Let's play dress up

On our way to 80s night.

I've decided that I kind of love being 27. I love that I'm old enough to have my own place, to have a steady income, and to feel like a responsible "grown up" half of the time, but that I'm not too old to get dressed up and make a fool of myself every once in a while. (Like wearing a floral leotard to an 80s dance cruise on Saturday. Which, by the way, I found a HUGE rack of at Forever 21. Please tell me these aren't making a comeback.) Most people still mistake me for a 23-year-old, but I'm starting to be OK with that, too. I credit genetics (thanks, mom) and my daily SPF.

Desperately in need of a shower after the Color Run.

I also recently did one of those 5k color runs, where they douse you with paint as you run through the course. It was the first organized run I've done all year, which is PITIFUL, but it's so easy to let running go by the wayside when I'm busy with other things. My goal is to continue running into the winter. This is always a huge challenge for me because it becomes nearly impossible to run outside once when it gets dark by the time I'm off work. It also rains a lot in Portland, and even the gym is about a half mile walk from my apartment. Excuses-- I know. If you have any advice on how to stay motivated during cold and rainy months, please send it my way.

My best friend's wedding

Mr. and Mrs. McDaniel.

My BFF since high school got married over the weekend! I survived with only minor injuries: a champagne bottle prematurely exploded on my thumb while we were getting our hair and makeup done and then I stepped on a shard of glass at the reception (dropping your wine glass on the dance floor is such a party foul, people!)

Even though much of my spring and summer have been full of weddings and wedding-related activities (exhibits A, B, C, and D), I'm still such a newbie at the whole wedding thing. When Liz asked me to be her maid of honor, I had never been in a wedding party before. Clueless but determined to be the best MOH I could be, I ordered books from Amazon.com with titles like The Knot Bridesmaid Handbook: Help the Bride Shine Without Losing Your Mind. Despite months of preparation, I still don't think I was prepared for how emotional I would be on Saturday. Aside from being pee-my-pants nervous for giving my toast, there's something to be said about seeing your close friends so incredibly happy and in love. Basically, it was a blast, and I feel very blessed to have such wonderful friends.

I will stop being such a cheeseball now. Just needed to get it out of my system. I didn't take any photos at the wedding because my phone was shoved in the back of a locker, but here are a few I snagged from the photo booth. P.S. Loved my eggplant-colored bridesmaid dress-- I'm actually looking forward to wearing it again. Oh, and Tim: Thank you for being the best wedding date ever.

27 things you may or may not know about me

Tomorrow is my 27th birthday! Instead of complaining about how old I'm getting (which I know drives anyone who is older than I am crazy), I decided to compile a list of fun facts to give you a better sense of who I am when I'm not blogging about skin cancer and sunscreen. Enjoy!


1. I've been blogging (and making online "zines") since AOL dial-up.

2. I was a vegetarian for 12 years and just started eating red meat again a year ago.

3. I interned at two magazines in NYC the summer I turned 21.

The House Beautiful intern cubicle. I remember talking this photo on my 21st
birthday because my mom had the flowers delivered to the office.

4. When I was a senior in high school, I didn't apply to college anywhere in my home state.

5. I ended up at Lehigh University where I majored in English and journalism.

College graduation in 2008.

6. I attended an all-girls, Catholic high school.

7. I love cats - lions, tigers, and the more domestic variety that you find on your lap and in YouTube videos.

8. I paint my nails about 2x per week before I go to bed. I own enough nail polish that I could probably open my own salon.

My fingertips on Sephora's nailspotting Pinterest board.

9. My favorite movie is Love Actually.

10. I learned how to drive on a 1995 Nissan Sentra and finally just upgraded last summer to a 2011 Nissan Rogue. It was the first car I've ever purchased in my own name without a co-signer.

My baby!

11. But I take public transportation to and from work every day.

12. I manage the Research Funding & Development Services program at Oregon Health & Science University. That means I help scientists find grant funding and do a lot of internal communication with faculty and other biomedical researchers. Part of my job includes editing a blog.

13. I fly several times a year and yet it is still one of the most terrifying things in the world to me.

This is how I fly.

14. I did professional theater when I was a kid. My favorite role was Lucy in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

15. I could eat cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My favorite foods include homemade macaroni and cheese and fondue.

16. Once upon a time, I knit a sweater. It look an entire year!

I knit this!

17. If I didn't have to work, I'm pretty sure I would be nocturnal.

18. I want children someday, but babies still kind of scare me.

19. I drink tea in the mornings, not coffee.

My beverage of choice.

20. I love befriending strangers, even if I know I'll never see them again.

21. My mom is my best friend in the entire world.

22. Places at the top of my travel bucket list include Egypt, Greece, and Bora Bora.

Dream vacation? Yes, please.

23. I rarely pay full price for anything.

24. I can't lie. You will know when I'm lying.

25. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who cancel at the last minute.

26. I read 33 books in 2012. If you're on Goodreads, please be my friend.

The Lovely Bones is one of my favorite books.

27. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a paleontologist.

Sweetheart VoxBox Review 2013

The 2013 Sweetheart VoxBox.

I'm a few weeks late sharing this, but I got another VoxBox from Influenster! Sometimes I feel obnoxious posting about these, but earlier this week, Erin from Melanoma in the City said that she's gotten hooked on some of the goodies I've blogged about, so I'll continue indulging in this guilty pleasure. Love that I got to test some skincare products this time (since, well, ya know).

Olay Fresh Effects {Va-Va-Vivid!} Powered Contour Cleansing System - $12.99
I'm a Clarisonic devotee. This doesn't even compare. The brush is made of rubber, so it's not as gentle on your face as the Clarisonic. Two thumbs down on this, unfortunately.

Olay Fresh Effects {Shine, Shine Go Away!} Shine Minimizing Cleanser - $6.99
I typically buy the anti-aging Olay skin care products. My skin is dry, so this cleanser obviously isn't a good match for my skin type. I tried it out of curiosity, and I do think this would be a good product for someone with oilier skin. It contains kaolin, which is an oil-absorbing clay. Seems like it was pretty effective at removing makeup, too.

Secret Clinical Strength Stress Response - $7.99
Before this came in the mail, I saw and ad for this on TV and thought to myself, "Wow, stress sweat, eh? This must be a marketing gimmick." I take it back. This stuff works better than my regular antiperspirant and it smells amazing. I would definitely purchase this again.

Skinnygirl Daily On-the-Go Bars: $9.99 for a box of 5
I love finding new protein bars that I can stash in my purse for snack emergencies. This tasted better than expected. More like a muffin than a diet bar. Would purchase again, but the price is higher than Luna bars.

Not Your Mother's Volumizing Hair Spray - $6.00 for full size
Some testers got sea salt spray in their boxes--which my absolute favorite--so I was a little bummed I got the hairspray. It works like a normal hairspray, but I didn't notice any extra volume when I sprayed at the roots.

Have you tried any of these products?

Disclaimer: I received these treats for free in exchange for providing reviews of the products. Opinions contained in this post are my own.

It's OK Thursday #2

It's been so long since I did my first It's OK Thursday post! Visit Amber's blog to read what everyone else is posting today - it's always entertaining.

It's OK...

• That it's February 21 and I still feel like celebrating Valentine's Day
• To take a mini blogger hiatus every now and again
• To say "no" when you already have too much on your plate (still working on that one...)
• To spend more time watching TV shows and reading US Weekly on your Kindle than reading actual books
• To buy spring clothing in the middle of winter
• To leave your bus pass at home and have to pay for the bus with cash

Your turn. Fess up! What have you been up to this week?

The un-domestic goddess goes on a cleaning spree

Over the weekend, I had one goal: to deep clean my bathroom. Cleaning, to me, usually means Swiffering the floor or spritzing the shower with Scrubbing Bubbles. I'm definitely not the most domesticated girl in the world, so I'm very excited to share that I cleaned both my bathroom and my kitchen this weekend. We're talking scrubbing the floorboards-type cleaning. Who knew it could be so satisfying? I was so pleased with my Pine-Sol fresh kitchen that I walked over to Trader Joe's and bought everything I needed to make vegetarian slow-cooker chili. Say what? It feels like I'm nesting or something.

Sour cream melted a bit. Whoops!

The chili recipe was from Real Simple. I think the hardest thing about this recipe was waiting while it cooked. I put it on in the afternoon, and by the time Jodie Foster's Golden Globes speech came on, I was starving!

Bonus to my super productive weekend: Influenster send me three full-size dish soaps to try. When it came time to clean up the new mess I'd made in my sparkly clean kitchen, I got to test out Palmolive's new Fresh Infusions in ginger white tea and lemon rosemary. As you can imagine, my non-domestic self hates washing dishes (downside of living in a 90-year-old building is no dishwasher.) But these soaps smell very nice. The scents are actually quite a bit lighter than I expected. Not overpowering or migraine-inducing. Although, the lime basil one smells a little too much like a cocktail...

And that was my weekend. How was yours?

"It's OK" Thursday

Today I'm linking up with Amber and Neely for my first "It's OK Thursday." Here we go.

It's OK...

• That I've eaten at least 2 dozen Christmas cookies in the past week
• That I can't stop Christmas shopping for myself
• That I've been humming along to Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift
• That I watched the entire first season of HBO's Girls in less than 24 hours
• That I drove to work instead of taking the bus because it was snow/raining
• That I wore rain boots and big fuzzy socks to work (and then refused to put on "real shoes" because my toes were cold)

What kind of shenanigans have you been up to this week?

Cosmo VoxBox Review 2012

The 2012 Cosmo VoxBox.

This fall, I was selected to receive a VoxBox from Influenster. Basically, the premise is this: companies send you freebies in exchange for your feedback.  Instead of doing something productive on this chilly, Monday evening (laundry, working out, save the world, etc.), I thought I'd blog about my new goodies. I realize this has nothing to do with skin cancer, but sometimes a girl just needs a place to chill out and relax. This blog is my zen :)

FriXion by Pilot Pens - $4.50 for a three pack
I've been out of school for almost five years, but I still get excited about buying new pens and other office supplies every fall. Yes, I'm a nerd. I know. I'm probably going to use these for Christmas cards.

Gillette Venus Embrace & Venus Olay Razor Refill - $3.50 to $4.50 for blade refills
Is it just me or does dry skin make wintery white legs look even whiter? I'm excited to try these (especially the Olay one) because it seems like it's more moisturizing than a normal razor. We shall see.

Forever Red Eau de Parfume Spray from Bath & Body Works - $10 for small size, $44.50 for full size
I loved Bath & Body works when I was younger, but I don't think I've shopped there in years. Most of their scents are too fruity, etc. I didn't think I was going to like this fragrance at all, but this actually smells REALLY good. It's very rich and earthy and surprisingly sophisticated. This could easily become my new daytime scent.

Ghirardelli Gourmet Milk Sea Chocolate Escape - $2.79
I hope I fooled you into thinking there is chocolate in this pretty little box--because I ate it already. Whoops! Salted chocolates are my absolute favorite right now. I would have preferred dark chocolate, but lets be real. Chocolate is chocolate. Yum!

Not too shabby of a haul right? If you're not member of Influenster yet, feel free to shoot me and email and I can give you an invite code.

Disclaimer: I received these treats for free in exchange for providing reviews of the products. Opinions contained in this post are my own.

My fingers are famous!

Creepy blog post title, I know. Sorry, guys! But how cool is this: My manicure is featured as Julep's Nail of the Day. This pale girl is rockin' it! Happy Monday, all :)

Playing catch up

Image: 1000awesomethings.com.

Eek! I've been slacking on my #NHBPM posts! I blame Thanksgiving. I was actually just thinking this morning--is it just me or is Thanksgiving weekend one of the busiest weekends of the year? I always look forward to having this super-relaxing four-day weekend, but then it turns into a marathon visit the family, visit more family, get started on Christmas shopping, eat eat eat, clean house, etc. etc. By the time you're ready to sit down and relax, it's time to go back to work! With that, onward...

National Health Blog Post Month Day 23: Clean out your fridge in written form. What’s in there? How does it reflect your personality?

My fridge is a little empty because I've been gone for the past few days, but perhaps I can still glean a little bit of my personality from what's left:

• Leftovers from Thanksgiving on a plate and in Tupperware (including turkey breast, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and black olives). Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favorite meals of the year. Even when I was a vegetarian, I've been known to request "Thanksgiving dinner" on my birthday, which is in August. I also buy canned cranberry sauce year-round and use it to make turkey sandwiches.
• 1% milk
• Brita water filter
• Goat cheese with herbs, shredded cheddar, sliced swiss cheese (I have a weakness for cheese)
• Grape tomatoes, butter lettuce
• Tortillas
• Diet Coke (not mine, this is my boyfriend's. I can't stand diet soda)
• Bottle of champagne (I read somewhere once that you should always keep a bottle of champagne in your fridge in case something happens worth celebrating. I've kept a bottle in there since. Last time I toasted was when I got a raise. Waiting patiently for the next good thing to happen)
• Condiments: whip cream (for pie that I ate), ranch, mustard (yellow & Dijon), balsamic vinaigrette, hot sauce, ketchup, sweet and sour, and Parmesan cheese
• Freezer: frozen veggies, pork chops, ice cream bars

How does this reflect my personality? I love food. Yum. Aside from the cheese and the ice cream, I'm actually a pretty healthy eater. I load up on tons of fresh produce every week and eat a pretty balanced diet.

National Health Blog Post Month Day 24: If I had more than 24 hours in a day…

I love this prompt because I am constantly saying, "I wish there were more hours in the day!" To be honest, I would probably just sleep more. I've been kind of an insomniac since I can remember, but I also get really cranky when I don't get enough sleep. I'm much more productive when I'm well rested (9+ hours), so I'd take some of that time, I try to use it to relax and rejuvenate. I might also try to work out more often. Going to the gym often gets cut out of my schedule when I'm busy with extra things, so it would be nice to have an extra hour or two so that I could go to the gym (or go for a jog) before work in the mornings.

National Health Blog Post Month Day 25: How have your goals as a patient / advocate / person evolved?

I don't know that my goals have evolved as much as my attitude towards them has. When I started this blog, I created the following tagline: "20-something-year-old melanoma survivor learning how to love the skin I was born in." My goal was to educate other young people about the dangers of melanoma, but also to document my own personal struggles with loving my own natural skin color. There were several times in the beginning when I felt like a huge hypocrite. Here I was going off on people on TV who wore too much bronzer, which I was still incredibly uncomfortable in my own skin. I wanted to slather myself in self-tanner, too, but I felt like if I did that, I would be lying to you all. Somehow, over the course of the past eight months, I've actually started to practice what I preach. There are still times I struggle (I'm anticipating difficulties when I go to the Caribbean this winter and I'm the only person using SPF 50 like it's my religion), but overall, I think this blog has probably been more therapeutic than I ever expected it to be.

***

This post was inspired by prompts from National Health Blog Post Month.
View posts by other participants.

Lazy Sunday

National Health Blog Post Month Day 18: How you take time for yourself

Sandwiched between two busy weeks, today I took it easy and indulged in a lazy Sunday. One thing I did was finish knitting this infinity scarf that I started working on a couple weekends ago. I learned to knit back in 2008/2009 from a colleague and friend who is an insanely talented crafter. Since then, I've tackled several of my own projects--the most difficult being a sweater I knit two years ago that took months and months and months to complete. This scarf was super quick-to-knit and pretty easy, so it was a good way to ease into knitting season after my summer hiatus. Knitting to me is sort of like yoga. It gives your hands something to do while your brain ascends into a rhythmic trance. It can be frustrating at first, or when you're working on a particularly difficult pattern, but it can also be incredibly soothing and relaxing.

The infinity scarf that I finished knitting this afternoon.
Looking forward to wearing it!

Another work in progress. This is a scarf I'm planning to
give to my mom.

I hope you all had a peaceful and rejuvenating Sunday. The next few days are going to be hectic, but I'm looking forward to spending time with family and eating excessively later in the week. Goodnight!

***

This post was inspired by the Day 18 prompt for National Health Blog Post Month.
View posts by other participants.

Ipsy Glam Bag Review - November 2012

I recently subscribed to a few different monthly subscription boxes. It's been super helpful looking at other blogs to see which boxes offer the best products (and best deals!), so I wanted to share with you! For $10 per month, Ipsy sends you a makeup bag with five sample and/or full size beauty products. Caution: These subscription boxes are addicting, so proceed with caution. Here is what I got in my November box:

Nailtini Speakeasy Nail Lacquer in Millionaire - Full Size - $13 value
This is a fun nail polish for the holidays. It's really similar to an OPI nail polish I have, but it has some multi-color glitter in addition to the gold flecks.

Benefit They're Real Mascara - Sample Size - $8 value
I love Benefit products (they always have the cutest packaging), so I'm excited to try this mascara. I've been using a Bobbi Brown mascara that I love, so I'll wait to try this until I run out. (Update: This mascara is REALLY hard to remove. I tried waterproof eye makeup remover. No dice. Very frustrated. May toss it.)

Bare Minerals Moxie Lip Gloss in Dare Devil - Sample Size - $9 value
When I first saw this, I worried that it would show up too dark on my lips (dark lipstick doesn't look so hot with my fair skin), but it's actually pretty sheer. It has a minty taste that I LOVE. Of all the products I received in my November bag, this is hands down my favorite. I would probably actually buy a full-size version of this product when I run out.

The Balm Meet Matt(e) Eye Shadow - Sample Size - $4 value
I've been using this eye shadow in my crease and to create a "smokey" eye look. It goes on really smoothly. I'm much more impressed with this shadow than I expected. Not a color for daytime wear, but good for evenings and weekends.

Starlet Cosmetics Eyeliner in Chocolate - Full Size - $11 value
This eyeliner isn't my favorite. I don't love the brown color. It has a reddish undertone--usually I buy liners that are more black/brown. It's also not as creamy as I'd like, but it might be an OK liner to use for work, etc.

Here's a look at how the different colors look on my skin. From left: Eyeliner, eye shadow, and lip gloss. Overall, I'm really impressed with my first Ipsy bag. For $10, I received about $45 worth of makeup. Yay! I'm already getting anxious to see what they send me in December.

Do you subscribe to any of these monthly beauty boxes?

DIY Peplum Top

I had one of those "ah-ha" moments the other day that was too good not to share. I've owned this shirt for about a year now, but I've never been able to wear it with a pair of pants. Because it's so billowy, I've always paired it with a pencil skirt--something I could tuck it into. By simply adding a belt, I was finally able to wear the blouse with a pair of pants. Plus, the silhouette morphs into a trendy peplum shape. I dig it.

Start with a loose-fitting blouse like this
one by Daniel Rainn.

Add a thin belt just below your natural
waist. And voila!