Sunday, September 9, 2012

The Toll



I was going to tell you about the walk I took yesterday up to the outdoor mall and how I arrived sweaty and hot but still made my way to the lingerie department of Nordstrom's where I had the brilliant idea to try on bras with a teeny tiny salesgirl with a measuring tape hanging around her neck and dipping into her perky cleavage. But then I thought that's boring and way too confessional and let's leave that sort of commentary to the experts, like Naomi Wolf whose new book is evidently a biography of the vagina (I read about it this morning in the book review). I wouldn't want to bore anyone about the sight of twenty to thirty bras hanging in a row, ready to be strapped on, the three-way mirror studiously avoided, the eyes of the perky salesgirl demurely cast downward as she checked the fit and I felt the toll.
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14 comments:

  1. Ms. MoonSeptember 9, 2012 at 11:24 AM

    You are SO much braver than I am.

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  2. livSeptember 9, 2012 at 11:56 AM

    Is there a ponytail involved in that picture? Lovely with your hair pulled back like that.

    I go to Macy's where there is no young perky sales woman nor her tape measure involved. In fact, there often times isn't even a sales woman there at all...they run it so close to the bone. It's a bit cowardly, and I don't always get the perfect fit. You were brave. I hope you got the perfect fit.

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  3. From the KitchenSeptember 9, 2012 at 12:06 PM

    I can always find a bra at Nordstrom's. However, I am always quick to shoo those perky little girls out of my way. If there is no real woman to help me, I take on the Wacoals singlehandedly. I AM WOMAN!

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  4. Maggie WorldSeptember 9, 2012 at 12:29 PM

    I thought this was going to be a haircut story. You look great in this picture, and I don't think it's just your appropriately fitted decolletage. Is your hair short or pulled back? Either way, it looks great.

    And you are indeed braver than I. I am probably in the wrong size, but I don't care. I cannot deal with the sales people.

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    Replies
    1. ElizabethSeptember 9, 2012 at 2:48 PM

      Yes, my hair is pulled back. I'm sort of liking the long hair thing, but my son Oliver does NOT. Too bad for him -- :)

      Delete
    2. SJSeptember 9, 2012 at 6:15 PM

      It's all about that Oliver, isn't it? ;) Cutie boy. I like the hair.

      Delete
  5. karioSeptember 9, 2012 at 2:40 PM

    Wow! The sweaty courage, the biography of a vagina. The amount of substance you pack in to a paragraph - yowza!

    Thanks ;-)

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  6. HeatherSeptember 9, 2012 at 2:54 PM

    Um, since I possess no cleavage whatsoever, sports bras are basically a good to go route for me. However, not the most attractive and most feminine look so I endure the young sales girls and just walk out wondering what exactly she is saying to her fellow employees after I leave. Something along the lines of that " old, slightly haggard, breastless woman ..."

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  7. Ramona QuimbySeptember 9, 2012 at 6:13 PM

    Oh Lord, I remember going to the Bra Store when I was a teenager: all lump and stretch mark and boobs for days. Those women, those measuring tapes, the suggestions for tank-like 'minimizers' and six-hook monstrosities. I haven't been fitted in years and of course none of my cheap, Target bras don't ever fight right and I don't hate myself or America enough to go to Victoria's Secret. Hell, I won't even try clothes on at the store. You are a brave woman, Elizabeth! (And, I'm sure, a lot foxier than those salesgirls.)

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  8. DeanaSeptember 9, 2012 at 9:31 PM

    When Max was just recently in the hospital, my husband pushed me out the door after day 15 to go to the mall for some retail therapy. That's when I had the genius idea to try to find a bra. I had to leave before I punched one of those perky misses throwing over the super sexy plunge push up miracle angel something or other for me to try on my day 15, not showered, exhausted, self. I went to Target and bought a sports bra. ;)

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  9. Steve ReedSeptember 9, 2012 at 11:18 PM

    Just as you found a way to write about bra-shopping while saying you weren't going to write about it, I'm going to comment without really commenting. (Since I have nothing to say about the experience of bra-shopping, and I try not to focus on the toll!)

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  10. Vesuvius At HomeSeptember 10, 2012 at 5:18 AM

    I want Oprah to come fit me for a bra. We'd just be so matter-of-fact about it, and I know she'd get it right.

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  11. Alicia DSeptember 10, 2012 at 5:24 AM

    ah, you brave woman! i am too embarrassed to get a proper fitting. also, there is nothing to PUT in the bra so its kinda a mute point :)

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  12. LeslieSeptember 13, 2012 at 5:32 AM

    i tried on dresses last week. it was not a pretty sight. (WHY do they put those glaring lights in dressing rooms? don't they know we want soft, flattering light, and preferably mirrors that automatically photoshop us?) at least i was by myself, though... no perky saleswoman to measure me. (you do make me chuckle)

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