The past few days have been a whirlwind of preparations for this day, so I woke up early and exhausted this morning. Not the best way to start this day!

My makeup went on very well this morning and i was pleased with what I saw looking back in the mirror. I was dressed tastefully in some skinny jeans, a nice top, and some low heeled wedges.

I headed out the door and arrived at work without incident. A female friend that I am out to happened to be in the parking lot at the same time so we walked in together. I arrived about 30 minutes before business started so there was very few people there. I left my office door open and began working, nervously waiting for people to show up for work. They had all been told about me in a company wide meeting on monday. The company brought in a gender therapist to give a presentation to everyone in that meeting and that seemed to help a lot.

Around 8am people began coming by my office to say hello and to offer me words of encouragement. The CEO even stuck her head in for a minute and said hello. The parade continued for most of the morning and not one person had anything bad to say to me. I began to feel very, very good.

After awhile I made the maiden voyage to the ladies room and i got in and out without incident. I noticed a difference in that room vs the dudes room - the stall doors are all closed whether or not the stall is occupied. In the mens room the doors hang open just a bit if no one is in there, so now I have a dilemma - do I lean down from a distance to look for shoes to verify whether a stall is occupied? I'm going to have to discretely ask one of the ladies how they do it.

I got treated totally different. The men talked more gently to me with a nice smile on their face. They talked with respect though so they weren't belittling me. Several women gushed over me, one declared me her new best girl friend at work, and one told me that "I look so good" and she wants to have lunch next week. In fact, my transition seems to have made me more....... popular!?!? How the heck did THAT happen?

Today was a great day for me 

Hi EvaMarie;

What a wonderful start to your new life. After a week it will all just be so normal. Were your fingernails and toenails neatly painted. Not there is no excuse not to wear some nice dangly earrings. Do keep in touch with all your news
Do send a selfie to me (PM if you want) of how you are looking soon). I am so happy for you Girl.
Judith

Eva

Great to hear that your first day has gone so well.   Many more great days to follow.

Safe travels

Aisla

Wow, that's great hun!

Since I am currently playing housewife I didn't have to deal with a workplace environment while I was in the hard parts of my transition but it has some drawbacks too, now I am paralysed with fear at the idea of applying for work. I can pass on brief inspection or even a little more but I KNOW someone will read me if I am working close with people.

I have to go back to work at some point but I just can't bring myself to. Maybe when I am more confident.

Great news Eva. You'll be able to tell if everything is going especially well if you become "old news" really quickly. My transition at work cause an initial flurry of excitement and interest but that petered out pretty fast and it was on with business as usual.

The one issue that you will have to deal with for probably a few months is people using your old name and misgendering you - in most cases it will be accidental, it usually happens when people are on auto pilot but you still need to know how to deal with it. Ignoring it is no good as it doesn't allow people to acknowledge their error and won't force change. Making a scene isn't going to help you much either. My personal tactic is to call it out the second it happens, regardless who it is and the circumstances. Most commonly I've found it happens in meetings or group discussions where chores/tasks/activities I'm undertaking are being discussed. As soon as they use the wrong name or pronouns just say "sorry, who?" - after all there's no one here by that name/gender identity. It's usually enough for them to realise they've erred, often they'll apologise and correct themselves. The self correction is important because it helps them to learn.

Anyway, that was a sidebar! Congrats, hope all goes well!

Quote from: Eva Marie on September 18, 2014, 01:33:05 AM
Today was a great day for me 

Congrats. I remember my first day at work as myself. It was magical. I'm glad your experience was similar.

Quote from: Eva Marie on September 18, 2014, 01:33:05 AMI was dressed tastefully in some skinny jeans, a nice top, and some low heeled wedges.

I bet you looked fab. Any pics?

Oh I love you're experience at work..!
Congratulations and well done Eva Marie, you really deserve it..!
You made my day..! 

Great for you. Maybe you & your nice co worker woman can be close friends, go shopping together, etc...... It's good to bond with nice CIS girl friends.

Sounds like you've had (are having) a lovely, if tiring, day there.

Congratulations and I hope it carries on like this. I bet you feel fantastic!

Glad to hear things went well

As requested - here is a selfie of what I wore yesterday (I hate selfies because I never take a good one):



Judith - I had acrylic nails put on a couple of days ago.

Now i'm off to the dmv!

Quote from: Eva Marie on September 18, 2014, 09:50:04 AM
As requested - here is a selfie of what I wore yesterday (I hate selfies because I never take a good one):



Judith - I had acrylic nails put on a couple of days ago.

Now i'm off to the dmv!

You look fab! I'd say you have a new profile pic there!

Congratulations Eva and I agree with Alice, you look terrific on your selfie!
Wishing you all the best for the future.
Donna

Quote from: Alice Rogers on September 18, 2014, 09:51:31 AM
You look fab! I'd say you have a new profile pic there!

Agreed!

Eva;
You look great in the Selfie. Why not get some professional pictures taken of yourself now. I agree with Grace this should be your new Profile Pic. I am so happy for you.
Judith

So awesome!  And looking good...  Are you aging in reverse?

Anyway, I'm glad it went so well for you.

Quote from: Eva Marie on September 18, 2014, 09:50:04 AM
As requested - here is a selfie of what I wore yesterday (I hate selfies because I never take a good one):



Judith - I had acrylic nails put on a couple of days ago.

Now i'm off to the dmv!

OMG. Do us redneck AR girls proud. You go and never back down.

You look great & I'm sure you will feel more normal every day. Try some makeup GF, maybe some nice red lipstick? Maybe visit a Merle Normal studio & let them have some fun so you can see how you look to find your best makeup style. Have fun, enjoy your new life, you deserve it.

Quote from: FrancisAnn on September 19, 2014, 08:18:44 AM
You look great & I'm sure you will feel more normal every day. Try some makeup GF, maybe some nice red lipstick? Maybe visit a Merle Normal studio & let them have some fun so you can see how you look to find your best makeup style. Have fun, enjoy your new life, you deserve it.

Hi Francis-

I have makeup on but the light in that room is harsh and tends to wash out the makeup. One of the things I did before I went to work the first time was to have a professional help me a bit with my makeup. Red lipstick doesn't look good on me; but the makeup person gave me a custom made lip gloss that is kind of a dark peach color and it looks fantastic. Its not a color that I would have picked at all but then again I'm not a professional in the beauty business so what do I know? LOL..... Unfortunately I didn't think to put any of that lip gloss on before taking the pic because I was in a mad rush to get out the door that morning and taking the selfie was an afterthought.

I am having fun and as Ms. Grace said I am already becoming old news at work which is exactly what I want to happen. I want to be seen as just one of the girls in the office.

A few people have misgendered me but it doesn't happen very often and they immediately correct themselves so for now I'm letting it slide.

Congrats Eva, I am sure it feels wonderful to be yourself all the time now! You look really great and I agree with everyone else about your new profile pic.