Marlee Matlin was named to the Gallaudet Board of Trustees!! *dies*

I’ve started buying clothes for the size-16 woman I am, not the size-8 woman I wish I was. This doesn’t mean I’m giving up, but it means I want to wear cute clothes now and not look like a dork while I’m waiting. Here’s some Torrid stuff I bought.

bought on eBay for $11.50

$16.49 + $34 + $28

The UK underwear seller Kiniki has been in business for 20 years. Since 2000, they’ve had a website to show the world the bazillion different kinds of mens underwear they offer - and I’m serious, they have a lot. There are SIX different kinds, going beyond the well-known boxers, briefs, and thongs and venturing into the world of g-strings, tangas, and pouches. (The latter two are revealing styles - the pouch is low-profile and the tanga is kind of like a women’s string bikini.) Kiniki is also venturing into women’s underwear; right now they only have one swimwear style in a number of different patterns - a tie string bottom and a triangle top, plus a couple of coverup sarongs. And of course they have got the men’s swimwear market well covered (ha!), with trunks, shorts, tangas, and thongs.

For a light-hearted take on Kiniki, check out my post on Pink Blog about them!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but I’m starting a swimming class! This actually began when I found a very pretty swimsuit, and I wanted an excuse to buy it and wear it. I looked into water aerobics classes at my local recreation center, but they were over $200 so I figured I would just do my own laps to get some exercise. I really do need to exercise, but I don’t like using the elliptical machine or the exercise bike we already have, because both are hard on my knees. (I have symptoms of arthritis in most of my joints, but my knees are especially bad.) So I figured that swimming would be a very good no-impact workout.

My wife convinced me that $80 was too much to pay for a swimsuit, and the swimsuit I ended up getting was just $15! I got this style, but the accent color is magenta rather than orange. Then I was checking out the website for my local rec center, and I thought I’d look again at the class offerings. It turned out they have a four-week “Lap Swimming” class for $75, so I signed up for that immediately. They will teach us how to create a proper workout, how to use the pace clock, and probably things like turns and etiquette too. The first class is tonight and I am really looking forward to it - even if we don’t do a whole lot of swimming, it will be a good start.

It’s 9°F today, with a wind chill of -1° - it was colder yesterday. My winter coat picked this past Saturday to break completely, of course. It is a really ugly coat, I don’t even remember where I got it, I know it was secondhand. But it was warm and soft and served its purpose even though it was ugly. That is, until recently. A month or so ago, the zipper started opening from the bottom whenever I sat down. Not great, but I could deal with it. Then this past Friday, one of the pockets ripped halfway off. Annoying, but I could still deal with it. Until Saturday, when the tab of the zipper broke off, and I was left with only the slider and not the part you pull it up and down with.

So it was definitely time to get a new winter coat. I was going to go to the mall last night but I ended up purchasing one online instead. I remembered from reading catalogs as a kid that Lands’ End had good parkas, and I ended up buying their Stadium Squall Parka in black. I had it shipped via Express UPS for an additional $8, because I’m still wearing the old one and I want the new one now. I don’t have any other coats that are longer than waist-length, and with the current temperatures I need a long coat, so I am just putting up with it until my new one comes.

I am now the proud owner of the best sweatshirt ever. (The chest detail is here.) It was astonishingly expensive, but it is fleecy. And I maintain that it is awesome. I like Emily the Strange well enough even if she is all over the place, but I don’t see her much among the people I hang out with so I will be the only one with this awesome piece.

I also got an outfit that I might use as formalwear for the cruise. It is a camisole-like top with a pencil skirt; put all together they become a matching outfit (I don’t have the choker, bracelet, or boots, obviously). When I tried it on in the store it looked much nicer than the punked up girl from the website wears it (I had to stitch that together from a series of closeups), so I think it could be worn elegantly. I wouldn’t wear it on a “normal” cruise, but I think on this gay cruise it just might be okay. I’m not 100% sure I’ll keep it, though - the skirt was only available in a size below and a size above what I need, though the salesgirl repeatedly offered to have one sent over from another store. I tried on the size top that I thought would fit and it was a bit too tight, so I bought a size larger without trying it on. I’ll see how they look at home, and if they’re good I’ll get the right size skirt; if not I’ll return it all. But I’m keeping the sweatshirt!

Oh, and Hot Topic is now $115 richer…they were all impulse buys.