The Curse of The Imp

Last Saturday, July 14, was the Carolina Meeting Place party at the hotel in downtown Raleigh.  This is a yahoo based group and it bills itself as being open to cd/tv/ts/bi/swingers/straight/couples/gays/lesbians but it is mostly cd/tv/ts as well as spouses, admirers and supporters.  It is a special group to me personally because I met my boyfriend Mitchell through this group, as well as some other friends I hang out with outside the parties.  Also when I was new to being out everyone in this group was so friendly and encouraging to me, they really make you feel comfortable.  The parties themselves are just a big gathering in a hotel bar.  Some of the crowd is wild and will have their own wild parties in their hotel rooms but the party in the bar is just friends socializing and of course alcohol is served for those that want it.  There are always new people coming out and I don't get a chance to meet everyone each time anyway so I always meet new people and see people I haven't seen in awhile.  I have only been going a couple of years myself so I am relatively new compared to some of the "old timers", lol.  The group's de facto leader, the charismatic Candi, was celebrating her 50th birthday last weekend so there was a big turn out and they even had a "pre party" the night before.  Mitchell had us a room booked at the hotel for Saturday night.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tammy_cd/7621955900/in/photostream
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Carolinameetingplace/

We had 100 degree temperatures again last weekend so I wanted to wait until I got to the hotel, and close to the time of the party, to do my makeup and get ready.  I left mid afternoon for the hour's drive and Mitchell had already checked in and was waiting for me when I got there.  This was my first chance to use my new luggage and I love it, its so cute and such an upgrade from what I had been using.  We were able to hang out for awhile in the room talk and eat some subs for supper so we wouldn't have to eat at the crowded party that started at 7:30.  About 6 pm I started to get ready and I removed the light make up I had on and got ready to put on primer and liquid foundation.  I blend two shades of foundation to match my skin tone and  I am able to match almost anyone's shade perfectly by personalizing a blend just for them.  Anyway it looks like The Curse of The Imp had followed me to Raleigh because I only had one of my Make Up Forever foundation shades with me!  I had two bottles but they were both the same shade.  Three days prior I had to make a special trip to Raleigh just to get this foundation and now I was going to have to go back to Sephora at the mall and get more.  My only other options were to use the darker shade which would not have looked right or to use my powder foundation but it would have been to light for the night look I was going for.

So I threw on a little make up and ran off to the mall (en femme but no wig) for the second time in three days to get this one foundation for the party.  If the "Imp" dog had not chewed up my original bottle it would still have been in my makeup case and there would be problem.  But, oh well, it was my mistake so Mitchell gave me some money to go the store and I took off for the mall.  Saturday evening and the big mall was crowded of course so it took a bit of time to get a park. Once inside  I headed straight to Sephora and got my HD make up and went to check out.  This is an awesome and Fun store but I was on a mission so no lingering tonight.  The girl at the checkout actually recognized me from previous visits right away even though she had never seen me without my wig and I was impressed with that, she said I looked great.   She was sporting some really glamorous eye makeup and if I had known I had to do all this I would have budgeted enough time for her to do my eyes for the party.  I got back to the room about 7 and it was close to 9 before we got up to the 19th floor bar where the parties are held.  It was stressful getting ready and running around but at least I didn't have to compromise my look and it feels great to walk into a room with my man on my arm:)

The party itself is almost a blur but it was a great time.  Its not a blur because I drank some beer but its just moving around a lot and talking to a lot of different people and it blurs together and goes by fast.  I don't know what the count was but we had close to 40 girls there and a good crowd overall.  I never liked this kind of social situations as a guy.  Not being comfortable with myself I was even less comfortable around other people.  I am still not the social animal that someone like like Candi is, as she will befriend everyone in the room and parking lot also :) , but I am at least functioning in a social situation and that is fairly new to me so I am learning.  Its weird to be my age and having to learn basic social skills but they never mattered before so I never cared to pick them up.  This group does a good job of getting new girls of all ages to come out, sometimes for the first time, so I would like to give them some credit for my development as well as being there myself to be encouraging to others.  We have some very part time girls there, some of whom even bring bring wives, some full time girls and a lot in various stages of transition.  Its a mix that works very well there and the only real divide seems to be in the younger versus older crowd and that's to be expected everywhere I guess.  I will say all the girls that come out try to give their best presentation and they a great looking and fun group of girlfriends.

After the parties a lot of the girls will break into smaller groups and head out to the other clubs, restaurants and bars downtown.  This party ran a little later than most, until almost 1am I believe, so we went back to the room and retired for the night but didn't really stay up late.  The next morning we woke up about 8:15 and we had a late check out time of 2 pm so we stayed in bed until almost noon, a great Sunday morning:)  When we got up to take a shower I noticed one of my stud ear rings was not in my ear.  Had The Curse of The Imp returned?  I have been a fanatic about keeping something in my ears since  I had them pierced and I had only been 3 or 4 hours without ear rings a few times in the 6 months since they were pierced.  I was nervous that the hole had grown back together but maybe they have healed good enough by now because I was able to get one of my larger rings in the hole and everything was ok.  We looked and looked and found the backing to the ear ring but not the post so here was something else I had buy.  Its hard to blame this one on the dog (Imp) but I will anyway.   The Curse of The Imp got in its last laugh when we got out to the cars after checking out and I could not find my cell phone.  We went back up to the room which was open so we looked there and walked the halls looking for the maid. The front desk was no help but I went back through my luggage one more time and there it was!  If I hadn't cut the sound off in the morning when Facebook posts were making the beeping sounds it would have been found earlier.  If it wasn't for the run of bad luck since acquiring The Imp...Oh well it was an awesome weekend and thanks for stopping by to hear about it.  I wouldn't trade it for the world and looking back I wouldn't change a thing.  I just take life as it comes now and its beautiful here in Tammy World.  Storm clouds may be gathering on the horizon but I am taking the time to enjoy the sunny weather.  :)