Year one in the life of the pin-up girl

Wednesday was my one-year Surgiversary - how time flies! I had my one-year post-op checkup with Dr. U on Tuesday. All my labs came back great, though my protein was on the low side of normal (I'm going to add a protein drink in the evening) and my B-12 was lower than it should be for someone taking B-12 every day, as I am. So he's going to recheck my labs in 3 months and see how things are progressing at that point. I'm seriously considering B-12 shots. I've read that Madonna is doing vitamin injections.. and look at the energy that woman has at almost 50 years old! Anyway, it's something to consider. And I'm in the 160's - yea!

The most exciting part of the week came Wednesday when Magda, the very fabulous VP of Operations at my agency, invited me to the Macy's Passport Gala event on Thursday night. It's a big fashion show to benefit HIV/AIDS charities.. this was the 25th annual Passport show. It's a big deal.. the "who's who" of San Francisco society is always there.. celebrities.. lots of beautiful people. I said, "of course, I'd love to".. and then I immediately began to panic. "What the fuck am I going to wear?" I thought. I called Chris almost in tears.. I had literally three hours after work to figure something out. He told me to relax, and that he would go with me and we would find something for me wear. He picked me up from the train and we drove directly to Nordstrom Rack. I was there about 10 minutes when I found it.. the perfect dress. A black 40's style cocktail dress by David Meister. Regularly $350, marked down to $80.
I tried it on and it fit like a dream. When I got home, I looked at the website for the event, and that's when my heart skipped a beat - Dita Von Teese was going to be performing at the event! I sat in front of the computer and started to cry. It was like a dream come true - the perfect way to celebrate the new me. Like my own personal coming out party. The next day of work went painfully slow .. I couldn't wait to get dressed and leave for the show. Finally 5 o'clock rolled around and I went into the ladies room to change. As I walked back into the office, every head turned to look at me as I walked by..and let me tell you - jaws dropped! It was the best feeling! Magda and I got our things together and let for Fort Mason, where the show was being held. We walked into the event hall for the pre-party and it was just spectacular. I was so happy to see one of my favorite local artists, Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, performing. If you've never heard Lavay Smith,you have to check her out. She does a bluesy-jazz swing kind of thing. "Everyone's Talkin' About Miss Thing" is like my theme song.. and she played it. I was grinning from ear to ear! We watched her perform for a while, then got some drinks and walked around to the booths where many of the hot restaurants in town were serving food. I couldn't eat a thing - I was too excited. Then it was time to walk over to the building where the fashion show was being held. We took our seats (really good seats!) and met up with our host from American Airlines. She was so nice - I thanked her over and over for inviting us. If only she knew how special the evening was for me. The lights went down and then the show began. It was amazing.. the music, the sets, the models and the style - just amazing. I kept thinking to myself, "none of this is out of my reach now". I can be the person on the outside that I've always been on the inside. Well, on a budget.. but you know what I mean! LOL Anyway, then it was time for the finale. The lights went down and then came up.. and there was the trademark champagne glass. And then there was Dita. She was wearing this outfit.. it looked like it was made of diamonds.. it sparkled like nothing I had seen before in my life. On either side of the catwalk, there was a girl dressed in a French Maid costume. As Dita did her seductive, playful strip-tease, she would hand each piece of clothing to one of the maids. When she got down to her corset, I was in awe of how tiny her waist is. It couldn't be more than 18 or 19 inches around! She got all the way down to a bra and panties .. and then she made her way back to the glass. She took a big bottle of champagne, popped the cork, and then slowly poured it down her beautiful body. Then she climbed into the glass, pouring the champagne and writhing around .. it was the sexiest thing I've ever seen. Magda kept looking over at me and smiling.. like she knew what I was feeling. As I sat there, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. I thought of all of my friends here in the webring.. especially Dagny, and how happy they would be for me. I thought of my sweetheart Chris, who was more excited for me on that night than I was for myself. I thought of all of the toxic people that I've eliminated from my life and how much happier I am without them. And I thought of all of the wonderful people in my life now, who appreciate who I am and love me for me, inside and out. And I realized that I've become the woman that I've always wanted to be.

Yes, there are pics, but they're not great. My camera was on a weird setting and I didn't realize it until I got home.
But here's me:

And this blur is Dita von Teese:
Check this out for really good pics of the famous Champagne Dance.