SWIMWEAR!!!

Swimming and swimwear...

SWIMMING UPDATE - My instructor from my second lesson has agreed to continue teaching me. However, when I went to my lesson this past Wednesday, again the instructor was nowhere to be found.  I'm am about to go off on the Harlem Y swim coordinator because she never told my instructor that she was supposed to continue teaching me...ARGH!  If this incompetence continues I'll be complaining.  Hmpf!

Anyway, I wanted to write this post to talk about something that has really been bothering me for the last few months...SWIMWEAR.

Prior to going to Vegas, I bought an animal print bikini from Victoria's Secret. I didn't know that I would be going to Vegas at the time, but it was on sale (always a plus for me), I liked it, and decided to make an impulse purchase. But one of the things I liked the most about the bikini that it was very similar to a bra top, and by that, I mean that it had a band and cup size AND under-wire...cool!  It'll be just like wearing a bra. I had a some bottoms from a tankini that I had purchased and wanted to find a pink bikini top to match.  So I set out to find one in my usual stores( Target, L&T, Gap etc.) that were full of swimwear for the summer  Little did I know that actually going to the store and purchasing a bikini or swimwear with a band and cup size and under-wire would be easier to say than actually do.

And this is where my confusion and frustration that's bordering on anger comes from.  When looking specifically at bras, women are hard pressed to find them without under-wire.  Even A cups have under-wire. Under-wire is so standard when it comes to bras that in recent years I noticed a great push to emphasize when a bra didn't have it.  There seemed to be a whole "No Wire" movement underfoot.  But as a whole, under-wire (and padding) still dominate.

So please tell me, why does the bathing suit industry decide to forgo using under-wire?  Everything about the bra industry is about push-up, padding, under-wire, and smooth lines...  But in swimsuits they use bizarre padding and strange cups that barely cover, not to mention material that gives and moves every which way.  Under-wire and a little extra support is appreciated and hell, needed!! How are little flimsy pieces of lycra supposed to support and shape the girls? HOW?

And what the devil does S, M, and L mean when it comes to breasts?  This is not the current measurement for choosing bras, so why am I choosing a bikini top based on this measurement?  Why are the established rules for choosing a bra getting thrown out of the window when I am essentially getting the same thing in a bikini top? So I'm left having to order bikini tops from catalogs and the web because the only under-wire bikini tops in the stores have ugly old-lady prints, as if women who want under-wire aren't youthful!! Don't I deserve the opportunity to try my bikini top on before purchasing it?

Ok...breathe.  Clearly I could go on and on about this.

So, in the end I do now have three cute bikinis. This one is my latest. I'll be wearing it on my cruise to BERMUDA!

But the process of finding a bathing suit, in a style that I like, could have and should have been much easier than it was!

Swimming and...

So I'm not even going to waste time apologizing for not having written in awhile.  If you've read this blog or know me, you know that I'm not a consistent or prolific blogger.  I trickle...  When I have something to share, I'll share it.  And guess what?  I've got something to say!

At 29 years and 10 months old, I am finally learning how to swim!! 
Here I am in the locker room...

Don't I look like a swimmer...

Then I display that I clearly don't know what I'm doing...

After a search for an appropriate swimming swimsuit proved fruitless, my mom pulled out one that she had planned to wear for aqua aerobics.  Surprisingly, I liked it. It's sleek and unlike the swimsuits I bought prior to my trip to Vegas, which aren't really meant for swimming, I don't run the risk of flashing anyone. So with my swimming outfit taken care of, I decided that I could learn to swim. ha!

Yes, I strolled over to the Harlem Y, signed up for eight lessons and thus far I have had two.  The first lesson was cool.  I had to put my face in water, which freaked me out a little bit because I had NEVER done that, but after taking many deep breaths, eventually I dunked my head in.  I did some kicks and used a "noodle" to kick across the shallow end and then...I began to feel sick. Like, "I need to vomit!" sick.  I asked if feeling nauseous was normal and my instructor thought it was nervousness.  But it wasn't.  So I jumped out of pool. And yes, I did get sick, but not in the pool, thank goodness.  There was a class with two little girls, and I had visions of them saying, "Ewww..." and the pool needing to be closed.  I had to spare them and myself the trauma.  Later that night I diagnosed myself as having motion sickness. And for my second lesson, my dad bought me earplugs, which were supposed to help.

I went back the next week for lesson #2 and did even better.  I had a different instructor because mine didn't show up.  I found out today that she doesn't work at the Y anymore. It would have been nice if the Y had told me instead of my having to investigate, but I digress.  This new instructor had different techniques that really resonated with me. I was dunking my face in and blowing water out of my nose with relative ease...it was cool!  I was working on gliding and getting more comfortable in the water.  Felt a little queasy by the end, but didn't get sick.  My dad thinks I might be swallowing the water.  But wouldn't I know if I was doing that?? Ah well, on to lesson #3...