My Posing Suit! (grab a chair and a drink, I have lots to say)

Tonight, I drove to the home of Celeste, a lady who has a side business of sewing the most beautiful posing suits for body builders and figure competitors around the country. Obviously, most of her business is done over the internet, but I feel very fortunate that I was able to meet with her in person because I believe that this is a far superior way to pick fabrics, crystals and suit design. We got started with her choosing a suit for me to try on for sizing purposes. This caught me by surprise because - what do I know? - I thought she'd take my measurements and work off those. I even wore snug workout clothes to make that task easier. So I stepped into her bathroom to change. When I came out, she took one look at me and told me that the bottom was on backwards. Ugh! These things are so skimpy that honestly, the front doesn't look much different from the back. We discussed whether I'd stick any padding in the top and I said I definitely would since I've been told that boobs disappear when body fat is reduced. She told me she wasn't so sure I'd have that problem, that I still "have good tissue there." She asked whether I delivered any babies and was surprised to hear that, indeed, I had. So yay for my boobs. At least I have that going for me. Of course, I'm not feeling especially slender at the moment (more like a water jug really), so I just braved my way through her studying me and determining that the suit fit fine. However, as she studied the suit, I studied all the exposed parts of me. Wow, okay? After I changed out of the suit, we flipped through her fabric book with swatches. I came to this meeting with a color in mind - deep purple - but after seeing everything, I changed my mind about that. Lots of the fabrics have a glitter quality to them and I fell for one of those. Since these are costumes, meant to sparkle on stage, I thought it was a good choice. It's a shade that falls right in between pink and purple. Maybe a little raspberry-ish (like the background color, though in a few days that will change). It really excites me and I like to draw energy from color. Next we considered rhinestone patterns from a book featuring photos of suits she made. One looked pretty without being excessive, so I asked how much it was. $250. Perfect!!! I thought I was going to need to spend much more for something attractive, but, no, wrong again. Finally, we looked at a page of actual rhinestones glued to a transparency for better visibility. We decided that clear rather than colored crystals would work best. The final elements included picking Aug. 18th as my fitting date when I will hypothetically weigh less and me forking over a $60 deposit, a random amount reflecting what I had available in my wallet. To see Celeste's work, check out www.suitsbyceleste.com. She's truly an artist.