SPF 70 Works.

At the beginning of the summer I said I wanted to do a couple things this year I had never done in New England. You know, take advantage of the fact that I'm living in one of the coolest parts of the country! I had in mind to go to Martha's Vineyard, but time has run short, as have funds, so I needed a substitute worthy of being called a first.

The Boston Harbor Islands

The weather was perfect again this weekend and as it slowly gets cooler I'm starting to panic that we're running out of good beach days. Before Rockport last weekend I had only been to the beach ONE TIME the entire summer. shameful. Now its been three. :) Saturday Meghann and I decided to do the beach, but we wanted a secluded (read: quiet) spot somewhere near the city. This is tough. Most of the nice beaches are about an hour north of us since most of Boston's shoreline is filled with big ships and workin' boats. We took the T downtown and hopped on a ferry that took us out to one of the islands where we were settled in our beach chairs by the water by 10:30am. Ah! Perfection! It was in the mid-80s here, sunny, and a little breezy - my favorite weather.

Meghann applied SPF30 at home before we left and I waited until we got to the beach to apply my SPF70 - laugh all you want, but when you've had six pre-cancerous moles removed (one being on your scalp) come talk to me about the silliness of high SPFs. Anyway, I put my iPod on shuffle and enjoyed the rocky beach of Lovells Island. I spent the 6 hours in the sun on Saturday reading, journaling, listening to music, praying, reflecting and enjoying the quiet company of Meghann.

As the day wore on I did reapply my SPF70 to my shoulders because they were starting to feel a little burned. The problem with sunblock, in my opinion, is that in order for it to work properly you have to apply it properly - as in, you have to get it on your skin in the right places. While I thought I had done that it became clear when we got home that I had not. I took a picture of one of my shoulders so you could see - there are actually fingerprints you can see where I didn't get enough sunblock worked into my skin high enough. I currently have ring around the arms. The rest of my body is fine, no burns. So, I can safely say to you that SPF 70 does work! Meghann's SPF30, turns out, was a little past expiration and may have worn off on her clothes as we went to the beach ... her back was looking pretty sad last night.

After the beach we were so energized by being out and about that we actually went back to our house, showered and then headed back downtown for dinner at The Salty Dog in Quincy Market. It was such a wonderful day! Meg has been traveling to and from NYC all summer, so getting a little face time was much needed and SO NICE. She's gone again for the week, but I'm thankful we had time to catch up and enjoy one another this weekend.

Enjoy a few of my favorite pics of Meg from our day!