Busy, busy!

I’m sorry that I’ve been too busy to blog.

I’m really sorry!

Life has been insane.

When things calm down, I’ll update for real!

Work outfit: Frida K. cotton poplin dress

I bought this dress awhile ago from Shabby Apple in an XS. It’s a great dress, but the zipper was hideous! Really hideous! Finally, I got around to having it altered.

So, now I can wear it!

St Augustine (Summer Edition)

Just out of the water!

I’m still in Florida with Diana!
Today, we went back to St Augustine and swam in the ocean.

We had a lot of fun.

Diana used my camera most of the day (She’s in the market for a new one), and took a plenty of pictures.

Some of the pictures are of me in a bathing suit(!).

A few weeks ago, I put some photos of myself on Facebook in a two-piece bathing suit, to get friends and family members’ opinions on what to buy.

Andrew got really upset with me! I had to take them down. Even though I’m very careful of my privacy settings, he was worried about my safety (because people are insane). He also didn’t like the idea of anyone ‘looking’ at me with any other bad intentions.

So, I was careful to cover up in this big shirt.

Work outfit: 1930′s cotton blouse

I got this cotton blouse from Mystic Vintage not too long ago. It was made in the 1930s of this cute rose print.

This shirt is a lot of fun to wear because of the puffy sleeves!

Here's the blouse!

The big (lumbering) ogre

Have you ever had a size crisis?

I have them all the time!

My size crises have little to do with size denial, but how clothing manufacturers make me go absolutly batty.

 

In the US, I’m accustomed to being one of the smallest adults I know. I’m not joking! Being several inches shorter than the national average puts me in a bizarre sizing range where even ‘petite’ cut jeans have extra inches at the hem. I’m slender, but I have a grown woman’s body. However, it’s difficult to not look like a child playing dress-up in her mother’s clothes when I don a suit for a job interview.  

 

It’s just so frustrating to find clothes that fit.

 

But now that I’m moving to Japan, that frustration it about to get a lot worse.

 

Because in Japan, I’ll be a big lumbering ogre!

Thinking about all of my size woes in Japan makes me feel like a giant ogre.

I’m not technically ‘fat’ by Japanese standards, but close. My BMI is only a few points away from the Japanese standard for overweight. 23 or more is overweight in Japan and Korea, while it’s 25 or more in the US. Japanese women tend to be tough on one another about weight, so a BMI of 19 can be seen as ‘fat’.

Most shirts and blouses that I’ve tried on from the boutiques in Kobe and Osaka were too small, but in strange ways.

There should be a separate diagram for Japanese women's arms.

The armholes were too tight and just too high! And too far back… Like the wearer needs bird wings rather than arms.  Long-sleeve shirts are always too short by several inches.

In Japan, my bra size is at least a 75D but in most bras 70E!

Finding bras in those sizes isn’t too difficult, but finding them in the un-padded and un-push-up variety is difficult. I’ve also found that Japanese bras push the breast together verse lifting them upward.

Pants are a big problem for me, too. For example, the athletic shorts I have from New Balance are a Medium in US sizing. On the labeling, it lists the equivalent sizes for other countries.
For Japan?
XL!
Sizing that ‘big’ is difficult to find in most stores. Any pants I’ve tried on in L barely go over my thighs and hips, and won’t button.

Did I meaning that my shoe size in Japan is 25.5 or 26? I won’t be able to find any cute shoe. 

My only solution for these clothing woes is to bring enough to get me through any situation.
And to try not to look at all the cute clothing that will impossible for me wear.

Darn!