Floral Tattoo Sleeve. Check!

Hello Again!

As you may remember from my 30 Before 30 goals, I had big plans to get/start a floral tattoo sleeve. And when I say “sleeve,” let’s be clear. I actually mean something more like half sleeve. But not even that. Maybe a cap sleeve/shoulder piece. Come on. I still work for the man. While the standards are ever changing (yea!), they still exist and I don’t wanna spend the rest of my career in blazers and pea coats.

I spent the weekend in Seattle for Emerald City Comic Con. Seattle was awesome, as per usual. I freaking LOVE Seattle.

My love chillin’ in front of Pike’s Place in plenty of Hawks gear.

Yup. That’s me sporting a Hunger Games tee and holding up the Space Needle.

And Comic Con was pretty great too. Here is me and my firend Allison with Andrea Libman. She voices for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy of My Little Pony as well as on Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears and Dragontales. All of those are big hits with S, so it was kind of a big deal. Thanks to Allison, I also got Andrea’s autograph on a Pinkie/Shutterfly poster for S. Yes. I am totally wearing the pony ears I bought for S that day.

Shortly after we decided to make the trip over for Emerald City Comic Con I came across an article about vegan tattoos. it listed out great shops that practiced vegan tattooing with vegan after care. This is how I found Damask Tattoo. I went to their website and facebook page and knew immediately that I simply adored it. After about 15 emails back and forth between myself and different artists there, I managed to score and appointment. My tattoo artist, Angela Grace had a few family emergencies and got a touch behind schedule. I did not see the artwork she drew up until the day before my appointment. Thank god I went ahead and trusted her because it was perfect. It still is.

Here are some of the images I was inspired by and send to Angela Grace.

I wanted something that looked complete event though it would really just be line work. I still wanted to have the option to color or add shading. I wanted the flowers to be meaningful. Roses: First flower my husband ever gave me and featured in my wedding bouquet. Plus, if I ever do color it, one could be a yellow rose of  Texas. Violets: The February birth month flower for Husband and S. Waterlily: For July and G. Poppies: Because they are wild and beautiful and my favorite. The mix seemed a little crazy to me. I guess that is what makes some forms of art really unique. As lovely as it would be, you really couldn’t have a bouquet of these flowers. The poppies would wilt in about 7 seconds with the violets not far behind. I don’t think water lilies would work either. A roses and wilted random flowers wouldn’t really be very cute. But in a tattoo, the can stay forever and look totally gorgeous together. I was truly blown away when she sent me the sketch. It was honestly exactly what I wanted.If you happen to ever want to be tattooed in Seattle, you need to go to  Damask. Between my husband and our friends, Kyle and Allison, who traveled with us, we have about 18 tattoos. (What a bunch on inked up freaks, huh?!) All three of them went with me to check in and get started. Kyle (a fella) said he had never been into a shop with such a gentle and beautiful atmosphere. I think he also called it “loving.” The art was beautiful, but so what the whole place. Just a perfect mix of elegant and edgy. My longest tattoo session to date was maybe an hour or a little bit more. This piece was a solid 2.5+ hours with not so much as a potty break. Even though I totally needed one for the last half hour. But honestly, truly, I was falling asleep it was that nice. And after my acupuncture my finished product was even nicer. Thank you, Ms. Adorable Angela Grace. Psst. If you wanna check out more of her work, you can go here.

 

30 before 30. Part II

‘Member that whole “30 before 30” campaign? Yeah, that was pretty cool. Here the thing though. It was a pretty low-key bucket list and I still have done almost nothing towards crossing any of those goals off the list. I just pulled up a 2014 calendar and as of tomorrow I have exactly 32 weeks until I hit my big 3-0. With 30 to-dos and my procrastination, I needed to begin my list like last week. Or last year. Since it is a bit late for that, and I still fully intend to cross every one of those bad boys off the list, there is new goal in place. I have to begin marking one thing off every week. That still leaves a bit of a buffer for my inevitable delinquency at some point.

I did attempt to schedule a tattoo session to begin a floral sleeve at this awesome, all-girl, vegan tattoo parlor in Seattle for during our trip over for Emerald City Comic Con. Yes you read that correctly. Comic Con. At any rate after the back and forth, by the time I finally tried to confirm, it was too late. The girls are booked. So back to square one. If you missed it, here is my list. And if you were wondering about this wonderful tattoo shop, it’s called Damask and you can find them here.

 

I may have aimed a little high. *sigh* On the plus side, while I couldn’t scrounge up enough friend to read books with me, I did manage to find enough who were willing to drink with me. Don’t judge. It’s totally rude. The first official “meeting” (can you call going to a club full of loud music and drinking to many gin and tonics a “meeting?”) is tomorrow. I think this is gonna work out, so maybe I should move on to some sort of online book club. I am currently working with the super cool and talented Ruthie of Fairy Wings and Dinosaurs on a lil blog collab in the near future. Her blog is totes adorbs so this is pretty big deal for me. With those two half-ass attempts combined, it has to be almost equal to a full cross of the list.

I did begin a pinterest board to fill with reminders and tips here. Maybe that will help. At any rate, it’s go time.

Shirley Temple, Grandma B and My Little Lovey

I don’t know if it’s Shirley Temple Black’s passing, or my my little lovey’s quickly approaching FOURTH birthday, or something else altogether, but lately I have missed my grandma quite a little extra. Grandma was a good, strong lady, who, if nothing else, got a real big kick outta me. We shared a special humor and special bond. In a lot of ways I know she favored my tall, thin, smart, pretty, Dallas-Cowboy-lovin’ cousin. But in some ways, she favored me. She got my sassy jokes and she liked them. For a long time she didn’t care for my taste in fellas, but she may have crushed on Husband more than me. She loved him. I am glad she was able to see me walk down the aisle with a really good man. I wish she could have seen me walk down a different aisle. One with my baby bro and me separated by only one person in line to collect our college diplomas. I know she knew I always had it in me to finish, but I wish she could have seen it. My grandparents, all four of them, were far more interest in my future including higher education than my parents ever have been. More than that moment though, I wish my grandma could have met my lovey. Oh she wanted that so badly! It kills me to say, that was part of what killed her.

Grandma, me and Mama Summer 2009

Grandma knew I was pregnant. She was happy for me. She knew it would be a girl. She knew she would be born on Valentine’s Day. I never knew either of those things until after Grandma passed. Her greatest wish was that my baby, even if it was a boy, would have my “sparkle.” She hoped I would have a child just as outgoing, spunky and spotlight-loving as I was (am). I suppose this is where I can tie Shirley Temple in. In our family Shirley Temple served as bond between two very different generations. She bonded that blond cousin and me to our grandparents in a way that  ice cream, summer vacation or even holidays never could. Shirley-Dimples-Bright Eyes was something tangible that we were all interested in. We all loved her old films. We watched them together and separately. We could sometimes discuss favorites. Grandma would record my favorites from TCM onto old VHSs and bring them with the titles hand-scrawled onto the labels. I would thank her with my self-taught tap dancing and singing performances. And that is the kind of kid she wanted for me. You win Grandma.

Grandma passed away at the beginningish of my third trimester. She scheduled a surgery a couple of months before my due date so that she could be all healed up and ready to travel 2000 miles to come meet my baby. The surgery went great. Except other parts began shutting down and although she lasted about a week or so longer, she never left that hospital. Against the wishes of some of my family, I was the one to travel 2000 miles. But that was after she passed. I never said goodbye. She never met my lovey. We never got that closure. I suppose that is the reason that writing something like this or some sort of letter to her has been on my mind since that January of 2010.

With that in mind, Grandma, I just want you to know:

I love you. And Granddad. I miss him a lot too. You seriously would LOVE my babies. They are great. Kind, beautiful, crazy, smart and fun. The Aunts gave the two sets of silverware to Cousin and me. We can continue polishing it up every holiday. I so wanted to do that for Christmas, but then I couldn’t remember where my new, safe place to store it was. I cried because it seemed really important. I found it 2 days after Christmas and cried again. I got more tattoos. I know you would mostly hate it… but I always got the feeling at least 2% of you was at least mildly entertained by that part of me. Sorry about becoming a Seahawks fan. It’s not just about football. Seattle has my heart. And as for the rest of the family, much has changed but I guess not really. All of us are a least a little bit crazy. Sometimes a little too crazy. But in the midst all that, we do love each other, and from what I hear, happiness can still be found at the lake.

Love to you and Granddad always,

Your Granddaughter

Proof from the summer that we are all still getting together!

The Next Tattoo Plan

It’s no secret that I am rather fond of tattoos. Despite how often I talk about them, pin them, and even design them, I have only two. The one I recently posted about, and a small, black tribal design on my right side/hip area. The latter wasn’t thought out or meaningful, but I still like it a lot. The more recent tattoo is for my husband, and our love and commitment forever and ever. Yup. I am aware that many disagree with my choice to brand my body with something for my significant other. But ya know, if I had any reservations about him or our future, I wouldn’t have bred with him. I feel like that is a bit bigger of a commitment. So yes I gave him my future, children, and then loving words forever printed on my body. He, in return, gave me the exact same. True love!

Now about that breeding we did. Since even before I was pregnant myself I began observing mothers and their tattoos to honor their children: Flowers, foot prints, names, baby toys, etc. I have drawn up and played with a few of those ideas and then really liked the idea of just doing their birthdates. I played with fonts and sizes and nothing was just quite perfect. I came up with an image with the dates in this format: MM.DD.YY in a serif font then the child’s name in a cursive font below that then the next child’s birthdate and name below that. I likeed it ok and I like that it didn’t limit me if/when I have another child(ren). I went ahead and scheduled an appointment for next week, but since then I have revised and (I think?) finalized my design for my little lovies. Nope, these are not their real names, but names that made my “lists” for each of them and then same initial. The placement and sizing is the same as before: top center of my back, just below my neck about 3 1/2″x 3 1/2″. It should be a dandy!

Cheers!

Exciting Date Night

Sorry I didn’t complete the trike tutorial. I PROMISE to tonight.What a slacker I am! It has been exactly a month since my last post. In my defense, I had 7 house guests in my tiny little home for a couple of weeks. I hope to share some of THAT adventure. But that is not why I write today.

Tonight I have the most exciting 3 year wedding anniversary date ever planned. I will be doing something that I have only ever done with one other person in my whole life. Getting a tattoo! My first was a tiny tribal piece on my hip/side area. I was 18 and spontaneous, but no regrets.

This one is with the love of my life! We will both be getting “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine”. His will be calligraphy-ish on his chest. Mine will be dainty cursive along the top of my shoulder.

Something like this:

You know I will take pictures, so check back tomorrow for the details… or if you want the rest of the diaper tricycle tutorial.

Cheers!