to California Pizza. She asked for my e-mail address as she wants to reach out to me for more information on Diva Las Vegas as she is thinking of going this year. It was a fun night and always sad to see it come to an end.

I drove home and washed away Susan for the night. Now I am looking forward to Saturday and the start of my two-week vacation, I am hoping for some Susan time each day and of course having beautiful red nails for two weeks and especially going to visit Julie in Palm Springs. Right now I am planning on doing the 16-hour drive down as my male self as I will be traveling at night and by myself in the car although I am thinking maybe a little mascara and light eye shadow and maybe a neutral lipstick.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing this part of my life with me.

Wednesday night dinner with friends at the Old Spaghetti Factory on the Willamette River

It is Wednesday night and I get to have dinner with my friends at Old Spaghetti Factory on the Willamette River. I did call last night and make reservations for 10, which is a smaller group for here as this is one of the places we go where we usually get a bigger turnout as hey have good parking here plus a very friendly atmosphere. I got home a little after 5 and started getting ready. It is funny as on the drive home I decided what I would wear and how I would do my makeup as it was partially sunny out but by the time I started doing my makeup at home it was dark out do to the weather with the wind blowing and hail coming down so I changed my mind on my dress and that also meant how I did my makeup as they go together. I was ready by 5:45 and went to take my pictures before leaving. Now here is the funny part as I have the newer Samsung galaxy S21 phone but for selfies my old cheaper Samsung phone takes better pictures I think so I always use that one but forgot to charge it so I have fewer pictures tonight, out of 25 I took these were the only two I was willing to post. Of course I will have the group picture also.

Now Sherri is in town for dinner tonight and I am picking her up at her Air bnb in Vancouver so we can ride together which is always nice plus it really is right on my way. I picked her up at 6:15 and she looked great as always. It was nice to be able to sit and talk on the drive. Traffic was light so we got to Old Spaghetti Factory shortly after 6:30 so we sat and talked for a few minutes before we went in. As we walked in we met a couple of other girls so we all went in together. They were packed tonight so it was a good thing I had made reservations. I checked in and the lady said they would seat us once our group got here which I always thought was strange s if you have the table ready why wait. Well we waited for others to show up and by 7pm we were all here, I checked with the lady at the counter and she said they were working on getting our table ready seems they were a little short staffed as they had not figured they would be this busy tonight which is understandable. It was about 7:10 when they called us to seat, us and thanked us for our patience. Tonight we had 9 of us, Gina, Alanna, Patty, Sherri, Poppy, Me, Vivian, Jennifer, & Jamie. Service was a little slow but the staff was running around as I said they were really busy. Our waiter took our drink orders and we all sat and talked. Now being at the middle of the table I was kind of able to talk with everyone. It was nice to talk with Vivian again, she has been in our group for a while but this was her first time out with the group. She has made a zoom call before and of course her and I went to Lunch on my last vacation to meet. It was also great to see and talk with Patty as she hadn’t been out much. She seems to go in streaks where we will see her pretty regular and then it will be many months, even she cant explain it but what is funny is her daughter and wife are the ones encouraging her to get out more which is awesome. Alanna did take individual pictures of everyone at the table which is awesome of her.

We ordered dinner and yes I got my usual, now I look at it this way, I really like their chicken parmesan and yes I could try something different as there are other things I like here but this is my favorite dinner item here so why pass it up. we all sat and talked for a while as we waited for our dinner, really there were two conversations going on, ne at the left end of the table and one on the right end and I kind of followed both. It is one of those good bad things as it is wonderful to see so many girls out but it is hard to include everyone in just one conversation, for that you really need 6 or less. I have a 2-week vacation coming up in 1 ½ weeks and the first week will be around town so hopefully I can meet up with some of the girls in a small group and the second week I will be visiting Julie in Palm Springs which I am really looking forward to.

Our food came and as always it was really good, they do have good food here. We had a wonderful dinner and great conversation and as always it really is about being out with friends and not where we go. The friendships I have made in this group are incredible and are some of my closest friends and some are more like family. 20 years ago I was still trying to leave my house and never could have imagined having such wonderful people in my life. It has been a wonderful journey. After dinner we sat and talked for a while after all these dinners really are about the social aspect. It was a little after 9pm when we paid our bill and called it a night. We all walked out together and went to our cars. Sherri and I drove back to where she was staying and talked all the way, it really is nice to have someone ride with you. I dropped her off and she is hoping to be back for dinner in two weeks which would be wonderful as I am on vacation that week and the following week I will be in Palm Springs so someone else will have to plan that dinner and I will have to get someone to host the zoom call that week also. I got home and got ready for bed.

Now I am looking forward to the weekend and some more Susan time.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing this part of my life with me.

Dinner with friends at Mother’s Bistro on Wednesday night March 20th

It is Wednesday and that means diner with my friends and tonight we are going to Mother’s Bistro in Portland. Our group has been coming here sense at least 2017 when they were at their old location on Stark Street which was small, only about 90 seats and very intimate. Mother’s Bistro have grown and now their new location can seat 200 people and are on the bottom floor of the Embassy Suites. Now I have been going back through my blogs and adding categories for the restaurant we go to regularly and the oldest blog I could find was 2017 7 years ago and we had just 5 of us that night but what is interesting is the picture we took that night our waitress was in it with us and she is now one of the managers of Mother’s Bistro and always glad to see us. I called Tuesday night and made reservations as like a few of the places we go we tend to get bigger turnouts here and tonight we did have 9 that signed up. I got home from work my normal time and started getting ready. I took my time as I really do enjoy the experience of transforming myself to my female side. Tonight was a smokey eye look and a more pinkish red lipstick. Of course before I left I had to take some pictures. People always comment that I always look so good in my pictures which I love and I will tell you the secrets indirect natural light and take lots of pictures as I only post the good ones. I usually take 20 to 30 pictures in different rooms of my house and angles in the hopes I like some. Tonight I took 23 pictures and these were the only ones I was willing to post.

I got downtown at 6:45pm and found a parking spot right around the corner. I di pay for parking till 7pm as it was cheep insurance against a ticket. By the way Portland has what they call parking kitty you can put on your phone. There is a .40 transaction fee, but you can pay with your phone from your car, it stores your license plate (or multiple plates) and you just put the number in on the side of the pay station instead of standing in the cold, dark or rain trying to do it at the pay station with a credit card, so worth the .40 transaction fee. I walked around the corner and went in and of course our favorite waiter Jacob was there and came over to me and gave me a hug, really all the wait staff here is awesome. Jennifer was here asl and she came over and also got a hug. The manager Samantha (our first waitress here from 2017) also came over and told us she was glad to see us and took us to our table. I did let them know we would only have 8 tonight as we did have one girl who had to cancel. We d go to a lot of places and always get great service but a few of the employees here are more like friends we come to see and they treat us more like family. If you are in Portland and looking for a nice lace for dinner try Mother’s Bistro.

We sat and talked and waited for the rest of our group to arrive and by 7pm everyone was here. We had 8 in all from left to right is Jennifer C, Me, Kris, Alanna, Claire, Jennifer T, Jenny, & Poppy. We ordered our drinks and talked, of course being a bigger group it is always hard to talk with everyone especially if you are at the end of the table. Jacob came and took our orders and yes when he got to me he already knew what I would order. I really am not venturous in what I eat, I have the things I like and tend to stay with them. kind of like my nails, I love red so even with all the beautiful colors available when I do get to have a bright color for a week or two I always go with a red. We all talked till our food came and had a nice time.

Our dinner came and as always it was really good as always, as I have said Mother’s Bistro has great food and atmosphere here. We all had a wonderful dinner and wonderful conversation. These Wednesday nights really are more about being out with friends and socializing then where we go bit yes some of the places we go are awesome. We did talk about some of the places we used to go that have closed down now and there are a lot, at last 10 but one we all seemed to miss was Old Whisky Kitchen. This was another places that one of the waitresses seemed always glad to see us, we accidently gave her a huge tip one night which may be why but they also had awesome food and for a few of the girls it was their first time out, not only with the group but just going out as their female side. I really do have wonderful memories over the years of places I have gone and people I have met when I have been out as Susan. I try to encourage other girls to do a blog even if they keep it private and just put what they did and wore a picture or two s it is awesome to look back on you journey. I know a couple of girls do this. I have had this blog since 2007 but really didn’t get going on it till 2008 when I met the group. Before that I did have a Yahoo360 blog before they shut done for several years but that really was mostly about dressing at home, late night drives. It really wasn’t till 2008 when I joined the group that I started looking at this side of me a not only part of who I was but a valuable part of who I am. I really can’t say enough about this group and the people I have met in it as they really did change my life for the better.

After dinner Jacob cleared our table before he took a few pictures of us, we have been getting a group picture at all our Wednesday night dinner sense late 2022 and posting in on group for others to see in hopes it will encourage them to come out with us but also help put a name to our face. Our group really is more about family and friendship no matter where you are on the transgendered spectrum or you race, religion or political beliefs. After dinner we sat and talked and a coupe of the girls were thinking of dessert. Now I have been trying hard to cut sugar out but they do have a really good Key Lime pie here so I didn’t look at the dessert menu. I told Jacob I would have the key Lime pie and they were out tonight so I was good till one of the girls handed me the dessert menu and they do have cheesecake so I ordered that. I did get Claire and Jennifer C, to take a little so I didn’t eat the whole thing myself.

We sat and talked till a little after 9pm before paying our bills and calling it a night and yes both Jacob and Samantha said goodbye to us and told us to come back soon. I did give Claire a ride home as her wife dropped her off and she live pretty much right on my way plus I had the added benefit of talking to her a little longer. It really was a wonderful night and now I am looking forward to the weekend and a little more Susan time. I am planning on going to the Escape again Saturday night as Jennifer’s wife is out of town through the weekend so I am hoping she will join me; her wife knows about Jennifer and is very supportive and even comes out with the group on occasion. I also have another vacation coming up in a little over two weeks, it is a two-week vacation and I will spend the first week here in town and the second week I will be going to Palm Springs to visit Julie and I can’t wait for that as I have missed her.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing this part of my life with me

 

 

 

 

Wednesday night dinner at Mc Grath’s fish house in Vancouver.

It is Wednesday of my vacation and our group is having dinner at Mc Grath’s fish house in Vancouver which is a new place for our group. I have eaten here before as my male self as my parents liked to come here so I used to stop here every so often on the way home from Church with them. I haven’t eaten here sense they passed away though. Now I didn’t want to get ready to early in the day so I spent most of the day taking care of things I needed to do this week. I started getting ready a little after 4pm and too my time getting ready as I wanted to look good. I did a pinkish red lipstick today and my purple eye shadow and I did a winged eye liner today which turned out pretty well. I was al ready by 5:30pm and I thought about going to a Starbucks near Mc Grath’s that I have gone to before as I would have about 45 minutes but ended up watching a little TV till it was time to leave.

I got to Mc Grath’s at 6:45 and went in Jamie and Gina were there. Turns out Gina came early as she comes from West of Portland and now I wish I had gone to the Starbucks as I could have had her meet me for a while. I checked in with the young man at the desk and he showed us to our table. Now here is the funny story. Sunday morning I was up this way as my male self so I stopped in to check and see how busy they are on Wednesday nights and if they do reservations. I actually talked to him almost 5 minutes that day as my male self about a group of 6 to 12 for Wednesday night at 7pm and now I am here as Susan on Wednesday night at 7pm with a group of 10, I wonder if he put it together. Now it is always fun to go to someplace we have not gone before. Our waiter came and he took our drink order as we waited for the rest of our group to get here. By a little after 7 we were all here and I got our waiter to take our picture so I wouldn’t forget it and before our table got messy. Tonight we had 10 of us, Kimberly, Char, me, Claire, Elko, Mary Ann, Jennifer, Gina, Jamie, and Lauri.

It was great to see Claire again as she has been out of the country for a while, the last time I saw her was at our Christmas Dinner. It was nice to talk with her for a while. Also got to talk to Kimberly, she hasn’t been out with the group for almost 2 years, she is retired now and hoping to get out more. She is also going by a new name so I will use Kimberly more to get used to it as I have known her for more then 10 years. We do have girls change names every once in a while and it does take a little time to make the change. They do it for a variety of reasons, sometimes when they first start they may have not given it a lot of thought as they figure it is just a faze they will grow out of, sone feminize their male nae of pick something close to their male name and some as they grow more in their comfort want a better name that more goes with who they are. It really doesn’t matter as it is a personal choice, by the way that is one of the benefits of being transgender is you do get to pick your own name. I was shy in school mainly because of this side and I had a girl I liked but never got up the nerve to ask her out so I took her name instead. It was also great to see Lauri again. She usually goes to the Escape although hasn’t been out this year yet, I think this is only her 2nd or 3rd dinner she has made.

I tried to talk a little with everyone but with 10 of us it is a little harder even if you sit in the middle of the table. I do love seeing big groups out as in the early years we were happy if we could get 6 out on a Saturday night at a gay club with a drag show. It is also nice when we have small groups as 4 to 6 is the perfect size for everyone to be involved in the same conversation. Now most places we go I have my favorite and know what I am ordering before I get there but I like seafood and I did come here a lot with my parents so there are a few things I really like, they had really good fish and chips, Prawns, and clam strips so I did have to think about it before I ordered. I did go with the fish and chips as did a few of the girls. We talked a little as we waited for our dinner. These dinners really are great social events and that is really what they are about. Where we eat really is secondary to that but it is nice to go someplace new, thanks Jamie for recommending Mc Grath’s.

Our food came and it was really good, I am really a basic food person, steak, Chicken, seafood or pasta and I am happy. Our waiter was really good and treated us awesomely. We usually don’t have issues and get treated well when we go out but he seemed like we were no big deal, just another customer.it really was a wonderful dinner. After dinner we paid our bills and then sat and talked more. We actually sat here till 9:20 before we knew it. They actually close at 9pm so we called it a night which is always sad when the evening comes to an end. As we left there were still a couple people at tables in the bar so I guess we could have stayed later. It was a good night out. I would recommend Mc Grath’s in Vancouver if you like Seafood.

Now I am looking forward to the next few days as I am still on vacation and plan more Susan time. I am going to meet Gina on Friday at Washington Square for a little shopping and Nicole will be in town Saturday so we will meet at the Escape that evening. The only bad thing is ether Saturday or Sunday I need to go to the nails salon which I normally look forward to but this will be to remove the red color and go back to a more natural look. I really love red nails as you can tell from my pictures as I think I am showing them off in most of them as I think my hands look really good with them.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing this part of my life with me.