Sabbaths at the beach = possible bad idea

I went to one of my favorite places today - my home beach of St. Simons Island, GA. I love this town, the people, the giant live oak trees, the weather, and the undeniable feel of community. But I rested in the embrace of the waves and the sand today. And by 'rested,' I do mean rest. I'm still recuperating from finals, graduating from Ga Tech, and moving, so I am only now embracing the land of the living. I have been taking a serious sabbatical, and could not be enjoying it more.
It was quiet at the beach because it was a weekday and the kids aren't out of school yet. I quieted my heart and begin to experience the endless awe I always do when I stare out at the majesty of His grandness. I walked the beach for a while not knowing whether to stare out at the waves, or look like a goof with my face plastered to the sand beneath my feet. All I could keep thinking about was "How precious are your thoughts to me, O God...if I should count them, they would outnumber the sand." He keeps me humble here at this place, and I love Him so dearly for that. I poured my heart out to the Lord, who He is to me, who I want Him to be to me, who I need Him to be to me, my worries, and how much I love Him. After listening to the seagulls sing, the waves crash against the rocks, and the fish splashing up from the water, I was not going to allow them praise my Maker more than me! For goodness sakes! So I joined them! A little later, I went for the sun-bathing.
Now I need you to know that being raised on the beach all my life, we just grew up without the use of sunblock (I know - go and deem me a horrible irresponsible person now...I'll understand!). We didn't really burn, and only got darker because of the Cherokee Indian blood that us kids have from my Mom's heritage. So I put on some tanning oil, turned on my Jesus tunes, and went for it. Yep....some near hour later I woke up.
I have a lovely 'bow' mark on my back that adds quite a nice look to the red color I have on it. I decide to just 'flip' to the other side. ZZzzzz.....yep. Another near hour later, I woke up. I would like to blame Jesus for giving me such peace and rest in Him that it caused me to fall asleep out there. However, I am of complete wrong-doing. I will face the consequences of my sleepy hours in the sun without sunscreen. And when I got home, I had a older sister in Christ, Amanda at babybangs, post a blog that confirmed my need of deliverance from tanning oil.

So I confess to all of you ladies now: I, Shelly Elizabeth Bland, hereby declare my need for sunscreen. I choose to love my skin and give it the desired layer of covering it so deserves. I release my tanning oil and acknowledge that it will not make me happy :) I choose life! (Or at least for my skin cells, right?!). I choose less wrinkles because I get enough of them from Jesus laughing. I choose a frightful look of paleness and will do my best to honor this much-needed commitment. For those who can continue to learn from my story, see the pictures below. I went to dinner with two good girlfriends of mine at a Mexican restaurant tonight (Random information about myself: I think I could eat chips/salsa each and every day). Note that I am shades darker than them both. This is what 'not to do!'
Turning in my 'Hawaiian tropic' wanna be name-tag :)

Alexa, Jessica, and me on our 2nd round of chips and salsa


Jessica and I at 'Bubba Garcias' (gotta love that name)