Who Knew Underwear Shopping Could Be Fun?

If you are anything like me, you are not one of the lucky few girls blessed with perfectly shaped and sized breasts.  For most of my life, shopping for a bra has been anything but fun.  However, I have recently discovered that shopping for a well fitting bra doesn't have to totally suck thanks to my younger sister who is a genius at her job.

My sister works at Aerie - the underwear store associated with American Eagle which has been gaining popularity in the past few years.  Their mission is to compete with Victoria's Secret and I have to say - Aerie's bras last much longer and are less expensive than those at Victoria's and personally - my amazing derriere is too big for most of Victoria's panties anyways lol.

 My sister has worked for Aerie for a few years now and she has slowly been helping me to update my underwear collection.  As Aerie comes out with new products, my sister has continued to help me to find out which bras fit me best - not an easy task since unfortunately for me, I am not the most common shape and am between sizes.  

I recently found out that my sister's favorite part of her job is helping women find the perfect bra for them.  My husband once asked me why women really care about what their bras and panties look like since - lets face it - men would rather see them on the floor The answer in my opinion is that when we have cute undies- we feel great about ourselves and I think that is enough to get a day off to a great start.  Sometimes starting out the day with a healthy dose of self confidence is enough to change the course of a day.

Anyways... my sister recently brought me to her store to try on some new bras... after hearing me describe some of my frustrations with my current ones she suspected that perhaps I wasn't wearing the right size.  That was the last thing that I suspected to be the issue, after all I have been wearing the same size bra for most of my adult life!

What I didn't know was three key things:

 1) Every bra fits differently - this sounds like common sense but I don't mean this in the sense that each style is different - that much is obvious- what I mean is that each bra may fit differently in each size just like clothes.  For example, I may wear a size 8 in one style of dress but require a 10 in another.  Brain surgery- I know!

and 

2) Every bra size has a very similar "sister size" combination of band size/cup size.  My sister - who is a professional at fitting people - had me try on several different size combinations and I discovered that she was right!  There was a better size than what I had been buying!  

and

3) The fit of the bras I already owned could be dramatically improved just by readjusting their straps.  This never really occurred to me either although I am not sure why.  Straps get stretched out and also changed in the process of being washed.  After spending about an hour tightening all of my bra straps I can happily report that they are all fitting much better.

While these three ideas may be obvious to some, I found them quite enlightening and I am happy to say that I am loving my new bras and have reached a much happier truce with the other residents of my underwear drawer.  I highly encourage my fellow "sisters" to go and get bra fitted by someone who knows that they are doing.  After all they have always said that the right pair of shoes could change your life (i.e. Cinderella) but who says that a well fitting bra wouldn't work just as well :)

You Might Not Be Wearing Pants If....

You may have seen the following flow chart on Facebook or floating around the internet but I think it bares (yes pun intended lol)  re-posting because I have seen way to many people lately who are trying to pull off tights as leggings or pants and thanks, but I really don't want to see that while shopping at the mall so.. just a reminder and a brief public service announcement.  Hopefully this also makes you chuckle a little! :)

And if there is still any doubt left in your mind.... check out this blog:

 http://www.bridgetteraes.com/2013/10/30/tights-pants-ya-hear/  

Follow Your Heart, Be Your Own Hero, Say What's On Your Mind, And Who Cares What Anyone Else Thinks?

I am absolutely loving the recent outpouring of feel good empowering be yourself and your own person songs on the radio lately.  Everytime I hear one of these songs on the radio in my car I can't help but crank up the volume and sing along with a big smile on my face.  It feels good to start hearing some music that leaves you feeling a great self esteem boost!  I wanted to share few of these songs with my readers and why I love the messages that they send.

Kacey Musgraves - "Follow Your Arrow"

Message: Follow your arrow!  Do what you want to and forget what anyone else does or thinks!

Why I love it: I love this song because Kacey picks some of the most prevalent stereotypes in our society and basically says that no matter what you do, someone's not going to like it so you might as well do what you want and be happy.  Another way of saying you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.  I love the line "just 'cause you can't beat 'em don't mean you should join 'em."  It's easier said than done but we should really take Kacey's advice to heart.  Follow your heart (your arrow) and do what makes you happy regardless of what anyone else thinks or says about it.  After all, "you only live once!"

Katy Perry - "Roar"

Message: You are strong and you can do anything you put your mind to, no one can hold you down unless you let them!

Why I love it: I love this song because it's all about being your own hero and believing in yourself!  You can do anything you put your mind to and if you really want something no one can stop you from achieving it!  Katy says "I went from zero to my own hero, you held me down but I got up...get ready 'cause I've had enough!"   She also talks about what life was like before she starting believing in herself.  She says "I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything."  Her whole life changed with her new outlook on life when she became empowered and started believing in and relying on herself.  We can be our own best advocate but we can also be our own worst enemy and worst critic.  Let's show the world what we can do by giving ourselves some credit and believing that we can achieve our dreams.  If we do, we will be unstoppable!


Sara Bareilles - "Brave"

Message: Say what's on your mind and don't let anyone silence your voice or intimidate you into being someone you are not!  Be brave and "let the words fall out!"

Why I love it: In our world it is so hard sometimes for us to say what's on our mind and to express ourselves - be honest and open.  Doing so exposes us to criticism from others but we can't change the world unless we as, Sara says, "say what (we) want to say and let the words fall out."  She says "your history of silence won't do you any good... let your words be anything but empty, why don't you tell them the truth?"  She challenges us to be brave and to share ourselves with the world regardless of what anyone thinks.  She acknowledges that "everyone's been there, everyone's been starred down by the enemy, fallin' for the fear and words disappearin', fall down to the mighty" but she says "don't run, stop holdin'  your tongue!"  Translation - We all know what it feels like to be intimidated into silence but stand up for yourself - be brave and speak up.  I also love this video in particular which encompases the idea of "dance like no ones watching."  At the end some guys ask if one of the dancers is on drugs - why do people jump to this response when someone is spontaneous or just being themselves?


Sara Bareilles - "King of Anything"

Message: How dare you tell me what I should do or who I should be?  I don't care if you disagree with me - you are not the boss of me!

Why I love it: Sara tells it how it is and really sticks it to the jerk who tired to tell her who she should be!  She says all her life she has tried to please everyone and now it's time for her to do her own thing regardless of what anyone else thinks because she is her own person.  We should all take a page from this playbook :)


I hope that you enjoy these songs as much as I do and that they give a great self esteem boost to your day today!  I love you all and I hope that you can find the courage to be who you are and to change our world for the better one voice at a time.

Appreciate Your Blessings

During a deployment, every army wife fears the day when a black car pulls up to the house delivering two uniformed soldiers to your doorstep to inform you that our deepest darkest fear has come true - that your husband has been injured or worse killed in action.

For those who are not military spouses it is sometimes easy to pretend that we are not still fighting a war and that we are not losing good men every day.  The news on TV can seem a distant crisis unconnected to their lives and the soldiers who make the ultimate sacrifice are just names and faces on the 5:00 news.  I admit, when I was in high school, I was one of these blissfully ignorant people.  I understood that there was a war going on but I didn't feel connected or affected by it much save for the events of 9/11.  When I went to college, my eyes were opened when I met and made friends with people who were in the ROTC programs and I began to volunteer with a military outreach group.  Now, married to a soldier, those who act like my former self frustrate me and I have to remind myself that perhaps they don't realize how blissfully ignorant they really are.

The reality is that the faces of the soldiers on the 5:00 news are not just names and faces.  They are the faces of husbands, fathers, mothers, wives, daughters, and sons.  Loved ones of someone who will miss them forever.

Two weeks ago, a friend of mine had her worst nightmare come true.  Her husband was killed in Afghanistan leaving her with a future of shattered dreams and a 20 month old son to raise on her own.  My heart is broken for her and I have been praying daily and nightly for her entire family.  Although I only met this soldier once, because he was deployed for the majority of the time that my friend and I were living in the same state, I have been deeply affected by his passing.  I could easily have been the one standing in this friends' shoes.

For the past two weeks, this army wife and her husband have never been far from my thoughts.  I feel frustrated that there really isn't much I can do to "make things better."  I have always hated to see friends in pain and have always tried to do whatever I can to help them to "fix" whatever is wrong but there's no fixing this.  Nothing that I or anyone else can say or do will ever be enough to fill the void in this young woman's life.  I feel helpless and I hate it.

Over the past two weeks I have felt the need to tell everyone and anyone who will listen to me about this soldier and his ultimate sacrifice.  I have always felt that taking about someone who has passed is one of the best ways to remember them and to keep them from being forgotten. I know he isn't the only soldier who has been lost and I get an uneasy feeling every time a soldier's face is shown on the news but this one hit closer to home than most.  Most of those who I have shared the story with are sympathetic but there have been a few whose responses have been akin to "well they knew what the risks were..." This response for lack of a better word pisses me off.  I mean of course we know what the risks are but if no one was willing to take them where would our country be?  Just because we know the risks doesn't mean we are prepared to accept them.  Does knowing "the risk" mean that somehow it's OK that this young woman is now raising a child alone who will probably only remember bits and pieces of his father?  I don't think so.

If you are reading this, I ask you to do two things.  1) Please say a prayer for my friend and her family and the families of all fallen soldiers tonight - don't forget them or let their sacrifices be in vain and 2) thank God for your own loved ones and don't take them for granted.

We are all guilty at some point of being annoyed with our spouses myself included.  We get mad because of something trivial and we complain to our girlfriends about stuff that our husbands did or didn't do but I challenge you to consider this - how would you feel if you suddenly didn't have him anymore?  Would that thing you were mad about matter anymore?  I'm not saying we can't ever be mad.  Having arguments sometimes is normal.  Just remember that in the end, we are lucky to have our loved ones safe and out of harms way.  Never take for granted what you have because there are those who would give anything for one more day with those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

May my friend's husband rest in peace and may his family find peace and love in the memories they shared.

Rocking Chair Cushions

I thought I would share one of my recent craft projects.  Before anyone asks no, we are not expecting but I am having fun building a nursery for the future piece by piece.  Hubby and I have been attending some auctions and yard sales just looking for cool stuff at great prices and after one of the auctions I got the idea in my head that we needed a rocking chair for my imaginary nursery. lol.  After checking craigslist for weeks for a chair that looked nice and yet didn't need much work, I found one that I thought was really cute.  It has little yellow ducks on the back which is totally nursery-esk and not very adult but hey we will have a baby eventually.  I also liked the fact that the ducks are very gender-neutral.

After buying the chair I decided to attempt to make my own cushions for it.  Who knew that rocking chair cushions can cost hundreds of dollars?!  I knew I could make some for cheaper than the retail prices but I wasn't entirely confident on how sophisticated the result would look.  I spent hours researching do-it-yourself tutorials on chair cushions and looking at examples for sale to get ideas on what I wanted mine to look like.  I decided to keep things simple but even so there were a few challenges that I didn't expect.

The first challenge that I encountered with this project was choosing the fabric.  I wanted to pick something gender neutral since I have no idea what gender future baby X will be and I had a feeling I wasn't going to want to repeat this process anytime soon unless I had to.  In order to attempt to include Hubby in my "project"  I asked him to help me to choose a fabric.  I explained to him that I wanted to choose something simple (so that it would not take away from the hand painted ducks) and that I wanted something gender neutral.  Once at the store (and I dragged the poor man to two different stores) Hubby kept suggesting bright busy patterns.  The fabrics were nice but I was worried that they would take the eye away from the ducks.  I struggled to find something that fit the idea that I had in my head.  At first I gravitated towards black or cream based fabrics with subtle patterns but Hubby complained that they were "boring."  He likes color and sometimes gets frustrated with my gravitation towards the basics.  After striking out badly at the first store I went home and did some research on the computer.  The trip to the second store went better.  I still wanted something with a subtle pattern but this time I went for the "nursery fabrics" which had pastel colored patterns.  I found a few that I thought would work and I let Hubby help me pick.  We settled on a fabric with a  green zig-zag pattern.

Challenge two struck when I attempted to cut the fabric.  Silly me assumed that the lines would be printed straight on the fabric and that I could use them as a cutting guide to get my cuts straight... HAHAHA The fabric gods decided to laugh at me.  The lines in the middle of the fabric were straight but as they progressed up and down the fabric they became skewed.  Not only did this pose a challenge to cutting but I didn't want them to look obviously skewed on the final product of my cushions. Call it an obsession with straight lines stemming back to my childhood. (I can still hear my mother lecturing me about how to make the bed so that the stripes in the sheet made straight lines!)

The third challenge was cutting my foam for the back cushion to compliment the curve of the chair back so that they ducks wouldn't be covered up.

Overall, I think my efforts paid off and they cushions came out pretty well.  They may not be perfect but hey I find that even store bought stuff isn't even perfect these days.  Here's my final result!

Front View

Back View

Close Up of Ducks and Fabric Pattern

Updates - Since I've been absent for awhile....

I know that I don't have many readers but.... for those who actually do check my blog here... I apologize for my lack of posts in the last few  months.  I really don't have a great excuse for my absence other than the fact that I just haven't felt like writing and I haven't felt like I've had anything of note to write about.

I'm working as a substitute teacher again this year after applying to a ridiculous number of schools this summer and yet still not being able to secure a teaching position.  I even applied as a school secretary at a few different schools!  I had a total of two interviews despite the enormous number of schools that I applied to- one for a one year teaching position at the school that I have poured a ton of work into long term subbing and daily subbing and one for a secretarial position at a middle school five minutes down the street from where we live.  Needless to say - I did not get either job even though I made it to the second round of interviews.  Talk about frustrating but I guess it's just more water under the bridge.  This is my 6th year as a "professional" sub.  

Hubby is still enjoying his job but his contract was re-bid which has resulted in a significant pay cut for us - not something either of us were happy about.  His coworkers seem to be rushing to "get out of Dodge."  I am counting our blessings though that he still HAS a job because I have no desire to go back to where we were last year at this time.

I can't believe it's been almost a year since we have lived here and almost a year and half since Hubby ETSed.  In some ways the time has flown and in others it has dragged.  I feel like we are just now finally beginning to feel settled here.  We had started to look at buying a house this summer but in light of the above developments we have put that on hold for now.  

Sometimes I feel like we are in a holding pattern- waiting to be able to move on to the next stage of our lives? IE: When will I finally get a teaching job if ever? Is it time to start a family? When will we buy a house? ect.  It's not that I'm in a hurry for things to change or to move on from where we are.  I think this feeling of of being "stuck" is mostly related to my job frustration but I am trying to stay positive.  After all, everything happens for a reason and if you look at our history, I have actually been blessed not to have a job as it has given us a lot more flexibility.  I can't help but wonder what our future holds though.  Where will we be in 5 years?  Will we have 2.5 children a house and a dog?  Who knows.  In the meantime sometimes it's fun to speculate. 

New Beginnings

OK so for my very few readers..... I know it's been more or less forever since I have posted here. Sorry about that.  It's been a rough nine months in our household so I've been radio silent but... the good news is that I'm back :)  Here is a brief overview of what we have been up to in the past several months. I know in my last post a talked about a few things here but I decided to briefly revisit them.

In June, Hubby made it home on our 2nd wedding anniversary :)  I couldn't have asked for a better gift.  It was great and I was so happy to have him home.

July and August were full of uncertainty for us.  Hubby ETSed from active duty at the end of August and prior to that we needed to figure out where we would go and we were hoping that Hubby would be able to get another job outside of the military.  Since we were living on post, we had to be out of our home on the day that Hubby's contract ended and the housing office was not at all flexible or willing to work with us on this.  Four weeks prior to this date we needed to schedule our move (since the military was paying) but we had no idea at that time where we were going yet so this was -let me put this lightly- super stressful.  We were also not guaranteed that we would get the moving date that we had requested so we were worried that our things would not be picked up before we needed to be out of our home.  I turned into a giant ball of stress and Hubby was applying to jobs daily but not hearing back from any of them.  Couple this with the fact that most of the jobs that Hubby was looking at were jobs that relied heavily on shift work - meaning that he would be working a lot of nights and weekends - and I was not feeling very positive about the future. On top of all of this we were also trying to readjust to being together again which while we loved being together was still an adjustment since we had both been used to being able to do whatever we wanted on our own schedules.

Eventually with no job plans for either of us in sight other than my daily sub work which does not pay much, we made the decision to have our things put into storage for a while and move in with my parents until Hubby was able to find a job.  This decision was not made lightly but we felt as though it would give us the most flexibility since it would allow Hubby to still look for jobs in any state.  Luckily the army was willing to store our things for up to six months and my parents were willing to host us for awhile.

Two days before we had to be out of our house the movers came to pack up our stuff.  This was not a fun experience   They packers were horrible.  They didn't want to label anything in the ways that the army told us to ask for (for example they would not label our crystal as such - only as glass) and when they left... I found a used tampon left by one of the female packers on my bathroom sink.  Can you saw eww?  I mean really... was that necessary?  I had trash bags available.

We lived with my parents for September and October and while it was hard not to have our own home and to have to live by their rules we knew we were lucky and tried to make the best of it.  I enjoyed being able to spend time with my parents and Hubby was able to play some golf with my Dad and see some of his family who live nearby.  I began subbing for the local schools there and time passed.

In November luck smiled on us and Hubby was offered a job!  The downside is that we only had about a week to get everything together and move from Texas to Massachusetts.  It was a rat race to say the least but we managed.  It was a long car ride but kept ourselves entertained by making fun of the names of towns that we passed and when I wasn't the one driving I worked on a cross stitch project (pics to be posted later).  Unfortunately, on day two when we were driving through Tennessee a trucker hit a huge rock and it flew out from under the truck and hit our windshield... right in front of my face... shattering our windshield.  I had glass all over my lap and since I had been working on my cross stitch project and not paying attention to the road you could say I was a little surprised.  More than a few expletives were exclaimed by both of us.  We had to drive about half an hour to a place that could replace our windshield...the whole way the windshield further cracking.  It was a very nerve wracking 30 minutes.  When we pulled into the Safelite place the guy comes out and was like wow your windshield is broken.  Hubby and I just looked at each other... I wanted to say "really? we hadn't noticed!" or "Here's your sign" but managed to hold my tongue.  Our car was literally jam packed with our stuff so we hauled half of it (including Bubbles in his little plastic cup) into the waiting room so that they could fix the windshield.  Lucky for us they were able to fix it the same day and we were on our way again.  We stopped for a couple of days in Virginia to visit with Hubby's family and then we made the last leg up to MA.

I never thought I would find myself back in this state.  When I left it to move to Texas and marry my husband I was not in a hurry to go back.  I really didn't want to leave Texas but at least I am still certified to teach here.  We stayed with my grandmother for a couple of weeks while we looked for a place to live.  When we finally found a place we began the nightmare of trying to get our stuff out of storage with the army.  Needless to say I had been living out of a suitcase for about 3 months and it was way past old.  It took forever for us to get our stuff "released" because we were given misinformation about how to get this done twice... it's the army... are you surprised?  We basically slept on an air mattress for a month and luckily my sister loaned us some dishes and a few other essentials from her college dorm so that we wouldn't have to eat out quite so much.  It was a long month.

December: When our things finally were delivered right before Christmas, we were dismayed by the condition of our things.  We are pretty sure that a number of items were used while they were in storage.  For example, our washer was dripping water when they brought it into our new place when we had drained it completely a week before it had been put into storage in August.  Not to mention, it had powder detergent residue in the soap dispenser and I have never used powder detergent.  They also managed to lose a few items and left our patio chairs in a storage unit in either North or South Carolina by accident.  I was not too happy.  They barely got our mattress up the stairs and when they went to unbox it they not only slashed it with their knife but manged to cut themselves and bleed all over it.  So not impressed.  I could go on but I don't want to get stressed out about it.  As of today... our claim... to be reimbursed for damages.... is still under review.. ugh. Moving sucks.

January and February were spent unpacking the house and getting things back the way I wanted them.  It was a big job.  We tired to have a birthday party for Hubby and invited about 20 people but no one showed up :-/  We went out to dinner and a movie instead.  So much for trying to meet his co-workers spouses!

In March, I  started subbing again at the school that I used to work at before I left this state 4 years prior.  In some respects this was a little strange. Some things had changed but some were the same as if I had never left.  A few students who I had had right before I moved as freshman (now seniors) still remembered me and to my surprise still remembered some of the lessons I had designed for them.  It was kind of neat to see that I had actually made an impact on at least a few students.  

Since March, I have pretty much been busy with subbing and trying to get our claim settled.  It's been a long ride but things finally seem to be falling in place.  I miss Texas and my friends there but I am slowly readjusting.