how are YOUR girls?

It's OCTOBER, and you know what that means! Breast cancer awareness month!

Time to get felt up by your doctor, and get that mammogram appointment!

I did all of that fun stuff back in May....breast cancer scare and all. But if you're due, GET IT DONE!

This October, my family and I are celebrating my sister's SEVENTH YEAR of survival! WOO HOO!!!

My commitment for October? To get into bras that actually FIT PROPERLY! It makes a HUGE difference! I found out that I have never worn bras that fit right until today.

Amazing. (We took this picture because friends on a website forum where we hang out wanted photographic evidence of my proper support *LOL*)

I went to the Dillard's department store here in OKC...I had never been there before. You can also go to Penney's, Nordstrom's, Macy's, and Victoria's Secret to receive this service.

(though I do not recommend Vicky's, since I got steered TOTALLY wrong by them in the past....by a teen ager working there after school, etc... I DO now recommend that you go to a department store, and have an OLDER woman help you. I also refuse to go to Macy's, but that's another blog entry!! *LOL*)

In their womens' section, Dillard's had this big room dedicated to teaching customers about how to properly fit a bra. The consultant with whom I worked said that as many as 90% of women are wearing the wrong sized bra.

Wow. My on line research had said only 80%. And 80% is STILL a vast majority of us!

Anyway, she took me into a pleasant, private fitting room, and had me take off the above shirt.

She looked down at the ill fitting bra I had on, and shook her head. My shoulders had red dents in them where the straps were seated, and my poor girls were sagging and jiggly (sorry if that's TMI).
This was in a $60 bra from Victoria's Secret, which was purchased based upon the "professional fitting" I had gotten by the above mentioned distracted teen in their Wheaton, IL store in 2008.

So, she took out her trusty tape measure, and measured me three different ways, WITH the bra on, and said, definitively, " I am pretty sure you're a 34D, but let's make sure."

She left the room, and came back with 3 bras for me to try on. Yep. 34D, NOT 36C. She left again, and came back with 4 more bras for me to try.

She totally respected my modesty, while still helping me put these bras on correctly (I have also been putting my bras on WRONG my whole life!). I fitted into one of them perfectly.

It's interesting how a 34D can be so different from one bra manufacturer's product to the next!

Anyway, the difference was utterly amazing. The support comes from the part that goes around the body, NOT the shoulder straps! WHO KNEW? I sure as hell didn't!!

It suddenly no longer hurt to wear a bra, and the bra she sold to me doesn't shift and move around during the course of walking and sitting, etc. Again, who knew??

It's really surprising what a difference it makes! Just walking around the apartment after I got home and put it on....my boobs weren't bouncing!

Again, sorry if it's TMI...but wow!!

SO...get yourself fitted properly. It's free, and you'll be stunned at the difference it makes, if you've never done it before!

Apparently, the vast majority of us have NOT had it done!!

Apologies to anyone out there who reads this and is male ...but hey....if you've got any women in your life whom you love and care about, it's important for their breast health to wear a properly fitted bra, so....spread the word!

(quietly, if you need to! *wink*)