Cyrsti's Condo Fashion "Stuff"

Just passing along a couple budget "beauty lessons" I have learned recently.

1.- Use a more expensive finger nail polish.  Liz came up with a "Nicole by O.P.I. " Mer-Made For You" polish for my New Years Eve for lack of a better term is sort of a metallic green.  I learned the hard way number one, how hard it was for me to learn how to take care of my nails-then apply the polish-and how much.  After coats one, two and three then I applied a clear top coat.  Amazingly to me, my nails were almost good as new five days later. Liz found the nail polish at a neighborhood WalGreens for about 70% off it's regular $8.00 price.
2.- Staying at Walgreens, they are also running a sale on their fleece lined leggings. Two for the price of one (about $6.00) Since we are ready to again enter a period of Artic cold, these are very warm and comfortable to wear. Especially with a big oversized sweater and warm boots.  I was overjoyed to find a selection of shades in my size (plus)
3.- Cold heavy rain is good for your hair and reactivates your mousse. For New Years Eve I just shampooed my hair, conditioned, picked and went to party.  Great fun!  Then, yesterday Liz and I went to pick up a bookshelf we wanted and ended spending way too much time out in a sporadic daily rainstorm.  After my hair dried back out, I picked it again and here came the curls and waves again.  Probably the process is not recommended for not getting a cold!

Boys Just Want to be Pretty Too!

Just another kid looking too happy in a dress at a womanless beauty pageant! He is probably thinking he has finally found a way to put his arm around her. She is thinking-STOP It!

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

"Kerplunk!" Good morning kids, the first Condo Sunday Edition of 2015 has hit your virtual front porch!  Get a hot steamy cup o joe, curl up in those new Christmas "jammies" and lets get started.


Page 1.- The Week that Was - or Wasn't.  The new year started on an incredibly sad and tragic note when the ongoing epidemic of transgender suicides hit home.  This time, incredibly close to us in the Condo area.  Unless you are living in a cave or in one of my Facebook groups where sharing stupid pictures of yourself is more important than commenting-you have heard of 17 year old transgender girl Leelah Alcorn's suicide on New Years Eve. Around here in Ohio, her memory is being honored with vigils.  The first was held around here in Cincinnati, then Springfield and Dayton-both just up the road.  Two points.  The first was the number one news station in Cincy had a lengthy story on the vigil this morning with the proper pronouning AND (THANKS!) reported vigils are happening as far away as London, England! It makes a difference Paula and Vicki and all you trans girls across the pond.
And two:  of course Leelah's bigoted parents are still reportedly calling her their son but as a transgender community we are gaining ally's and understanding again from people on the edge. The ones who didn't really know much.  It's tough, a very positive happening from the worst of all circumstances-a young transgender woman offering herself up as a martyr. 
Page 2.-Cha-Cha-Changes.  The end of 2014 marked my third year on HRT-almost.  I say almost because when I started my minimum dosage of HRT, when I wanted to step up my dosage (under medical care) I had to go through six months of bureaucratic B.S. with the Veterans Administration to claim my benefits as a transgender veteran.  Somewhere along the line, I heard it takes around three years for the hormonal effects to really set in. I am a complete believer in the timeline now after November/December of last year, I believe it.  All of the sudden, I went on some sort of fast forward mode mentally and physically.
Page 3.- The Back Page.  Looking ahead, it seems the world as a whole and in my little universe can't move any faster than it has recently.  I think!  Personally, my hopes for growth in 2015 are overwhelmingly in the spiritual area.  I hope what ever dreams you all have for the new year are achievable and come true. Look at it this way though, if you don't have dreams-that's the biggest tragedy of all.  Thanks for visiting Cyrsti's Condo!! Luv ya all!

Too Many References to What?

Remember Maureen O'Govern's song "There Has To Be A Morning After" from the 1972 film "Poseidon Adventure?"  Well, if you don't, that's OK!!! The lyrics though, roughly describe the way I felt New Years morning...very roughly.
At any rate I was up drinking my first coffee of 2015 and noticed the sleeveless tank top which drapes down over my hips as a nightshirt.  Actually I should say, I noticed my body in it in the full length hotel room mirror.
The experience was similar to meeting up with a person you have known but just hadn't seen for awhile. My HRT changes of course have been happening but not as fast as I thought they should, but faster than I thought over time.
I was looking at a decidedly feminized version of the old me. Starting at "the girls" and my biceps, my girls still are coming along nicely and my biceps are going away nicely! Can't wait for next summer and the sleeveless fashions. Unlike the Jefferson's I began to movin' on down to my hips and waist area. 
I could see with a little (or more) dieting in my tummy area, I could just maybe begin to exceed my expectations of how this HRT feminization process will work in the very near future. A nice start to the New Years!


**It is quite possible you have no idea of my references above, but being a good girl I gave you links!!! What other transgender blogger is so knowledgeable or nice?

Cyrsti's Condo "Pretty Boys Make Pretty Girls"

Drag queen Kayla Fontenelle

The Best New Years Post EVER?

I suppose I get jaded, OK, I am jaded.


Plus, since I have written a daily blog for well over three years now, I know how difficult it is to maintain perspective.


Yesterday, I saw "perspective" on a transgender stage I don't normally see when I made my regular visit to Stana's Femulate blog. Stana very simply, posted a before and after picture of herself. I was blown away. Whoa I thought, that's huge.  It took a lot for me to post my "before" picture here in the blog long ago in one of my side pages. I suppose first I was afraid, then as I transitioned, the person I saw wasn't me.  I wondered if anyone else cared and why?


Since I have been a regular visitor to her blog, I know Stana has struggled over the question of coming out and living as her natural self for awhile now. Seemingly, her picture on one of the most visited cross dressing/transgender based blogs anywhere answered a ton of questions.


We all know though, there is a huge jump from identifying as a cross dresser to a transgender person. I have never made a value judgment on who does or doesn't make the jump. Plus, I also know from experience, many never do. Many reasons are ironically rooted in the same male lives we are/were stuck in. You know, shut up, suck it up, don't complain and move on-be a man.  Of course, doing this makes our plight all so more serious. Take Leelah Alcorn for example, reportedly,  her Dad still is calling her his son. I have a long term friend who refuses to even consider he may be trans get out of one marriage to a very unsupportive spouse and within a couple months get engaged at the age of 65.  I asked did he find it important to tell his new fiancé? Of course he didn't. This is the guy who "posed" as a generic woman for over a year on a site and built a whole new life...catfishing?


Those are just a few of the main reasons I most certainly applaud Stana for being one of the ultimate "mentors/role models" I have had the pleasure of ever meeting.  Forget the gorgeous part, I go to her obvious love of living her life on it's own terms. She is not alone, so many of other of you visitors to Cyrsti's Condo speak to the same idea of shedding your gender bonds. If you haven't yet:


Stana is living proof you can do it!!!

Cyrsti's Condo "Thought of the Day"

My Income is SO fixed-it's castrated!

Cyrsti Hart

It's "Duck" Hunting Season in Ohio!

It's official! Last night THE Ohio State Buckeyes rolled over the Alabama Tide and will face  the Oregon Ducks in the National Championship game!

If you really don't know what any of this means, I'm just another obnoxious member of the Buckeye Nation! And a proud transgender one!

The second picture is from THE Ohio State University student union and mascot Brutus Buckeye at last May's TransOhio Symposium.

Transgender Christians?

I promise I am going to begin to pull back from the Leelah Alcorn story.   In the meantime, I urge you all to check out the comments to the Cyrsti's Condo recent posts on the subject.

I know many of you are deeply religious and transgender...Christian (Paula), Muslim, Hindu or whatever.  Unfortunately, no major religion has a corner on LGBTQ cruelty.  It's just in my life and environment is based in Christianity, so I carry an extra bias.  Too many times, as a transgender woman, I have been condemned to hell by a "loving and caring" Christian person. And surely don't get me started on my view of the Catholics.

The problem is not the religion, it's the people. Scarier yet are the readers I have heard from are fairly sure Leelah's suicide will drive the fundamentalist Christians further into their "bunker mentalities."

Plus, already here in Cincinnati, I heard a news story this morning about an upcoming vigil for Leelah Alcorn on the number one morning news show.  The station used her correct feminine name but that was it.  The writer of the story was a master of not using pronouns or the transgender word as I didn't hear either.

It's unfortunate religion of any type should be the main source of LGBTQ bigotry- then again it's not the religion-it's the humans.