Bathing Suit Season

Yeah for Fridays! And for this one in particular.

The week back after a vacation is always brutal, despite the fact that the vacation really did (I swear!) rejuvenate me and give me lots of time to rest and relax, both of which are necessary to me if I want to function at a reasonably high level. A student today said it best as she summed up the week, "It's been fast but loooonnnnnggg". Amen to that!

I did duck out a bit early, after teaching my last class outside in the sun, and I got a pedicure which is ALWAYS a treat. I swear, before I lived in California, I think that I had experienced a total of two pedicures in my life. I moved when I was 29, by the way. And then, when I moved to the LA area at age 32, maybe I had treated myself to a few more (let's say 6). Living in LA, the whole pedicure-thing, while not a necessity for me, is a bit more routine. These days, I'm hopeful that the mercury will push past 78 degrees, I'll don a pair of flip-flops and then, voila! Everyone will admire my toesies. That hope must have inspired the pedicure this afternoon. I am happy with the result - my toes are now a lovely shade of "spicy persimmon". Whatever.

The other item that came up today was a new bathing suit. Yippee!

Okay, I actually don't really love running around in bathing suits (I'm, like, glow-in-the-dark-pale, so it's a scary experience for the public), but I did need a decent bathing suit. My last one, which I really liked, has been either: a. all stretched out from too much use or b. it's just too big for me now (I say the former, Michael says the latter). At any rate, I needed a suit whose bottom wouldn't fall down when I dove into the pool (yes, that was my old swim suit). Since I happened to be close to the Patagonia store....

I decided to just "pop" into the store. Luck would have it that in addition to all of their cool prints, which I loved but didn't want to experience for myself, they had a great two-piece black suit that seemed super-duper sturdy while being cute at the same time. The top is pretty much like a jog-bra, but with a nice shape, and the bottoms actually cover my entire ass. Add a pair of awesome board shorts and I am SET for the next few summers.

Bring it on, because I can't wait!

This, by the way, is a radical change for me - I used to try to never put myself in a position where I actually had to wear a swimsuit. But I then decided that such an attitude was stupid and rather limiting. Especially living in CA and trying to experience something of that "outdoorsy" lifestyle (which has fallen by the wayside since August - oops). But seriously, it makes me happy that I'm comfortable enough with myself at almost 40 to not care about wearing a swimsuit and to actually relish finding one that is, to me, awesome. It also makes me a bit sad that I didn't have the same carefree attitude when I was 15 or 16. Maybe one has to experience that adolescent awkwardness to get to THIS point?

At any rate, I'm ready for some beach/lake/river action - if not this year the next - kayaking, rafting, canoeing, swimming, maybe even surfing one of these days!