14 years of blogging

 I started this blog 14 years ago today. Times were very different then: I was a living in England, I was as close to living full-time female as I've ever been and I was thinking about transition. 2011 was certainly the best year of my life as a result. Living authentically is joyous.

Now I've left England and live in Italy in a coastal resort where I have benefited greatly from the brighter, warmer, more stable climate. It's made a real difference to my health. But my outdoor life as a trans woman here hasn't really taken off yet so I'm looking for new trans friends for support and socialising. 

That said, the real issue that made the biggest difference to me as a trans woman these last 14 years arose in 2014 when I got eczema on my face that was so severe I couldn't wear makeup or even remove facial hair. Although that's better now, for the last 11 years Sue's News & Views has been more about giving views of trans life than news of outings as it used to.

Quite by coincidence, this is my 750th post.  

 

My trans life this past year 

Since the last blogversary, I've had a few days out as Sue when holidaying in England. For instance, a day of shopping in heels where I went out in Brighton with Stella. Later I went out for a curry in Bolton with Sandy (travelling the unknown) and for lunch in Manchester with Suki (ladies who lunch).

Lunch at The Ivy in Manchester

This year I've tried experimenting with various looks, smart or casual.

 

 

  

And there's been time for a bit of dressing up fun, like my mad piper outfit or my silver witch costume for Hallowe'en.

 

I've also been trying to improve my makeup technique to suit a face that's not getting younger. More work is needed but sometimes I think I get it about right.

 

Although I dress as a woman every day, and that's been the case for nearly 30 years, I'm not transitioning and I'm not officially presenting female outdoors even if I'm dressed in women's clothes. This is the sort of thing I usually wear, just casual leggings, a sweater or lighter top, and comfy shoes. 

The one thing I have been excited by over the last year is that my breasts have grown some more. I've never taken hormones and they aren't so sore as they were last time they grew about 15 years ago. I now have "yoga breasts", somewhere between an A and a B cup. This is me last week just in a normal underwired bra, no fillets, forms or enhancement. I like it!

 

What's hot on Sue's News & Views 

As far as this blog itself goes, I've almost finished labelling older posts so the labels list will take you to almost everything on that topic. 

I used to be able to see easily what topics and posts were most popular with readers and where the traffic came from but there are too many bots running through the posts now to have any clear idea. But posts that each cover a range of different topics seem to be preferred. Here is the countdown of the ten most popular posts by page views since this time last year:-

10) Crazy days, all about life during the annual Sanremo Music Festival when everything is geared to pop music.

9) My makeovers and photoshoots, where I summarised my trips to the Boudoir Dressing Service in London to find a look to suit me before I ever started going out. (I'll be posting Part II shortly, including makeovers and hairdos at Mac, Trendco and other outlets, and photoshoots with professional photographers like Ange, Stella and at the Great Drag Race.)

8) Broken heels, where I puzzled over why my high heels keep disintegrating on my floors at home. 

7=) The 2024 that was, in which I summarised the last calendar year which was pretty good, with several trips out dressed and various other dressy times. There's obviously a bit of overlap between that post and this one.

 

7=) Don't worry, get trans life endorsement here, written on the eve of the US election, in which this blog got a beautiful endorsement, and I won a doll. I have always tried to emphasise the positives and the beauties and the joys of being trans in this blog no matter what else is happening. I also mentioned the other blogs I follow, which is another topic I will be writing about again shortly.

5) A girls' night out, travelling the unknown, which I linked to earlier and which described a lovely evening out and the difficult journey I had using an unfamiliar transport network. But nothing defeats the intrepid trans woman in heels!

4) You jump out of bed like a cute little Pop-Tart, a random and light-hearted take on trans positivity culture, cosplay, curious modern English expressions, and flapping about in a thunderstorm in a pink nightie, with digressions on Buckfast Tonic Wine and the cleanliness of witches. 

3) What sets you off, all about triggers and featuring the overblown lacy polka-dotted ra-ra skirted beat combo, Strawberry Switchblade. Also, local food festivals.

© Lookin magazine 1985

2) Pride season, purity culture and the Wotsit of Rage, which, like 4, is a bit of a random collection of topics including the 2025 Pride Season opening locally, how political debate has changed to rage not discussion, a drag queen's replies to online creeps, holiday plans in the world's oldest country and a much needed local transport action group. As I said, random stuff seems popular.

1) Suitcase pack, and epilation record. What it says on the tin. I don't know why it's the most popular post by far in the last 12 months, but it is. 

 

Kissy kissy 

Thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate your interest, support and comments. It's because people read that I keep writing so it's you who make this blog.

I've always and for ever signed off every blog post, every online comment, every forum post, etc as Sue x but given the friendliness of so many of my commenters, and the fact that many of them are friends anyway, I might up the kissometer to two kisses per comment. Mwah! Mwah! My kisses are very special so you're lucky people! ;-)  

I might also reintroduce a short summary of each post in Italian as I did during the pandemic, only no-one from Italy tuned in so I stopped bothering. But that should change as I get my trans social life up and running. Let's see.

  

 Love from Sue x