I went shopping for a bathing suit and lived to tell about it

So as most of you know, I'm going on my very first cruise to the bahamas in a couple weeks (cue: the obnoxious jumping up&down like a giddy seven-year-old). Therefore, I've been forced to do the dreaded bathing suit shopping.

Normally, I avoid don't bother trying on bathing suits because my only requirement is that it covers my behind appropriately. If a suit had boy shorts then I was at the register and out the door in under five minutes. And, I try to avoid any and all measures to inflict self-loathing.

The reason? I have a birth mark on my upper thigh that I used to be terribly embarassed by when I was a teenager. I thought that I couldn't frolick around in any old suit because I would be worried about the bottoms riding up and revealing the mark. With boy shorts, I could cartwheel up and down the beach with no worries.

However, this year I knew I was ready for a change. I've been working out consistently, eating much better and just feeling great about my body. The mark really isn't that bad and I'm at a point in my life where I don't really care if it is shown. In preparation for my bathing suit shopping, I did some research. During this time, the lovely miss Ev'yan launched her new advice web site, Ask Apricot, where a reader had asked for advice on finding a cute swimsuit for petite frame. I was like, "hurrah! information I can use at this exact moment!" and she shared tips for looking for suits with embellishments, fun patterns, etc. I also read some magazines and took away some tips from a segment on the Today Show.

Armed with all of this good information, I stepped into Dillard's and had one goal in mind: I will try on every single bathing suit, so help me God. Even ones that would cause me to laugh in digust. I had driven to the store blasting my favorite summer mix CD full of cheesy pop music (which includes songs from Nelly Furtado, Gwen Stefani, Rihanna and Shakira. hey, her hips don't lie and neither do mine) to get me in a happy, fun mood.

I was happily surprised when I got to the store because they had more than one style of one piece suits (hey retailers, just because I'm young doesn't mean I only want to look at selection of two-pieces). I went through each and every rack and picked up just about every kind of style available. The saleslady very kindly started a dressing room for me because she obviously knew I was going to be there a while.

After about trying on five suits, I came to the lone one piece I had picked up. I tried on this suit by Raisins not expecting much but then....EUREKA! It fits perfectly, offers the right amount of coverage AND gives my small chest a much needed boost.

(it even has a cute cut-out in the back for a little bit of sexy)

When I tried it on, I wanted to prance around the store, I was so thrilled. I actually found a bathing suit that I feel 100% comfortable in!! The only bad part? I had to shell out $60 for it but it's SO WORTH IT.

In the end I learned I that I cannot treat all bathing suits the same, not all boy short styles are flattering on me (especially because they have a tendency to make the leg line shorter, which is an area I don't need any more help in) and a fun pattern or color makes all of the difference.