Casual Friday Correspondence* - Week 7

*Yeah, I think I was tired when this rejected name came to mind.

We just got back from a quick trip to Cape Cod, so this CONTEST letter, written back in the winter, seemed timely.

Dear Lands End:

I was looking through your most recent swimwear offerings, dazzled as usual by all of the pretty colors. As a mother of two teenagers, it seems that my bathing suit needs currently rely most heavily on not embarrassing them. When my children were much younger, my bathing suits had to perform a completely different set of tricks.

After getting two small children slathered down with sunscreen, I used to barely have time to take a breath before they slipped off. I remember one day, I had covered all of the exposed spots on my body that I could possibly reach when I realized that a good portion of my back was about to be left completely vulnerable. I decided some sunscreen had to be better than none, and proposed a sort of art project to my little ones. I put my trust in their four small hands, and it seemed like they made a decent effort. Hours later, as I changed for bed, I noticed the pasty white beautiful rainbow they had painted on my back. There was no pot of gold at the end, but fiery red beneath it. That first big color line of the season tends to say for quite a long time...a very long time. 

Within a week, I had ordered two of your fabulous tunic style tankini tops. It was as high in the back as it was in the front, and it was glorious! I had no unreachable parts to sunscreen. As an added bonus, this suit was immune to those tugging little arms. Nobody was leaving this mommy topless in the public pool.Plus, I ordered some swim skirt minis that enabled me to move "efficient personal grooming" farther down my list of frazzled mommy concerns. Once I realized how helpful it was to have lessened my own surface area for sunscreening purposes, I ordered up some long and short-sleeved swim shirts for the kids. I felt like I had uncovered a magical secret, and was thrilled by how fast we could respond to a pool invite. It was also much easier to spot my kids in those shirts in crowded pools or the ocean.

It was a sad day when I finally had to retire my high-backed top, as I have not seen that style in the catalog in a long time. As I celebrated my twelfth summer in Lands End swimwear, I did have some other fun prints and styles in my collection. I saw a long-sleeved swim tee in last year's lineup that I was in love with. The only decision was Deep Sea Leaf, Buttercup Leaf or Tango Orange Leaf. Sadly, by the time I tried to order,every single one of them was sold out in medium or large.

Thank you for making it possible for a mismatched top and bottom girl like myself to buy bathing suits without indigestion and tears! Thinking blissful summery thoughts on this blustery winter day.

Andrea Casarsa

The result? Zero. Nothing, but an empty mailbox. 
   
I am fairly certain that the dear folks at Lands End were so busy updating and picking patterns, that they forgot to write back to me, because I am VERY happy to report that the high neck tankini has returned!  Luckily I spotted them, and I am so excited with my new purchase, and how well it pairs with the Lands End bottoms I already have. Oh, I also bought two of the long-sleeved swim shirts that eluded me last year. My daughter caught wind of the fun patterns...and then needed various other Lands End swimsuit pieces to complete her ocean wardrobe...and then my son needed two new Lands End bathing suits as well, since we retired the two that he'd had for four years (for size reasons only)...and how about a new swim shirt for my dad? Here we all are in some of our 2014 finery...

My point total stays at 21 for this week, but our new beachwear gets many points!

Don't forget to stop by Marianne's place to see the object of her desire this week.