“If I wear purple, I’ll look like Barney, the dinosaur!”

“If I wear red, I’ll look like the Kool-aid man!”

How many times have you heard a Plus Size Princess say something like that? … how many times have you said it yourself?

I don’t think its possible to be a PSP and not think twice about bright colors. For the longest time, I’d get all of my nice clothes in dark colors. If I had an event or a party, I would look for blacks and/or navy blue dresses. If I was going out to the club, I was looking for dark wash denim and black sexy tops.

I’m not quite sure why I stopped avoiding bright colors, but I remember the first bright piece I bought. It was a yellow trench coat and I loved it! The first time I wore it, a girlfriend of mine (who was probably a 12/14 at the time) complimented my on the coat. Then she confessed that she had talked her plus size sorority sister out of buying a yellow top because of her size. “Maybe, I shouldn’t have talked her out of it after all…” she said, wistfully.

At the time she thought she was doing her soror a favor, based on the fashion rules that we all grow up with, but seeing a PSP in yellow made her think twice.

Did any of you watch the Jennifer Hudson interview with Oprah a few days ago? When she took the cameras into her closet, she said that color was the biggest addition to her wardrobe since she’s lost weight. I think a lot of us have the same mindset, that we have to slim down before we can rock the bright colors that turn heads and make women shine. All women are trained to believe that black is slimming, so of course anything else must be… fattening? As a big girl I was holding onto those rules twice as hard as the next girl.

As I’ve said before, “you can’t hide the fat“! I am a big girl and dark colors wont change that… If I took off my black dress and changed into a red one no one would be like “whoa! I thought you were a size 10!!! that black dress really fooled me!!”

Today I am wearing a bright orange dress from Rachel Pally. Even though I wholeheartedly believe that Plus Size Princesses can and should wear bright colors, I had a small moment of “wait-am I going to look like a pumpkin in this dress?” when I got dressed this morning. I put the dress on anyway and I’ve been getting compliments all day. (I even snuck a bathroom pic to show you!)

So… do you wear bright colors?

Tell me in the comments section of todays post or chime in during my #CurvyConvo twitter chat today (Wednesday) at 3pm…

Greetings from Los Angeles!

So, I got on the plane in NYC and was able to click the seat belt closed with no extender! Then just as I was applauding myself for my weight loss acomplishments, I changed flights in Chicago and the seatbelt was *this* close to fitting, but it wouldn’t and I had to ask the flight attendant for an extender afterall (womp womp!). Goes to show, that its not always us… sometimes its the plane, so we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves when we have to do the oh so embarrassing extender request.

I’m in my home state for a friends wedding. I’m not in the wedding and Robert had to stay behind for a family wedding of his own, so my main goal for this trip is to relax! I’m going to be by the pool and/or on the beach as much as possible starting tomorrow, so I tried really hard not to overpack. I’ve made some discoveries over the past few weeks that made my packing a lot more simple. So I thought I’d share!

First off, I revamped my travel outfit for the summer- remember when I wrote about plane comfy clothes for Plus Size Princesses? Well you can see that post come to life in this picture. The lip gloss I’m wearing is from the See & Be Seen makeup kit by Anastasia. I love the pink color and it pops on my brown skin, which is sometimes hard to find in a lip gloss.

Next, FullBeauty.com has done something I’ve been wanting a swimline to do for a long time… they’re making swimsuits with underwire in them! I always buy at least one halter swimsuit, but for a girl like me with DDD’s, that knot starts to dig into the base of my neck after a while and its not comfortable. Underwire in this vintage swimsuit cut is going to make my time by the pool perfect. Follow me on Instagram (PlusSizePrincess) and I’ll be posting pictures through the weekend. FullBeauty also has a great sheer swimdress that I like- I know everyone is doing the fatkini thing, but I’m just not ready, so these suits work well for me.

Lastly, Ms. Kathryn Finney from TheBudgetFashionista turned me on to the new Crocs… its not those crazy moon shoes anymore, they’re making cute little ballet flats with great support and the size 11w’s fit like a glove. I’m wearing them in the photo linked above!

Anyway, this is what I’ll be rocking all weekend until I have to put on real clothes for the wedding… I’ll post pics of that on my tumblr.

Although I had just lost 30 pounds, the minute Ms. Kathryn Finney asked me to be in the first ever BlogHer Fashion Show, I became obsessed with losing ten more pounds before the show. I mean, isn’t that what models do?

I found myself skipping carbs, adding workouts and obsessing over everything I ate. When I would mention to The Boy that I wanted to slim down just a little bit more before the show, he would just look at me like I was nuts and say “you’re fine”. Of course, I brushed him off. He couldn’t understand what was expected of me as a model in a fashion show. I needed to be militant in order to be presentable and if that meant salads and no wine during our date nights, he’d have to deal with it.

To add to my stress, the BlogHer12 fashion show would be the first time that TheBigGirlBlog’s readers would see what I looked like. I had been blogging anonymously for years, so I wanted to “look my best” for my Plus Size Princesses. Instead of being proud of the 30 pounds I’d lost, I was kicking myself that I hadn’t lost 40 pounds and although the scale was moving down, it wasn’t happening fast enough.

To put it plainly, I was driving myself crazy about my weight. Then two things happened that changed everything:

1.) I realized that I was dieting instead of living the healthy lifestyle that had helped me to lose 30 pounds in the first place.

2.) I logged onto the BlogHer website and read all of the comments about the upcoming fashion show.

The comments section was flooded with women asking what kind of models they would be using. Including questions like Will there be plus size clothing on the runway? and Are the models going to be a variety of sizes? I know they are “real people” not models, but a lot of style bloggers are of the smaller variety.

Seeing those questions stopped me in my tracks. Duh! There was a desire for women of all sizes to be represented on the runway and I was a part of that. Would there be skinny models? Yes. But it wasn’t my job to be one of them. It’s like I heard the words “model” and “runway” and suddenly everything I stood for flew out the window. My job was to be CeCe Olisa as of August 4, 2012. 30 pounds down… more to go, but as The Boy so sweetly reminded me… I’m fine.

I had to remind myself that beauty isn’t something that we aspire to be, its something that we are. It’s important to remember that we’re beautiful at any given moment in our lives. We’re beautiful at the beginning of a weight loss journey, we’re beautiful when we’ve reached our weight loss goals and we’re beautiful at every point in between. Those sweaty moments at the gym? Beautiful. When “Aunt Flow” comes to town and we gain 4 pounds overnight? Beautiful!

Walking down the runway with a diverse group of women, I knew that everyone in the audience saw someone who represented them in some way. When I saw the Plus Size Princesses cheering and clapping, I knew I was there for them and I hope that in some way, my presence let them know, “you’re fine” and by “fine” I mean beautiful!

To see me on the runway, visit PlusSizePrincess.Tumblr.com

I really need to write about the experience of modeling in the BlogHer fashion show, but I’m not quite ready. I think I’m in shock. I do have a few highlights though: Follow my new Plus Size Princess tumblr to see what I wore. Follow “PlusSizePrincess” on Instagram to see my amazing makeup, backstage scenes and… check out my feature on the ELLE magazine website to hear more details on how my look came together.

Okay now, lets do a giveaway!

I’m often so focused on getting cute dresses that I forget to invest in clothes I can just “veg” in. Giant Pants is a new brand of pajamas that are designed to give women of all sizes comfy PJs!

Giant Pants was a life saver to me during BlogHer. After running around all day, meeting people, taking classes and dragging my stuff around. I would come home, light candles, take a long shower and then slip into my comfy cozy pants. The fabric is light enough that I wasn’t too hot and soft enough that I fell right asleep.

Back in the day, I can remember buying the biggest size flannel pants I could find, but they were never baggy like I wanted them to be. Tight pajama pants are just silly, but when you’re already plus size, finding a loose fit is hard too. Giant Pants are cut so that they fit perfectly in the waist and crotch, while being perfectly loose in the leg.

I’ve got five pair of Giant Pants to give away, the rules to enter are below:

1.) Follow @thebiggirlblog on twitter
2.) follow @GiantPants on twitter
3.) tweet: @thebiggirlblog & @giantpants are giving away 5 sets of LUXE Pajamas! http://su.pr/89TTGS (Follow them & RT to win!) all sizes can enter

Its time for my next Christmas Giveaway!

SimplyBe is a UK store that has recently started selling in the US. They’ve got a really varied selection of clothes for Plus Size Princesses and they pay attention to detail in ways I don’t often see. For example, they sell Maxi Dresses in different lengths and they have another line of dresses based on bra size!

Below are six dresses that I’ve ordered from SimplyBe over the past few months. Some are casual, some are more dressy but all of them are well made and fit perfectly. Now for the giveaway:

SimplyBeUSA has been kind enough give me a $150 gift card for one TBGB reader! There are two ways that you can win:

1.) Tweet the following phrase: Want to win a $150 gift card? Follow @thebiggirlblog & @SimplyBeUSA then RT this message & you’re entered! http://su.pr/2kFttH #plussize

or

2.) Leave a comment on this post with a link to your favorite item from SimplyBe.com

You can earn a double entry by tweeting AND leaving a comment!

GOOD LUCK!!!

***CONTEST CLOSED***

Remember the song “Kiss” by Prince?

Well one of the lines is ain’t no particular sign I’m more compatible with, I just want your extra time and your… kiss!

Well, I thought the words were ain’t no particular SIZE I’m more compatible with, I just want your extra time and your… kiss!

Prince was talking about Astrology, but I thought Prince was letting us know that even though he was a small dude, he could handle a big girl!

Another misheard lyric of mine is actually from my friend Helene, one night we were listening to Usher’s “Yeah” while we were getting dressed to go out…

You know the part when he says ’cause on a 1 to 10 she’s a certified 20… but that just aint me! When that lyric played, my friend turned to me and said “so, Usher doesnt do plus size girls?”

I started laughing because when I first heard the song I thought the exact same thing! Of course, Usher was saything that on a scale of 1 to 10 the girl was a 20 (at least I hope that’s what he meant).

Anyway, I just think its funny how being a Plus Size Princess can affect how you see/hear everything.

I was standing at the bus stop last Saturday wearing a new pair of jeans. As I glanced at my reflection in a store window, I realized that my new jeans were about a size too big and I needed to exchange them. As I thought about whether or not I still had the receipt a strangers voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Girl, stop looking at yourself in the window- you look fine!”

I looked over and a woman I’d never seen before in my life was staring at me, “YOU LOOK FINE!” she said again. I never know how to respond to strangers yelling at me, so I stayed quiet. Of course, she took my silence as permission to continue talking to me, “you look like you’ve lost a lot of weight, ‘cuz your jeans are REAL BAGGY in the leg area! GOOD FOR YOU!” she said, then she gave me a wave and crossed the street.

I think one of the most annoying things about being a bigger girl is that people think its okay to comment on my body. Men think its okay to say “Hey Big Girl!” instead of “Excuse me Miss…” Friends think they can grab your love handles or back rolls… I’ve had strangers stop to ask me what size I wore because they were “shopping for a friend” who’s around my size. I even had a coworker who would refer to me as “Big Sexy” all the time. Um… why couldn’t I just be “sexy”?

I can’t prove it, but I also think people touch me more because I’m big. I worked in retail during college and I found that customers were constantly reaching out and petting me, nudging me, etc. it was very strange.

Its almost as if because I take up more space than other girls, people think I’m suddenly public domain. I’m not!

Its MY Body… MINE!

I was doing a quick run to the grocery store which meant I didn’t even bother getting dressed. I just tucked my pajama pants into my Uggs and threw on my wide collar black wool coat which still had a big bejeweled brooch on it from the night before.

As I stood in the dairy aisle deciding if I should try a new brand of Soy Milk, a very tall man with curly salt and pepper colored hair pushed his cart in between the refrigerator and me.

“That brooch is so big, you might need a bodyguard,” he said.

I smiled politely.

“You know, I am a bodyguard… in case you need one,” he winked.

I stared at him blankly.

“One other thing,” he said as he leaned in closer. “If anyone tells you you’re overweight, let me know and I’ll break their legs!”

*deep sigh*

I’m thinking of keeping copies of this in my purse to pass out when necessary.