September 16, 2009 - Wednesday if it is wednesday it's back to the beach and georgies!

f it is wednesday it's back to the beach and georgies! 3pm i started out planning to go to the beach so i wore my yellow t shirt and white jeans skirt with white sandals and white purse. on the way i changed into my black maillot bathing suit now with the previous mentioned outfit over it.when i arrived in ocean grove, nj .... the wind was VERY strong out of the north east. i could seen beach erosion on the dunes and sand had been blown across ocean ave. obviously not a beach day aggghhh. non the less i walked down to the water wearing a hoodie. the waves wee like the 'ol pictures of the angry atlantic ocean. it is hard to believe that i have seen it as flat and calm as a lake at times! needless to say i quickly came off the beach and ate my late lunch in the car (4pm)  now i needed a place to change out of the bathing suite. so it was off to the auditrium restrooms in the center of town.
i switched to my yellow cami , white jeans skirt and white sandals along with the hoodie. now it was starting to drizzle along with the high winds even though i was 3-4 blocks from the ocean. wow!
i decided since it was still early i'd drive 4 towns south to the end of spring lake passing all the mansions and turned around when i arrived at seagert. a pleasant drive now that it is out of season as each town along the shore line is about 1 to 1-1/2 miles  long. when i got back to the grove i decided to stop by and old friend who knows me as diana. his partner passed on several years ago and now he lives year round in the grove in a verrrry cute cottage.
when i left his place it was now 8:45pm and time for dinner. so with all the wind i ended up back at clancy's restaurant. they have very good manhatten clam chowder ( i am told there potato soup is excellent too.) and a burger.
as i left clancys i couldn't stand freezing in the cool wind any longer so i quickly changed on the fly like super girl into panty hose (yuck to early in sept. for such warm clothing), my longer floral skirt, my dusty rose shirt with 3/4 sleeves, my new brown strapy wedge sandals, and my new sand and brown purse and black leather jacket.







when i arrived at georgie's the entrance is on the other side of the building out of the wind so as the place filled up i started getting a bit warm since the skirt is lined. to compound this i decided that since it was keroeky night i'd sing one number. i chose "close to you" accompanied by the carpenters recording. this was my first experience actually participating by singing on the stage. the gal who runs the keroeky is verrry helpful. but i couldn't allways hear myself singing aaand... i didn't realize for sure that she could change the pitch or key of the song so that it would have been better for my voice part. since as my male self i am a 1st baritone or second tenor i ended up switch between my guy range and my diana somewhat falsetto range. and what i finally figured out is that no one really cares what song one chooses to sing. nothing is to hip or dorky. and in the future i will ask for a lower key if need be. at any rate it was a good first experience. and another first as diana. i had hesitated at first since i knew that it is hard to project the upper range as diana and didn't know how they'd take it if i sang in a somewhat male range. now i know no one cares! it's like everything else in the trans world it is a matter of building confidence!
but remember i was a preforming arts/music teaching major. i had gotten into college initially on trumpet with a minor on voice. although i continued to be voluntarily in chorus i dropped the voice minor after the first week. so being in front of people or a class is my thing but it also means i am hard on myself too. keroeky preforming looks easy until one is up on the stage!

but after reading my friend kims' blog and how she talks about always looking for a keroeky place in her travels for work i decided i really wanted to give it a try . especially since i was dressed up a bit in my fall outfit!

by 11:30 i had to leave for home since i had a 1 hour drive north. on the way i stopped at the Chesquake bay rest area to use the restroom and get a cup of coffee.
all in all it was a nice day in spite of the weather!

hugs
Diana

September 12, 2009 - Saturday my new hairdo and shopping with a gg friend

today i want to show off my new hairdo. sadly the beauty supply has told me that the old one is no longer available  so please tell me what you think.



also here is a photo of a new gg shopping friend i met last week when in male mode and today i had the good fortune to bump into her again when in diana mode with my new "do"



isn't she and her hairdo the cutest? anyway she asked to get a photo of me and my new "do" so i am able to share this with you.
the shopping trip was a short one since i was actually headed still as diana to pick up salmon at the a & P food store 2 towns away.
there i narrowly missed bumping into a colleague who doesn't know of diana.
so it sort of took the fun out of food shopping as diana when i had to constantly had to be on the look out for him and his family.

all in all it was a nice afternoon though.
hugs
Diana

September 11, 2009 - Friday a day of reflection and remberance!

a day of reflection and remberance! let us never forget that very sad day a few years ago when the unthinkable happened.

i plan to spend a few moments in prayer and inner reflection about the memories of that eventful day.

i am still in shock years later that on a day that had been weather wise one of the most gorgeous fall days turned into one of the darkest in history!

spend a few moments today in inner reflection so that we may never forget those who died on that sept morning at the hands of a coward and his pirates. like all cowards he wasn't brave enough to do the deed himself he sent others to do his bidding. and like all  cowards he hid after he sent others to their death. in fact he hid below ground like a lowly worm. which is an insult to compare him with a worm because at least genetic worms  serve a purpose in life while pirate cowards don't . a coward in the true sence!

again may we never forget that day!

hugs
Diana

sept. 10, 2009 or another wednesday at the beach and back to georgies' for keroeky

although today was overcast and somewhat cooler and breezy i had decided i would continue with my plans of wed. at the beach. so off i went to my favorite beach of ocean grove nj.



on the way i changed to diana for the one hour drive. i chose my yellow cami and white jeans skirt with white sandals and white purse. i know it is after labor day but i don't want to hear anything about the wearing of white after labor day! LOL

before i arrived just to save some time since it was allready afternoon i stopped at a gas station to use the rest room and change into my black maillot bathing suit.



although when i got to the beach it was breezy i was prepared though with my wind barrier .



this is basically 4 broom handles with points ground on one end with canvas drill attached with the posts at about a 3 foot spacing to block the sept winds on the beach.
i poked my feet in the water but the ocean was very rough out of the north east hence giving a southerly pull to the water. usually one notes a northerly pull so this was a bit less common. either direction is cause for caution.





so i went back to my beach chair and broken open my lunch and shortly after decided
to erect the wind barrier. during this time a few other hearty soles arrived and several actually went into the water.
i had decided that with the cool breeze and the overcast i didn't want to end up in a wet bathing suit.
to further compound the situation the beach crew had locked the rest rooms at the beach already since it is now out of season.



so when nature called i pulled up stakes and got in the car and drove the 3 blocks to the much larger rest rooms next to the 7000 seat auditorium which thankfully were open. here i could also change out of the bathing suit back into the cami and skirt.
by now it was about 730 pm and time for dinner. with the cool air i decided some soup would be nice so off i went to clancy's bar restaurant.
at the nj shore many of the best restaurants started as bars many years before but have excelent food. no touristy bistros for this girl just good solid food! and since i don't like the taste of alcohol the value was excellent! i asked for a table in mary's section as she is the best waitress in the place. for about 10.00 i had soup, a large hamburger, fries and a beverage. as good a price as fast food and i had great service with a better meal!

inspite of the chill in the air i had a craving for some ice cream. so i drove one town south to bradly beach to the beach plumb ice cream shop. lucky they hadn't closed yet for the season. they make their own .i had the coconut and it was wonderfull. ummm ummmm good!

before i could move on to the next stop i had to change from the skirt to capri's since there was such a chill in the air. along with a hoody over my cami.

next i drove 2 towns back north to asbury to Georgies glbt cheers type bar .



although it was wed it was before 9pm so the kereoky hadn't started yet. shortly though jill who runs the kereoky arrived. since it was slow she started preforming herself singing her heart out. she was the cutest thing since she had dressed in a back to school/fall/halloween theme. her hair was up in 2 pony tails with a short plaid skirt tall heels and a shirt with a ghoulish cartoon that said "what type (blood) are you?" as she sang she'd flip those pony tails back and forth for the sheer fun of it just like a kid!
with an hours drive home again by 11pm it was time to drive home (remember i only had soda).

half way back i was getting tired so i stopped at the parkway rest area to stretch, use the restroom and get some coffee.

in spite of the overcast it was still a very nice day as the beach can be very picturesque on a Grey very late summers day.

hugs
Diana