(no subject)

[likethebeer]

Last presents bought for mda. He said don't go too crazy, such I just got him 4 (or maybe 5--I don't know whether #5 is something we could both use or not). Then I went on a bra-buying hunt. Ah, yes, me and bras. Such a complicated relationship. I bought 3 in January, but only 1 I like, and I had even tried them on and did twists, turns, and bows.

I bought mostly practical things this time around, and tried them on again. I don't like the bras that have that pre-molded look, which are the 2 bras I bought in January that I don't like. I thought they would make me look shapely and proper, but they cut at the edge of my flesh in the front and, yep, 4 boob-look. I like things that are stretchy and move w/you, and have lace. I tried on 4 and only 1 fit even though 3 were the same size. So I had to trudge out again and thought I'd try different sizes. Turns out I'm still too big for 34 C, a little too small for 36 C (which I've been for close to 20 years if not that), and too big for 36B (thank god. I have nothing against B-cups, but I might as well get the gravitas along w/the hunched shoulders). Bra buying has got to be one of the hardest things around in the clothes buying world. You can go Playtex, but even those might not look right. As an example, I did get 1 of those--$9, yeah!--and it looks just like the other ones--fits me fine around the ribcage, leaves just a taint of ripply fabric at the top. Sigh. I had my favorite styles, which I lost and then found again years ago (possibly during the bra-buying trip I wrote about for my 30th b-day). Why didn't I buy 100 of these things? I haven't seen them in a while. Maybe I should start shopping on line, and find the bras at the manufacturers I know. Oh, Olga, I love you. You pretty much have it going on compared to Vanity Fair. Although, now that I come to think of it, I did buy 2 Vanity Fairs.

Then, on a whim, I bought tap pants/boy shorts, whatever. "Boy shorts" is incorrect for these, b/c they're lacy. I've always been reluctant to buy them b/c they look just cutey sexy as anything, but I know I do not have a butt or thighs like the ones shown in the ads. But they were on sale and, fuck, I need something to bring a little joy to my life right now (I know spring's here, and the longer days are definitely working, but not enough). So, shoot, I brought them home, put them on, and they're cute! Yeah, i can still see the cellulite in all the usual places, but I had this fear that these cute shorts were going to squeeze the cellulite out and emphasize it. Like buying what looks like it will be a great bathing suit and it just highlights the ripples under the skin. No, they make me (or actually, my mid-riff and the top of my thighs) still look like me, but cute! They're seriously about as good looking as I could have hoped.

Comments

[jaaladay.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for fun lingerie!
There must be something in the breeze because I bought undies today, too. This website I'm embarrassed to admit I like because it's clothes designed for 15-year-olds had a sale special, 5 pairs for 22.00, so I will soon own a bunch of low-rise "boy-cut" (again, kind of silly use bc these are definitely girly) panties. Bless them for making cute clothes for "plus size" teens (and me!).

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Man, that's weird. Well, after I tried them on, I ran around trying to find if I had any catalogs w/"boy-cut" underwear, so if the sale's still going on, I wouldn't mind the website address, b/c I'd like that many.

I saw "low-cut thongs" in one of the catalogs, b/c of the popularity of really low-cut, tight jeans. What did women do in the 70s? I guess the jeans were higher than I remember.

[jaaladay.livejournal.com]

it's www.gfla.com or www.alloy.com. Alloy was the one I went to, though they seem to be part of the same company.

I officially have the answer

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I got an e-mail from M, "the old broad" as she calls herself regarding the low-rider jeans from the 70s and the underwear issue. It turns out they didn't care aobut their underwear showing because they didn't wear underwear. I'd be concerned about chaffing.

Anyway, that's all.

Re: I officially have the answer

[jaaladay.livejournal.com]

Egads, I agree!

[kitchenwitch.livejournal.com]

I love those boyshort things. They look hot on *anyone*.

I have found that men's briefs are extremely comfortable, too. I need to find some low-rise briefs that are white, and then I am going to tie dye them and I will be groovy.

I hate shopping for bras, too. My left boob is a size bigger than my right, it seems, and since my boobies are huge it just makes things more difficult. I really wish I could wear "normal" sized bras. Oh, how I long to be a C-cup!

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Guy's underwear, "whittie tighties," are sooo comfortable. Of course, there's boxer briefs, too, which are cute on guys, although I had to persuade mda of that. The first time he wore them around me, he called them, "old man's institutional underwear."

[syphilis.livejournal.com]

I have learned over the years that us men are generally impressed by nice bras and not nice breasts! This is a great dissapointment to both men and women! There's too much presentation involved and not enough reality!

However, at least men are able to gauge what's being offered! Women only can gain a slight idea of what sort of junk is in the trunk of a man without at least some exploration!

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

So, the Wonderbra, or those bras with gel inserts aren't your cup o tea? I always wonder about breast augmentation in that case. Yeah, fake breasts look great (from certain angles), and plastic surgeons do search for that "natural feel," but I'm wondering how it really feels.

As for men's offerings, what's considered attractive on men for women (I'm thinking of that Diet Coke commercial a few years ago), are a guy's chest and butt (not counting the junk in the trunk). Both of those are pretty accessible unless men start wearing Wonderbriefs to make their asses look more shapely. The junk in the trunk we're not expecting to look pretty (but, oh yeah, there are other expectations, of course).

[syphilis.livejournal.com]

I meant that breasts can be presented! They are generally large enough that they can be molded into various forms in various sorts of bras so that when viewed they are more appealing than they are when naturally let out!

I have not personally encountered women who have had breast augmentation surgery! However, if you are aware of any who may need attention after a recent breakup/etc and live in the chicago metropolitian area, please send them my way. This is an issue I would like to develop an opinion about!

I'm aware that a man's size does not play a huge role in his ability to please! I understand the interaction of the tongue, fingers, etc is frequently far more exciting! However, I would think that dropping a man's pants and finding nothing to be impressed by would be kinda like me taking a woman's incredibly bulky sweatshirt top off and finding someone with a 34A bra size. I'm sure we could both have a good time with our not-so-thrilling-parts but we'd certainly rather we encountered larger stuff! For me, however, the small top would generally be known...in a worst case maybe I may have misjudged her due to pushing/inserts/etc for a 36B. However, its not that much of a dissapointment. Men are a whole 'nother cup of beans and its largely impossible to tell what their packing without excessive grinding!

This is what I get for going to work...

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I don't know of any women off hand. And none of my guy friends claims to have dated woman w/breat implants. I do know a guy who danced w/a woman w/implants, and he said they had no "give." Well, you can always watch _Elimidate_. Every once in awhile, 1 of the Alpha females early in the show will demand to feel another woman w/big boobs up to see whether her competition is real or not. Doesn't give you that tactile understanding, but for anyone attracted to women, it's got to be a lot of fun (shit, it's fun for me to watch).

[em-porium.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain! I actually wrote an LJ entry about this too. Bra shopping has to be one of the hardest things to do. The only thing that is perhaps more painful is shopping for bathing suits. Ugh...

I actually just found a style and shape of bra that looks good on me after about a year with bras that were too small. (I gained some weight and that really affected the whole bra situation.) I didn't even have a week's worth of comfortable underwear, and I spent an exorbitant amount of money to make sure that I had underwear! (Victoria's Secret owns my soul now.)

I'm actually kind of lucky in some regards because I live near a Vanity Fair factory outlet. Everything in the store is 50% off all the time. (A friend of mine got a pair of panties there for $0.80!) The only challenge is that it's totally hit or miss regarding the "cuteness" of the underwear and whether or not you'll be able to find matching pairs. And the higher you go in the cup range, the more they look like your grandmother's bras from the 1940s.

Sigh...shopping in general is not the easiest thing unless you happen to be one of those people who has a body like the supermodels that they design clothes for. You would think that someone somewhere would give us a break already!

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I remember the entry. I wrote an essay on 7 bras I bought around my 30th birthday that I perenially rewrite and submit to various places. Actually, it really dealt with the relationships symbolized by individual bras that I was discarding, but also talked a little bit about how I came to learn about bra buying--which wasn't much. I was bigger at 12 than I am now, but wore the same bra size until I shrank down. The fact that the bras were too small didn't occur to me, and my mom never mentioned anything. It just added to the teenage humiliation.

[em-porium.livejournal.com]

That essay sounds interesting!

Yeah...I don't remember how I learned sizes and things. I think that it was just through osmosis. I do, however, specifically remember when my mother bought my sister a bra.

My sister was not the kind of girl who thought that she should put her chest in "training" like I did. So, she didn't go through a progression from the pre-teen section to regular bras. My mom just made a guess about size and brought some home one day.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

It's posted (http://www.livejournal.com/community/momswrite2/12954.html) on the writer's group I'm in. I wish it were funnier. I originally had a section at the beginning about the bra shopping experience when I went out & bought the bras. Sort of sweaty and delirious, what with the combination of clothes, decision-making, and money spending.

[em-porium.livejournal.com]

That's awesome! I really like that one. I don't think that it needs to be funnier. That would be a totally different piece. I like the depth in this one. :)

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reading it. It was the first thing I wrote in a long time that I felt good about, and shared it w/jaaladay and mda (although the bit about my wondering why I bought the bras, and if I bought them for him, came along later). I still possess about 5 of those bras (1 was almost instantly lost in a dryer incident), and now I feel guilty when I think about throwing them out!

[em-porium.livejournal.com]

This is why they don't name the animals at the farm. ;-) :):)

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's funny. At least I haven't anthropomorphized my bras. Not yet, anyway.

Oop--

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I forgot to reply to the rest of what you were saying. I don't think I learned about sizes until my 20s. "36 24 36" was that old saying for a woman w/great curves, and you don't buy size 24 pants if you have a 24 in. waist. My mom pretty much sized me up, too (and got it wrong). I didn't go into "training" b/c I grew too big too fast. "You'll get used to it," I can remember my mother saying.

Re: Oop--

[em-porium.livejournal.com]

It's ok. :)

I think that because my mom made a lot of our clothes growing up, she had a pretty good idea of what sizes to get. But if she didn't, I have no idea what my sister would have done!

Re: Oop--

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Ah, clothes maker. jaaladay is a bit of a seamstress herself. I just know how to sew on buttons.

Re: Oop--

[em-porium.livejournal.com]

I know how to sew a straight line on the sewing machine, but I can't do any of those cool things like sleeves and zippers. :):)

I really have to learn soon. I think that it might be much better to make my clothes to fit than to bother with spending hours shopping for them.

I say this every summer, however, and I never get around to having my mom teach me. I would have to schedule it in, but that just seems like too much work.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

That could be fun. My middle sister took 2 sewing classes (she was going to fashion design school at the time), and she still hates sewing, or so I hear. She's given me things over the years, but unfortunately, I'm not cool enough for most of them.

[em-porium.livejournal.com]

Yeah...it's on my list of crafty things to learn. Like knitting...my grandmother and her sisters are really good knitters and crocheters. I feel like I should learn the "trade" so to speak before it's too late.

But then again, that could be the romantic historian in me kicking in. ;-)

Re: Oop--

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

Sir Mix-a-lot once said: "36-24-36. Only if she's 5'3"

Just sayin'.

Re: Oop--

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm close. A little too long and wide.

Re: Oop--

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

With you talking about bras, and scarletdemon talking about penises, I'm having a hard time concentrating today.

Re: Oop--

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Well, it is spring. And I just bought 4 pairs of boy shorts on-line!! So, there, now there's undies to throw back into the discussion.

Re: Oop--

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

Noted!

I think it's time for me to be more prolific, journal-wise