Wow, what a day...
Morning goes by quickly, sleeping in, then quickly finishing up some cleaning of the apartment for our guests we'll be having later on.
A trip out to West Dundee to my doctor for my shot, and that's where we'll be meeting my two friends, K and S, and a third person, C, that I haven't met yet, a houstguest of one, and apparently SO of the other. The wait's a little long, so we go wander Spring Hill Mall for a few minutes. We get back, and it turns out we missed them coming in to the office, as K signed in just after I did, but no sign of them. I don't have to wait long, get in, get my shot taken care of, and as we're waiting to pay, she walks in. Ok, the other two, S and C, are waiting outside on the bench, so we head out there to wait.
Yep, just as expected, they're holding hands and such on the bench. I think it's cool, but I do notice quite a few stares at them - I doubt they see two girls holding hands much in their area.
We chat, get to know C a bit. We were planning on heading straight to Macaroni Grill to eat, but they ate quite a bit a few hours ago, so we just head back to our apartment and chat for a while. We talk about things not of consequence, and also some of our own experiences being TG and such. I show them an old picture of me, just for shits and giggles, and am happy when they tell me that the person looks like a sibling at best, and they can't really connect it with me now. A fun thought.
Finally, we leave, and meet up with another friend at the restaurant, E. We picked Macaroni Grill because S, has never been to an Italian restaurant. They apparently don't have many of those in New Zealand.
At one point at dinner, I sit and just consider the fact that of a table of six women here, five of them were't born that way - and that probably not a single person in the restaurant ever thought a thing. That it's almost a footnote - I feel like I'm just in a group of women, cause that's how it is. It was great realizing that it really didn't matter.
Afterwards, we head over to Woodfield Mall. S had been to only one American mall in the two months she's been in the country, and that was the smaller one earlier today. We enter through our normal door, right by the shoe section at JC Penney's. And S is immediately over in the shoes - C and I right behind her, while the other three wander elsewhere. I find the most perfect pair of brown boots, but just as my luck is, nothing in my size.
Anyways, we get back together, I point out the forest green suede skirt I so desperately want (and they all agree it would look good on me), and we start to head out toward the rest of the mall. We stop temporarily by the leather coats, S once again having to look (I can tell already she can sure shop), and I decide to try one on. Looks bad, but S points me to another she thinks will look better, so I try that one on. OMG, I am in love with it immediately - and I had no interested in a leather coat before. I do now. :)
We finally get to the front of the store, and wander out into the mall itself. I can hear S gasp, and I think C did also. They just stand and stare for a couple minutes, at the enormous size, the huge ceiling, all the people. I take a minute to look at it again, feeling the excitment of something new coming from S and C. It is pretty damn amazing to look at...
Well, we wander around for a couple hours, making it through about half of the mall. S and C pull is into stores I never thought I'd go into (like Hot Topic, as I always felt too old for it... and it was actually pretty fun being in there - I loved the shirt that said "Think Forward, Not Straight" with the text in rainbow). I've never been in the middle of a group of six, all interested in looking and shopping, and it's pretty damn fun.
Finally, we leave, and E has to head elsewhere, so it's back to the five of us. We return to our apartment, and break out a bottle of wine, White Zinfandel, my favorite. It takes no time as we chat to down that bottle, so we head back into the fridge - there's some old bottle of cheap champagne in there, so they open it, and pour out five glasses. It is easily the worst stuff I have ever drank! OMFG! The other four down their glasses, to get rid of it, but I won't touch mine, so K finishes it for me.
Since we don't have much else except sipping liquers around (Chambord, Frangelico, Godiva), K and S head to the store to pick up some more alcohol. The other three of us chat, find out a little more, and C gives us a couple ideas for questions to ask when they get back - somewhere along the line we all decided we're going to play truth or dare - I think since so few of us have ever done that, and it's such an interesting group of people we're with.
They get back, two 4 packs of wine coolers, and 2 more bottles of White Zin. Full glasses of wine, and we start playing. All the alcohol was finished quickly, along with the bottle of Godiva, and a good amount of Chambord. And truth or dare is a very interesting game to play with a group of trannies (4 out of 5), as the questions are so much more interesting ("What was the most boyish thing you've ever done?" "What happened when your parents first caught you dressed as a girl?"), along with more typical questions ("What's the kinkiest thing you've ever done?") Some very interesting dares also - let's just say that I ran around the apartment topless :)
Anyways, it all eventually had to come to an end (a rather sudden one, as someone had some issues pop up on them they had to deal with)... I was rather sad about it, because it was such a fun day. I was with a group of friends that I was just so comfortable around, more comfortable and open with a group than I've ever been (even more so than my college friends), and I knew it would be a while before we would be together again, if ever (C is from Florida, visiting on fall break from her college), though there are still four of us in the area.
Damn, it feels nice to belong.