Bra Poll: More or less personal than asking how much money you make or your opinion on breastfeeding?

So a very fun thing happened with the post I wrote about visiting my family's hometown earlier this summer. First, a local website found the post (I assume via google alert) and included a link on their main page. Then, someone from the local weekly newspaper (did I mention how small the town is?) asked if she could run it in the paper.

At first I was excited. Then, I was a little hesitant.

I mean when I write for DC Metro Moms I fully understand that there is a slim possibility that my posts could get picked up for syndication (I was lucky enough to have it happen once, not again) but on this blog, well, it is all pretty much straight from my little brain to my fingertips to publish without much thinking in between.

So after a few weeks I decided to re-work the piece a bit to put it in present tense (since by then we'd already made the visit). Then I sent it in. Well, it got published last week. I got a few comments from people who know my parents and grandparents and my mom sent the text to all of her first cousins. If you think I have a lot of first cousins at the count of 18 then she really has a lot of first cousins. I think it's somewhere close to a total of 50 (though I'm guessing they aren't all on e-mail).

Yay! Fun! Exciting! (Warm welcome to Emporium locals and distant relatives!)

But also, today I really want to talk about ask you about bras and really, how bizarre is it to blog about bras when your 60 year old second cousin once removed might be reading?

Bizarre.

But, I'm plowing ahead anyway: look away if you must.

Okay, so bras. On Friday morning when Lucas is at preschool and I have my precious 6.5 hours ALONE I plan to head to the mall to do some shopping. At the top of my list is new bras.

Is it just me or is bra shopping second only to bathing suit shopping as The. Most. Dreaded. Shopping. Activity. Of. All. Time?

A few years ago I decided to listen to all those "studies" which show that approximately 110% of women are wearing the wrong bra size and went to Nordstrom to get fitted. Despite the fact that purchasing 3 bras that day basically drained my bank account, it was a very refreshing experience. A very nice saleswoman measured me and then brought me several sizes and styles to try on. She got my fit perfectly and she was the one who went out to wade through the racks to find the correct size in different brands and styles, not me.

Holy heck, those babies were expensive. But, I came home with 3 bras that fit really well and that would work for pretty much all occasions (except strapless).

So, just over a year later when I'd completely worn those babies out, I did it all over again. Now it's been about 15 months since my last bra purchase, and wear and tear coupled with this pregnancy, um, growth, necessitate another trip.

Thinking about all this has made me SO curious about how many bras most women have, how often they purchase new bras and how much they spend. So, here's the deal: I'm going to lay it all out for you and ask you to do the same via the totally anonymous polls to the right. (If you're reading through google reader please click through here to get to the questions.)

About how many bras do you generally own at one time (not including athletic bras)? 3
How often do you purchase new bras? About once a year
Approximately how much do you spend (on average) per bra? $60

Thanks in advance for playing along. I can't wait to see the results!

Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!