23 is a young age for a lot of things.  It is a young age to be a mother, to be on your own, to lose a friend, or to have cancer.  Yet, all of these things and more happen to young people every day.

It was a cold day in November when I got the phone call from the dermatologist telling me my results were back and I needed to come into the office the same day.  As I put down the phone, I looked at my boyfriend and nervously laughed and said, “Well that can’t be good.”  Since I am a full time student, I had to go to class before I could even think about heading to a doctor.  I sat through the hour and fifteen minute class thinking that maybe I was being silly and everything was going to be fine.  Surely a girl who is 23 years old, outgoing, determined, and full of life could not have cancer.  It had to be something else.

The drive to the office took too long and I called my mom on the way to deter some thoughts.  She immediately went into full panic mode and I couldn’t understand why.  By the time I arrived at the doctor, she had called five times to find out what was wrong but they wouldn’t tell her because I am an adult.  I sat alone in the room and waited for the nurse practitioner.  She was the only that would see me that day because the doctor was too busy.  She sat down and said, “Katie, you have level four Melanoma and the next step is for you to go see a surgeon in St. Louis to have the tumor removed.”

It’s hard to explain what I was feeling at the moment I was processing everything she was saying.  I don’t really know if I was feeling anything but disbelief.  I’m not sure that I was even processing it.  I just shook my head like I was some kind of bobble head so she knew I was still listening.  The strangest thing, after looking back on it all, is the feeling that I just wanted to please her or that I couldn’t cry because I needed to be strong.  I asked her different questions about what the biopsy meant and she couldn’t tell me.  At this point the hardest thing was that she didn’t know the details or the main question everyone wanted to know:

Was I going to die? Read More »

I live for the summer.  In the spring, I count down the days until my last final and I miss it terribly during the fall.  I love the way the sun‘s rays touch my skin, I love reading novels lazily on the beach, my morning outdoor runs, and enjoying picnics and BBQs.  I love the skin-exposing, brightly colored fashions I get to wear.  I want nothing more than to be carefree during my favorite season, but unhappily I cannot be. There are two frightening words that come to mind whenever I’m wanting to bask in the sun and they are a constant reminder to apply sunscreen and limit my beloved time in the sun: skin cancer.

With that in mind it certainly is important to apply sunscreen, avoid tanning beds, and limit hours in the sunlight. But obvious these steps are not all that we can do to protect oneself from the sun’s damaging rays. It turns out that the foods we eat can have a protective effect! Read More »

I am pale.  White, pasty, corpse-like, albino, pallid- that’s me.  It wasn’t always me, mind you.  See, once upon a time I sought solitude and relaxation in the warm bluish-white glow of the tanning bed.  Those of you who tan, you know what I’m talking about.  You get out of class completely drained (because the Sudoku was really tough today) and head to your car.  Maybe it’s raining, maybe it’s not.  Maybe it’s the middle of December, or maybe Spring Break is a week away.  It doesn’t matter.  The light at the end of your tunnel is florescent and comes with the scent of coconut oil.

I’ve been there.  Chasing happiness through monthly memberships and bonus lotion deals, fighting hangovers as you listen to the best of the 80s, 90s, and today, as you fake-bake your way to sun kissed bliss. You know tanning is bad for you (the warnings are everywhere), but you don’t care. You don’t do it that much. You won’t get cancer. And you look so much better tan!

So you keep on keepin’ on.

Well, what if I showed you what tanning does to those precious looks to hold so dearly? Would that change your mind?  Looks like it. Read More »

Let's all take a moment of silence for Snookie's skin tone.

As you may or may not know, there’s a lot going down in Washington right now in regards to our health and bodies. Not only is there major debate about Obama’s health care plan, but Capitol Hill has been buzzin’ about Botox. Namely, the idea to put a tax (nicknamed “Bo-tax”) on it and other cosmetic surgeries.

That has since been vetoed (probably after all 4 casts of The Real Housewives/Joan Rivers threatened a sit-in at the White House) in favor of a new idea: adding a 10% tax to indoor tanning.

The main idea behind the new plan is for the government to make it more difficult for you to feed your potentially cancerous addictions (much like cigarettes) by doing what the government does best: taxing.

Needless to say, orange people nationwide are up in (leathery) arms! Read More »

So you are not going on spring break… I share your pain. I will be returning home, where it is also cold, to substitute teach bratty kids instead of drinking pina coladas in the sun. FML.

It sucks listening to everyone talk about their plans, but it will suck more when they all come back with sweet beach tans, and I, well, still glow in the dark. Seriously, the other day my best friend called me pasty (harsh, but true).

And this, my friends, is why I am looking for a bottled glow.

Tanning beds scare me with their cancerous connotations. Spray tans scare me too; I don’t want to look like I have a bad case of Lindsey Lohan. So I am going to suggest to you some of the best self tanners out there. I know – self-tanners sound pretty intimidating as well. I will admit I had a horror story experience with one in the 8th grade. Here’s me, so excited to wear my new green halter top, turned totally orange, passed my crush walking down the street. Ultimate humiliation. But, don’t let that turn you off of self tanners! That situation was caused by a serious lack of knowledge about what I was doing or what kind of product to use.

The great thing about the products below is that while they are not an instant bronze color, they will gradually give you a natural looking, healthy tanned glow. Hopefully this will help you keep up with your Spring Breakin’ roommates without coming back to campus looking like the orange eighth grade version of me. Read More »

Picture for a moment your wedding day. No, scratch that. Picture the day after your wedding. You know, otherwise known as day #1 of your marriage. And most likely, day #1 of your honeymoon. Private beach in the Caribbean? Or perhaps romantic travels through Europe? No? You want to stay a bit more local? I mean, the coast of Maine is pretty nice in the summer. Oh. Closer?

Ashlee and Pete Wentz (yes, now legally married, she changed her name) wanted to stay close to home for their honeymoon. So close, in fact, they didn’t even want to leave their house.

But you can’t honeymoon in the same rooms you inhabit 24/7, so they switched it up a little. And went down to the basement. That’s right. After their Alice in Wonderland themed wedding, Ashlee and Pete are honeymooning in their basement.

But don’t worry; their basement probably isn’t as dark and dingy as the basement you’re imagining. After all, they do have blow-up palm trees and a fake-n-bake tanning booth. And for their romantic honeymoon dinners, they’re eating DiGiorno’s pizza. At least when they decide their honeymoon’s over, they’ll look like they’re fresh from the beach compliments of their tanning booth. Read More »