my n scale train layout may 25 2012

i thought everyone might like to see what has been side tracking me from being diana lately.

i started this n scale train layout one year ago on april 1st and basicly "finished" it this month. (one never really "finishes " a train layout. in any size!)
it may not look like much but this is about 700 plus hours to build. about 3-5 hours a day for about 5 days a week.
it's 3'7" x 2' in a custom built stage equipment case. built on pink ( is there any other color a girl would choose? LOL) siding foam. it has 2 train lines in it.

hugs
Diana

the fancy hat party april 16th 2012

a friend of mine held a party at her store. i had been looking for a place to wear this hat since i had bought it about a year or two ago. it's in a somewhat 1940's style with a wide brim with black spangles with a black bow on the brim in the back of the hat. it also has a elastic one puts to the back of the head to help center the hat.

ironically this is almost the same skirt and blouse i wore to the last party she had at her store several years ago  ( accept for the addition of the hat).
the setting this time though with the flower vase was soooo pretty i couldn't resist a photo in front of it.
the hats were verrrry stylish. another gg came in a red hat verrry similar to my black one.

we had such a good time in a girls day out setting and after the party ended she locked the door and a few of us sat around for "girl talk"! then we sent out for pizza and chatted some more. it was sooo good to be accepted as one of the girls!

hugs
Diana

the new coat march 28th 2012

i know it seems strange to do a march entry in the blog and here it is june 2 but... the date with the photo of the coat makes more sense!
i have been looking since last year for a new knee length all weather coat. the week before this i had gone shopping as my other self with my aunt to help her pick out a down quilted all weather coat. having seen a few things i liked i need to go back to those stores as diana.
after spending several days trudging from berlington coat and macy's in so. plainfield nj (which are smaller than the flemington store i went to with my aunt) and back to bridgewater mall macys, i ended up in sears in watchung. you seen i am quite specific when i go shopping for costlier items. my requirements were thus: quilted down, knee length ( not 2" above) zipper and snaps with a removable hood.preferably under 100.00 on sale!and something i could wear with leggins to keep my thigh's warm.

this second photo is me at walmart during the hunt for the coat. although they sort of had what i wanted for 40.00 it didn't have snaps or a removable hood.


anyway back at sears i found basicly what i wanted (see the photo above) but it was $98.00 on sale ( i really wanted to get it for 50.00-60.00 on sale!) meanwhile i had also ordered 2 sizes of a similar coat from carol wright gifts catalogue. unfortunately i was between sizes of the 2 mail order coats agghhh which were 40.00 ea so i returned them. 
in keeping the sears coat i waited the 14 day price adjustment period and low and behold on day 12 i saw a up coming sale with a price club discount. in returning to the store on the sale day i found that it had gone down in price so that with the price club discount the total price came to about 43.00!
i found that the coat was dressy enough to wear with dressier clothes as well.
while i was there i drooped over some kardassian dress boots in fur trimmed swede. but that is another story. 
the first photo is taken at the local coffee shop i stopped at to pick up take out dinner. this is a great little breakfast and lunch place (rise and shine on terrall rd in scotch plains with good dinner specials as well. dinner comes with soup AND salad and usually 2 side dishes as well depending on the dinner.

hugs to all
Diana

catching up a bit on events march 25th 2012

i know i haven't written anything for awhile.
it just seems that the more time i spend out in the world as diana ( down a bit to about 1/2 the time) the less i seem to have to spend on line doing entries into my blog. *sigh*

back about a month ago i had gone to home depo on a sunday afternoon as diana.
many times in male mode unless i find one of the workers i know, there are times i can't even find someone to wait on me let alone show me were the item is. ironically this time i asked for some help and suddenly 3 guys zoomed up to offer their help.
sorry i can't remember what i was wearing (usually out by my self with out anyone to take photos) but since it was still cool out probably ether a wool skirt and sweater and boots or boots with leggins and a tunic sweater ether way i was quite amused.
they actually almost fell over each other trying to help me. LOL

ok fast foward a few weeks to st pat's day i took my aunt and dad out to a restaurant for a late lunch as my male self. there were 2 gals and a guy at the next table  who we had chatted with a bit before our dinners arrived. one of the gals suddenly asks " your dad is so cute may i hug him?" hmmm this is a switch my dad is in his 80's a widower and it struck me as funny as i showed him to the rest room and i said to him " wow my dad is a babe magnet... maybe i have him go out with me more often" LOL

which brings me to my most recent occurrence. a week or so ago i had gone to the food store on a sat since i was in jeans and a pink v neck sweater . sat is usually my only jeans day as diana . it was early evening and down one isle i ended up in conversation with a gg about how nice it was coming to the food store early in the evening away from the more crowed times. her young daughter was at an event at their church so she was taking  advantage of  few free minuets of to shop. we discussed how as we have gotten older this seemed to be the big sat night date LOL shopping at the food store.
well yesterday as my male self with no time this week to be diana *sniff* i crossed paths with her again in almost the same isle. she said hello and said " do you remember we bumped into each other while shopping a while back? " this sort of caught me off guard. and i said yes and then i said ahhh can you tell me which self you met" my other self as diana or this self? she  nonchalantly  says "oh your other self you see it doesn't matter to me. you are who you are." mean while her 5 year old comes skipping down the isle  chatting on her mothers cell phone taking over the phone conversation when we starting chatting with me.the mother says " you see i adapter a child from another country and some  of the  parents i have meet are gay. in fact although she was pretty and had long hair and was fine boned she again nonchalantly proceeds to mention how her and her significant other are more reversed rolled-almost transgendered in their sexual affairs.
she also said i had been verrry passable but only since she was aware of such things did she pick up on something within me but she couldn't say what . she did say it wasn't till we had chatted awhile though.
this is verry ironic in that i have never and i mean never had a gg recognize me ever having met dave before .
this only has occasionally happened in reverse. usually they recognize daves' jaw line or my eyes if they only know dave but never in reverse.  i did give her both selves info since the conversation was very interesting.
i was just somewhat caught off guard with her candidness about her private fares. and just think a privileged sharing all because i have become comfortable with and ventured out in the world as diana!

reflections on the thanksgiving holiday nov. 24th 2011

i have sooooo much to be thankful for!

as i ( as my other self dave) attended dinner with my dad and his sister , my aunt, at a local restaurant. these thoughts wandered through my mind. especially after my aunt mentioned about another power failure across town from her in bridgewater nj yesterday.
i thought i mentioned to my family was that we are soooo lucky to live in this part of the usa because  in many places in the world it would have taken a lot  longer than a week to get the the electric repaired and usable again.
to us in the metropolitan suburb and being this close to ny city ( about 45 min by train of bus) the 5 days it took to get back to having electricity seemed like eternity! and yet in many other places in the world that would have been a very short time!
it just seemed ironic that with all the new technology i was still relying on 1850's oil lamps.LOL

i am just glad that all the roads are finally cleared of the trees and electric wires that fell and that the roads  have been  reopened locally at least. also i was grateful that the temp wasn't any colder outside during the crisis when we were with out electricity. since we didn't need the problem of frozen or broken water pipes as well.

a bit later in the day the next thought that came to mind  was how lucky i am to still have my dad and aunt to have dinner with . you see they are both remarkable people even though my dad has slowed down a bit this year he is still a remarkable guy. and his sister is and always has been my favorite ( of the 4 original sisters).
over the last year as i have come out to both of them as well as all my immediate neighbors and most of my friends i was pleasantly surprised at how supportive and accepting they al have been of me. especially since i don't PLAN on transitioning!

which brought me to my next thought about how lucky i am to live in this part of the world and in this part of the usa. just to be able to go out in public and  come out to others locally and be accepted is truly wonderful!

so as this thanksgiving day comes to a close a final thought came to mind in that thanksgiving is not really just in one particular place or just on a specific day. it can be any place in the world on any day of the week  because thanksgiving like Christmas is really more about reflection upon the really important people in amongst our family and close friends  who have made an impact on our lives in a positive way.
it's having a roof over our heads and food in our stomach. and a safe place to rest. it is something that is deep inside of us with in our very being. but it is definitively not about having "more stuff now" as a friend of mines ' son came up with this phrase.

so to those who celebrated thanksgiving today i say i hope you had a happy thanksgiving.
hugs
Diana

attending a friends store party nov. 19th 2011

on sat i attended a party at a friends jewelry store. this is a small store in a small local business district.  the town itself is only 1 mile square in size. it was a great party with about 25 gg's all looking at both her costume and estate jewelry along with the business partners' fine and precious jewelry.
i had a great time chatting up a storm with many of the gg's at the party. only one or 2 attending had prior knowledge to my being transgendered. and i don't thing the rest suspected or if they did they didn't seem to care!
it was soooo great to be able to chat with all those gg's and blend right it. i had a great time.
hugs diana

catching up on the news of the great storms nov. 2011

i now it has been awhile since i wrote anything but we in NJ have had a few challenges in the last 2-3 months.
lest see back in sept. we had and earthquake and a hurricane in the same week! ( and i must add sort of tongue in cheek it proves we nj folks are tough , strong or resilient choose any of these). during the earth quake i was at an allergist office awaiting some tests for shrimp and seafood ( proved negative) when the allergist jimped out of his chair and sprung out in the reception area and returned to say the TV said we had had a earthquake of 5.9. an hour later i was at the butcher when i felt a bit woozy  and realized i had felt an aftershock and again at home i had the same feeling.
several days later we had a sever hurricane. since we are 10 miles from the linden nj bay and 50 miles from my favorite beach i don't usually worry about hurricanes but this one was a doozy! hurricane Irene left my dad and i without power for 25 hours and broke the remainder of an old pine tree down. this was mild in comparison with neighboring towns where 2 towns away in cranford nj it wiped out both cranford town hall and the police dept buildings as well as demolishing several homes and flooding many others. for several weeks as one drove through certain sections of that town one could smell the musty oder of ruined belongings out on the curb.
the power companies brought in crews from as far as Minnesota and tree crews came as far as Texas. they worked 18 hour shifts to get everything back in order. i must say a big thank you to all who came to help us in NJ and the northeast. without their help i was told it would have been 1 year before ele was available!
also the neighbors were once again compassionate to each other. each helping each other out with generators and barbeques to us op the food before it was ruined.
the day after the storm was warm and sunny so it helped with the clean up.

now just about a month later mother nature in a crewel mischief night trick zapped us again with another storm but this time she sent snow mixed with rain with cooler temp. at 35 degrees. and i must note  that here in new jersey NEVER can i remember  getting 4-6" of snow before halloween! and remember some people were still cleaning up from the last storm the month before!
and again we lost ele for about 15 hours through the night. but once again i needed to get up ever 2-3 hours the help my dad find his way to the bathroom where i had rigged a work light with a gell pack battery. but i needed to light the was to turn it on since it has a limited charge of 4-10 hours.
i commeted" i can't believe that with all the new ele toys like i phones ect. i ended up using 1850's oil lamps till we went to sleep."  i also had to remember how to cook in a pan on top of the stove to cook canned soup! ( as one can guess i use the microwave a lot for cooing the meals)  but i must admit the crabcakes, pre cooked, were much better done in the oven.
unfortunately in the sept storm i had just cooked 2 doz meat balls which i trough out along with 10 hamburgers since they all defrosted. but again i caon't complain since we only had several large limbs to cut up. on the other had the towns up the hill from me just about 2 towns away were like war zones and totally impassable. their schools were closed for 1 week which means they have used all their snow days and it isn't even officially winter yet! some famialys who had well water  had the worst problem in not having ele to pump their water.

my aunt who lives 15 miles from me in Bridgewater NJ was with out power for 5 days  and came to stay with me and my dad she is 88 and dad her brother is 86. when i went back on monday to help her get clothes for the week it was only 45 degrees in her house at noon! we were lucky that it wasn't in january when it can become 0-15 degrees before any wind chill factor is added in. because then we'd have to worry about damage to the water pipes as well. and i heard that some families didn't get ele back until this past week, making it over 2 weeks with out ele for those families. remember we are not set up for heating our homes from fireplaces like they did over 2 hundred years ago. in fact people that had natural gas stoves and hot water heaters with electronic ignitions couldn't even get by and since it was colder outside they couldn't really barbeque ether. i was lucky to have a older gas stove/oven to cook on/in. which also gave us some heat as well.
but again we still did better in both storms that vermont which had some towns cut off from the world when their only main road washed away.

now an update on me Diana! i am lucky to have an understanding dad who when i came home dressed and removed my "hair" and cooked dinner and sat down at the dining room table he says" so where did cutie go (his name for me as diana)? is she eating dinner with us tonight?" so i went back and placed the wig back on my head. and sat down to dinner with him. it only came off to sleep and went back on when i went downstairs to eat breakfast in my flannel lined satin nightgown. which is the way i have been showing up (minus wig) to breakfast for the last year. as i said i feel as though i have one of the best dad's fo being sooooo understand in a "live and let live philosophy". at any rate it allowed me to be diana in fem for 2 days straight! yea! what i mean is hair (wig ) and all many times for grocery shopping and other errands.
more another time
hugs to all
Diana