Fit For a Queen Event Recap & Queen Anna's Next Big Thing
One of my favorite past times is reading. And I'm not talking about magazines or small fiction dramas; not that there's anything wrong with that by any means, but I feel like my life is eventful enough that I have taken a love to books that are the exact opposite of excitement or drama. The bigger the book, the better for me. Books that resemble encyclopedias excite me the most. I often have a difficult time proving that I really am winding down and relaxing when I'm surrounded by gigantic books, mounds of sticky notes, and a pack of my favorite highlighters. A relaxed state to me often looks like a scientific research project to others, nevertheless, I enjoy it, and it makes me happy, soooooo… #shrug
I needed to start with that little nugget of information because... I recently read a book called “How Full is Your Bucket” by Tom Rath. Most people know of him from the Strength Finders series that has transformed the way that many see leadership and how they maximize the strengths of their teams. I, too, am an avid believer and fan.
In his most recent book, he focuses on making every interaction meaningful, filling “the cup of others” and making sure that you too remain filled through your daily interactions.
I found it applicable in so many ways that I ended up using it as my daughter’s pre-game volleyball speech and now, here, in this week's blog. I believe many of us go through life “just living,” which is perfectly fine if that's what you want to do. I think the calling on my life is much higher than everyday traditional living. I know that my decisions and choices affect the things and people I'm connected to, so I try to be as thoughtful as possible in how I spend my time and energy.
Losing my granny, even at the age of 95, reminded me of something that we all know but rarely think about. Time is a currency that you can’t earn, and once spent, you can never get it back, and the most intriguing thing is that it's held in a bank that refuses to tell you the balance until it hits zero.
That's why it's so important to us that our clients know that we understand that their time is valuable and that everything that they leave with, whether tangible or not, is something that will be able to be used for years to come. We want every interaction that our clients have with QA to feel like they have been “filled” from the experience that they had with us at QA.
I want our clients to know and trust that our team values their time and the fact that they're investing it with us. We want every interaction that our clients have with us to feel like they have been “filled” with a memorable experience when they come to QA.
We recently hosted an event with Allure, an intimates apparel boutique, where they can came in and taught our clients about undergarments and received updated bra measurements. Every year we plan our events after asking a series of strategic questions to our clients. We concluded that we could bring value to our clients by partnering with a specialty boutique to come in and educate our clients about the things that hold us in place, our bras!
I was just as excited about it as our clients. I was shocked to find out that I've been wearing the wrong bra size for the past who knows how long, and when I found out the correct size I couldn’t believe that the bras that I was wearing could even fit! 👀 That’s a different blog for a different day, but know that having Allure at QA was a legitimate game-changer for me and my wardrobe.
As women, we often try to dress our outer being without thinking about our inner selves, not realizing that our inner directly dictates what happens on the outside. I tell everyone, you can look at my outfit and tell exactly how I feel on any particular day. If you see me in an oversized hoodie and sweat pants, my leather jacket, hat, AND glasses, that means I need a hug, chocolate, and my favorite bottle of Domaine Serene pinot noir. My undergarments in this situation wouldn’t be an issue because being 100% honest, I'm probably not wearing a bra. #facts
Now, if you see me in my Maison de Papillion silk slip dress, it would be safe to assume that I am feeling good from the inside out.
I'll have put thought into all of the “details” including the undergarments. I like to think of my undergarments like my very own personal “railroad” system. It keeps my body in place and directs my clothes where to go and where not to grab. My commando shorts and my newest perfectly sized Allure bra keeps me and my silk dress sitting pretty.
Since I want you to sit pretty too, here are a few of the most eye-opening things that I learned during our time with Allure:
- Never wear your bra more than 2 days in a row because it stretches out, and it needs time to rebound back to its standard shape.
- Hand washing is best for your bras, but if you need to was them do so on gentle and in a small lingerie bag on a gentle cycle and with a delicate soap made for lingerie.
- Your bra strap in the back should go in a straight line across the back of you. Smiles are made for faces, so take a mirror in hand and check the back of your bras and make sure they have a nice resting neutral face looking back at you. 😐
- Your straps should not be able to be pulled more than 2 inches from your body, and if they do, then you should tighten them and watch “The Lift” happen before your eyes; I was so moved I felt like I was watching the sunrise.
- Snapping your bra on the first hook and only tightening as needed with the wear of your bra over time. If you have to have your bra on the very last hook, it might be time to invest in a new bra from our lovely friends at Allure.
The information that we gleaned from them seriously changed my life. I left the event two cup sizes bigger than when I arrived, and two band sizes smaller; MIND-BLOWING!
We strive to offer events that we know that our clients will leave with an increased knowledge of a particular area of fashion as it relates to them and be able to walk away with easy to implement skills.
Our clients value being self-sufficient in their daily fashion walk, and we host events with valuable skills to assist with building their fashion and style knowledge. The next event we will host will be during Minnesota Fashion Week and will be April 26th here at Queen Anna House of Fashion from 3p-5p.
I will be hosting it with my Super Bowl Champion, now bodybuilder, husband Greg. He now has a better understanding of the pain that I feel when my favorite jeans no longer fit. Although purposeful, he has a better understanding of what it takes to get dressed, knowing his body is evolving.
We are going to be coming to you with the beginning of our style series with “Style for Days: Creating a Capsule Wardrobe for an Evolving Body.” He and I will be discussing the dynamics between the way I have to buy and maintain my wardrobe to deal with the evolution of my body versus his purposeful dilemma of gaining weight for bodybuilding and having to adjust his wardrobe. I'm biased, but I have to admit, my guy has SWAG for days, so it's interesting to see him have to put more thought into getting dressed.
It'll be the first time that we have worked together in this capacity, and I am excited to be able to share both perspectives with you. I'm even more excited to share with you my better half, who completely balances every side of me, which has never been done in front of an audience before, so I'm excited to see what that looks like all by itself!
I can’t wait to share and stay tuned for all of the fun behind the scenes things we have lined up for this exciting series!
Until next time, bye-bye!
Nicole