A Thrifty Diva is not just frugal, she’s a DIVA too. As a diva she knows how to make the most of life on a budget. She never looks “cheap” and keeps her look classy. That means knowing the difference between when it’s a good idea to spend less and when a “splurge” is actually a worthwhile investment.
What worthwhile splurge am I talking about today?
A Good Bra
A bad bra will instantly take your look to frumpy-ville. And no matter how good a bra is, if it fits wrong it’ll make you look frumpy. While it’s tempting to just buy any bra at a good price, you’ll pay for it in other ways you wish you hadn’t.
I learned this the hard way. I spent far too long wearing uncomfortable, ill-fitting bras due to budget woes limiting my bra choices. My posture suffered. I was much less inclined to work out due to the discomfort (even my sports bra was all wrong for me). I certainly didn’t… well, look as good as I could’ve if you know what I mean. And what’s most sad, I had no idea a better bra would make all of the difference. I thought I had no choice but to be that uncomfortable! Then finally I got fed up and figured there had to be a better bra out there.
Getting fitted can be helpful and you can get a free no-purchase necessary bra-fitting at stores like Dillards. After I figured out what I needed for my figure, I couldn’t quite let go of my thrifty side. Between clearance racks and special sales at department stores, plus shopping the local outlet center, I discovered good bras that didn’t break the bank! Albeit a bit more of an investment, but well worth the price in exchange for everyday comfort.
Still need help? There are bra experts out there! Like on the new show “Double Divas” which premieres Thursday, January 10 (10/9c) on Lifetime.
“Double Divas” follows LiviRae owners, bra experts, and best friends Molly Hopkins Cynthia Richards. These southern belles use their natural talents to help women with any and all intimate apparel needs. The show is essentially light hearted entertainment to um… “lift” your spirits. And along the way you’ll understand better the importance of a good bra.
Have you made the terrible mistake of wearing a cheap bra? Or the wrong size of bra? What bra-tastrophes have you committed?
If you’re like me and have ditched the cable… but still enjoy some TV time, you may want to get a Roku for Christmas. This handy little gadget streams free TV (or your paid Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc. accounts) to your television so you can skip the little laptop screen and enjoy TV on the TV again.
The season finale of Switched at Birth airs Monday October 22nd on ABC Family, but if you miss it don’t worry, you can catch it online for free at ABCFamily.com!
Though good news, Switched at Birth will be back for its new season on January 7, 2013.
We got to chat with the stars of the show, Vanessa Marano (Bay Kennish) and Katie Leclerc (Daphne Vasquez)!
Switched at Birth has so many fans. What has been your favorite experience or reaction from one of the fans?
Vanessa Marano: Katie, you want to take that?
Katie Leclerc: Sure, yes. I have to tell you, I Tweet and I love Twitter. It’s just the immediate response that is so readily accessible. I love going on and we’ll get comments from fans that are small mementos like, ‘I learned how to be patient with my deaf cousin because of Switched at Birth’, or big mementos like, ‘I understand the importance of and the need for interpreters so I changed my major to ASL because of Switched at Birth’. I mean, it’s a very broad spectrum, but I think the response has just been overwhelmingly positive and I understand why. When we working on it, I think all of us felt like we were doing something that was special and important. Now that those fans have kind of responded similarly, I’m just proud to be a part of it and thankful to have been along for the ride.
Vanessa Marano: Katie and I both did a signing at Planet Hollywood in New York and it was amazing to see the hearing fans and the deaf fans; how many of them there were and to see them together and to see each community that there is not necessarily a divide between, but both joining a program for different reasons and similar reasons. I think that that’s been the most amazing thing is that we have such a colorful group of fans because they’re hearing, they’re deaf, they’re teenage, they’re mothers, they’re male – a lot of them which is surprising. And I think that that’s great.
With such a broad range of fans, what do you think is the connecting thread that this show seems to connect with so many different people?
Vanessa Marano: I think it’s because it’s so relatable. There’s a character for everybody to relate to. You’re a Daphne, you’re a Bay, you’re a Kathryn, you’re a Regina, you’re a John, you’re a Toby, and you’re an Emmett. I think that what really resonates with people is that there are so many story lines and to top it off, you’re learning about culture and community that a lot of people weren’t introduced to beforehand.
Did you miss the Project Runway Season 10 Finale last night? No worry! It’s available to watch for free on MyLifetime.com.
WAIT…
before you click away to see the last episode, be sure to watch our interview with Nina Garcia. It’ll only take a couple of minutes.
I love what you wear on the show. How do you choose what to wear on Project Runway?
Nina Garcia: I choose what I feel comfortable wearing, and what will look good on TV. I try to keep in mind what looks good on TV and makes me feel comfortable, which not always goes hand-in-hand, but I try my best.
Have you ever had times when the guest judge is not helpful or maybe even make the judging process harder?
Nina Garcia: Yes that has happened. I will not name names but some guest judges come on and they decide to not really speak their mind or they—what can I say they are skeptical about really hurting peoples’ feelings, but this is a show where it’s about giving them constructive criticism. It’s about helping them through your observations. I’ve never been of the school to tell them something just to help ease the blow. You are there to really help them, mentor them, help them grow, and some judges feel very uncomfortable with doing that.
It wouldn’t be Project Runway without Tim Gunn! Tonight the Season 10 Finale premieres at 9/8 central, and the winner will be revealed. If you miss it on TV you can watch it for free on Friday on MyLifetime.com.
Yesterday Style Savings Sarah chatted with Tim about Season 10 and has shared that interview here with us.
Do you think the challenges on Project Runway are getting more demanding on the designers each season?
Tim Gunn: No… I don’t think the challenges are more demanding. I will say the dramatic turn for me, and it’s been true the last several seasons but especially this past one, the challenges are getting shorter. This season (I think I’m correct) with the exception of one challenge (the last one) they were all one day challenges, and Heidi will occasionally talk to me off camera and ask, “Why doesn’t this work any better?” And my response is give them more time. I mean it’s really a matter of time more than anything else.
I mean I think that they’re all very demanding, all the challenges, and I make my experience with each season of designers … this to my experience teaching and every semester I would have a whole new group of students with different DNA and different chemistry among them as a group, and that’s what you just don’t know when we launch a season of the show. You just don’t know how the designers are going to respond to the challenges, how they’re going to respond to the ever increasing level of exhaustion both physical, emotion, creative, and mental exhaustion. It’s really daunting.
On the one hand the longer they stay on the show hurray congratulations. On the other hand can I please go home? It’s really very demanding.
Tim Gunn: Is your perception that the challenges have become more difficult?
Thrifty Divas: Not so much the challenges, the time crunch. It just seems like they’re shorter and shorter.
Tim Gunn: Oh yeah. And I actually am quite serious about it. I always say to the designers this challenge begins and ends at Mood. If you can’t fashion work for me you don’t have what you need or the ingredients aren’t correct you’re really in trouble, and it’s harder to pull out of that.
Thrifty Divas: I guess you’re going to have to make sure the next designers know that very well.
Tim Gunn: Well, actually I had a very serious talk with them the first time we went to Mood (this seasons group of designers) about … issues having to do with time constraints and materials. I mean for instance why if you’ve never use a silk chamois before why would you choose it? I mean it’s incredibly difficult to work with. Work with things that you’re familiar with and that you feel you have command over as opposed to things that are ruling you and dictating to you. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.
Thrifty Divas:Thank you Tim for your insights on everything. I love you on Project Runway! It wouldn’t be Project Runway without you.
Tim Gunn:Aww… thank you, Sarah. Well, I’ll tell you as long as there’s Project Runway, I’ll be there. Even if I’m in a wheel chair or an iron lung.
Project Runway is an awesome source of inspiration for a Frugal Fashionista to take charge of a sewing machine or simply learn to make the most of a look with accessories. I can’t believe season 10 of Project Runway is almost over! Even if you haven’t been watching the whole season, jump onto MyLifetime.com (or Hulu.com) and you can catch the 3 most recent episodes for FREE. You know watching the final episodes are the most exciting anyway.
Then this Thursday October 18th is the Season 10 Finale! That means the Fashion Week Fashion Show and the winner being announced. But since I’m a Thrifty Diva, you know I’ll be watching it for free online on Friday and hoping no one ruins the end for me before then!
We had the opportunity to chat with Heidi Klum about Project Runway.
Watch/Listen here or read below:
What has been your most awkward moment ever when filming Project Runway?
Heidi Klum: Well for me a lot of the times I would make my outfits too short and then I have to sit in the director’s chairs and I literally have to tell the camera man to please keep me from the waist up, because no matter how I cross my legs it’s always too short. Michael is like, “Put your cards on your lap. Put your cards on lap.” But that is for me, personally, one of my awkward moments.
I would do my fitting and I’m like, “This is too long. Let’s shorten it.” And then we would shorten it and then we get it back and I shortened it too much and I forgot I have to sit in this dress and then, oops, it all rides up—yes, so that’s an awkward moment for me. But then I have to make it work because I don’t have anything else to wear for that day.
Speaking of the judging segment, do you ever have moments where you feel sorry for the stressed out and the sleep deprived designers?
Heidi Klum: Of course I do. Sometimes I feel bad. I launch into this whole thing, what I don’t like about this and how I don’t understand why you came up with something like this. The challenge was X, Y and Z and you just gave it away and you’re such a designer. I launch into a whole thing and then afterwards I’m like, “Oh no, now I feel really bad that I said all of that.”
I fight for them. I fight for them and I root for them and I sit there and I want them to do good and I don’t understand sometimes why they do these things where I know that they can be so much better because they’ve shown it to me before. And afterwards I sometimes think, “Wow that came out rather harsh.”
I’m hooked on the ABC Family show “Switched at Birth.” It’s compelling, dramatic, and interesting not just for teens but for adults too. In fact, for those of us either old enough to be fans of “Back to the Future” (or for the younger crowd that caught it on TBS reruns) the famed Lea Thompson plays Kathryn Kennish, one of the mothers affected by the mistake at the hospital. Yes, she plays the sweet, rich parent, but she’s surprisingly dynamic and as usual for Lea, completely likeable.
If you haven’t caught onto the Switch at Birth craze, you are in luck! You can watch the entire series, all 29 episodes (as of October 16) for FREE on ABCFamily.com.
Best of all, we got to chat with Lea Thompson herself!
Watch/Listen here:
Do your daughters watch Switched at Birth? And what do they think of the show?
Lea Thompson: My daughters love ABC Family and they love the show. And they’re always squealing, and it’s really fun, we all get in my bed and watch the show, which is really fun. I love that it’s a show that they like to watch. They’re 17 and 21, and they’re both actresses, and so it’s just great. And they’re fans of all the actors and they geek out, and it’s really, really awesome.
There are so many twists and turns on Switched at Birth, do the writers let you know what’s going on ahead of time, or do you find out these surprises as you get each script?
Lea Thompson: They do not tell us what is going to happen ever. And the only reason that Lizzy Weiss, the creator, doesn’t tell us is because she loves watching us go, Oh, I can’t believe that happened. She really just literally gets some kind of sadistic pleasure out of it, I don’t know, and so it makes for fun. And also always the re-dos, because we always do a re-do, it’s always really fun, sometimes we don’t get the script until right when we’re going to read it through and so we’re right there. What’s nice about it is that we can understand how much fun it is for the fans to discover these things as they happen.
Okay… this isn’t exactly a freebie because I’m not sure if you’ll be able to watch this one for free on MyLifetime.com after the premiere Sunday, October 7th at 9pm.
But… I do have a free treat for you. Here’s our interview with Executive Producer and Star Queen Latifah, plus Co-Producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan!
(Listen to the interview in this video)
I love that you choose positive and inspiring work. What is your personal criteria for choosing which projects to do?
Queen Latifah: Well first of all it’s the quality of the material and also it’s who’s involved, you know, who’s a part of what we’re going to do. And then it’s also, you know, I like to kind of service the full audience of America at least. So I try to do things that are maybe just real artistic.
They don’t have the most money but it’s a great piece of work. Then there’s like big, fun comedies, big animated movies for kids like I want to do things for my nieces and nephews. So I mean my – it’s always been a kind of a full circle moment for how I choose material.
But I think, you know, a lot of it is based upon, you know, what the material is and then who’s involved, you know, and who is it going to service. You know, because ultimately we’re trying to deliver something entertaining to an audience.
So as long as it can entertain the audience, if it makes me laugh I think, you know, if it makes my, you know, my nephew laugh or my niece laugh then I think it’s good. You know, if it makes someone laugh or cry then those things are good.
I mean it’s a very varied, you know, I definitely service, you know, my African American audience but I also want to service other audiences, you know, of different cultures.
So if there are other cultural things that can be involved in it I like to make it diverse because I grew up in New York and New Jersey and so I’m used to growing up around a different, you know, different cultures.
So if there’s something that can, you know, kind of be involved in that sense I always want to, you know, give a little something there. So it varies, you know, but ultimately those are the main things.
As long as we service the audience, we give people the entertaining night, you know, that’s kind of how I choose things.
And I always have like a woman thing in there.
And then for all three of you, since all three of you produced this, what were the biggest challenges to overcome to produce this new version of Steel Magnolias?
Queen Latifah: Location. Location. Location.
Neil Meron: Well location but, you know, I actually didn’t think about this or I don’t think any of us did think about challenges to overcome. I think it was just the challenge to make the best movie we could. And, you know, I don’t think any of us really looked at the past.
We just looked at what we had. And what we had is something that we loved and so we just made the best version of that.
Well it’s true actually. I mean we never said oh, they did this before like this. No, we didn’t. You honor the material you have.
And along the way you’ll understand better the importance of a good bra.
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