Today’s Tank Top Tuesday post comes from none other than my sister, Katie/SpiffyGal! Woo hoo! I must say that I am a very proud big sister! I had picked her up to do stuff the other day and loved her tank top (we both love Lenore-comic book “dead girl”) and she mentioned that I should take a pic for the blog. I was mega-stoked! Also, I want that tank top! Ha-ha!

“I am not so self-conscious about my arms usually, only when it’s really hot and I get sweat rolling down my arms, that is really annoying. I started gaining weight mostly due to being on depo provera. It’s a contraceptive in the form of a shot. I would get a shot once every 3 months and I didn’t have a period at all. One of the side effects is weight gain. Also part of it is when you start “settling down” with someone and are less physically active. I use to have dance class 3 times a week in high school and I use to be right around 130lbs. now with almost no change in diet and a decrease in exercise I am about 190 give or take. But I’ve always been big in the hips. I try and exercise for a while and stick with it for a few months and then ether we get bored or our life becomes busier and we can’t keep it up. But I am maintaining my weight right now I stopped going up in weight when I went off the shot.

My only problem I have with my weight is bra size. In high school I was a C cup. the last time I was measured I was 34 DD and possibly on the cusp of DDD I haven’t been sized in awhile so I don’t know what I am now. I stopped wearing regular bras because they are expensive and uncomfortable. I have been wearing sports bras for the last few years. But now I need new ones and like everything else right now we can’t afford to get new ones other than my bra issue I am ok with my body and how it looks. I love what you are doing for body awareness and fat issues.”

SpiffyGal/SpiffyKitty & her husband GottaSpiffy review Professional Wrestling and Disney Films on YouTube.

I am taking submissions from anyone who wants to exercise their right to Bare Arms for future Tank Top Tuesday posts! Email your pics here: notblueatall@notblueatall.com, please include the name you’d like in the post, a blog or etsy shop you wanna plug, your thoughts on bare arms or other fatty philosophies. It does not have to be in a tank top, so long as your arms are bare. Have fun with it!

Also, feel free to still treat comments as TMI topic/discussion/venting area! Feel free to ask TMI questions or just vent/rant about your own stuff. I love it! We all do! =0)

**Friend of the blog Erylin, has a clothing swap coming up in Kansas city mo. we will be having one on September 25th at the north Kansas city library right off of armour and I-35. (if you need more info leave a reply and we will connect you somehow). **

You ever do something that surprises even you? Yeah, I did that! I had considered entering a model contest, for the club I go to about once a month, but chose not to…until yesterday (the last day for entries)! I entered my info, answers to cool fatty questions and pictures. And hit submit! WHAT?! I know!!! What?! I don’t know what I was thinking, but it really doesn’t matter. I mean, it’s a fun idea and if I get picked, awesome. If I don’t? No biggie. I just can’t believe I did it at all!

I have been really pushing back on the ideas of presentation and how women are “supposed to look” and all of that bullshit. I generally don’t do things like wear make up or high heels or anything one could identify with a model. But shit, dude, I can break down those standards of beauty and flaunt my own version of it! I can be a model and a bad ass, right? Secretly, being a model for something/anything is on my bucket list. So is joining a book club…and tonight I might just fulfill both! A good friend invited me to join her book club and after some questions I accepted! Woo!

I am all about getting the hell out of my comfort zone lately and repeating the phrase, “Why Not?!” So, can I be sexy in Doc Martens? You bet your sweet Asparcreme I can! (I miss those ads, always cracked me up!) And if I don’t get into the semi-finals or finals or whatever, so be it! I tried! Ha-ha! Today is about possibilities. Tonight is about fun with my gals! Right now is about nourishing my body with these  lovely fresh blueberry scones (Trader Joe’s Freezer Section, yo!) and espresso! YUM!

I am nearly done decorating my piggy for Love Your Body Day and have been surprised at how much fun I’m having while doing it. At one point I had it all planned out, something flubbed and now I swear to you it is creating itself! My ideas? Out the window! This piggy knows what she wants! My hands are merely the instruments she’s chosen to beautify herself into her truest and most authentic form (sparkly)!!! And then I shall be sewing/repairing the dress I’d like to wear to the club tonight! Woo! I’m terrible at sewing, but luckily the repair is on the seam and that should be about what I can manage. I had meant to do it yesterday, but piggy demanded more of my attention! Ha-ha!

It’s Friday and I’m in Love…with The Cure! I heard “Fascination Street” in the car yesterday and have been listening to their best of ever since…non-stop (okay, I slept)! They are so great! I can’t even handle their greatness! I’ve fallen for them all over again. I love when that happens! Like a couple of years ago and I “discovered” The Pixies! Oh man, one of the best bands ever! I’d just never been introduced to them back in the day. Oh well, still plenty o’ time to love! Now to start my own band…another bucket list item for sure!

Tomorrow we visit our local Renaissance Faire! We have a bogo coupon and the weather should be just right! Woo!

What are you stoked about today or this weekend? What was the last thing you did outside of your comfort zone that you’re glad you did? I wanna hear all about it! Let’s celebrate something, shall we?! Woo!

Sometimes when I get catalogs in the mail I sigh with a heavy sigh of expected disappointment. Yesterday was kind of like that. I will occasionally just recycle them without so much as flipping through, but not this time. No, I wanted to see the horrors in-store, or so I had assumed. It wasn’t so bad actually. I rarely do these types of posts, but figured it’d be a fun change of pace. If only I had an income again to buy some of the pretties!!!

Firstly, let me share this 30% off coupon code with you, for www.OneStopPlus.com: PSPFALL is automatically applied to your most expensive item. So, WIN! Not to mention FREE RETURNS!!!
(If you see a picture below, click it for the link to that item).

Now, onto the nitty gritty, eh? I think OSP is great for staples like tees and bulk underwear and some bras (never tried them myself, but prices look good), sweaters, leggings…basics. Flipping through their latest catalog I see that this is still true. It may not all be my style, but it seems decent pricing and quality can in fact co-exist in sizes ranging to 5x (or around a 34-40W). I think they try to add new cuts or styles to the same basic stuff every season, yet I still find the same old trapeze style t-shirts that have been in their for years. And then there are the odd balls, in my opinion. Like corduroy button-up shirts. Just never been fond of ’em I suppose. Blegh! Their Classic “Big Shirt” comes in solids and stripes and even flannel now, which is oh so tempting for me. Flannel is like in my DNA or something. Yes, I have very Grunge DNA, so what?! Ponchos are still an autumn/winter style I can’t get behind, but I haven’t met anyone who truly rocks them either. Do you? I want pics!!!

The “Executive Sweet” section grabbed my eyes for a minute. I really liked this military style jacket & dress combo:

But it seems the military style is just never going to go out of style. I admit I am quite partial to it but rarely find something that works for me either in fit or price. But I adore this one:This one just intrigues me but I want to see it in person:

I love the hell out of this belt and MUST have it

As for the now time honored tradition of lusting after some tall calf boots that would possibly fit my gargantuan calves of fury and doom:

*Drools* Perhaps THESE are what I should ask of my husband for my birthday…he asked yesterday and I said I’d get back to him. Ha-ha! BEAUTIFUL!!! Also, I love that you can get Torrid stuff on OSP (and use OSP’s coupons!).

That was all I truly loved from this latest catalog. Lots of misses, but I’d rather not dwell on the negative today. Just prefer to day dream about the above lovelies.

Did you get the catalog? What did you love or not? I’d love to discuss!

We all can! Woo! It’s true! Re/Dress NYC now offers teggings and more on their website: http://www.redressnyc.com/

I’d longed for some teggings since I first heard Marriane of therotund.com mention them in a podcast. I think I even waxed philosophically with Golda about it in my own podcast! Ha-ha! I lusted after them like they were some sort of lost treasure that only a few were privy of it’s whereabouts.

No more! While at the Cupcakes & Muffintops event in Oakland, the ever flabulous Marilyn Wann allowed, neigh, invited me to touch and stretch her hot pink pair of teggings…and I did with great delight! It was at that moment I was convinced that I required them for sure. And so I ordered myself three pair: Dark red, Hot pink and Black!

Today was the first day that I wore them. And can I just say that they will absolutely fit almost anyone! I have 63″ hips and there is plenty of room for more! They are thicker than tights, thinner than leggings and stretchy as hell! I love ’em! I will say the crotch thing is always an issue for me, but it’s not terrible in these as the fabric isn’t at all binding. Yay! The waistband doesn’t roll. They stay up quite nicely. I have no complaints at all. This is shocking and flabulous!

This first pic shows the see-through-ness of them with my knees all bent and stuff:

This one is just standing there, you know, lookin’ good, I guess:

Teggings from Re/Dress $18, Dress from Ross (Dress For Less $10), Belt Torrid (2/$5 dealio), Headband Ross $4, Necklace Kohl’s…I think that’s it! Ha! I’m not so good at remembering these things.

I am quite pleased with these and I hope you will be too! I give them my fullest endorsement. No, I’m not being paid, though I would gladly take more teggings as payment for this glowing review (more colors!). Ha-ha! Thanks for reading.

You know when you get a new bra, how it’s suppose to just fit the last row of tabs? It’s sort of tight/snug, but not unbearably so, so you just deal. Well, that is how it was for me at least. But the last time I bought a pack of bra extenders I found out the hard way that they simply don’t (or very rarely) come in a row of five like my actual bras do. Having just purchased four new bras and not wanting to just deal with the initial tightness of them, I decided to take matters into my own hands…literally!

I took a pair of scissors and snatched the two broken bras from my trash can and cut the hooks and tabs out of them. You can see in the first photo here that one side is all tabs and the other is a row of hooks. I wasn’t sure at first how I’d go about attaching them, but I just went ahead and dove in head first! I simple flipped the hooks under the tabs and sewed them (I do have a machine, though I’m not fully skilled at using it yet) on the opposite side (facing the appropriate way so that they could be used of course). I couldn’t manage to sew a straight-across line with all of the hardware in there, so instead I went in short bursts between each hook:

You can see on the beige one (’cause I used black thread) where my stitches are. I made one black and one beige since that is what I had on-hand and pretty much all I wear. And they worked like a fucking charm, I tell ya! Perfection! They fit, I don’t even notice them when they’re on and best of all my new bras fit spectacularly! It took me all of five or so minutes and didn’t cost me a dime! I love stuff like this.

Do you have a cheap and simple DIY projects you’d like to share? Hit me up! I’d love to post about it here and try it for myself, too! notblueatall@notblueatall.com