My boobs need a Handful

So last week I’m on the treadmill, I’m sweating, my face is a big blotchy mess. Here comes Tuesday Afternoon Hot Guy who picks the ’mill next to mine even though there are three others open. I suck in my stomach, square off my shoulders and try not to think about how the sports bra I’m wearing successfully gives me one squashed uni-boob (hard to do when walking at galactic speeds, reading a zine, listening to the Dusty 45’s and randomly returning texts). If driving a car, I’d get a ticket for reckless self-endangerment. I vowed to throw uni-boob creator in the trash. 



After Googling comfy, flattering sports bras made in the Northwest (it’s important to me to shop locally), I ran across a cool company called Handful Inc. out of Oregon. Yes, you can giggle. Handful’s female athlete president Jennifer Ferguson designed the Sportssiere. The only Washington state store currently selling these masterpieces is south in Vancouver.



I clicked my size, color (choice of four) and gave the credit card info for $40 swiftly. As  soon as it arrives, I’ll report back on how well the Sportssiere does.



For more information check out www.handfulinc.com.

Once Upon A Child

Fashion trends are so fickle and forceful. A friend related an uncomfortable story recently of how she took her 10-year-old son shopping for pants and was completely dismayed to discover that the high-ups in the fashion industry have decided that boy’s pants will now be skinny-legged. Think of the tight jeans rocker and punk guys wear. Think of the dirty-hot singer you were drooling over on the stage last weekend; the one in the skinny black jeans making the pelvic thrusting motions toward the crowd. Now your son gets to wear them. The friend further tells me of how she pulled her son through rows of pants, whole stores and shopping centers before giving in and getting him a pair. The poor boy didn’t want them, either. He wanted his usual mid-range baggy pants that had a little room in the seat. How did this happen? Who decides what we have as options for our children’s clothing and where we can buy them, anyway? I say, “We do!” or at least those who actually have kids do.



Youngsters are under ever mounting pressure to fit in and look cool. That’s pretty difficult to do when corporate designers keep changing things on them. Plus it’s hard on mom and dad’s pocket since kids grow so fast. Consignment stores offer a lower price for past year’s fashions for kids. Once Upon A Child is one of many shops in the area that sells discounted used clothes for kids and babies accepting only gently worn items, so unlike a trip to Goodwill, one doesn’t have to spend 10 minutes per garment looking for torn or unraveling seams, missing buttons, food stains and such.



[Once Upon A Child, 3815 South Steele Street, Tacoma  253.473.4555 www.ouac.com]