Shop? YEAH!! for a bikini? Hmmmm......

• Posted by Elisa on June 13, 2008 at 7:43am
  

I love to shop! HAHAH, let me say it again as I love it so much! I LOVE to shop! It's not my "vice", but I know I do it well, efficient, and affordable. I started shopping frugal at a young age. My mom cut me off at around ten for buying new clothes, because I complained about a shirt she bought me. (LOL I can still see it in my head....blue, white and black.....newsprint graphics all over ....very busy, very pop (it was the 80s), and not me...) Instead I settled with the hand-me-downs from my parents closet (yep, I wore 70s clothing........tight-rolled those bell bottoms and let them out in high school), and took up the family craft of making my own clothing. My dad taught me the essentials; sewing, cooking, cleaning, making my bed (never mastered that one) and all the things I would need as a wife (so he thought). But he also shared with me his love for being an interior decorator and his mother's love for fabric, sewing, and crafting your own items. I became known as quite the designer and I was proud to sport my own style and own clothing and know that not only was it something no one had or was wearing, but it was what I wanted to wear. I was a trend setter.

So fast forward to the shopping. University! I traveled a lot when I was not taking classes and I was on the go all the time. I had no time to sew, no time for laundry, as most of my time was spent on campus or away from home. I was out in the club life and I was involved in promotions....I had to look stylish and current. I was also working 2 or 3 jobs and in all that, still had very little money to speak of. So I learned to do a 30 second scan of stores to see if I could find stuff within my price range and was what I was looking for. I would refuse to buy things that I could make myself for cheaper. First scan, color. Second, scan, sale sign. And when I found something, I would check the price before size. Size can always be adjusted or worked with if too big or depending on the style, didn't matter anyways. Sometimes when I would have to travel at a moments notice, I would pack a few essentials and get clothes when I got there. I worked as a fashion consultant (nothing fancy, it was a retail store) and on the side, helped others shop for wardrobe essentials. It was fun sometimes, but I had to warn people in advance that it would be a quicker pace than what they were used to. If the store didn't met the need there was no time to dwell. Your mind just goes places that is not helpful when shopping.

But out of all that shopping I have only ventured down the swimsuit search a few times in my whole life. We were in swimming lessons with my mom when we were younger (suit one). Went to Jamaica in '87 and I had to have a new suit for the trip (suit 2). I joined my high school swim team ('90) and needed a team suit (suit 3). I attempted the idea of making one in high school from this cute fabric (white background, little bananas, and palm trees all over)....never finished. Went suit shopping with one of my friends who looked fab in everything.....didn't buy anything. Yeah, that's it. I had suit 3 until 2001. Brought it to Jamaica and discovered the elastic went funky in one of the bosom areas.....not a pretty sight.

I love to swim by the way, but while on the swim team I discovered I am hyper sensitive to chlorine. After a month of being on the team and in and out of the pool 5 days a week, morning and evening, I couldn't sweat through my pores. My skin would be on fire. So I have been limited in my exposure to swimming as I live in the prairies and I haven't gone out to the lakes. And as an added feature, being a woman who has dry and delicate hair, it was strange enough to have a "black" girl on the swim team in those days too. It was just not done. It's bad enough to have hair that tends to be dry all the time, but that kind of exposure was deemed as harsh in combination with relaxer chemicals and the works.

SO now, summer is upon us, I am not pregnant (or plan to be), and traveling to Ontario in less than 2 months. So I will need a suit. I mean I strut around the house in my sport top and undies most of the time, but now after seeing before and after pics, and fitness models in bikinis with their happy faces I can't help to think that there may be something to it.

Samantha (who I think has a deep love of bikinis....why not? Look at her in one!) has been my inspiration to look at the thought of myself in a bikini. Why? Because she looks the most comfortable in a bikini. It makes me think she wears them under her clothes or something heheh. I have managed two-piece combos, but looking back on the pictures, it looks juvenile and not very WOMANLY. I look like a size 14 girl.

I do have a pretty boyish shape, and now being back to that shape has been a bit of a challenge. But I like a good challenge and if looking like a woman in a swimsuit and maybe even a bikini is my goal then I am going to DO my best .

So thank you Samantha for reaching your goals and looking comfortable and great in a bikini and I will see what I find to bring out the best of what I've got.

Tags: bikini, fit, shop, swim