Where should I start?
With bikinis I think …
I’m guessing that, because of the title, many of you might think that a) I wore my first bikini this week or b) I bought a new and very fun bikini – both of those are wrong!
I’ve come a long way from the dressing standards I grew up with, but wearing a bikini is one thing I can’t ever envisage myself doing! If you wear a bikini – cool! For me, a fastidiously private dresser at the best of times, it would be a mite too much like wearing my underwear in public. And for someone who has just a few body perception hang-ups, I just can’t see myself having the confidence to show my body quite so openly.
This week, however, I had definite feelings of wishing I was able to bring myself to wear a bikini!
It all started when L and I decided we would start swimming together. L still had his swimming trunks from years ago, but as I hadn’t been swimming in over 12 years, my swimming costume had been chucked a loooong time ago … bother, that means I have to go buy a new one!! 😦
I had high hopes of finding a dotty swimming costume – what else?! 😉
If not dotty, then definitely brightly coloured …
… or at least fun …
… I’d settle for a decent design …
… and worse-case-scenario, I was sure I’d be able to get a red costume, at least!
Um, no!
Epic fail!
Mission unsuccessful!
There was a seemingly limitless choice of bikinis in cool dots, fun colours, funky designs and great details!!
There was a pretty big selection of amazingly coloured and designed tankinis – I was seriously tempted at this point! 😛
But my paranoia of showing the belly stepped in and firmly put it foot down on that idea … boo!!
So in the end, I had no other choice but to settle for a boring black costume and black cycling short very much like these – I have some skin problems on my upper legs that need covering up, I’m not quite that paranoid!! 😀
Admittedly, my buying was limited to just the one store, as we still had some vouchers left over from our wedding, but that didn’t stop me from being disappointed! 😛
Clothes purchased, towels packed, timetables checked, we headed over to the pool at our nearest leisure center. As we walked through the doors, the strong smell of chlorine hit hard and I was swamped with memories of the many swimming and diving lessons I had as a kid. I loved diving and was so devoted I broke a toe while attempting to demonstrate the rough procedure of a back-dive to my Mum … on the landing of our house … hmm, maybe not the best plan honey!! 😛
When I was last swimming, aged 12, I had this big fear of the deep end of the pool – the bit where it goes down and down and down and is really dark and the very deepest part is murky … shudder!! So, having reached the not-so-grand age of 24, surely this was not going to be an issue anymore, right?
Wrong!
I started off fine, crawling along by means of an embarrassingly slow breast-stroke … when the pool bottom started to dip … then it dipped further … then it started to get dark down there … ok, emergency action required! Get to the side of the pool right now!!
After collecting myself and calming the hubby’s concern for what was up, I decided this was something I just had to conquer. I wasn’t going to let a silly pool-depth have sway over me, now was I?
I took my courage in both hands, pushed of, kept my eyes on the end of the pool, refused to let myself look down and freak myself out and … Made.It.All.The.Way. … to the very deepest end of that pool, and back over those scary meters to the shallow end again. Go me!!! 😀
Having conquered that, I stuck to swimming half way up and then back again, not feeling the need to put myself through that anymore, now that I’d made my point … 😛
We only managed 7 lengths each, so it’s pretty obvious we’re going to need to build up our fitness levels over time, but we took the plunge (literally!!) and got started! And no, that is not a photo of me swimming – you really think I’m going to put a photo of me wearing a swimming costume on a public blog?!? Think again kiddo!! 🙂
I’ve developed a new obsession …
… for raw mushrooms!! They’re ending up in every bowl of salad I create!
I’m loving the nutty, savoury flavours and the way they soak up the dressing!
Yum!
And on that final little note of randomness, I hope you all have wonderful starts to your weeks!! 😀
What new thing have you started doing/eating lately?
frommyfrontstep 