Impossible Hobbies and Cross-Dressing

This afternoon I went to print something at the library. It's part of my unending quest to prove my residency to the University of Utah. And that's fine.

On the way to the library, I passed The Cotton Shop, which I know carries Amy Butler stuff. Which I like. I decided to go in and see they had any new fabrics from her lines. I stepped in the door and it was insanely busy. A girl handed me a ticket. "You'll want to hold onto this for the raffle," she said. I pretended I knew what she was talking about, and walked in. All over the store there were signs 'EVERYTHING 20% OFF' (unless marked with another sale). I had unwittingly stepped into Moonlight Madness! which is TONIGHT ONLY, from 5-9. Huh. Cool.

So I found a couple Amy Butler patterns that I wanted. I bought sophia carry-all and weekender travel bag. I also got fabric for the sophia carry-all, and interfacing. I still have to buy other stuff for it. I need lining, cording, a zipper, template plastic (whatever that is), etc, etc, etc. The bags are soooo cute though. And Amy Butler is trendy to people (my age anyhow) who sew. It never goes on sale.

I don't have a sewing machine, though. I don't know how to do zippers. Or piping on the edges. So it's a project that will probably have to wait until whenever I visit my mom. Too bad. I love my Amy Butler bag that I made before (the swing bag), and I think as soon as I finish these, I'll want to take them everywhere.

The girl behind me in the superlong line to have things cut recognized my bag. "Is that an Amy Butler bag?" "Mhmm" "It's so cute." "I love it. It was super easy, too." We had a whole conversation about it. She bought Amy Butler patterns and fabric, too. It isn't just me.

[That's the impossible hobby part of this post.]

I went to the library, and printed my thing. And got books! I'm going to read Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Strapped by Tamara Draut.

Then I went to the grocery store because Smith's has strawberries for $1.50/lb. And I picked up a few other things while I was there, but nothing really exciting. I started my walk home.

A couple blocks away from my house, I heard someone behind me as I was about to cross the street. The light changed. We crossed. "Can I help you carry your groceries?" a guy asked me. "Nah," I said without looking up. "They're actually not that heavy. It's just bread and stuff." (True.) "Okay," he said. It was nice of him to offer, anyway. And we took two separate paths, that both went the same way, and were about 5 feet apart.

I noticed that it seemed to be a guy, but he was wearing a light pink shirt. A fitted, woman's light pink shirt that had one of those empire-waist seams. It tied around the neck, with a bow. It was a very womanly shirt. I couldn't understand why a guy would wear something so obviously feminine. He was definitely a guy, though.

Our paths met up, and he kept talking to me. "It's a nice night," he said. "It is," I agreed. "It's nice that it's starting to get warmer." We talked about the weather for a few minutes, and about being from southern California. He was from the city next to mine. But had moved up to Utah quite a long time ago.

And he said it: "I hope I don't make you uncomfortable. Some people wouldn't want to walk with a cross-dresser." Aha. Things made more sense. "Nah. You can wear whatever you want," I told him.

And then we talked about whether or not I was attending BYU, which he doesn't care for.

And I got to my apartment, so I told him to have a great night, and we said goodbye. And that just goes to show that stereotypes are often unfounded. The guy offered to help me carry groceries, without even knowing me, and under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't have started a friendly conversation with him. There is good in everyone.