A Little Girl's Dream

I was never the little girl who planned her wedding at the age of 10. I didn't know what kind of dress I wanted, had no clue (and I still don't!) what kind of flowers I wanted, or what song I wanted to dance to for our first dance. I just knew one thing: I would only marry a man I didn't want to live without and I wanted to find my wedding dress with the women in my family.

There was a time when I wasn't sure I'd get this day.
(Damn you, Melanoma!)

For as long as I can remember I've wanted that special moment that only happens to a gal once. You know, the moment that makes you cry while watching "Say Yes to the Dress!" I wanted that moment when my mom saw me in a veil for the first time. I wanted the moments when my sister nagged me to try on dresses I typically wouldn't wear. I dreamed of the moment I looked in the mirror and said "ah ha" while tears rolled down everyone's face.

I had that moment.

While I greatly wish everyone could have been with me, I had such a great day finding THE dress!

"I Found My Wedding Gown Today!"

My sister, my gran, me, my mom, my future MIL, and my bridesmaid!

(And yes, the dress I picked was one I told my sister I didn't want to try on! Go figure!) 

I know I'm going to feel beautiful in my wedding dress, fair skin & all! 

Hello Again!

Oh my gosh! This is the longest I've gone without posting. Did you think I had forgotten about you? I've been preoccupied with traveling to family functions, wedding planning, and T-Ball!  I hope you've been keeping up with me on Facebook & Twitter because I have shared some great things!

I headed to Cambridge, Maryland earlier this month to be the guest speaker at Choptank's Trot for Melanoma. It was an emotional experience for me because last year I attended the walk in order to meet my molemate Lynette.

This year I spoke of Lynette and her journey on Earth which ended in December 2012. While I tried, I couldn't get through my speech without tears. I miss her and her positive attitude. (While I haven't uploaded the speech yet, here is an article about the trot.) It was such a pleasure to hug Mike, Lynette's husband, and spend some time with him. Bryan and I had such a great time meeting them last year...It was a hard day for me, but not nearly as emotional as it had to have been for Mike. 

2013's Cambridge Trot for Melanoma

Another great thing that has happened this Melanoma Awareness Month. One of my favorite molemates shared her experience with stage IV melanoma and she had our mutual oncologist in on it too! Please watch and share this great video! http://www.everydayhealth.com/skin-cancer/thinking-about-sitting-in-the-sun-think-again.aspx

What's new with you all? Everyone happy and healthy? I sincerely hope so! 

Melanoma Monday

I have to say,  Melanoma Monday was once again successful! Yes, there was a color war going on, but people talked about Melanoma. That's the most important thing! Talking leads to awareness. Awareness leads to early detection and prevention!

Here a few important things that happened today:

* Yahoo shared a great article about Melanoma

* Melanoma Girl shares her story!

* FDA considers attaching warning labels to tanning beds!

* And a big announcement: "Earlier today, in honor of melanoma Monday, L’Oreal Paris announced that over the next three years they will donate over $750,000 to Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) to fund the new L’Oreal Paris-MRA Team Science Award, led by internationally renowned cancer researcher Dr. Meenhard Herlyn, to research ways to help prevent, cure and treat melanoma. They have also kicked off a campaign encouraging people to test their “Skin IQ” and reminding people that “skin cancer doesn’t care what color your skin is.” (Source.)

Yep, I think it was a great Melanoma Monday!

Day Two

...of Melanoma Awareness Month!

Did you all see this article on Miles Against Melanoma's Facebook page? It shows a picture of a beautiful young lady named Linzi Rector. I'm not sure who wrote the article, but I've reread it many times since yesterday. I have to share this part with you:

"A lot of people look at cancer as a battle that is to be fought and won. But Linzi didn’t lose to melanoma. Linzi had the heart and mind of a runner. Melanoma was a race for her to run. And maybe she didn’t finish the race the way she wanted to, but she finished with her head held high, giving it everything she had. Determined. Focused. Strong."

Chills.

Go read the article.

XO

Melanoma Awareness Month

I pretty much suck as a melanoma blogger lately, but I'm currently a fabulous life liver! ;-) I'm sorry that I have been so MIA. My sister got married, my sorority sister got married, we picked a date for our wedding, and we're super involved with T-Ball for the kiddo. (Yep, I am even the Team Mom!) Life is filled with many things I love, but that also means I am supporting melanoma awareness month!

 

I am sure most of you have heard the outrage from the melanoma community about the recent campaign  called Melanoma Monday.. The American Academy of Dermatology has asked that folks wear orange on May 6, 2013 in efforts to raise awareness about melanoma. This seems a bit odd to most of us as orange is not the color of our cancer, black is. The American Academy of Dermatology has replied to our anger by saying their desire is to bring awareness to all skin cancers, and that orange is a color that catches attention. They have asked that we make a  fashion statement by wearing orange. 

While I appreciate that they are using their organization to raise awareness about melanoma,  I do wish they would have used black as the color instead. They are calling the campaign Melanoma Monday, not Skin Cancer Monday, so the color technically should be black. Maybe I'm stubborn, but I will be fashionable on May 6th in black for the color of the disease that has taken too many of my melanoma friends from me.

How do you plan to raise melanoma awareness this month?

Hope you are all well! 

XO

'Tis The Season

Melanoma Awareness is in the air! Ever since Tan Mom made her way into the headlines last spring, I have noticed more magazines mentioning the dangers of tanning. Sometimes it's a blurb in the skin care section, other times it's in the celebrity gossip area, and sometimes there are times when magazines will have full articles! Speaking of which, have you picked up Glamour's May edition? It's AWESOME.

 

I'm telling ya, this is a must read! Go pick up your copy today.

My point is, with the warm weather we are beginning to experience, people are talking about tanning. Some are talking about the need to tan, others are reminding people not to tan! Just search on Twitter, you will see both sides.

Just yesterday I was tagged in a post on Twitter by a fellow blogger. I am always a little nervous about Twitter because I have some tanning bed lovers who sometimes like to start Twitter wars. I was pleasantly surprised when I began reading "A Rant."  Helene doesn't blog about melanoma in her free times, her blog isn't dedicated to melanoma awareness, and she has a lot of followers who probably still believe in the 'healthy glow.' She risked losing followers last night with her post on tanning. What has made her so sensitive to this topic? Her dad has melanoma.

I was so impressed with Helene's courage to share her "rant" knowing that tanning is still a subject that makes folks a little defensive. I noticed she had a lot of comments on her post so I had to read them. I quickly realized how much has changed in just the 2 years since I have battled melanoma. People are (slowly) realizing that the fake and bake lifestyle is a thing of the past! I was SHOCKED how many people commented with opinions similar to mine. Usually it's the opposite. These aren't melanoma warriors, these are young women! Go Helene for sharing her words. I bet she had no idea how many people would relate!

Bring on warmer weather...and melanoma awareness!

 

We're..........

...Engaged!

That's right, I'm going to marry Mr. Spots!

(Remember how he got his name? http://adventurewithmelanoma.blogspot.com/2011/02/b-becomes-mr-spots.html)

 

Mr. Spots told me to pack a bag & he said we were going out of town to celebrate my birthday. 3 hours later we were in Charlotte, North Carolina at The Dunhill Hotel. I won't give you all the details, but you can imagine my butterflies when I turned around to see Mr. Spots on his knee! (I handled it so gracefully too. I turned my back to him, yelled ahhhhh, did a little dance, let him give his (super sweet) speech, got a little choked up, and then I pretty much tackled him in a hug!) 

Now, planning must begin to be a TAN-FREE bride!

EEEEeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkk!

After all we've been through, I'm ready for this HAPPY adventure!