How'd I do on my 2023 Bucket List?

 Hello There,

    Earlier this year I wrote myself a bucket list for 2023 with regards to some feminine goals and activities to work towards accomplishing for 2023. Well now that 2023 has come to a close, I can look back and see what I did and didn't manage to accomplish this year. I did better that I thought considering the whirlwind of a year that I've had with a new job and new romantic relationship. But lets go item by item to see how I did!

1. Get a Bra fitting at Victoria's Secret: Definitely didn't do this one, you would've seen it all over my blog if I did LOL. Still my top gender affirming goal however so I'd imagine it'll find its way onto the 2024 list.

2. Buy Myself a Wedding Dress: I completed this one, kinda. Check out my blog post where I discuss buying my first wedding dress. Since things didn't work out quite like I expected this one may also have to role over to my 2024 list, we'll see...

3. Wear Pantyhose Under Shorts in Public: I did this one! Several times in fact! Once I was finally able to nail down the perfect pair of pantyhose to wear in public, I've been wearing them out and about quite frequently! This bucket list item was a big success!

4. Tell More People: Haven't told anyone else, whoops. Big fail on my part.

5. Try new Clothes and Styles: Had a whole blog post on trying new things, and since then I've continued the streak. Another big success!

6. Get Some More Costumes: Another check on the list, got myself a princess peach costume! Although I would've liked to get more costumes, at least I got one!

7. Keep Up With Working on this Blog: Indeed I have, another check!

8.  Underdress More: This one could really go either way. While yes I have continued to do some underdressing, sometimes for longer periods, and more visibly than I've ever done before. In my original list I mentioned maybe doing it once a week, which I definitely did not do. So kinda a half check maybe?

9. Explore My Kinky Side: I dabbled.

10. Go Out In Public: Big no on this one! But I'm working towards it, baby steps like wearing visible pantyhose in public and buying new jeans to wear for an eventual outing help me work towards this goal.

    So like a 5 or 6 out of ten depending on how you count the wedding dress and underdressing more. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Some of the uncompleted goals will role over to the 2024 bucket list, so stay tuned for that. 2023 was a pretty good year, more gender understanding, new adventures, some great blog posts, and a new relationship with a partner that accepts me! I'm looking forward to 2024 and all the exciting new things it may have instore for me!

-Carly

Wearing visible pantyhose in a crowded mall!

 Hello There,

    This is a followup post to my jean shopping with Girlfriend post. I mentioned in that, how I had worn pantyhose under my guy clothes. Well we were out shopping in a busy mall for several hours, which meant that I was wearing visible pantyhose for hours surrounded by hundreds of people! What a nerve wracking experience it was, OMG! We walked store to store, and all over that mall. We even ate in the food court, all while I had pantyhose on display on my legs! It was certainly very scary, I felt like my head was on a swivel, making sure no one was giving me dirty looks. Thankfully my girlfriend was great at distracting me and helping me keep my mind off of the fact that I was a regular guy who was wearing women's legwear on display for the world to see! Well after several hours of shopping, we concluded our trip, and I didn't have a single incident, wearing them. It seems like all the things I've read from crossdressers online claiming to never have problems wearing pantyhose in public seems to be accurate. I'll have to look froward to doing it more often!

-Carly

Jean Shopping with my Girlfriend

 Hello There,

    So I've been planning on doing a featured post on jeans for my clothing page for a while now but I've been faced with a problem. I've never owned a pair of jeans that I've really loved. So before I talked at length about jeans and show off some pictures of me wearing them, I thought it might be important to actually find a few pairs that I really liked. So I decided that I'd go out shopping to try and find the perfect pair for me, and my girlfriend was kind enough to tag along to help me choose!

    I started off by putting on a bra, panties, and pantyhose to wear under my guy clothes. Then my girlfriend and I headed to Kohls to start since I had a gift card. While we were driving there my girlfriend, was rubbing my leg and commented on how smooth my legs felt with the pantyhose on. I couldn't help but smile, because they were serving their intended purpose. When we got to Kohls we started by trying to figure out what size I was. After trying on an armful of jeans I finally found that I was a size 10. Now that I knew exactly what size I was I needed to figure out what style I wanted. I had gone with the intention of getting a pair of skinny jeans, but unfortunately skinny jeans are starting to be out of fashion (when did that happen?!). Anyway, as I went to try a few different styles I noticed a problem, the store had almost no size 10! I was really annoyed, because I'd finally found my perfect size and now I couldn't even find a pair in that size. Well I'd have to look elsewhere to find my perfect jeans.

    Thankfully I also had a gift card to Macys, which is where we drove next. The Macys we chose was 3 floors and massive. They also had all their jeans sporadically placed throughout the store making it hard to find all of them. After quite a bit of shopping my girlfriend and I had another armful of jeans and we went to a changing room. After trying on a ridiculous amount of jeans I found that I really loved a pair! Levi's 501 original style I thought looked really good on me! They hug the butt and thighs so they still sort of had that "skinny" look. When I took them to check out, my gift card ended up paying for the whole pair, what a treat!

    While yes, I'd finally found a great pair of everyday jeans to wear, I never actually bought true skinny jeans. Well, my girlfriend was on the case and recommended American Eagle for a pair of jeggings. I was a little skeptical because I'd never tried jeggings before, but I trusted her and drove us to an American Eagle store. I quickly tracked down a pair of Jeggings and tried them on. Yet again my girlfriend was right, they looked amazing on me. They gave me the skinny jean look, without the difficulty of getting them on and off. Unfortunately they were a little expensive so I decided to wait for Black Friday to get a pair for myself. 

    With 2 new pairs of Jeans that I love in my wardrobe it is safe to say that there will be a post dedicated to jeans coming soon! So stay tuned for that! In the meantime, I've got a brief follow up post to this one talking about how nerve wracking it was wearing pantyhose while I did my jean shopping in the crowded mall!

-Carly

The Queen of Princess Crossplay

  Hello There,

    I've got a real special post for you today; I'm going to highlight one of my earliest inspirations both in terms of gender non-conformity and a love for princesses! I'm of course talking about Richard Schaefer (also known as Richard Arthur), known formally online by the handle @theofficialariel. For years online Richard was the queen of makeup transformations from regular guy to graceful princesses, and had an extremely successful Instagram page. Richard's fame was international and caught the attention of news outlets all over the world!

Yahoo even did a full video interview, featuring Richards transformation into Aurora:

One of Richard's most recent interviews was with the Disney Style Facebook page which chronicled his transformation into Ariel:

    During my early days of dressing I used to regularly check Richard's Instagram to see all his amazing new pictures. His cultural impact on cosplay and love for a Disney Princesses despite his gender, were both hugely impactful on me during my formative years. For his own mental wellbeing Richard has recently taken a break from social media, and I certainly can't blame him. So although there's no new princess photos to share I thought I'd share some of my faves! I figure we go princess to princess so we can chronical all of Richard's incredible transformations, and there's only one correct princess to start with!

Ariel

Aurora

Belle

Cinderella

Snow White

Rapunzel

Anna & Elsa

Giselle

Elena of Avalor

Even More Princesses!

____________________________________

    Those were all some pretty impressive Disney Princess transformations, am I right?! Richard is an absolute chameleon, when it comes to makeup and always seemed to capture the princess he was cosplaying perfectly! But in all honesty it's not the impressive makeup, glamorous wigs, or gorgeous dresses that I'll miss most about Richard's absence from social media, it's his humor. Richard always found time to be funny or silly on his social media accounts. It was a wonderful breath of fresh air that Richard didn't take himself too seriously, and always found time to have some fun! 

    One last thing from Richard I want to highlight is his Dapper Day look. For those of you that don't know Dapper Day is an unofficial event at Disney where guests dress up in very "dapper" outfits, and spend the day enjoying either Disney World or Disneyland. It has become quite a popular event in recent years, and I have even gone myself (as a guy unfortunately). It was actually Richard who first inspired me to try dapper day out with his absolutely incredible Dapper Day look. Here Richard proved beyond a doubt that he could effortlessly capture everything wonderful about femininity, and he looked absolutely gorgeous! 

    Well there you have it my tribute to Richard, who remains by far the best Crossplayer I have ever seen. I have always been so inspired by Richard and his talents, so many of my formative years were spent drawing inspiration from him. I hope he is still doing well and continuing to enjoy all the fun femininity has to offer!

-Carly