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.

30 Before 30

30 is right around the corner. Really. 30 is right around MY corner. I get that I sound like every other woman whose 20s are quickly becoming a thing of the past. There is nothing original about my thoughts. Where did the time go? The kids just grow up too quickly. I still feel 22. You blink and it’s gone. But just in case you aren’t there yet, that shit’s real. I feel positively flabbergasted that I am knocking at 30’s door and I met my husband at 23. 23? Weird. I guess that was awhile ago now.

October 4, 2014 I will turn 30. I guess I only have 8ish months to accomplish 30 more things off of my lifetime to-do list. What do you think? Am I missing anything good? Are there any you wanna join along on or help me with?  If you did anything like this or are currently, I would love to hear about your progress too. In the mean time, I will keep you as updated as I can.

Cheers!

Just in case my image isn’t very legible, here is the list:

1. Start a floral tattoo sleeve.
2. Write a poem of which I am proud.
3. Run a 5K.
4. Spend a day antiquing in Uniontown.
5. Take a family road trip.
6. Write and mail 5 handwritten letters.
7. Get a tattoo just because I think it is pretty.
8. Read 10 classic books I have never read previously.
9. Try yoga in someplace other than my living room.
10. Take one legit, progressive step towards adoption.
11. Attend a blogging or Color by Amber workshop or conference.
12. Get business cards for my blog.
13. Try out ombre hair.
14. Finish making over my kitchen.
15. Take a painting class.
16. Learn to make beautiful macaroons.
17. Complete a 30 day organization challenge.
18. Go to Farm Chicks.
19. Go wine tasting with my husband.
20. Complete a cross-stitch project.
21. Host a lovely dinner party for no real reason.
22. Join or start a book club.
23. Do some sort of blogging collaboration with another blogger.
24. Advance with Color by Amber.
25. Get involved with Women’s Connection or YWCA
26. Learn to shoot better in manual on the ol’ DSLR
27. Make a family time capsule.
28. Have a fun and special 5 year anniversary weekend.
29. Post a photo or 4 to mybodygallery.com.
30. Complete 30 random acts of kindness in the month prior to my big 3-0.

How I Love My Body: Life Lessons from an Almost Preschooler and Why I Prefer Custom Over Stock

As women, loving our own bodies doesn’t seem to come naturally. Ironically, as VERY young girls, it’s the most natural thing in the world. I shouldn’t base the entire preschool-and-under-aged, female population on my only daughter, but for the sake of a solid example, that is exactly what I am going to do.

S thinks she is frickin’ awesome. She’s right. She thinks the way her belly pokes out is fantastic. She’s right. And she thinks that the way her funny little outie belly button pokes out ever farther than her belly is hilarious. She is right again. When she goes to put on some of her favorite pants and her outie-on-top-of-an-outie, belly/belly button combo causes the pants snap to burst open, she always looks up at me with a huge grin and proclaims with obvious pride, “I’ve been growing!”

She loves to incorporate the mirror into as many activities as possible. Every evening when she brushes her teeth, she walks out of the bathroom, into the hallway and stands in front of a full length mirror for the full brushing of the teeth ordeal. You may think I am just promoting vanity. That’s possible. But if you saw the determination in her eye, you may come to believe that she just gets a kick out of seeing herself do stuff.

What Life Looks Like When You Are Loving It and Yourself

She likes how long her hair goes down her back when she takes a bath. She likes that she can run “super fast,” She likes how her legs help her to “do good jumps” in ballet. In fact  the only complaint she has ever made about her body, is her lack of breasts. Yup. You read that correctly. She has asked on several occasions when she will get big boobies like mine. Poor kid, by age two she sat beside me as I breastfed her little brother trying to pull her own tiny, toddler nipples out. No fear. Once I assured her that all girls grow boobies once they become grown up ladies, she was satisfied enough. But I digress. The point is she loves how freaking incredible she is and how fascinating her body, and human bodies as a whole, are.

I think most of us felt that way at some point. Maybe it was gone by age 3. Or 5. Or 7. If you still had it once you hit the double digit ages, you were some sort of miracle kid and should definitely be writing this instead of me. I was very negatively conscious of my weight and how my clothes fit my body by 2nd grade. So the question remains, “How does a girl like me get back to being a girl like her?” (My kick-ass 3 year old daughter.)

Based on my obviously super-scientific research, step one is find a few things you love about your body, and fully enjoy those things. Go ahead; it’s cool. Love something about yourself.  Seriously. And it doesn’t need to be anything that fits nicely into some conventional definition of beauty. Ok, despite the chance of looking vain, I’ll go first. I have this dimple on my right shoulder that is gosh-darn adorable. My darling son has had the same dimple on both of his shoulders since he was born. Now I love my shoulder dimple even more. It’s a special thing we share – and a cute thing to boot! Now it’s your turn.

The next thing I realized about myself in an effort to experience self love, is that to appreciate one’s body isn’t so different than appreciating anything else. I love things decorated. I love them custom. I love them unique and personalized. Basically I am the idiot who will pay $6 for the $3 spatula in leopard. I don’t buy pill boxes, mugs, diaries and other completely unnecessary trinkets because I want to see how close I can get to full-blown hoarding without crossing the line. No, I just find them attractive and pleasant. That’s why I love pinterest; I can collect all the pretty and clever things I see without needing to make a Goodwill drop-off a month later. The same is proving true for my body. I fully recognize that I am about a lose a few of the die-hards still reading, but try to bear with me.

I like to customize myself. Plenty of people don’t, but I love my nose ring. Which is funny because once upon a time not so long ago, I hated my nose. Now I like it and how it looks with one of my gold hoops to decorate it. I love my tattoos. I love what they say and what they say about me. I want more. Maybe it’s a little gimmicky, but it works. What do you do with a boring old dining room? Paint it, hang photos you love in cool frames (or old windows salvaged via dumpster diving, whatevs), shake it up a little. It’s not that I hate little white dining rooms, it’s just not what I love. It’s not what excites me, inspires me, and motivates me… unless I am thinking of it as a blank canvas. I am looking at myself as my own exciting semi-blank canvas. Maybe that means new bangs or earrings. Or maybe that means a fine-tuned version of this (which I sketched myself in an inspired moment) getting permanently inked onto my skin.

Hand Sketched by Elle Smith

My Tattoo: An Update

As I prepare for a new tattoo (my reward for losing 15 lbs.!), I realized I never posted updated pictures of my last “date night” tattoo. Her it is. I apparently cannot take a very good picture of it on my own, but you get the idea. :)

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!