beach day

yesterday, we...being myself, nate, his sister, vanessa and his nephew, nathan (who is 7 and visiting from puerto rico) went to the beach. we had a really nice time. 

now, i know that i live in florida and that i'm surrounded by beaches but honestly, i'm not a frequent beach goer. it's not that i don't like them...but going to beach (at least for me) is a lot of work. i'm a planner...to a fault and i must have everything i need...food, water, towels, chairs, umbrella, a book (i typically bring my kindle that nate bought me for our anniversary last year :) ) and what feels like a multitude of other necessities... plus, i have lily white skin and that is not an understatement. i typically wear spf 100 when i'm out for an extended period of time. (i know that spf 40 or whatever is the highest but i work for a dermatologist and she says that anything over that are percentages and the percentages do make a difference).

anyway, yesterday i wore spf 50 because it can be applied to wet skin (i always and only use waterproof, sweat proof sunscreen spray...neutrogena is my favorite) and i reapplied once and still got a little burned. i usually wear a one piece swimsuit and i always have a hat. we typically borrow my parents' beach umbrella and chairs and when i'm not in the water, you better believe i'm under the protection of that glorious umbrella. 

living in florida the vast majority of my life...i used to want to be as tan as i could...i would use tanning oil and i would often burn myself to a crisp...but there have been bouts of skin cancer in my family and that scares me (as it should...along with not wanting to have leathery skin) but i have come to really love my very fair skin. don't misunderstand, a little color is beautiful and somewhat harmless (provided you use adequate amounts of sunscreen in the process) but i was not born with dark skin and i have had more than my fair share of bad burns to develop a healthy fear of the sun's harmful rays as wells as to lead me to believe that my fair skin is also beautiful. i keep that in mind when i'm shopping for bathing suits too...i buy darker colors like navy, dark purple,  turquoise, etc to play up the color of my skin and i think it looks lovely. 

anyway, all that said, we went to one of my favorite beaches called ft. desoto...i love it because it has a little bit of everything - dog parks, camp grounds, playgrounds, covered and uncovered picnic areas to cook out, bike, kayak and canoe rentals, fishing areas, including a pier, boating and jet ski areas, the awesome historic fort and of course, miles and miles of beautiful beach (which are often relatively quiet and rarely packed because of how much beach area there is). it's a beautiful, peaceful place with lots of fun activities for everyone. 

 

i hope everyone had a wonderful sunday!

xoxo