I'm not going to lie to you. When my daughter came home from school and said that she absolutely needed to have a pair of lazypants I looked up from my game of Candy Crush, chuckled, and kind of ignored her. If I don't draw attention to it, it'll go away.
But then it didn't go away. She asked me in the morning over breakfast, in the afternoon after school, and at night before bed.
"Emily, just what is so special about these pants? Aren't they just sweatpants?"
"Oh no, Mama, you don't understand. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND."
And then the lovely people at lazypants sent me a pair.
AND NOW I UNDERSTAND.
They are truly as close to heaven as a pair of pants can get.
But then they were child-napped and have found a permanent home on the body of my 12-year-old daughter.
They are perfect for her. She can be completely and totally lazy in them
or she can be completely and totally active in them too.
They are perfect for sitting and watching a movie together, taking to sleepover camp, warming up before dance class, wearing to a s'mores-roasting bonfire, (working at my computer desk all day *ahem*) and of course, trampolining.
They are bold and bright, basic and subdued. They come in a variety of colors, ranging from neon green and orange to navy and black. They come in different dyes and washes, ranging from original special cotton/polyester-blended fabric to stone-wash to acid wash to French fleece. They are the perfect combination of roomy and comfy without being too baggy and sloppy.
And I am a firm believer that sometimes it's worth the extra money for something—J.Brand jeans, Lululemon yoga pants, a good winter coat when you live in a cold climate. I'm also a firm believer that sometimes it's just not worth the extra money and buy inexpensive—plain tshirts, sunglasses, colored jeans, flats. I will admit to you that the price on lazypants is a little high—starting at $90—for sweatpants. But these? They are so much more than sweatpants. And if I'm being honest, my daughter wears them almost every day. And there's something to be said for that.
lifted from the lazypants instagram account. Follow them!
Try a pair on—I dare you!
"What are the rules for bathing suit and bikini shopping? What looks good on pear shapes or apple shapes or small busts or big busts or short girls or tall girls?" I ask, wanting to know from a professional at Change Lingerie just exactly what kind of suit would look good on my apple-shaped, short bodied, small-busted body.
But even more, I wanted to know what I could recommend to readers of all shapes and sizes.
"The rules are...that there are no rules. If you put the suit on and you feel comfortable in it, well, then it's the right suit for you. It's about a feeling, you see. I would recommend that you get a proper bra fitting first—since most women are wearing the wrong-sized bras," she says, making me re-think everything I have ever known about my body and bathing suits.
"Interesting."
"For example, what size is the bra you are wearing?"
"34B."
"Everyone seems to be a 34B. But you are not."
"No?"
"No. You are a 28F."
28F.
28F!!!
We invited three YMC bloggers—Andrea, Sharon, and yours truly—and two YMC members— Alana and Alanna—to meet up at the Change Lingerie store in Oakville, Ontario for a bra fitting and full swimsuit shopping experience.
The mission: Take five moms of different shapes and sizes and find each one a swimsuit that fits, that she feels good about, that she feels confident wearing, and that she is willing to be photographed in.
As you can see, we followed the rule that there are no rules.
A bathing suit-ready or bikini-ready body really IS when you take a body and put a bathing suit on it.
The staff did for us what they do for all their customers—they took our bra measurements and found the correct fit. Change Lingerie offers over 90 size combinations (including the aforementioned 28F, of course) including cup sizes all the way up to K. And then we tried them. We laughed and giggled and maybe cried just a wee bit while we tried on suit after suit. Stripes, solids, ruching, polka dots. Red, purple, blue, black. One piece, two pieces. Boy shorts, bikinis.
Five very different bodies; five very different suits.
Andrea is wearing the Miami Beach Bikini plunge top, $40, and the Miami Beach bikini hipster, $27.
Alana is wearing the Coco Beach top, $40, and the Coco Beach bikini hipster, $40.
Sharon is wearing the Clearwater Beach top, $40 and the Clearwater Beach bikini hipster, $20.
Alanna is wearing the Retro swimsuit, $93.95.
I know that for me, bathing suit shopping was always up there with having oral surgery and having a pap smear—it was a necessary evil. If I wanted to take advantage of our friends with pools and if I want to have something to wear while chasing my children at the beach, a bathing suit was nothing short of a requirement.
While in a bathing suit, I used to have this nasty little habit of noticing everything un-perfect about myself—you know exactly what I'm talking about, right?
But recently, I had something of change of heart. A change of confidence, if you will. As the mom to two girls, and as the mom to a boy who suddenly has a bit of an interest in girls, I realize that it's my responsibility to believe the words I tell them. My body isn't perfect—it's nowhere near it. But my body is AWESOME because of all of the wonderful things it has done, it currently does, and has the potential to do. I want my children to be confident to wear bathing suits without hiding underneath cover-ups. I want them to run on the beach and play in the ocean and jump in the pool feeling good about themselves. And they learn this from me. They see me, they watch me, they know me.
And now they will know that I walked into Change Lingerie that day last week, stripped to my skivvies and tried on suit after suit, until I chose the Minnie Mouse/50s pin-up suit. Do I look perfect? Nowhere near it. But look at me smiling—it was a great fit, and made me feel good about myself.
Ali is wearing the Miami Beach swimsuit, $60.
If the smiles on the five of us are any indication, I'd say this: Mission complete.
This is proudly sponsored by our friends at Change Lingerie.
www.facebook.com/ChangeCanada
Me: Yummymummyclub.ca is an online magazine that really speaks to the woman in every mom.
Her: I love that so very much.
Boom.
I could have ended the interview right then and there.
I sat down with the lovely and gracious Susan Lucci (yes, that Susan Lucci, the one who was on both my late Eastern European Holocaust-surviving Zaydie’s and my bucket lists) and gorgeous and hilarious Ana Ortiz (yes, of Ugly Betty fame) on a very large chair at The Windsor Arms hotel to discuss their new Lifetime show Devious Maids, premiering on Sunday, June 23 at 10pm ET, and ended up discussing so much more than that—being a working mom, being a mom who gushes over her children, being a fan of just kicking back at night with some fun, mindless entertainment.
“Can I take just a moment to talk about my daughter?” Susan Lucci asks me, grinning that fabulous grin from ear to ear.
“Yes! Gush about her. Of course!” I am a mother, three times over. I am a big fan of the Mama gush.
“Well, two-and-a-half years ago Liza sat my husband and me down at the dining room table and told us about her idea, about Sage Spoonfuls. She had a name, she knew how it was going to look, she had a vision, and she, oh, she’s just terrific. So, now Sage Spoonfuls has grown and she has this amazing book and all of these products to go with it. She has won awards from mom communities all over the United States and also in Canada. She’s even going into Babies R Us nationwide.”
“There seems to be a big shift with moms making a lot of their own food for themselves and for their children too. Lots of mom are making baby food."
“Yes! It's funny because I made my own baby food. I just wanted to give them the best start possible. There was a scare when Liza was born about preservatives and now Liza has just taken this to a whole new level. She says, 'WE ARE NOT SHORT-ORDER COOKS, Mom! We can do this like you used to, only now it’s an easy grab-and-go system for moms..and dads.'"
"Tell me about Devious Maids. It seems so very Downton Abbey for the modern generation!"
“It’s so refreshing," Susan Lucci is quick to answer. "So fresh. Everything, even down to the music. ”
Ana chimes in. “And, it's based on a novella. It has that soap opera edge to it and we are really able to push the envelope and go places that normally a show wouldn’t. And, of course, because we have Mark Cherry as our leader, there's just this incredible balance between a campy, fun, sexy romp but then these real issues that we’re dealing with and these real realtionships and complex lives.”
I say something about how this idea that you have these women in your home, as employees, but yet they know absolutely every single thing about you. I have been a working mom for as long as I have been a mom (just over 12 years) and so I have had many nannies in my home to help me with watching the kids and tidying and cooking. I often wonder what the nannies in the neighborhood would discuss when I was at work and they were getting together at the park. Probably how big of a slob I am. It's almost like this show was tailor-made for me.
“YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THIS SHOW. THIS IS RIGHT UP YOUR ALLEY, ALI,” says Susan Lucci.
Boom.
I could have ended the interview right then and there.
But because I like to ramble, I kept talking. “This show feels like it's right in my pocket. And I have a feeling that it’s right in the pocket of many of our readers too.”
We talked about how Mark Cherry is just an unbelieveable storyteller, who writes page-turners for this incredible ensemble cast to tell. And this cast seems like one I'd like to get together with and have a coffee and...some homemade baby food (see what I did there?). Ana says that as a mom especially—she has an almost-4-year-old and a 20-month old—this set was a great place for her. "My daughter will come on set and see everybody and we are such a tight ensemble. And I’m a mom, Susan’s a mom, Roselyn Sánchez is a mom, Judy Reyes is a mom, so there’s just so much support and leaning and advice giving and advice taking and it’s just been the most wonderful group of people."
"And that chemistry definitely translates on screen. The respect, admiration, just generally liking each other. People would actually come to the set on their days off. That's very telling, isn't it?"
I couldn't help but think that this is the greatest environment your children could see you in, isn't it? I love that my children can see and know that I absolutely love the people I work with every day. How nice for Ana's kids to see that too.
Well, I certainly am excited to see this cast in action.
And Ana Ortiz agress. "Mommies!" She says, "This is the perfect escapism. It's so nice to just go there for an hour. I really don't want to have to watch a show about another person getting murdered on the street…"
Me, piping in. "Oh yes, I'm a big fan of just sitting back at night when the kids are in bed with a cup of tea in one hand, a remote in the other and ahhhhhhh, dramedy."
And we all think you will be a big fan too.
You can catch Devious Maids premiering on Sunday, June 23 at 10pm ET on Lifetime.
Psst. Like my interview style? Perhaps you want to check out my daughter's interview style.
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