Feels like summer

The view from the top of Multnomah Falls.

It was 85 degrees today. In Portland, Oregon. In May. Say what? This whole weekend was actually pretty amazing. I feel like I accomplished quite a bit, too. I got to hang out with friends I haven't seen in a while, I handed out melanoma walk flyers to tons of businesses and residents in my neighborhood, and yesterday I went on a hike at Multnomah Falls with my boyfriend. We also ventured a bit further East and did a little wine/beer tasting in Hood River. I'm sad to see the weekend end!

In case you haven't heard, tomorrow is "Melanoma Monday." If you'd like to participate in raising awareness for melanoma, please wear black on Monday, May 6. Here are a few reasons why you should:

• Melanoma is the most deadly type of skin cancer. 
• Every eight minutes, someone in the United States will be given a melanoma diagnosis and every hour someone will die from the disease.    
• Melanoma is the fastest growing cancer in the United States and worldwide. 
• Melanoma is the most common form of cancer for young adults 25-29 years old and the second most common cancer in adolescents and young adults 15-29 years old.  
• If caught in the earliest stages, melanoma is entirely treatable with a survival rate of nearly 100%. If untreated and allowed to spread, there is no known treatment or cure.

Multnomah Falls

Looking down over the top of Multnomah Falls

Punta Cana 2013 - it's happening!

In April, one of my best friends is getting married in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. For months now, I'm been excitedly telling people: "I'm going to Punta Cana in April. Oh-em-gee!" But I didn't really start to get excited about it until the travel agent just deducted a big fat check out of my bank account.

Holy crap! I'm actually going on a tropical vacation! Believe it or not, I've never actually been on a real *beachy* vacation. The closest I've made it to a tropical, beachy vacation is Vegas, and well, Vegas in smack dab in the middle of the desert.

With vacation on the brain, I can't stop fantasizing about a dreamy resort wardrobe.

Somedays Lovin feather dress / L*Space l space bikini / Burberry white cover up / Accessorize flats sandals / Madison Harding high heel shoes / Bare Escentuals lip makeup / philosophy here comes the sun

Although something tells me I'm going to need a big vat of this.

In the meantime, I'm heading up to Seattle for the weekend. My other BFF is also getting married this year, so we're going on a girls trip to shop for bridesmaid dresses, drink wine, etc. See you next 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?

My NaHeBloPoMo half-marathon

National Health Blog Post Month Day 30: Recap NHBPM

The cool thing about blogging is you make your own rules. Even when participating in an organized event! When I found out about National Health Blog Post Month on November 12, I was bummed that it was too late to participate. Then I thought to myself, wait... says who? In the end, I responded to 18 prompts in 19 days, which is a heck of a lot more blogging than I usually do. I also had a blast reading posts by other health advocates. In case you missed my incessant posting over the past few weeks, here is a recap:

• Day 12: Call BS on something
• Day 13: What’s your favorite book and how can you tie it to your health? 
• Day 14: Advice for dealing with negative feedback in your community 
• Day 15: Should healthcare companies use social media?
• Day 16: Use a picture to inspire a post 
• Day 17: Write about your strengths and weaknesses  
• Day 18: How do you take time for yourself?
• Day 19: Write about life/death
• Day 20: What's a health moment you regret?
• Day 21: Create a new technology related to health
• Day 22: Give thanks
• Day 23: Clean out your fridge in written form
• Day 24: What would you do with more than 24 hours in a day?
• Day 25: How have your goals as a patient/advocate/person evolved?
• Day 26: Make a chat/meme/poster and write about it
• Day 27: Freebie day
• Day 28: Interview a community member 
• Day 29: Write about unexpected blessings of your health condition
• Day 30: You are here :)

Have a great weekend! 

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This post was inspired by the Day 30 prompt for National Health Blog Post Month.
View posts by other participants.