Spring

                                        And The
               Return  to
         Normality

Occasional I get the chance to forget that I'm a transgender woman and just enjoy living a life.

A life of normal daily events free from the clutter in my mind. 

Today was one such day. I  awoke from a dream where I was the female savior of the day, rescuing, I guess my love interest in this dream from the boredom of a government service queue. Then scaling the heights of the complex to escape with my sidekick though to top window

it was half  'Indiana Jones' and half 'Lara Croft' as I scaled the vine ropes and climbed too safety and the next adventure 

One of the coolest dreams I've ever woken from

Yes there was a cost to this dream 

Quite simply I slept in an extra hour longer than I had intended to.

So rushing trough my morning ritual of coffees, cigarettes and shower. I walked out the door to a beautiful springtime morning full of promise for the coming months.

I still arrived at the shop with time spare to check my hair and touch up my lipstick.

Customers milling around through the racks searching for their size and style and through the bargain bins outside for those staple garments.

Bright colourful dresses billowing like sails in the cool springtime breeze heralding in spring with their easy dance.

Inside I get to play with Kym-Lee's niece Tiffany. Hide and seek from the evil Raggedy-Anne, Tinkerbell bringing back to life 'Baby Bear' after his tragic fall from the throne. 

Then capturing the Evil Dragon and restoring peace to Papa Bears kingdom. 

Such a hectic day and its still not over 

Later we met up with Trace and her partner and walked over to the Buddhist temple while Tiffany got to fly and jump the whole way even up and down the steps to the temple.

The massive alabaster Buddha outside overlooking the valley was dwarfed by the gold leaf Buddha sitting at repose inside watching us all with loving eyes as we explored the many rooms and intricately carved dioramas. 

Such an amazing place and it took me back to walk trough the Sydney Gardens of friendship with my two lovely friends last year. Trace's partner giving us the narrated tour as we(I) saw  and learnt the history of a particular depiction of Buddha or priest.

I was even given my own little Buddha to take home, to give me wisdom and love in my life. He now sits on my dresser table to watch over me and bring me peace 

  

  

We sometimes forget the importance of just being accepted as who we are, and being treated with the same respect we give others without having to explain why we are undergoing this journey. 

I came home last night with sore feet and sore arms from swinging Tiffany up in the air. 

And a very happy heart.

   

Let it Snow

Christmas in July

Food, Friends and laughter
What more could you possibly want from life
Once again my lovely friend organised the now regular Christmas in July.
And once more she thanklessly succeeded in making an event to remember

Walking into "Oenoviva" a restaurant that had once been "Monroe's" still a regular meeting point. I was instantly taken back to last years event, and the lovely dress I wore last year.

And this year was no different

A table full of wonderful people coming together to share a meal and a laugh as we enjoyed a sumptuous traditional Christmas dinner.
All the while being serenaded by the seductive Jazz singer, singing all of my favourite songs
Honey glazed ham with tart apple sauce, Turkey and cranberry jelly, roast potatoes and pumpkin. Sausages and gravy. All perfectly cooked and piled high on platters. The only thing missing was the Yorkshire puddings my mum used to make.
Finished of with what can only be described as the most sumptuous Christmas pudding and double thick cream I've ever had.
With belly's full, I'm sure we would have all gone for a quick nap if only there had been lounge chairs.

I know Christmas is only Five months away, but I am already looking forward to the next Christmas in July.

    

My apologies in advance for the grainy pictures

(that's why not all of you are shown here)

I will have to write to Santa and ask

for a new camera .

My lovely friend Christine, the hostess that made this all possible  

Merry Christmas

 Everyone

&

  I hope too see you all next year

Cafe Success

The Second cafe night

Well last night was my second cafe night at Alphabet cafe .
It was a two bus and a tram  to get there as I am now find myself without a working van  ( I kind of destroyed the motor ). But that gave me an opportunity to gauge how easy or difficult it might be for anyone else relying on public transport.and honestly it was really easy, I quite literally  hopped of one bus straight into the next and again just as easily onto the tram finding myself  dropped of almost in front of the cafe door. Something that would never happen in sleepy little Adelaide

Upon entering early I saw two close of my close friends already deciding what delectable feast will be delighting their taste-buds this evening. Again Mark bought me my usual pot of Chai tea to begin the night while we all waited to see who else would turn up

Pretty soon we had taken over one large table and were sprawling into the next table as yet more arrived
Surrounded by a sea of faces that I have known and people that I had only  met that night. I managed to greet the new people and introduce them to the others and spend some time to make sure they were comfortable
and happy. Seeing everyone interact and share tales with each other really made my night perfect. Even I had no problems engaging with them which was always my greatest hurdle,  one that I would constantly fail to achieve with any measure of success, unless you count falling face first into a muddy pool

Thank you to all of you who were able to attend last night.  Thank you Leanne for promoting my night on Your Vic-Gender group

And a  very special thank you, to My good friend Ina for saving me from eating this delicious chocolate cake 

YUM

Hope you all had a great night as well and I look forward to seeing you at the next one.

Tuesday the 15th of   May

Maedaya ( a food lovers delight )

It is the simple pleasures in life that I find so outstandingly amazing today
The sun on my face, a smile from a stranger making new friends and__Eating out

It really was not that long ago ( just Two short years ) that just the concept of food and eating out would leave me in cold sweats and anxious.
For days before I was due to go out for a meal with friends  I would suffer anxiety attacks so bad that more often than not I would create some form of  "plausible" excuse to get out of something that should be an enjoyable event. And I am sure that's the main reason my friends stopped inviting me out.

The few times that I was not able to get out of a meal in public the tension would build up to a point that the distress would be more than visible to all my friends and sitting in a cool restaurant sweating and looking like I'm about to explode from fear would compound my fears even more, till more often than not I would either order the safest cleanest meal or claim not to be hungry at all and just sip my drink as my friends ate a sumptuous feast with glee at the tastes swirling around in their mouths.
As I sipped my drink and and stressed about all the other people in the room. And if by chance I actually ate I would be so concerned as to what people, I didn't even know would think as they were forced to watch such a hideous creature make such a mess of such a simple task.
That really I could have been eating  a charcoal block than a delicious steak for I am sure it would have tasted the same

Thank the stars those days are over 

Tonight's feast of tastes and textures for the senses was bought to you by

 Maedaya

Maedaya is a lovely Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant and Saki house, on Bridge road in Richmond
Not only is it a fantastic place to eat and explore the many taste of this style of food
but the service has always been excellent and the atmosphere with the ropes an dim lighting sets the tone for a great night
A restaurant that I will definitely be visiting again very soon
Tonight this time we were upstairs where they let you barbecue your meat selection at the table on a Hibachi grill. it is completely barren of style plain walls and decor with huge stainless steel extraction fans overhead  whirring away madly to get rid of the smoke from the Hibachi on our table
That still did not distract away from the fantastic atmosphere and as usual I tried something that previously I would never have ordered before. this time it was "soft shell crap "

As the second round came out to the table I couldn't help but notice the striking resemblance to giant squashed and fried huntsmen spiders.
But the taste of these delicious morsels was more than enough to wipe that image as soon as it appeared to be replaced with a simple yet complex mix of flavours
In fact all of the food we sampled tonight was nothing less than perfect in my mind, and yes a big part of that was more being able to share that joy with close friends.

It  wasn't until I got home that I realised how bad I used to be and how much I enjoy this new found sense of pure pleasure at being able to share great times with good friends over lovely food. and it was only then that I realised that my silly issues with food have disappeared into a void along with the many of the other unhealthy traits I used to possess.

Thankyou to all of my friends who were able to make it tonight , And for those who unable to make it tonight I look forward to catching up with you for more great company and food soon.


 =^.^=

Birthday

Birthdays are funny things

you have in mind exactly how you want it to go lots of cards from lots of friends even if you don't really talk to them or know them in the real world

This year I had planned on having a big dinner party with all my friends nearby at some swanky restaurant
more to make me feel like I had lots of close friends
But as I was heading back home from Adelaide I realised I would be just as happy sleeping through my
uhhmmm how old did I say I was again....... oh yes that's right . My 36th birthday   

My amazing friend in Sydney sent me flowers and the Iris's have just started to fully open showing both the blue and the pink petals of the Lily . I love both  Iris's and lily's. they have a great scent and if cared for they last 7 - 10 days

Ive never had Pink Iris's before so I was surprised this morning when the next flower opened up pink Im curios to see just what colour the next bloom will be

For my Birthday I ended up going shopping almost all Day with a Close friend in search of nice tops for my fist week back at work finally as Me . Granted I think she's trying to get me fat again or say I need sweetening up as we Shared a Huge plate of churros and chocolate dipping sauces

 I only wish that this was the size of the plate ours was three times the size 

They are basically a thin crispy doughnut batter but so yummy you don't want to stop at just one
and I swear within half an hour I could feel all that extra sugar coursing around
So It was lucky we had a huge shopping mall to explore
which also is a double edged sword so many beautiful dresses that I could easily have caused my credit card to spontaneously combust . But no I was very good and reminded my self that as good as I would look in that gorgeous red dress, it would not be practical for installing showers
so onwards we searched only to be sidetracked by the next item of non work related clothing
So after several hours of window shopping we headed over to the DFO( direct factory outlet )
where after yet again oohing and aahhing over more gorgeous dresses. I finally walked out with Seven new cute tops and a new pair of sneakers

After all this excitement we caught up with another good friend for coffee at her house where I got to show of my haul and catch up on all the gossip
My suggestion of a meal out was met with excitement as I hadn't eaten any thing other than Churros
the three of us shared a wonderful meal at a by chance find Chinese restaurant  sampling each others order and having a great time And I think we all fell in love with the Kung Bo ( its an odd dish ,starts out like sweet and sour then comes in with a Chili and Ginger kick )

Kung bo Chicken 

SO for not really planning anything other than shopping I ended up having a great day and evening with two of  my wonderful friends

I cant think of anything better than shopping and catching up with friends on my Special Day



=^.^=