Episode #563: Julie is Allergic to Sunscreen

Folks, I have a sunburn. It's pretty hilarious looking. It also hurts. And, as it would turn out, I am allergic to both the sunscreen I used as well as the after-sun lotion I put on to soothe the sunburn. I realized this when I noticed all these red rashy bumps all over my legs and arms. This caused me to read the ingredients to both lotions, and both of them contain cocoa butter, which is a thing I am allergic to.

I found out I was allergic to cocoa butter only after using it for a while and ending up with a rash.

Now, Kara and I were at the beach for about 4 hours yesterday and I think I reapplied sunscreen about 4 times, more so in areas prone to sunburns, like my knees and shoulders. These are areas in which the sunburn is the worst, which makes me wonder if it's worse because of my allergy to cocoa butter. Since my skin was already irritated by the lotion, the sun on top of it may have made it worse?? It makes sense in my head. It's also a bummer because now I am left with a sunburn AND a rash.

At first, Kara was joking that maybe I am allergic to sunlight. This would have been better because then I would have the perfect excuse for spending the summer at the movies!!!

Anyways.

It was a fun day at the beach anyways. We headed to Drake's Island, in Wells, which is maybe our fave beach. We passed through the intersection of Rt. 4 and Rt. 9 just before 10am, which, an hour later was the sight of a deadly train crash. For serious! Scary stuff. We didn't go home that way, because we were picking my mom up from work, so we drove south and headed into Dover, and came home through Somersworth. Crazy.

So, the last time I talked to you, Kara, my mom and I were headed to the drive-in! Yes! It was a super fun night. We saw Bad Teacher and The Hangover 2. I had already seen The Hangover with Greg a few weeks ago, but it was still funny. I wasn't sure how I would like Bad Teacher, but it ended up being pretty cute and funny. And $8.50 for two movies is a great deal. And - we took the trusty Prius and averaged 57mpg the whole trip. Not toooo bad, eh?

Friday I was the only one who had to get up for work! Everyone else had the day off. But then Friday night I headed into Dover to meet up with two new friends!!!!! Andrew and Alicia!!

Andrew first commented in THIS VERY BLOG about my Murdock Lake posting and we just started communicating from there. He has his own adventure blog which is a highly enjoyable read!! And he has a lovely girlfriend named Alicia who he lives with and so on Friday night, I took the risk of being murdered to go meet them!!! I am a very trustworthy, naive person, so I believed they were who they said they were. And they were!!!

They live in a great apartment in downtown Dover and we drank wine and ate delicious homemade pizza and had some great conversation!!!! How wonderful is it when you make new friends??? Pretty wonderful.

And - if you click on Alicia's name up there, it will take you to her website where she is conducting a craft-blogger survey. SO. This is your mission: if you blog about doing crafty things (Aliya and Renee are coming to mind....) then you should go take her survey!!

I was lucky enough to be the first recipient of one of Alicia's fabulous homemade business cards!!!




They are beautiful, tiny pieces of art and I was super excited she gave me one.

Also, I was super excited that her and Andrew are totally cool and really fun to hang out with. YAY.

It really makes me happy that I am so lucky to attract awesome people into my life. And also all the wonderful people I've met through this blog. Because it's a fact that awesome people read this blog, because I've met some of them, and they are really, really awesome. All of you.


SPEAKING OF BLOG READERS!!!!!

CONTINUE TO SEND ME YOUR SPIN ART CREATIONS!!!!! I've only gotten ONE sent to me (from my BFF Maria), and I want a whole bunch more before I put up the art gallery show!!!! It takes a maximum of 2 minutes to create a beautiful spin art. I just timed myself making one, and it took me 1 minute 44 seconds to create this:


I call it, 'To the Sunrise.' Under two minutes!!! I overestimated the time it would take, because I created a bunch of spin arts the other day, so I was already familiar with the process. Those unfamiliar may have to fool around a bit to figure it out. But! It's super easy and I trust that you all can do it, no prob.

So - go do the spin art and then send it to me: captainjulie225@gmail.com.

I WILL POST IT IN THE BLOG. Then you'll become famous, because everyone who's cool reads this blog, duh. Great.


In other news, Kara brought me home this cake pop that she made at her bakery this morning:



This photo was taken approximately 45 seconds before the cake pop was gone. DELISH. Cute, too, eh?


And, speaking of smoothies (what's that..? We weren't talking about smoothies..??), I was lucky enough to be able to enjoy another mango pineapple smoothie from McDonald's

(KARA: Julie, come to the gym with me!
JULIE: Noooo!!!
KARA: I'll buy you a smoothie!
JULIE: .........FINE.)

(Keep in mind that that smoothie was the only thing keeping me going at the gym. It was horrible. The only time I've ever been to the gym and thought, "I don't think I'll be able to keep going." HORRIBLE. I was so tired and hotttt and suuuuppper sweaty. I only did 25 minutes on the elliptical, and those 25 minutes went by slower than the last 25 minutes of a workday before the weekend. AWFUL.)

But! I got home and someone else was happy to see my smoothie!!!



Miss Ruby Tuesday!! She enjoyed drinking the outside of the cup, while I enjoyed drinking the inside. Perf!


Man, it's hott today, right? Yes. I dislike.

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about news teams. Just like, how they're a team and how great that must be. And, it's making me wonder if radio hosts have the same kind of camaraderie as news teams do. Like, would a morning radio crew have the same kind of bond as a nightly news team?? Also, why does the word 'crew' seem to always be used in the radio sense, whereas the word 'team' refers to on tv? Hmm.

Like, everyday at the same time, a group of people get together and deliver the news. And for some reason are waaayyyy less annoying at improv dialogue than a radio crew is. I just find this interesting.

Also, because I've been watching the nightly news a lot with my mom. Also I have developed a crush on weatherman Matt Noyes. He's an enthusiastic little cutie.

Also, speaking of cuties!

My horoscope for yesterday said this:

Ask out that hottie you've been aching for in secret. It might not actually be all that secret, actually -- they've probably been waiting for you.

Remember last week there was that other mention of hotties in my horoscope?!?! IDK. This kinda made me happy though. The thought that somewhere out there there is a hottie waiting for me...

My horoscope for today reads:

Luck is on your side today, so enjoy a series of positive encounters.

Great, right?! I was happy to read that. The only place I'm going today is work. From 7-11pm. In Kittery.

TOMORROW, I really want to go to Warped Tour, but NO ONE will come with me. :( So, at first I thought I was definitely going, but now I'm not sure. RIVER CITY EXTENSION is playing though...... UUGHHHHHHH. I should just go. But, it's like a two hour drive. I don't really know any of the other bands playing..... Keith texted me a whole bunch of suggestions on who to go see, which makes me think I should go to see those bands since Keith likes really good music.... buuuttttt IDK. I could really use a River City Extension show, as always, since the last time I saw them was in FEBRUARY! The day-after-my-birthday show in Connecticut that took me like, 5 hours to get home because of the horrible snow storm in which I thought I was going to die.

SO. It's still up in the air. If you want to go with me, let me know and I'll buy tickets.

Also! I meant to write about this after I saw Locksley last week, but I forgot. Unless I actually remembered and wrote about it, but forgot that I did so, and in that case - I'm telling you again!!!

They played this great song called, 'For the Summer,' and in this middle turned it into a mash-up of 'Clint Eastwood' by Gorillaz, which I loved! And ever since, I've kind of had 'Clint Eastwood' stuck in my head. I found a YouTube video of them performing this mash-up, but not at the concert that I saw. I watched a couple videos, and this one had the best audio. So, you should watch it and as always, please enjoy.

Hmmmm. What else did I want to tell you about?! I feel like I had a good amount to say and I feel like I've said a good amount. Maybe that's it?

I've got a 'Foster the People' Pandora station going and currently it's playing The Pixies. In case you were wondering what I was listening to right now. Aanndd, it just switched to The Black Keys.

Ok. I have to go take a shower, which is possibly one of the worst things you can do on a super hott day when you have a bad sunburn. But maybe washing off all of the lotions that I am allergic to will be a good thing. And, I have come up with an alternative sunburn remedy! VINEGAR!!! Yep, it smells gross, but when mixed with water is apparently a great solution. And bonus - I'm not allergic to vinegar. At least, I don't think I am.

I seriously can't believe I am allergic to the sunscreen AND the sunburn lotion. So lame. So, so lame.

SO. You have some tasks:

1. Create your own spin art
2. Take the craft blogger survey if you are a craft blogger

Both are very crafty things! Loves it.

I guess the good thing about the allergic rash is that it goes away quickly and is not contagious.

ALSO, I'm thinking more seriously about getting my tattoo. I had been imagining the compass inside a round circle, but lately I've been thinking, 'maybe I want a diamond shape?' What are your thoughts? I guess I still like the circle idea. We'll see. Also, I have to find a good tattoo place. If you have tattoos.... give me some opinions. I might talk to Greg about this, since he has many.

I feel like I've been talking about boys a lot in this entry. ........ :)

This is the song that's currently playing on my Pandora: TRAIN SONG. I've heard this song before, but forgot about it, and now I'm hearing it again. Pandora is great for that sort of thing. This song is a collab between Feist and Ben Gibbard. That guy, in addition to being in Death Cab for Cutie, just does collabs all over the place ( <--- great song. great record.) Also, he's married to Zooey Deschanel. Who I saw IRL when I was in Chicago last summer!!!

Ok. I was going to end this entry a long time ago. But then I started talking about vinegar and tattoos and boys and Ben Gibbard.

My sunburn hurts less since the vinegar, btw.

Alright. Hope you're having a great day. Again, I will be working tonight from 7-11pm. And I highly recommed the 'Foster the People' Pandora station. Loves it. Iron and Wine on now.

Have a great Tuesday! Make it a Ruby one ;)




And in my memories depths I retrace my steps.
I cannot find where I went wrong.
It was one fast move or I'm gone.