May 31, 2018

Bathing Suit Shopping 2.0


Most women love to shop.  I am saying most because I, once upon a time, would go to the mall with a friend just to look at the new shoes and clothing, maybe grab a coffee and take my time looking at all the wonderful new fashions that came out each season.  I am not sure what happened but I now cannot stand shopping (I am going to blame kids for making shopping trips like a living hell AND for taking all your money).  I will now do hours’ worth of university paper writing, on line research first before I ever get in my car and go to a mall.  No, I don’t order the stuff on line because most of the time, as I have previously mentioned, the stuff looks wonderful on the models on line but when a real human tries the article on it is a scary nightmare (false advertising?).   In spite of all this I had to go out and buy a new bathing suit.  Just typing the words “shopping for a new bathing suit” make me shudder and whimper a little.  This was a necessary trip to the mall that took place just hours before leaving on Girls Weekend and because of this I was willing to go to the Gajillion Dollars for Very Little Fabric Swimsuit Store.  All I really needed, again, was a top that hid my stomach, made my boobs look fantastic (or like I even had any) and made me look super slim.  (PS – I would like a suit that also hides arm fat but that is called a turtle neck and I would have been laughed out of the spa!)  I found many a suit to try on and, after burning off at least a thousand calories and engaging in acts of shoulder dislocation just to get most of them off, I did find a top that covered most of the necessary bits.  The staff at We Will Take Your Gajillion Dollars for Fabric Scraps are extremely helpful and knowledgeable.  I would have been there for hours had I not gotten help.  I leave the shop with not only a bathing suit top but also Fat Hiding bathing suit shorts AND a much, much lighter wallet. 

Side bar – I have always been extremely self-conscious in a bathing suit.  Even before I started drinking craft beer and eating nachos – or had children.  Turns out the ladies at the spa (and even a few dudes) wear whatever the heck they want and let it all hang out.  Apparently it’s all about confidence and, I like to think, seriously not giving a fluff what other people think.  Way to go ladies out there rocking the bikini…… Mad respect!

May 28, 2018

Girls Weekend


Let me first start off by saying that although Girl’s Weekend has changed dramatically over the years, it is no less amazing now that we are older and allegedly wiser.  Girls weekend is, perhaps, a little more restful than ‘back in the day’.

'Haven" only when not cursing!
This past weekend I had the pleasure of going away to one of my favourite places in the entire world with a couple of my soul sisters.  It was quite possibly the most relaxing, stress free weekend I have had in a very long time (or ever, now that I am thinking about it!).  The three of us got along so well you would have thought we were roommates at one time.  It helped that we all have similar interests (reading, relaxing and people watching among the top three) and we are all pretty easy going and willing to just go with whatever plan happened to be decided upon.  Yes, gone are the days of going to the clubs and dancing until 2 am, eating pizza or hot dogs from the take out vendor who happened to be lucky enough to have license to be open after the bars closed and waking up with a killer headache/hangover only to stumble to the greasy, much needed, all day breakfast joint the next morning.  Now, as maturity sets in, the girl’s weekend consists of going to the spa for a much debated hot tub, cold tub, rest and repeat (It occurred to us after that this was probably a therapeutic load of nonsense and the staff at the spa most likely count their millions of dollars and watch all the idiots relax in the hot tub then silently scream in the freezing cold tub (or in my case yell out a curse word as quietly as humanly possible as I freak the eff out and run out of the damn spa version of Tough Mudders Artic Enema).

The retreat weekend also consisted of snacks (love snacks), walks (yes, in nature) and reading breaks that always started with good intentions and turned into girly gab sessions.    We all, of course, had a good laugh at the new, much more mature conversation that ensued – discussing what the hell is wrong with our children, our multitude of aches and pains and the various injustices of the world.  Not to be outdone by our younger, crazier selves I am happy to report that we did manage to commit a couple of crimes.  One wild illegal left hand turn on a highway AND a reprimand from the Silence Police at the Spa (Thanks for that Scrappy – pretty sure I won money in a bet for that one!)  Although Jack and I rolled our eyes every time we were yelled at to “Get in the photo!” we will be sincerely grateful to have pictures to look at years from now to remember this amazing weekend.

“Making Memories Ladies”
Theme song to follow……..