It burns!

The sun that is.

I miss my younger days when I could frolic outside, in the yard or at the beach, with some SPF 15 on and be OK. I'd tan, no burn. It was glorious. Now, this is not the case.

I spent a day (and by day I mean just a couple hours) at the beach last week. I slathered on SPF60, and had a can of that spray sunscreen for my back which was SPF 30 (the spray is just easier to apply back there).

I spent a day (again, a few hours) at the beach yesterday. Again with the sunscreen.

Both days = sunburn.

And I'm not talking a little rosey. I'm RED.

I do realize that being by the water, with the reflection, intesnifies the sun. I applied sunscreen 30mins before we actually got the beach, and reapplied once I was there. And still I burn.

My days of tanning were all well and good up until about 12 years ago. I was laying out at mom and dad's reading my book. Mom came out and all I heard was: "Erin! Go jump in the pool RIGHT NOW!" I apparently was SOOOOOOO burned I had to get in the water to stop the burning process. I was a mess that night. It was a wicked burn. (in mom's words: I had a second degree sunburn, closely bordering on a 3rd degree)

And from that point on, I stopped tanning and started burning. Though at least now my burns fade out to tan instead of going from red back to pasty white.

I'm generally not a sun worshipper as I don't like the heat. However, I LOVE the water and the breeze at the beach makes being in the sun tolerable. And it was sooo relaxing yesterday. Nap worthy even. After the craptacular week I've had I needed some quiet downtime. I had my MP3 player in one hear in which I was listening to quiet, chill music and in the other ear I could hear the waves and the wind. It was bliss!

So, now I'm on a quest to find a sunscreen (or alternative) that I won't burn through. I've been hearing rumblings lately about Coconut Oil, so may research that a little further. I'm beginning to believe I need an SPF250 to keep me from burning.

And staying off the beach isn't an option. Its just too darn beautiful!