Pride weekend Sunday

It is Sunday of Pride weekend and I have a full day, some of our group is going to walk in the Pride parade with the NWGA today and we are meeting downtown Portland at 11am so I had to get up early to get ready. I got up at 8 am and started getting ready. Now today it will be in the upper 60’s which is good but there is a chance of showers in the morning so I decided to go with all waterproof makeup today. I was already a little before 10am, got a couple pictures and was out the door. Now the parade starts in the park block and goes down to the waterfront so I decide to try and park on the east side and I think everyone thought as I did as traffic was horrible. Now I was suppose to meet the girls at Broadway and Flanders at 11 and it was almost 10:30 so I found a small parking garage on the corner of 11^th and Davis which is 9 blocks away and went in to park. Now this is an old 4 story garage and I would not recommend it as there is one way up or down on the same ramp and with all the cars I was stuck. Luckily when I got to the top floor there was still a few spots open. Now I had the 9 block walk to meet my friends. There was so many people out on the streets it was great to see.

I got down to Broadway and Flanders just before 11 and several of the girls were already there. The parade started at 11 but we were number 68 so we had lots of time. We had about 21 of us, 6 from the NWGA and 16 from the Rose City T-girls, well 2 were members of both groups and 5 were spouses of our group, I don’t know all the names from the NWGA from our group was Jan, Lynn, Barb, Jeanie, Patty and her wife, Renee and her girlfriend, Bree and her wife, Jennifer and her wife, Claire, Martina, Maille, and me of course. We also had Jackie, and Rosalinda who I have met before years ago and a few other girls. We did get a group picture and took turns getting pictures of each other and for once I kind of likes this picture.

It was shortly after 12 when it was our turn to go. I have been in parades before but this one was huge, there were thousands of people lining the streets and cheering. We walked for 17 blocks to the cheering crowds. The people were yelling so loud if I had been in the crowd yelling like that I would have lost my voice for weeks. Now as you walk and see all the people you know you pass people you know but probably just don’t see them and you wonder if they see and recognize you. It was a great time and so much fun and didn’t rain. The parade ended up down at the waterfront by the festival area. It took just over an hour to walk the parade. When we got to the end we started talking about getting lunch and where we could go. We talked about Mothers Bistro where I went last night but they close down at 2 till dinner and we didn’t think we could walk there in time. Claire recommended Deschutes brewery so that was where the group decided to go. We had 9 of us going there, Claire, Barb, Me, Jennifer and Maryanne, Bree and Kit, Patty and Kelly. Now 2 of the girls rode bikes so Barb Claire and I headed for Deschutes Brewery to get our names on the list while the other girls went to their cars first to put the bikes away. We had a 20 block walk to the restaurant and we talked the whole way. there was something special about just walking around the city. Now here is the funny thing, if you remember earlier about the parking garage I picked at random well it turns out it is right across the street from Deschutes Brewery, I could not have planned it better if I tried.

We got to Deschutes Brewery at 1:35 and got our name on the list, they said it would be about 25 minutes so I texted Jennifer to let them know but it was really only 5 minutes and our table was ready they were actually really busy as it was also Father’s Day. The other girls showed up and we had a nice lunch, I had a light lunch as later I am going to stop by Julies as she is BBQing today and eat with Julie, Cassandra and Trixie. We had a nice lunch and talked for a while. Today was fun as I got to meet Bree, Kit an Maille in person as up to today I have only seen them on our zoom meetings. It was about 3:30 when we paid our bills and left and I headed for Julie’s.

I got to Julie’s a little after 4, it was great to see them all again of course Julie and Cassandra were their male selves, last night we did dinner at Mothers Bistro and I get to spend a few hours with them again tonight. We watched a little TV. Julie did steaks, baked potato and asparagus for dinner tonight. It was a little after 5 when we ate it was so much fun, thanks for inviting me over Julie. I really do love getting together with friends as Susan. We had a wonderful dinner and after we watched a little TV and talked some more and had a wonderful night. It was about 9 when I said I had to go, I really didn’t but it had been a long day and I have to get up for work tomorrow morning, I really do have some incredible friends.

I got home and washed my makeup away and it held up really well even after 13 hours, just a little wear on my upper lip below my nose which is where my makeup fade first.

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

Saturday June 15th Portland’s Trans March

It is Saturday June 15^th and today is Portland’s Trans march, this is Pride weekend in Portland and so several of us are going to the Trans march downtown today. I have never gone to Pride so this will be a first for me. The march starts at 3:30 in the park block and goes down to the waterfront. Melissa and several of the girls did this last year and said it was fun. The plan is to meet downtown at 2:30 and walk in the march. Now Julie is also going to do the march so I am going to pick her up at 1:30 so I will have to get ready early today. I started getting ready a little after 11 am with the hope of being ready by 1 yes I planned on hours to get ready, I wanted to take my time and enjoy it but also new I needed a little more care on my makeup as it not only has to last all day but I wanted something that could go from day to evening. Julie head texted me last night to see what I was going to wear and I told her my black and whit summer dress, she was going to wear a skirt and top. Well I was done with my makeup by about 12:30 and started to get dressed but I just didn’t like it for the day and went with my black skirt and maroon top. Funny how I put so much thought into what Susan wears. I was out the door a little before 1 and got to Julies about 1:15.

Julie was ready but we talked for a little bit before we left. The plan was we would go to the march and Trixie would meet the group for dinner as she had things she had to do today. It was about 1:40 when we left. It is always more fun to have Julie with me on the drive, two girlfriends out for the day and it gave us a chance to talk. We were both so excited to do this and we talked about it. 10 years ago, if you had said we would be downtown Portland on a Saturday afternoon to march in the street as woman we both would have thought you were crazy but here, we are. Now we went straight for a parking garage which was close to where we planned on eating after and parked. It was about 10 blocks from where we were meeting so we took an UBER over. We got to the park blocks and there were a lot of people. I had figured a couple hundred at best but I would bet there were a couple thousand and most were not transgender but were out to support us and walk with us which was awesome. Julie and I talked as we waited for others to show up.

It wasn’t long and others showed up, Kimberly, Melissa and her wife, Barb, and Dana. We stood in the sea of people as we waited for the march to start. Now there were a group of people not far from us that all had their faces mostly covered which made me a little nervous as the only reason you cover your face is so know one knows who you are and I didn’t know why they didn’t want to be recognized. Hopefully they weren’t planning anything bad. That was the case as they didn’t do anything but march.

Soon it was 3;30 and the march started and the whole group started moving. It was tight for the first few blocks but then things opened up a little. We tried to stay as a group but some we weren’t all walking the same speed but we stayed pretty close. A few blocks into the march I ran into Alicia, I haven’t seen her for a year or two as she lives south or Portland. She was there marching with her wife and kid which was so awesome. I got a chance to talk with her briefly as we walked it was so wonderful. I have made some awesome friends as Susan and even though I may not see them very often they are still awesome people. A little later I also ran into Laura and her girlfriend who were also there. Now there was one thing I didn’t like about the march some of the people were chanting different things as we march and a couple of them were about police. Now I am not saying all police are good but in the same way not all are bad and I believe for the most part police are good and do a good job that is difficult. I don’t think this made the group as a whole look good as what a few people thought or changed could be taken as how the whole group is just as some were grouping all police together. Everyone on all sides needs to stop these divisive actions and we all need to learn to love one another. If we can’t treat other with respect and fairly how can we expect then to treat us that way. I don’t care who you are or what your beliefs or political views are as long as you treat me nice, I will do the same for you and here ends my little sermon, back to the march.

We got to the end which was at the pride festival on the water front, I am guessing the march was about 15 blocks long give or take a couple. We went into the festival area to look around and we ran into Betty, Summer and Shay and her wife. It was good to see them again also. So, we had a big turnout today for this march even if we didn’t all march together. Now we did get some pictures including a group picture but as I didn’t ask everyone in the picture if I could post I will have to leave that picture out of my blog but I did get Julie to take a picture of me. We walked around a little and one of Barbs friends joined us her name was Mindy and also a nice young man named Holden, he is a trans man. It was almost 5 so our attention turned to dinner and we thought about going to Mama Mia for dinner but it turned out being Saturday, Pride weekend and also Prom weekend they were booked up so Melissa called Rock Bottom and they also were booked up she then tried Hennery’s and they could get us in at 5:30 so Melissa gave them her name and said there would be 10 of us. Trixie was on her way so Julie, Kimberly and I left for Hennery’s while the rest of the girls looked around a little longer, a couple of them wanted to buy some things. It is about 14 blocks up and 3 blocks over from where we were but we decided to walk it.

On the way we ran into some people going down to the festival and one of the girls recognized me and there is always that panic of how she knows me (male or female) but it only took me a few seconds to remember her. I met her years ago at the P-Club and we played shuffle board together so it was Susan she recognized. We talked briefly and then we were on our way. It took us about 20 minutes to walk to Hennery’s about a mile. They were not busy and they had our table ready so we sat down and got some drinks as it was a warm day. it wasn’t long and the others showed up. Our timing was perfect as by 6 lots of people had come in and they were really busy. We had a wonderful dinner and great conversations and I got to talk to Holden as he sat next to me and he was such an awesome young man. He has only been in Portland for a few months. Soon it was almost 8 pm, where did the day go. We paid our bills and our waiter was so awesome. We always seem to get wonderful service but every once in a while, it is just over the top and that was the case tonight.

Now we had planned on eating down by the waterfront and that was where we parked about 13 blocks so Julie Trixie and I took an UBER back to where we had park. I drove us all back to Julies and dropped them off. It was such a wonderful day and so nice to spend so much time with Julie. Now it was a choice of what to do well really not. I briefly thought about going to the Escape but it was a little after 9 so by the time I would get there I would only have an hour plus I had been out since 1 pm and wasn’t sure my makeup was up to par for going out so I went home after a wonderful day.

Thanks for reading and be sure and read my most recent blog to see what is new in my life.

Saturday night at the Escape, Pride weekend.

I was really looking forward to tonight and going out with my friends. My goal was to start getting ready at 4:30 with the hope of being to the Escape by 6 pm but lets start a little earlier in the day. I have been talking about trying to loose some weight and yes also get in shape. I have started exercising and then stopped so many times I can’t count. Well the last time I got my nails done I noticed there is a small fitness center in the same complex called Snap fitness so as I was out taking care of things in y male life I stopped in and checked it out. They have no contract so it is pay by the month which  like and even though they have limited staffed hours they give you a key card so you can go there 24/7. Well I ended up joining in hopes I can stay with it. It is close to my house and I go right by it every day. I am only putting it here in my blog again in hopes that will motivate me more as I intend to keep track of my progress here on my blog. I actually went back about 3 and spent an hour there working out, wow I am out of shape.

I got home from working out and started getting ready for tonight. I took a little longer getting ready partly from choosing my outfit which I wound up going with the red dress I wore to the Red Dress Party. I was ready just before 6 and ready to leave. Now my neighbor across the street (one of the ones who knows about Susan moved) and I have new neighbors who I have met just once. well they had friends over and the man was out in his driveway with 2 of his friends unloading things from the car but I was read to go so I just pulled out of my garage and was on my way. My thought is if they figure it out they figure it out.

I got to the Escape about 6:20 and there were about 12 people there already. I ordered dinner and got out my computer to pass the time till others showed up. Now I couldn’t connect to the internet turns out they were having wi-fi issues. Wow what to do now, well didn’t have to wait long and Debbie showed up so I had someone to talk with. It was nice to talk with her, I have talked with her before but always in a group setting so I really enjoyed our one on one talk as I learned more about her.

Now I didn’t really know how many from our group would be out tonight, With Pride going on this weekend I figured it would either be a big turnout as everyone was out or they would be tired and not show up so it could be small. either way it would be a busy night at the bar so it would be a fun night.

Jan and Lynn were the next to show up, They had been at the Pride Transgender parade today. Laura M. and Jenny also showed up so there were 6 of us and we were having a wonderful time talking. Missy and a couple of her friends also showed up, they had also been to Pride earlier today. Cassie and Lorie also showed up so we did have a big turn out tonight.

Now by 9 the bar was getting busy which I knew it would. all the tables were full and there were people standing, I think it was one of the biggest crowds I have seen here which made it so much fun but also got loud with everyone trying to talk over each other. Lories is new to coming out, I think this is her 3rd time out so she is still getting use to it but she always has a smile on her face so I know she is having fun. I remember when I first was going out and just being out put a smile on my face to. it was all so new and exciting. I didn’t get much of a chance to talk with her but I hope to get to know her better. It really was a fun night.

Karaoke started and it really got loud so talking kind of ended as you could really only talk with the person next to you. It was still fun to listen the the singing as some of them are really good. It really was a party atmosphere here tonight. I stayed till after 11 pm tonight before calling it a night. what a great night.

Thanks for reading.

Update on Sunday I did go back to the gym and work out again for an hour so that makes two days in a row and I am a little sore now. Now the funny thing is I am already thinking about stopping one night on my way home from being out as Susan and working out a little as Susan. I think that would be fun but I think I need to get a little more in shape first so that maybe a month or two down the line.