For me?!

Has anyone seen little Mrs. Fulmer around bloggyland? I just tried to go to her blog to see if she had put up the McLinky and blogger is telling me it's been deleted... help!

So yesterday about 2 in the afternoon the receptionist called me and asked me to come up to her office. I figured it was because our lil mailbox was full and she wanted me to get the junk out of it! (hehe oops, there's never anything in there except mine & my bosses' paycheck stubs!)

I jog up the stairs, around 18 corners and head towards the front of the building (yes, I really do work in a maze) and as soon as I round the corner into her office I see the cheeriest bouquet of flowers wrapped up in cellophane on the desk.
That little stinker got me again! I love 'em! What girl wouldn't enjoy getting flowers randomly delivered to her office?!

I joked with him last night that he only sent them in hopes of me putting it on the blog! How could I not?! He turned to me in the car on the way to dinner, with this sheepish grin on his face and said "you posted that text message from me on your blog and now all your invisible friends think I'm just the sweetest guy ever!". What a brat!

Polymorphic Light Eruption

That title sounds a little scary doesn't it? This is something I've been battling for a while and I wanted to share.

I've always had fairly sensitive skin and for the past 5 years I have been getting horrible, horrible "sun poisoning" any time I was on vacation (no bueno - this chica likes her sunny vacays).

I'm talking BAD "sun poisoning", like to the point that I would be out by a friends pool for 20 minutes and start getting itchy red bumps all over my chest, arms and legs. (Gross, I know. Sorry!)

I put "sun poisoning" in quotes because I never quite believed that's what it was. But my doctor just shrugged it off (hmm a reoccuring theme). After some SERIOUS Googling, I came across the wonderful Miss Lindsey and deduced that I most likely have PMLE, Polymorphic Light Eruption. It means my skin, for whatever reason, thinks the sun rays are an enemy of my body and freaks out. I keep referencing a blowfish when I explain it to someone; my skin feels invaded and puffs up into little bumps everywhere. (Note: I came to my own conclusion and have not been medically diagnosed with this - when I brought it up to my doctor he just shrugged it off and said "oh it's probably just sun poisoning"... grrr)

It still didn't make sense though, I was a SUN BABY growing up, I was outside all day every day and as tan as all get out... all until 2004 when I was in Cabo San Lucas with my family and that's the first time it flared up.

Since that time I have ruled out all Bath & Body Works-style lotions and scented soaps, and started using all natural soap (typically goat milk - it's super cheap on Etsy!). I wanted to rule out anything that could be aggravating my skin.

I've always eaten relatively healthy - love my fruits and veggies, so I didn't feel like my diet had much to do with it. I started looking into vitamin deficiencies and what I may or may not be getting from my daily vitamin. I have ordered nearly everything Lindsey found that worked for her and have started taking it in hopes of preventing this from happening in 3 weeks when we're in Jamaica!

I have started taking Niacin and Beta-Carotene supplements nightly, along with a little orange pill called HelioCare (warning - this one is on the expensive side!). I also have replaced my post-shower-baby-oil with Vitamin E oil... although it doesn't smell as yummy as baby oil, I have seen an improvement on how soft my skin is! I've been poolside a few times since my regimen started and am happy to say - no bumps! The true test will be 7 days of intense Caribbean sun at the end of this month though!

I'm writing this because I know there are a handful of other people out there who suffer from Polymorphic Light Eruption or are simply prone to bad cases of sun poisoning. Even if you just burn easily these should help you not only avoid being scorched but also they are just good for your skin in general!

Pickles, please

When Chris & I first started dating we were sitting at a little English pub in downtown Indy grabbing lunch on my break between classes. For some odd reason we decided to try fried pickles. Now, I was never a huge fan of pickles - occasionally I'd eat the pickle spear that came next to my sandwich, but I always ordered burgers sans the cucumber offspring.

So what the heck changed my mind about pickles? The fried-factor! I am a-d-d-i-c-t-e-d to them nowadays. To the point that I choose restaurants dependent on their appetizer menus.

Imagine my delight when this past weekend we were invited to a cookout and all the boys decided to get out the deep-fryer and make a batch. Those crispy, batter covered little delights tumbled onto the paper towel covered plate and HALLELUJAH the heaven's opened up!
They were absolutely delish, and the poor fellas don't know that I'm going to be requesting these on a weekly basis from now on!

What was even better was that I got to share them with these pretty ladies... and we didn't even have to lift a finger!

Top 2 Tuesdays: Simple Pleasures

This week was a toughie! I had so many things popping up in my head, so it was quite challenging to nail it down to just 2. But, alas, I sucked it up and just picked!

Today's topic is Top 2 Simple Pleasures, come play along!

1. Driving-alone-car-time

(Sunset on a county road on my way home from work last fall)

I do my best thinkin in the car... alone... sometimes with the windows down and sunroof open, sometimes with the radio blaring, sometimes just in the quiet. It doesn't really matter, I just LOVE my alone-car-time! For the past 6 years I've had a 25ish minute commute every morning and evening, and honestly I don't think I'd trade it for anything!

2. Morning "wake up" texts
This started when I kept turning my alarm off and going back to sleep, therefore being late to work (oops!) Chris would text me from work and make sure I'm up and movin. Over time they've turned into really sweet little love notes. Some mornings I just get a "wake up beautiful" but other mornings, I get a very sweet 'love text'!

Mondays at casa de la booze

When you walk into work on a Monday morning and see this in the main hall....... I think it's safe to say it's going to be a good week!