What I would have worn: Valentine's Day.

• Dress: Asos (buy)
• Belt: Torrid (previously)
• Cardigan: Torrid (previously, borrowed by my wife)
• Pumps: Nine West via Amazon (buy, the color is Dark Red)
• Bracelet: Torrid (previously)
• Necklace: Maurices (previously)
• Pantyhose: Just My Size via Walmart

Okay, this is going to have to be a quick post since I'm trying to get ready for Valentine's day. And while I would love to wear this outfit tonight, this is not what I will be wearing. But if I weren't wearing actual menswear for Valentine's Day, I thought this fun little black dress I recently got from Asos would be perfect. I realize it's a bit short, but hey, it is Valentine's Day, and I definitely felt really cute wearing it. The cardigan and hose are still necessary because it's still way too chilly here for bare legs and arms. Also, the cardigan masks my stellar "farmer's tan" nicely as well.

Since today is also Monday I need to post 3 positives as part of Melissa's and Hope's Fabulous in February.

1. I love planning elaborate surprises. This one is related to today. My wife knows nothing about what we're doing. And since she won't read this post before tomorrow, I'm going to let you in on the plan. We're going to a new Brazilian steakhouse in a nearby city that she's wanted to try for a while but our schedule has not permitted. After that, we're going to hit a Starbucks for coffee, and since it will be kinda late, the big surprise is the hotel room I got us in the city for tonight, which I already checked into. I drove out and back today, to check in and take our overnight bags I secretly packed, and decorated the bed with a stuffed animal. So tonight we can go straight to the room, and she won't see our overnight bags until it the last minute. Or something like that.
2. I have a very good memory. Sometimes this frustrates me because it means I remember all the things I'm behind on and get some slight panic attacks, and regrets and past mistakes live on in my mind far past everyone has forgotten. (I still feel guilty over things I've done wrong to my wife year's later, and I'll bring it up, and she's completely forgotten about it). Despite all this though, I'm very glad to be able to remember all the positive things that have happened to me over the years, and all the people who made it happen.
3. For my last one today, I'll pick something physical. I like my hair, and I feel really lucky that it's healthy, and I can grow it long and that it looks nice.

And I'm still trying to get caught back up on everyone's wonderful blogs! And of course, today's pictures were taken by adorable wife.

Dinner and a haircut.

My outfit

• Dress: Asos (buy)
• Belt: Torrid (previously)
• Cardigan: Maurices (previously)
• Tights: JC Penney
• Boots: Nine West

My Wife's Outfit

• Top: Kohl's
• Skinny Jeans: Torrid
• Pumps: Nine West

The month of January was a bit of a rollercoaster, it had some major ups, and some frustrating downs, but mostly a lot of things to take up a lot of time. Hopefully my schedule will calm down for a bit. But this post is about a very big personal up for me. And since I said I would do Fabulous in February as organized by Hope and Melissa, I think this post will work into that quite well.

Early in January, I lucked into finding a seller on Craigslist who first had shoes in my size, and then clothes, and posted about that. For my second visit, I actually went dressed up, without my wife accompanying me, to see a person I didn't really know that well. That was a big deal for me, and a positive experience to be accepted by people in a situation like that. I'm sure I will post some outfits with the clothes I bought soon, but it turns out that was actually a good warm-up for the next weekend.

Our last haircuts were at Halloween, and we went in costume to get that haircut, and so I always had that to fall back on if anyone said anything. This time, however, there was nothing to hide behind. I dressed how I wanted, and thankfully, the hair salon we use is pretty cool like that. In hindsight, its hard to see why I was nervous, one of the stylists had a beard that went quite well with his dress. My stylist did a wonderful job on my hair, and that was a great start to the evening. And the outdoor pictures are at the park we've used several times before after the trip to the salon.

Next, we met up with two other female friends for dinner at an Asian fusion restaurant. I'll freely admit I was pretty nervous at this point, but I felt good about how I looked. We waited in the car until one of the friends arrived, and then headed in to get a table. Even though it was early, we ended up having to wait for a table, even after our other friend joined us. Dinner was good, and the waiter didn't say anything if he noticed.

Dinner ended up being a wonderful success. Ironically, the biggest shock of the evening was nothing. I felt pretty normal, and no one seemed to notice at all. We both enjoyed ourselves, got haircuts we were happy with, and had a fun dinner with some of our friends. I'm definitely looking forward to our next outing. I'm not sure when it will be, but the confidence boost I've gotten from my supportive friends and from all the wonderful support I've gotten from commenters and other bloggers.

And on that note, as part of Hope and Melissa's challenge, I'm supposed to list three positives about myself:

1. I'm honest. It's not always easy, and it doesn't always make getting along with other people easier, but I find it very difficult to deceive or maintain deceptions.
2. Crossdressing. I spent a good portion of my life feeling like crossdressing was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. I still have plenty of down days. Whether this is a "lifestyle", a "hobby", or whatever, this is something I have never quite been able to "not" do. But this is part of who I am, and its not going away, and now I'm trying to enjoy and make it a positive, constructive part of my life.
3. I like my legs. It's probably my number one physical feature that gets comments here, and I don't think anyone had ever said anything about my legs before I started openly wearing skirts. And I admit I can't always see it myself, but I do like my legs, and I will say that here.

And with that, I hope I'll get back to a regular schedule and finding out what I've missed on everyone's wonderful blogs. And of course, my awesome wife took most of the pictures in today's post.