Hey! Welcome to 52 weeks until I’m 50 years old! Actually it’s now 44 weeks until I’m 50! If you are new to my blog, below are other subjects I’ve pondered and written about. Some may resonate with you or at least give you a chuckle. If you are counting down with me,so glad you are still with me!

I still find myself thinking like a kid sometimes even though I have to be a grown-up most times. Remember recess? I loved recess. A few minutes to step outside of the classroom and breathe in that fresh Florida sunshine, tilt my head way back and reach my arms out to the side. Ahhhh…the sky so clear. I would pretend the clouds were shapes. You know you did also! Recess became gym. After gym, dance practice and homework. Running on my little hamster wheel of a teenage life until Saturday and Sunday at Deerfield Beach. Left side of Deerfield pier. Ranch House, volleyball nets, surfers and the Aloha Snack Bar where I worked early Saturday and Sunday until 3 pm. Once finished, I would run down, toss my T-shirt and Levi’s off and neatly roll my logo’ed towel out to soak up whatever rays were left that day while chatting. There we were, the sun-worshipers covered in Hawaiian Tropic Dark Tanning, Banana Boat Deep Tanning, Tropical Blend Savage Tan, Coppertone and for some, just straight baby oil with a few drops of iodine. Hot, glazed, sparkling in our skin so young. And for me, being olive-skinned made it so very appealing.

Fast forward 31 years. I’m still a Florida girl. I stopped sun-worshiping in my early 30′s after the constant harassment of my Dad’s best friend, dermatologist Eddy and fisherman-at-large. Every weekend while filleting the catch of the day on my parents dock, there he was…reminding me of the skin I’m in. He was always covered from head to toe in beige clothing. You could barely see a pinch of skin. Always skillful as he filleted the fish just as he had to do in surgery trying to save someone’s skin from cancer later. I remember doing my famous eye roll while saying “Look at Dad’s skin. He’s so dark! He looks so healthy… and he has good skin genes!” He would tell me that later on, he’ll be carving him up like the Dolphin he was preparing for the grill. I would giggle and tell him I was putting on my sunscreen immediately. Now at almost 50, I am so grateful to dermatologist Eddy. He’s been gone more than ten years now. I still hear his voice when I use my own to repeat his sun prevention chatter to my kids who are olive-skinned sun-lovers.

Botox, Juvederm, Restylane, fillers and tighteners, oh my! You can fill crow’s feet, marionette lines, thinning lips and furrows between the brows, taking years off the face–erasing your face’s character…and all can be done during your lunch hour! Who knew? I have marketed for a few plastic surgeons. Those few I believe are the best at what they do. But I have seen some real doozie’s lately! People who have one eyebrow higher than another, smiles that don’t stop, lips so full that they could burst. I have to say, I’m really challenged about this whole trying to stop the aging process on the skin I’m in. I get that people want to look their very best for their age. I’m so there! It’s not easy. I work hard to stay in shape and to keep my skin looking decent. I’ve never done any of the products above but I may want to in the future. I have the brow furrow. That’s from years of debating with myself and others! Ha. And, I have the line now on my right cheek (your left when looking at me smiling) and when I’m not smiling…it’s a little droopy. And hell, I have crows feet from all my squinting and laughing through each day of my life. All that crap is part of my character. My family makes fun of the special face oil I use every night because it takes me 15 minutes to take my mascara off, wash, oil up my neck, face and ear lobes. Man does that stuff smell delish! I hear them calling, “Are you ready to go to bed yet?” I’ve tried tons of product for stopping my eye lines right now! Creams to soften my smile lines and crap to fill my brow furrow. A few really do work like the “Miracle Eraser.” It’s 20 bucks and makes what I call my “debate” furrow disappear for a few hours! I know I can’t stop the aging of the skin I’m in. So, I’m going to keep my sparklee Gator hat on, my sunglasses that probably cost 3 dollars to put the Prada logo on and sit under an non-logo’ed umbrella at the beach covered in sweat proof SPF 50! Oh if only dermatologist, fisherman-at-large Eddy could see me now! Yeh, I’ve become a skin worshiper instead and I’m grateful for the skin I’m in because it tells the story of my life.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you had a chuckle. You can subscribe to be notified when I blog below by clicking, follow me on Twitter @GatorgirlPress or Twitter @Diningduchess, follow me on Facebook @RandiAileenPress or Facebook@DiningDuchess. Or if you’d like to write me directly, my email is randi@52TO50.com.