sun savvy bloggers.

today, we have a deep, non-food related post.

i have a long history with tanning.

i am naturally realllllly white. super white. with freckles. that kind of skin does not tan.

and my family is a bunch of tanners. dark, golden skin. i've been jealous since some rude mcruderson told me that my skin was so white it was "see through" back in middle school. rude. and uncreative. but it kicked off my fascination with tanning.

my mom let me start tanning my freshman year of high school because i'd been asked to prom. i continued to tan on a regular basis all through school. i would burn a lot. naturally tan girls would go to the tanning beds to build their "base" that they'd continue to develop out in the sun. i just kept going and going, sometimes working up a glow, but little color beyond that.

my friend jacki worked at the local salon, so it was fun to go, too. then, we heard the story of the bride that died from tanning too much in one day. i just researched and i'm pretty sure that is actually an urban legend. but i remember hearing it and thinking, "if it killed her, what is it doing to me?"

i stopped tanning at the tanning bed shortly after.

however, i didn't stop laying out in the sun, sans sunscreen, just to get a little color. aka get burnt. up until last summer. we went out on percy priest with a bunch of friends. i sprayed on a little sunscreen when we got there, but nothing like what was needed to protect me from 90 degree rays on the reflective lake.

i got fried.

my scalp hurts looking at that. this was the night AFTER. it was the middle of summer and i had to wear long sleeves because i had the i'm-so-burnt-i'm-cold sensation. i don't think the photo even does it justice. my lips are swollen. i got so burnt my lips swelled! not normal.

i joked about how burnt i was, but my friend brandon commented, "you love to get burned".

say what?

but i guess i did. that was the last time i got burnt that summer. and the last time i'll be that careless with sunscreen. my dermatologist wasn't concerned with any of my freckles, and that means that so far i've been lucky.

i saw the sun savvy bloggers badge on breakfast at toast, a blog sandra recommended to me, and i thought, "heck yes, i'm on board with this." so, the blog is officially sun savvy'd out - you can see the button over there to the right. and you can go straight to the site to read more and sign the pledge for yourself.

i spray tan weekly now, which provides the jersey-shore tan look i always wanted. i think that qualifies me as pretty dang sun savvy.

and a fan of trashy reality tv.

but that's a story for another post.