If one must learn from mistakes, I've learned a lot.

I made a huge mistake the other day that involves a tanning booth. I’m sure you know where this blog is headed.

Riding around in the convertible with the top down is a beautiful thing. Everything is so open. But putting the top down creates weird tan lines. I teach aerobics, so I am in front of full length mirrors at least 10 hours every week. I began to notice the pale, pale legs, and the tanned upper body. I decided to do something about it. I went to the tanning booth.

My first trip to the booth was pleasant and enjoyable. After 10 minutes in, I felt great. But my pale legs didn't tan enough, so I needed another session. I taught class early in the morning, then stopped by the tanning parlor after class.

I went for 12 minutes this time. When I came home, I took a hot shower. Apparently this was the wrong thing to do, because it trapped the heat in. Hours later, my chest and back became unbearable to touch. Usually, a sunburn would not be a big deal, but I had a wedding to attend that same evening. I was planning to wear a nice outfit: an orange tank blouse with a brown patterned skirt. Problem was, I could not wear a strapless bra with the shirt because it hurt so badly. Going braless is not an option in my mind, so I remembered hearing about those adhesive supports. I thought they might work.

I was late for the wedding, so I had to do something fast. Since I didn't have a comfortable bra, I wore a light jacket over the tank top while in the church. I could not wear the jacket at the reception because it was in a glass blowing studio where the temperature was at least 100 degrees.

So I ran to Wal-Mart right after the ceremony while the wedding party got their pictures taken. I bought those adhesives. I ran into the restroom, reading the instructions as I went. While I was sitting in the stall applying the adhesive, and I heard an unholy sound coming from the stall next to me.

I had been in too big of a hurry when I entered the restroom, and I had run into the men's. I clicked out of there on my heels in a hurry. I don’t know if the man at the urinal saw me or not.

That was not the worst part of my pasties story. They only came in a size B, which apparently was too big for me. There was no way I could wear this pair of stickers.

Luckily, I brought a black tank top with a built-in bra, just in case. I put the orange blouse over the black tank and didn’t care if they matched the skirt or not. By this time, the pink sunburn on my chest was clashing with the orange, so I was a walking fashion disaster anyway.

In spite of it all, I had a wonderful time at the wedding reception, and the sunburn actually became an ice breaker. Some wonderful women gave me some fantastic tips (never take a hot shower, take ibuprofen right after tanning, use aloe vera). I also shared sunburn horror stories with other women.

I always heard the phrase, Don’t sweat the small stuff, and thought it was a cliché. But it's so true. I had a wonderful time in spite of or maybe because of small stuff.

I was also told I look nice in pink!