clothes sizes

we finally went shopping today day. all i needed was new jeans, but i ended up getting a few more things. and the whole size issue... really was an issue! i got an 11-12 size jeans, but when i then went into Macy's, i had to go down to a size 8. at Sears, i got size 6 underwear (which turned out to be a tad on the big side!). so when i went to try a bikini, i went for size 8-10, but i ended up having to get a size 14! so all in all, i appear to be a size 6 through to 14... i'm used to having to go one side either way of 40 in France, but this is a bit ridiculous...