Swimsuit Shopping Will Only Ruin Your Day If You Let It

Today I had a great day.  I felt incredibly blessed.  I got a lot done at work.  I took a leap.  I looked ahead to the fun holiday weekend I have planned.  Not to brag, but my Monday was pretty awesome... up until I tried on a swimsuit.  (yep, this post is going there, the horrors of swimsuit shopping when you are less than fit.)

So far this year, I have successfully evaded swimsuit season.  "Oh no, I forgot my suit", "I don't want to get my hair wet", "I'm sorry, I have other plans", have all worked as legit excuses.  Until now.  This weekend I am headed to the beach. I'm so excited for my trip, except there's the whole issue of having to wear a bathing suit.

So I put on my big girl pants, (literally, my tush wouldn't fit in little girl pants) and headed to the store. I knew my current weight would require more fabric than a bikini, so I went straight for the tankinis and one pieces.  Figuring out my size was a bit of a challenge. (Here is what you should know, I am a tall girl that isn't in the best shape of her life, but carries her weight pretty well.  I have no delusions about my size or how much hard work it will take to get back to a comfortable size.  My build is athletic with a layer of lazy resting between the muscle and skin- yeah some people call that fat.)  The XL bottoms were a little too snug, but when I tried on bottoms from the plus size section they fell off.  Hmmm.  On the same token, tops made for plus size women assume large cup size- which I don't have.  All my fat goes to my tummy thighs and butt- not my breasties.   My size is apparently somewhere in the gap between regular women sizes and plus sizes... Awesome.

This is what the final selection looks like!

After three different stores, I bought a cute stripped black and white tankini from one store, black bottoms from another store and board shorts from another.  And of course a few accessories.  The experience taught me two things:
1. Bathing suit shopping is not fun unless you feel confident in your own skin.
2. I want to feel confident in my own skin.

The good news is we started another biggest loser competition at work.  I have to redeem myself for my loss in the last competition.What better way to kick start my trek to losing 80 pounds?  The goal is to never hate swimsuit shopping again.  Wish me luck!

On another note, I want to do something fun with my nails for my vacay. What do you think of these three options? Glitter? Ombre? Cast your votes.  Which do you like best?

A                                                                    B                                                                C

Even after the swim wear shopping experience I still feel like today was an excellent day!  I hope your Monday was just as good or better!