Friday and the long drive home from Palm Springs

It is Friday and my vacation in Palm Springs is coming to an end and yes my two-week vacation is also nearing its end. It is sad to say goodbye to Julie as I have so enjoyed spending time with her this week. The good thing is she will be back in Vancouver in a couple weeks for the summer. My goal was to be on the road between 7 & 7:30am as I am looking at a 17-hour drive. Now this year driving by myself I decided to do it as my male self-kind of. As I have said there are times being Susan is not that big a deal and yes just sitting in my car alone is one of them. however I did want t make this vacation a Susan vacation and spend a little time every day as Susan so I made a compromise, I decided on the drive I would do like eye makeup and neutral lipstick which I did on the drive down, I have several shades of lipstick that are pretty neutral and one would have to be close to me to tell I had lipstick on. The problem is the color I wore for the trip down I didn’t pack, so I had to pick the most neutral shade out of the colors I brought and yes it will be more noticeable. With that I decided to do a little more dramatic eye look as really it will only be when I stop for gas, food or breaks that it will be an issue. I did my eyes with my rose-colored eyeshadow and full mascara and eye liner and then my lipstick. I was ready for my drive home a little before 7am.

Julie was up so we talked for a few minutes and said our goodbyes and I loaded up my car for my drive home. I will stop 3 times for gas, a few rest stops for breaks and maybe a fast-food drive through for food. With my car loaded up I said my last goodbye to Julie and I was on my way at 7:20am with my GPS telling me I would get home at 11:55pm tonight. I did check my eyes in my rearview mirror and they looked really good as I have done them this way when I have gone out as Susan. I also checked my lipstick in the natural daylight and yes it is noticeable, the color is a rosy mauve color and although I am not going to post a picture of my male self with makeup on I decided I would do the same eye makeup and lipstick on Saturday and I took a picture of that which I will post here.

My GPS kept me on the freeways this year and traffic wasn’t bad just a few slowdowns but I made it through to I-5 just north of LA in a little over 2 hours. The weather for the trip home was nice, mostly sunny, and warm. I stopped 4 times for gas, Lost hills Ca, just south of Reading California, Southern Oregon and the Fred Meyers by my house when I got home as I wanted to track my fuel for the trip. In all down and back I drove 2186 miles, used 59 gallons of gasoline, spent $314 dollars on fuel and averaged 37 miles to the gallon on the trip. I did hit about a 20-minute delay in Stockton as I went through there at 2:30 the start of rush hour and in Sacramento it was about a 40-minute delay do to rush hour traffic abut an hour later. That really was the only traffic issues I had.

I pulled into my driveway at 12:16pm so on a 17-hour, 1093-mile trip I got home 21 minutes longer then my GPS had predicted, wow how amazing is that for technology. Now tomorrow, Saturday I will go to Dream Nails and get my nails done and the color removed which will also be sad as I really do love having red nails. Sunday afternoon I will go to my normal Starbucks and try and get all caught up on my blogs which do take a little more work as I still write them in Word but then have to past and format to my blog and then add the pictures. I really hope word brings back their blog template. I had contacted them on it and all I got back was that Microsoft removed that template from their collection. It is hard to believe how fast the last two weeks have gone especially my time with Julie in Palm Springs.

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

Thursday and my final day in Palm Springs with dinner at Tropicale with Julie

It is Thursday and my final day in Palm Springs, wow the week has gone by way to fast. It will be so sad to leave on Friday as I have really enjoyed spending the week with Julie. I have made a lot of Close friends in this group but a few are really more like family and Julie is one. The only bright point is Julie and Trixie will be coming back to Vancouver in a coupe weeks till next fall so I am looking forward to that.

I got up this morning and just hung out and worked on my blog which is more difficult now that Microsoft word removed its blog template. If anyone knows of a program where you can write and format a blog offline and then later upload to WordPress let me know. It was almost noon and Julie and I ran to the grocery store as she needed to pick a few things up, as I said it was going to be a quiet and relaxing day. We got home and made lunch and sat outside and ate and watched a little TV, yes Julie has a big TV under the overhang on her back porch by the pool, this really is the life. We just sat and talked and watched TV. It was about 4pm when Julie went in and started getting ready for dinner tonight, I waited about 30 minutes before I went in and showered and started getting ready for dinner. I did take my time as tonight I was going for a little more dramatic look including my bright red lipstick. We were both ready a little before 6 so we had a little while to relax before we left for dinner.

We got to Tropicale about 6:30 and went in, Julie had made reservations for 6:45 but our table was ready out on the back patio. Our waitress came and took our drink order and she was awesome. I ordered a coke and Julie got a drink and when our waitress brought the drinks Julie was getting ready to ask for a little straw for hers as they don’t normally come with a Straw but hers did. She thanked the waitress and told her she was always having to request straws and our waitress looed at her and said you have to have a straw so you don’t mess up your lipstick, she understood. We ordered an Appetizer and looked at the menu for dinner. I had it narrowed down to 2 items, there Caesar Salad with Chicken or their southern fried chicken dinner. I asked our waitress which she would recommend and she said the fried chicken dinner as they are famous for it, she said the salad was really good but you can get a Caesar salad anywhere so I went with what she said and ordered the chicken dinner. Julie and I talked as we waited and had a nice time and even took pictures of each other.

Our dinner came and our waitress was right the Southern fried chicken was really good and a huge portion. This is a dinner two could split and have an appetizer before. It was a beautiful night to be sitting outside and their patio is more private which is nice for talking and atmosphere but there is something about sitting on the sidewalk watching people walk by and being really visible. Our waitress came and checked on us several times and always talked a little with us when she did, they also had someone there to fill up your water glass before you even knew you needed more. They had incredible customer service and great food. Tropicale is a must dine at place in Palm Springs, I would give them 6 stars out of 5. Even as we left one of the ladies at the front desk engaged us in conversation for a few minutes.

We decided to go to the Casino again as it is right around the corner. We went in and they still had the $3 dollar blackjack table with 2 open seats together, 2 men to my left and 3 to the left of Julie. We sat down and bought in for $100 to play. Now over the 2 nights we have played here I am up $35 so my goal was to not lose more then that. We played for about 1 1/2 hours and had a nice time and the people at the table were great, as a matter of fact I think the an next to me was fascinated by me because he was always talking to me. The lady we played with the other night that was sitting next to Julie stopped by and said hi and asked how we were doing, which was nice. You really do meet some interesting people at the blackjack table and I really think it is a good way to interact with people. We got a new dealer and right off the bat he got 2 blackjacks in a row and then drew to 20 or 21 the next two hands so Julie and I decided it was a good time to call it a night. Julie wone about $30 and I won $9, not a big win but a win. I look at gambling as entertainment, my goal is to have a god time and not lose too much. In all over 3 evenings we probably played between 4 & 5 hours and I won a total of $44. I won’t become rich but we had a nice time.

We got back to Julies house and had a little desert and watched a little TV before calling it a night. tomorrow is Friday and I will head home. my plan is to be on the road between 7 & 7:30 and yes I will travel as my male self although like coming down I do plan on a light eye makeup and neutral lipstick.

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

A day relaxing in the pool and then dinner with Julie at Zin American Bistro

It is Wednesday of my palm springs vacation with Julie and today is a relaxing day in her pool and dinner at Zin American Bistro. Now I was looking forward to this as I bought a new pink two-piece bathing suit for this. We spent a little time in the morning talking and I worked on my blogs. If you follow my blogs you may have noticed they look a little different, that is because for years I have been writing them in Microsoft Word as they have a blog template that is awesome to use and then when you are done you can upload it right to WordPress. Well yesterday they did an update on office and part of the update was they got rid of that template so now I am writing it in Word and pasting it into WordPress which messes up the format so I have to play with it a little. It is also a lot harder to get pictures in and formatted to fit. I am hoping Microsoft puts this template back, I did leave a couple comments and send feed back t them. I really do like writing them offline.

Well back to today, it was a little after 10am When Julie and I went and put our swimsuits on and moved outside to the pool. It was already in the mid 80’s and we both looked so cute, Julie in her black bikini and me in my hot pink. Now we did not get any pictures as I would have needed to do a full makeup and have my wig on and that didn’t work with the pool. I left my eye makeup on last night when I sent to bed as I used waterproof brow gel and eye liner and I wanted to really test my mascara. I have been using the lash sensational sky high washable mascara and love it and it stays on. I need warm almost hot water and soap to take it off. So today was going to be my test.

Julie and I spent about 2 hours in the pool before we got out for lunch. It was so nice as the pool was about 88 degrees and it was about 90 degrees outside. We made lunch and sat in the shade. It was about 1pm when Julie’s yard maintenance man showed up and we both went inside quickly to put a cover on, of course my suit was a bright pink so he may have noticed it but if he did he didn’t care as he went about his work. Juile and I did go back outside and sit and talk as he did the yard work. He was only here about an hour and then I went back in the pool for a little longer. Years ago I never would have thought I would be swimming in a hot pink bikini.

It was about 4pm when Julie went in to take her shower and start getting ready so I stayed out about 20 minutes more to give her time to finish her shower before I went in. Yes I did get a little too much sun today. I am not sun burned but pretty red accept where my bikini was, that skin is white so I look like I have a white bikini top on now and it will be many months before that changes so I will be wearing shirts in my male life. By the way my eye makeup still looks just as it did yesterday when I put it on. I really like this lash sensational sky high washable mascara, you do not need the waterproof one.

I took my shower and started getting ready. It was interesting doing my makeup and looking like I had a white bra on. I took my time doing my makeup and tonight I did a smokey eye look with deep browns and red lipstick. I was done by 5:30 and put on a short green summer dress as Julie was talking about wearing a cute top and shorts. It was almost 6 when Julie was ready and she decided to wear a summer floral dress so I went and changed really quickly to my long lacy salmon colored dress. It was a little after 6pm when we left.

We drove downtown and parked in a lot and walked down the street and stopped at Zin American Bistro for dinner. We were able to get a table outside right on the corner where we could watch the people walk by. Our waitress came and took our order as we looked at the menu. I will admit it is really ice to be able to sit outside and people watch, something I like to do at Starbucks sometimes. We ordered dinner and we both got the Salmon. We sat and talked and just had a wonderful time and yes we did notice some of the cute dresses that women were wearing. It is funny as the men almost all had shorts and a tee shirt on but the women had a wide range from shorts to long pants, long dresses, short dresses and every where in between. Women’s fashion is just way more fun and cute. Our food came and it was really good, they do have a lot of great places to eat here. We had a wonderful time and yes I got our waitress to take a few pictures of us.

After dinner we walked around for a little bit doing a little window shopping and mostly just talking. It is hard to believe how fast this week has gone, I only have 1 more day here before I need to head home on Friday. I have so enjoyed spending time with Julie and I look forward to her coming back to Vancouver in a few weeks.

Going out to dinner with Julie at the Chicken Ranch tonight

It is Tuesday of my Palm Springs vacation and Julie a I are going to go to the General Patton Museum today. Yes I will be my male self for the first part of the day. Julie’s has her house cleaned today and the lady showed up just after 9am so we left shortly after that. The drive to General Patton Museum took about 40 minutes and is just a crossroad in the middle of nowhere. In the early days of WW2 General Patton was tasked with finding a desert training base and this is where t was, actually there were many bases in this area. Barb told Julie about it when she visited a while back so Julie and I wanted to go check it out. We had a nice drive and talked all the way.

We got there and went in and it is pretty big and covers more then just General Patton but he is the focus. It was really interesting and you don’t really think about it, he was born in 1885 and was in the 1912 summer Olympics. He was also in WW1 although he is best known for his actions in WW2. There is a lot of history about him and especially WW2 and with what is going on today it was interesting to see the timeline and what the Germans did to Jews and the slaughter of millions of them and we are seeing that today with what is going on with Israel and yes I 100% support Israel. They also have a bunch of tanks here you can look at and it is really fascinating. I would encourage anyone passing through this area check it out and see what these men did for our country and the world, there is a reason they are called the greatest generation. We spent almost two hours here. When we left it was afternoon and we were hungry and t turns out they have a little coffee shop here so we went in to get lunch. Now for being in the middle of no where the prices were reasonable and the food was great so yes stop and have lunch here also. Now I was sitting at the table and was holding my hands in a way that my nails were visible and no one seemed to notice that I saw. A lady and her husband got up to leave and she walked over and told me she had noticed my nails and loved them; she told me she had to take hers off but was looking forward to getting them again. I thanked her and told her I had week nails which I do and needed to put acrylic on them and she told me she loved the red and it looked good on me. Yes this made my day. We had a nice lunch and then headed back to Julies, it was after 3pm when we got there so we relaxed for a little bit before getting cleaned up and transforming ourselves for dinner.

We took our time getting ready as we planned on leaving around 6pm and we were going to a place called the Chicken Ranch, it is a newer restaurant here in Palm Springs that Julie has been wanting to try. I decided to wear salmon colored summer dress which may be a little short but I figured it was like wearing shorts and it is close to 90 here today. We got to Chicken Ranch and had to ark about a block away. We got a table outside right by the sidewalk so we could watch the people walk by. It was really nice. The staff here was wonderful and treated us great and always referred to us as ladies. We ordered dinner and it was really good, I had chicken tenders. We had a wonderful dinner sitting outside with everyone else and yes I got our waiter to take a few pictures. It was a really nice experience. It was almost 9pm when we left and yes we stopped at the casino again tonight.

It only took a few minutes to get to the casino and we went in and they had the $3 Blackjack table again tonight but Julie and I had to sit separately tonight as there were 2 men, open seat, a woman and man and then the last seat open. We both sat down and the people at the table were great, we both bought in with $100 and started to play. Last night all our dealers were men but tonight they were all female accept 1. We played for a while and I was up a little. the man next to me left so Julie moved down so now the table was the women on one end and the men on the other. We had a wonderful time and played till about 10:30 before we cashed in. Julie had $100 which is what she started with so she is still up from yesterday. I finished with $153 which makes up the $15 I lost last night and finished up $38 over the two nights which is awesome as we had a wonderful time and enjoyed several hours. We got back to Julies just before 11pm and called it a night.

Now I am looking forward to tomorrow and spending part of the day in Julies pool.

Monday dinner with Julie at 1501 Uptown Gastropub

It is Monday of my vacation week in Palm Springs with Julie and tonight we are going to dinner at Uptown Gastropub, we had dinner here last year on the last night I was in Palm Springs. Julie had some things to do this morning so I went with her but as my male self as I wanted to wait for dinner to get all cleaned up as Susan. Now I will admit I did wear mascara and a light neutral eyeshadow.

We left and drove down to take care of what she had to do and talked as we drove, it was really nice, I am enjoying my time with Julie and yes even as our male selves we are calling each other Julie and Susan. we took care of what she needed to do and decided to go get lunch at a Mexican Restaurant her and Trixie likes called Macarios Grill. We got there and went in for lunch. We were seated and ordered our food and sat and talked. They were not really busy but there was one lady sitting across the room by herself and I did notice her looking at me several times and mainly when I had my hand up so I think she was looking at my hands and was fascinated by the fact I had nice red nails. She never came over or said anything but it was kind of funny. We had a wonderful lunch. After lunch we drove back to Julie’s and relaxed for a while on her back porch watching TV, it was a beautiful day out. If you are in the sun it is hot but in the shade is really pleasant. The next couple days will be in the mid 90’s so it will be hot so I am thinking we need a pool day although we do need to work around her schedule. On Tuesday she has a lady come clen her house some where between 9 and 2 and Thursday her pool man comes so most likely Wednesday will be our pool day.

Julie started getting ready abut 4pm and I waited about 30 minutes before I started to get ready. I will admit I do like spending the whole vacation as Susan but it is also nice to break it up and get dressed up in the evening to go out as it somehow seems more special I was all ready by 5:40 and watched TV till Julie was ready. Julie had made us reservations at 6:45 so a little after 6 we left, of course before we left we took a few pictures outside. We got to Uptown Gastropub about 6:30 and were able to park in their parking lot. Last year when we were here they were so busy we had to park a block away and walk and that was the evening it was really windy here. We got in and were shown to our table as they were not as busy but that didn’t last. It wasn’t long and it was just a steady stream of people coming in and there were times there were 15 people waiting to be seated so we timed it perfectly.

Our waitress came and took our orders and I got the fish and chips, looking back on y blog I ordered the same thing last year and I think Juie did also but their fish is really good. We sat and talked and just had a nice time. our food came and we had a wonderful dinner. I really do think this makes it totally normal and by that I am not saying this side of me is not normal. What I mean is it was not like we were transforming to our female self just to express this side of ourselves but instead we were just two women getting dressed up to go out to dinner. Our food came and as I said it was really good. We had a wonderful dinner and I so enjoy spending time with Julie.

After dinner we decided to go to the Agua Caliente casino just like last year for a little while. We went in and they had a few Blackjack tables and one was actually a $3 table that had seats open so we sat down at the end and played a little Blackjack. There were   men at the table and they all seemed fine with us and were talking to us and they all referred to us as ladies, miss or mam which was awesome. We both bought in for $100 and played. We were probably her for 2 hours and went up and down but were having a fun time. We had several dealer changes and at one point we were both up but the last dealer that we had was on a hot streak and we started going down so we decided to call it a night. We went and cashed in our chis and Julie had $104 so she won a little. I cashed in $85 so I lost $1 but we had an enjoyable time for a couple hours which is what it is all about. We got back to Julies a little after 11pm and watched a little TV before we called it a night.  

Now I am looking forward to Tuesday as we will do dinner again but we are going to go site seeing in the late morning to early afternoon while her house is cleaned and yes I will do that as my male self also and then get cleaned up as Susan for dinner.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing my trip to Palm Springs.

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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.

Friday & Saturday of vacation and my drive to Palm Springs

I got up early Friday morning, 6am and went to the gym and stopped at Starbucks by Costco for a little while as I waited for Costco to open so I could fill up my car for my trip. The lady who took my order told me she liked my nails; this is only the second compliment I have gotten on my nails this week but I was happy. I worked on my bog from Thursday as I don’t plan to be Susan today. I got home a little before 11am and started getting my car ready and packing. I laid down about 2pm for a nap and really didn’t sleep that well so a little after 5pm I got up and started getting ready as my goal was to be on the road by 7pm. I had thought abut doing a light eye makeup look and a neutral lip stick. In the end I actually did a little more dramatic eye look. full mascara and eye liner and a smokey eye shadow, it looked really good for a daytime look. I did use neutral lipstick also. I was pulling out of my garage for my trip at 6:50 with Julies address in my GPS and it told me I would arrive at 11:24 am Saturday morning. Yes I do like driving at night as there is less traffic and I like taking road trips.

The drive was nice and I had nice weather all the way to just north of Yreka California when I it heavy rain and wind till I was a little past Redding. It was a nice drive though. I did get a little tired around 5 in the morning and I knew it was really just my eyes getting tired so about 5:30 I found a place to pull over and set my alarm for 15 minutes and laid back and closed my eyes, this really wasn’t to sleep but to rest my eyes. Even such a short time made me feel good and I was back on the road. I made 5 stops for gas about every 200 miles or so to break up the drive which was perfect.

I arrived at Julies at 11:15 which was awesome as it was within 10 minutes of what my GPS told me when I left home. It is amazing how accurate they are. It was great to see Julie and Trixie again and yes Julie was also her male self. We sat and talked for a while and got caught up. We even watched some of the Masters. It was a relaxing afternoon.

Yes today there was no Susan time either as we were just staying around her house as I was a little tired. Trixie made dinner for us around 5:30 pm, Chicken, Scalloped potatoes and salad and it was really good. After dinner we sat and talked some more. I made it till a little after 9pm before I called it a night and went to bed. I am really looking forward to tsi week and spending it with Julie.

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

Thursday of my vacation and a pretty simple day, just a little Starbucks time and a quick stop at the store

It is Thursday of my vacation and going to be a pretty simple day. I got most of my yard work done yesterday so this morning I finished the rest up and then cleaned my house so it was early afternoon before I was done with things. I did want a little Susan time though so I did clean up and do my makeup and get ready. I did a pretty casual look today and tried a lighter lipstick. It was after 3pm when I was already. Now I do want to go to bed early tonight as I want to get up early Friday morning so I can take a nap later in the day so this means eating earlier also. I decided to go to Wendy’s as I found a gift card in my purse as I was cleaning it out for my trip.

I went to Wendy’s in orchards as it is right next to the Starbucks there. I went in and they were a little busy including a group of about 10 teen age boys, I did notice one of them looking at me a few times. I got my food and sat down and ate it. I was only here about 20 minutes or so and then went next door to Starbucks. Yes today was more about just being out a little while as Susan. I got my drink and sat down and did a little work on my computer. Mainly figuring out my stops for my drive Friday night. My plan is to stop every 3 hours (about 200 miles) or less for a short break and to get gas. Right now I am planning on Seven Feathers casino, Redding, Stockton, Lost hills (which is just a small town) and then Palm springs. These are all between 198 and 250 miles each although I am not sure what is at lost hills as it is just a big junction I-5 & Hwy 46 but there should be a gas station there. My plan is for a nice easy drive and my hope is to be at Julie’s around noon Saturday, maybe a little earlier. By the way as big as the population of California is on I-5 between Stockton and Santa Clarita there really is nothing and that is abut 320 miles so I may have to wait till there to get gas.

I stayed at Starbucks till a little after 5:30 before leaving and I made a quick stop at Fred Meyers to pick up some stacks. I already have my chocolate covered raisins to keep me awake and some beef jerky but I decided I wanted some cookies also. traveling at night there really isn’t a lot of options to stop for food but there is no traffic. I have checked it several times this week with my GPS and the time ranges from 15 ½ hours to as high as 19 hours if I hit the LA area in the morning on a weekday. I got home a little after 6pm and watched TV till 9pm before washing away my makeup and going to bed.

Friday I plan on getting up at 6AM and going to the gym. Take care of a few things in the morning and then pack everything and load my car. I hope to lay down between 1 & 2 and sleep till 5 or 6 and then get up and shower and get ready for my trip and yes I am going to do a light eye makeup look and lipstick which I have narrowed down to 2 choices, one pretty neutral and the other a little more noticeable. but other than when I stop no one will see me and I think the red nails will be what gets the attention.

Thanks for reading my 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.