Bikini Madness!!!

Bikini Madness by elbonner featuring a strapless bikini

Oh my god I love swimwear! It's the number one indicator that summer is on the way. Neons and brights are back and making a huge impact on summer swimwear. I also LOVE the flowy tank top suits that have magically appeared. There are new swim brands popping up all over the place and I can't be happier. So much fun! If I had all the money in the world I would have a bikini closet, live by the beach, and never have to mop my kitchen floor. Since I don't live in an idyllic dreamworld, I'll have to settle with perusing the newest swimwear trends on the internet.  The above suits are some of my favorites, so get excited northern hemisphere, it's bikini season!

Seea
Tallow
Basta Surf
Tori Prayver
Mikoh
Mara Hoffman
L*Space
Beach Riot

**PS** I've created an Instagram page just for the blog, so follow @e_bythesea to get random stuff and updates from yours truly. Follow away!!

Viva La Onesie!

Viva La Onesie! by elbonner featuring a ruched one piece swimsuit

Today I did something that I've been meaning to do for a long time: swim in the pool at the gym. Now, my gym pool isn't full of old people doing water aerobics or floating around on pool-noodles; I'm a member at a university gym with collegiate-level swimmers using the pool all the time. It took a lot of self-reflection and bathroom stall pep-talks for little chubby me to get up the courage to go get in that pool and swim a lane away from someone who may go to the Olympics one day. One thing that helped me with my pool-confidence and calmed my fear of accidentally flashing my whole butt to strangers was my awesome swimsuit. Feeling comfortable in something in front of strangers always helps you get over all of your other nervous jitters before doing something new. I recently bought the Body Glove Smoothies Zippered One-Piece you see in the upper right-hand corner in the brightest coral orange you can imagine. I was nervous about being seen in it in front of a bunch of career athletes, but low-and-behold I had the most bitchin' swimsuit there. The simple onesie swimsuit can create a lot of confidence by soothing your fears of having imperfect abs by giving you a little more coverage. Luckily, the swim industry has recently embraced the onesie and created so many cute suits that stay on no matter what activity you're doing. Above, I have accrued some really cute suits that can take you from swimming laps in the pool, to tumbling in rough surf, or to just feeling good in swimwear again. I've always gone by the idea that you should wear whatever you want because 99-100% of the time no-one will ever call you out on it or will end up being jealous of your courage, so throw on a onesie and work of your fitness!

Also, my pool workout totally kicked my butt so here's what I did:
-tread water for 30 seconds in the deep end
- 100m freestyle stroke
-tread water 30 seconds with arms and legs
-100m back stroke
-tread water for 30 seconds LEGS ONLY
-100m breaststroke 

repeat 5-10 times for a serious cardio workout!

clockwise:

Body Glove Smoothies Zippered One-Piece
J. Crew Ruched Bandeau Suit
L*Space Stardust Fringe One-Piece
Seea Riviera One-Piece
Wildfox Couture Classic One-Piece
Roxy Outdoor Fitness Lapped One-Piece
Mikoh Santorini One-Piece Suit

Black Friday for Lazy People

I just made my first real purchase for myself since August and got this bikini bottom from Mikoh swimwear because they are having a 60% off sale on everything over $100 (which is everything). I got this bikini bottom for $40! Head on over if you want a super cute swimsuit for super cheap!

I normally hate Black Friday shopping and avoid it at any cost. There really isn't much point to trampling over a bunch of rabid moms to buy a $25 microwave when you can order one at an online Black Friday sale with free shipping that will only turn up a few days later! Keep sane everyone and shop naked at home!