My first party! I'm so excited!!!
Actually, not three exclamation points' worth...I just wanted to see what that would look like...but I am looking forward to it. :-)
The invitation is from a person I hardly know, to a Valentine's Day Ball, and it specifies "creative formal romantic" dress. I e-mailed back to ask if that description would include full-on cross-dressing, and the reply was "Absolutely!", so that's how I'm going.
I plan to wear a dress which Ardis gave me. It's a stretchy black form-fitting number with delicate white butterflies on it, a flippy hem below the knee, and a matching bolero-jacket with long sleeves which slim my arms nicely. I will be wearing shapewear but not a wig...I'm getting good results with my own hair these days. Plus a nice careful makeup job and all my favorite jewelry, black stockings, and the low black open-toed pumps...the invitation says to bring your dancing shoes. To finish it off with a dash of color, I'll also add my flamboyant over-sized purple scarf with the exotic vaguely Turkish-looking pattern in the weave, worn loosely like a shawl, or perhaps draped between my elbows behind my back...and I think I'll wear perfume too.
I am surprised at how calm I'm feeling. If there's anything I'm anxious about, it's that we're supposed to bring a love poem to read. The audience is likely to be full of the cream of Maine literati (our hosts are big in that world), and I'm not feeling confident about my voice right now, so that will be a squirmy moment. I'm also not sure what poem to read. It's down to two choices from the "Sonnets From The Portuguese" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. One would be cheeky in the context of the party, because it's written from the point of view of a humble unknown poet addressing a famous big-shot poet, and the other is just a pretty "love me for love's sake" poem which nicely expresses the emotional vulnerability of the trans heart. I'm leaning toward the latter.
One more thing...I've given myself permission, should the occasion arise, to flirt. With whom? With whomever...
Tune back in tomorrow for a full report!!! :-)
Actually, not three exclamation points' worth...I just wanted to see what that would look like...but I am looking forward to it. :-)
The invitation is from a person I hardly know, to a Valentine's Day Ball, and it specifies "creative formal romantic" dress. I e-mailed back to ask if that description would include full-on cross-dressing, and the reply was "Absolutely!", so that's how I'm going.
I plan to wear a dress which Ardis gave me. It's a stretchy black form-fitting number with delicate white butterflies on it, a flippy hem below the knee, and a matching bolero-jacket with long sleeves which slim my arms nicely. I will be wearing shapewear but not a wig...I'm getting good results with my own hair these days. Plus a nice careful makeup job and all my favorite jewelry, black stockings, and the low black open-toed pumps...the invitation says to bring your dancing shoes. To finish it off with a dash of color, I'll also add my flamboyant over-sized purple scarf with the exotic vaguely Turkish-looking pattern in the weave, worn loosely like a shawl, or perhaps draped between my elbows behind my back...and I think I'll wear perfume too.
I am surprised at how calm I'm feeling. If there's anything I'm anxious about, it's that we're supposed to bring a love poem to read. The audience is likely to be full of the cream of Maine literati (our hosts are big in that world), and I'm not feeling confident about my voice right now, so that will be a squirmy moment. I'm also not sure what poem to read. It's down to two choices from the "Sonnets From The Portuguese" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. One would be cheeky in the context of the party, because it's written from the point of view of a humble unknown poet addressing a famous big-shot poet, and the other is just a pretty "love me for love's sake" poem which nicely expresses the emotional vulnerability of the trans heart. I'm leaning toward the latter.
One more thing...I've given myself permission, should the occasion arise, to flirt. With whom? With whomever...
Tune back in tomorrow for a full report!!! :-)
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