The brightest tank top (ever)

Last week Wednesday, I did some back to school shopping for my older son who is starting kindergarten this fall. While I was shopping for clothes, I stumbled across this. Obviously not for my son, but for me. If the picture is unclear, allow me to describe. It's a ribbed tank top, the kind I love to wear for Zumba, and it's tie-dye. Oh and yes, that -is- a silver peace sign on the front...done in in glitter. I stood there contemplating as I held this up on its hanger, trying to decide if I thought this would be really cool or a really huge mistake. I'm still feeling my way a little bit with colors, and breaking old habits can be hard. I had to smack my own hand as it seemed to reach all by itself, (what's that about?) for the black one... My only excuse is that had neon yellow trim... Okay, trim on the inside... No! Bad! Drop it, drop it!

What to do...I know! A second opinion. So I took this picture that you see above with my phone with the intention of texting it. But the store was a dead zone! No service. Anywhere. Resend? Resend... Resend! RESEND! Rats. I was on my own with this one. So back to square one, what to do...

How many votes for: "No way did she buy it, she's not that brave."
And for: "Of course she bought it, no way would she leave it on the rack."

Congrats to those who picked the second option, I bought it. I didn't even try it on first! In for a penny, in for a pound as they say. I thought, there is no brighter, more rainbow-esque tank top out there. There can't possibly be, I can't imagine it. And perhaps this one had been waiting for me to come along and get it. Of course buying it and being brave enough to actually wear it are two different things. Time to try again for that second opinion. Sitting in the car, (finally some reception!) I texted away the picture and I got a very positive response. Sometimes when your confidence isn't as high as you'd like it to be, you need to borrow a little from a friend (thank you...). I decided then and there that it was going to make its class debut come Monday.

Aug. 12, 2013

Me, before class.

I got it home, cut off the tags and washed it. Now it was ready to wear to class. I took it upstairs and tried to hang it with the others. But where? How? I have all my Zumba tops in a color order and within that, lightest to darkest. Yeah yeah... Mock me if you must, but that's how I do my closet and every time I go in there, I'm staring at my own personal little rainbow. And it goes like this... Orange, pink, purple, blue, green, black, grey, and red. So where does this one go since it's every color (but black)? I stuck it in front of the oranges. It's the leader now. I stood back and looked at all of them hanging there together for a moment, then I pulled the tie-dye one back down again. I still hadn't tried it on and I really wanted to. Looking at myself in the mirror, I decided I was glad I'd bought it even though I hadn't been completely sure. Something about this one just makes me smile. I don't think I've ever said that about any of my black or grey ones.

So that's the story of the brightest tank top (ever). The reason this post is coming later in the day than usual is because I figured it just wouldn't be complete without a picture of me actually wearing it (proof!) and I didn't change for class until after 1pm. Yes, I could have just dressed this way when I got out of bed this morning, but we needed groceries and I figured I'd go to Meijer with my boys dressed like a regular person. You can't see it in this picture, but in addition to the sparkly green hair clips, I'm wearing four different colors of hair ties in my pony tail. You know, to match the shirt?

Best advice: Be fearless as much as possible. Easy to say, not as easy to do and I don't claim to be an expert at this, I'm only just figuring out how to do it myself. And when I say "myself", I don't mean -by myself-, I have friends and they're brave and strong and full of encouragement. Second best advice: Find some friends like mine!