Boulder Holder

Today, as most of you are well aware, is August 21st.  Which means I've got exactly one month left as a 33 year old. (I don't often stop and think about this type of thing; it'll sort of make my brain go a bit haywire if I linger on the whole idea that I will never again - in my entire, hopefully long and productive life - be the age that I am now ever, ever again.  Obviously I know that's how this whole life things works...Carpe Diem and all...but it's really rather crazy when you really stop and think about it, right?)

But I'm already getting off track.  When I started this post I decided I was going to take a quick moment to interrupt myself and these recent posts about all of these big sweeping life updates regarding travel, jobs, friends, family, and all the rest of it to talk about something that's taken me almost 20 years to figure out.

Yes, friends.  I am here to talk about underwear.

Here's the good news. You know how there's all this chatter about how there is a crazy high percentage of women walking around wearing the wrong bra size?  And how if everyone would just get measured they'd all be so much comfortable...and thus, in turn, happier?  As it turns out, I'm in the minority of this group, in that once I finally got myself measured earlier this year, I discovered that I have, in fact, been wearing the right sized bra all along. High-five for that one, amIright?

But here's the thing.  While I may have been pulling the right band and cup size off the shelf each and every time I decided I was due for an underwear upgrade, I was, up until very recently, buying the wrong brand of bras.

 (Hold up.  Before I go any further let me tell you for all things legal, that this post is 100% not sponsored by anyone or anything.  I just plain sat down and decided that tonight I'd write about the ol' over the shoulder boulder holder is all.)

Now I am actually quite certain that the revelation I'm about to share will have 99% of you smacking yourself on the forehead with a "well, of course that's where you should buy your bras, girl!" but hey...for that one other person who is out there right now, not really loving how any of her bras fit?  Here's the scoop.  No, come on, get closer.  I'll whisper it to you.

Victoria flippin' Secret.

(Go ahead.  You can say it.  I know what you're thinking..."um, thank you, Captain Obvious.  They're a bra store.  Duh.")

But seriously.  Who knew??!  I mean, imagine a store whose speciality is underwear actually...knows their underwear.  I'm not entirely sure how I always missed a stop in at good old Vicki's, particularly during a mall shopping spree as a younger lass, but I have my suspicions. While I have always loved shopping, fashion, and clothes, I was never a mall rat as a kid/teenager.  I had my list of stores I begged my Mom to take me to (read: THE GAP) and after I'd stocked up on my back to school clothes or whatever, we went home.  End of story.  I'd pick out my skivvies - I completely refuse to type the "p word" anywhere at all in this post - at a department store...and then later, when I was old enough for a bra, I'd get those at a department store as well.  (Usually, and let's be clear about this, in a flutter of embarrassment and a quick pass off to my Mom patiently waiting outside the dressing room, with a "yep! these work! okay, thanks!  we can go now!")

Even in college I can truly only remember one trip into Victoria's Secret with three of my roommates during either my Sophomore or Junior year of school.  Like most students, I had limited funds, so I don't even think I considered bras; but instead decided to buy myself a few various colored knickers and then we left.  I realize this sounds slight nutty to tell you, but if you know me and my somewhat intense memory regarding various outfits I have worn at various times in my life, you won't be surprised when I tell you that I actually do remember the very first Vicki's bra I bought, years ago when I lived in New York City.  And that was only because I'd been sent some crazy coupon in the mail where they came close to actually paying me to buy this one type of bra they were promoting.  And I guess that bra was okay - the color combo was great, I do remember that - but I didn't really feel "wowed" by the whole thing enough to become a true convert.  I suppose it is worth noting that they no longer carry that particular line they were trying to promote in the first place - I checked. - so I must not have been the only one left unimpressed.

Now, maybe it was the underwire that poked me all day long when my H&M bra finally gave out on me last winter.  Perhaps it was the moment I finally admitted to myself that maybe those Gap bras I'd liked for so many years really just weren't doing it for me anymore.  Or maybe it was when I realized that the Vera Wang ones I'd bought from Kohl's really were just sort of sad and plain looking.  Whatever it was, I finally decided when I stopped into VS earlier this spring to try a pair of underwear that a trusted friend swears is "the world's only comfortable no show underwear" to live on the edge! and I grabbed a few bras too before heading on back to the dressing room.

"Huh," I thought to myself in the dressing room.  "This is actually...um, rather comfy.  And wow...it's actually pretty darn flattering too.  Hmm.  How about that."

I walked out of that store having purchased said miracle underwear and one bra...as a sort of test.

Two weeks later, I went back and bought another bra from the same line. 

Then, at work a few weeks after that, I happened to mention to a co-worker (and friend in real life) these particular bras that I'd recently fallen in love with.  "They're amazing, aren't they?" she agreed. "I won't wear anything else now."

I watched for sales and snagged another one when they were discounted in July.  Vicki is on to me now too as I've recently received two $10 off coupons in the mail...which, of course, makes me head back on into her shop and grab another one.  Ladies, I know we're not all built the same and we come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and cups.  So the Body by Victoria line might not be the dream bra for everyone.  But I am obsessed.  I've been wearing bras for more than half of my life and I can't believe I didn't realize just how damn flattering and comfortable a bra could actually be until earlier this year.  The good news is, thanks to the recent sales and coupons, I'm pretty well stocked at this point - I've got all the basic colors a girl could need...plus a polka dot option.  

For awhile I thought maybe I was imagining things; that maybe these new bras weren't really all that I had them cracked up to be in my mind, but then one of my oldest friends - the kind of friend who will honestly tell you if those jeans make you look fat - came to visit for a weekend.  She picked up a framed photo I had sitting on my bookshelf, a shot of me and another group of friends taken at a recent wedding.  "Kel.  You look so cute in this picture," she said.  As I thanked her, she set the frame back down on the shelf.  "Oh, and your boobs look amazing in that photo too."