Daniella's Ramblings

My mother has wanted to babysit my daughters for a few weeks now. Due to various scheduling issues, we just could not make this happen. So, when the planets aligned on Saturday we were all excited at the prospect of the girls spending the day at their grandmother’s house.

We got up relatively early on Saturday and I made breakfast before we all got ready. I dropped the girls off at Brownies and Teddies (junior Girl Guides) and raced home where I had a lovely relaxing bubble bath. Then we got dressed and did makeup. I decided that as it was a beautiful early spring day, I would wear the floral dress that Lesley at The OPC had found for me a few weeks ago. It is a shift dress that feels so wonderful and feminine on. It is however definitely a summer weight material and needs to be worn on a warm day, so I just have not had an opportunity to wear it, until now.

I paired the dress with my white wedges and a few pieces of jewellery. I did not opt for a necklace as I thought the high neck line was sufficient. I decided to go with my brown leather handbag as it picked up on the browns and golds in the floral design. Here is a picture so you can get an idea of what the outfit looked like.

I think my makeup skills are slowly improving and I am getting ever so slightly more adventurous (I even put on some very discrete green eyeliner), but they are nowhere near as good as my spouse’s.

After getting ready, my spouse fetched the girls and took them to my parents’ house. This gave me some time to take some self-portraits with the camera on a tripod using the self-timer. When she got back, my spouse was kind enough to take some photos of me in the garden.

All modelling duties done, we headed off to Parkhurst, a trendy part of Johannesburg. There are lots of LGBT people, good restaurants, pavement cafes, boutiques art galleries etc. We arrived and we were lucky enough to find parking on the main street. This is a rarity and boded well for the rest of the day. As we were getting out of the car, a car wash entrepreneur came up to us to ask whether we wanted a car wash. He was literally stumbling over his words as he saw us. He had difficulty getting the question out and I then heard him making comments about how we looked, sort of under his breath, but just loud enough so that I could hear them. He was not aggressive and none of the comments were lewd, just appreciative. This is a refreshing change from some of what I have come to expect when out and about.

We weren’t sure where we wanted to eat, so we decided to take a walk, look at some shops and also find a spot that looked like a good place to eat. Being early spring in Johannesburg, the weather was fantastic but still a little cool in the shade. There were some good-looking places on our side of the street, but they were all in the shade and we both felt chilly in our rather flimsy dresses. Whilst walking we walked right past my sister’s former boss who I had met in male mode quite a few times and who had also met my spouse a few years ago.

Fortunately, she didn’t recognise us and we promptly crossed over to the warmer side of the street. Here we found a lovely little bistro, called Bistro Vine. It was very Parisienne, with its tables on the pavement and it reminded us both of our trip to Paris two years ago. We found a table in the warm sun and enjoyed some people watching as we chatted about this and that. The menu was very good although I wouldn’t exactly consider it if you are dining out on a budget. The waiter was great, the food better. I had a pork belly, calamari and chorizo in a chili and garlic sauce starter followed by a lemon tart and a cappuccino for dessert. I quite enjoy having a started and dessert rather than a main course as it seems to work well for my digestion. I washed it all down with a bottle of sparkling water. My dining partner had a goat’s cheese salad, a craft beer (I guess she is the butch one after all) and a chocolate and orange dessert. It was all very yummy and I would recommend the bistro. The meal cost R450 (US$35) including a tip which isn’t exactly expensive, but it isn’t cheap either. I did however enjoy my meal and felt it represented good value for money. Something that isn’t always guaranteed.

Whilst eating various hawkers, selling everything from feather dusters to pieces of art came up asking us if we wanted to buy their wares. They were all very polite calling us ‘lovely ladies’ or such like things and when we declined they left without being pushy. As we were leaving, after paying our bill, one hawker was VERY appreciative of my outfit and said so. I blushed… Again. All these compliments were very good for the self image issues.

We decided to walk off our lunch and stopped off at a lingerie boutique as my spouse wanted to see if they had a better fitting bra for her. The shop assistants were all very attentive and professional. They addressed me as a woman which is always nice. The boutique offers a personal bra fitting service, which they offered to us both. I declined but my spouse went ahead. I browsed while waiting. They had a divine soft dressing gown, which was a sexy (short) length and made from the perfect downy, polar fleece type material. They also had very pretty skirt for wearing over your costume at the beach or to a public swimming pool. It was so pretty, it could have been worn anywhere but, both items were just too expensive for my taste. We left without buying anything.

We left Parkhurst and arrived home without incident. I showered and changed before racing off to fetch the kids from my parents. Yet another fun Saturday spent en femme and incident free.