Tattoosday – The Grand Finale
Move over San Francisco. I left my heart in London!
I love this tattoo (and it has quite the story attached to it). And I love it for several reasons… It is my most detailed one; one of my most meaningful ones; I have been to, or have seen, every single place pictured; it reminds me of the best vacation I have taken; it was designed by my favorite artist (and dear friend), which also makes it the most surprising one, that I never thought I would ever have (you’ll see…).
I was supposed to go to London in June 2020, but sadly had to cancel and postpone. Back then I asked my dear friend (and very talented artist) Brian if he would be willing to design a London tattoo for me. His answer was no. (See!)
Fast forward to 2023 and the day I spent with Brian in London. One of my daughters gave me a tattoo pen for Christmas (my wish list consisted of: tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, money for a tattoo) and I had this pen with me and asked Brian to “tattoo” me, and requested this:
Unfortunately it didn’t last long and washed off pretty quickly, but was my inspiration (or Plan B) for my real London tattoo. I wasn’t going to ask Brian again to design it, knowing he would just say no anyway, but he was sweet enough to agree to send me the “I left my ❤️ in London” as an image I could print and include in my tattoo…or get on its own.
A day or two later (I was still in London) Brian and I were texting and he completely surprised me by offering to design my tattoo!!! WHAT??!! Really?!? YES! Please! (No idea what got into him. Lost his mind? Temporarily insane? Who knows? And I didn’t care, because this made me over the moon happy).
We talked about the design; I definitely wanted the “I left my ❤️ in London”, coordinates, and a skyline. I sent him a tattoo design I found on Pinterest for inspiration and as a guide to how detailed to make it, and we figured out the coordinates. I also made him a list of all the sights I saw and marked a few that I wanted included; any others would be a bonus. I left the design up to him (placement of the buildings, etc.) because he IS the artist after all. And then I let him get to work. Days passed. Weeks. I was dying to ask him about it, but I summoned all my willpower and kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want to bug him. Plus, I had (stupidly) told him to take his time (cos I’m nice like that).
Then one day in August I believe, he asked if I wanted to see what he had so far (as if he really had to ask!!) and… I’m not lying when I say my jaw dropped. WOW! I did NOT expect this level of detail! Holy cow! The list of attractions I sent him? Not only did he include the ones I had marked, but he included them all!
After some fine tuning I took the design to my tattoo artist to ask if this could even be done (I had some serious doubts and “Plan B” was already becoming “Plan A” in my mind). He asked one of the other tattoo artists for input and came to the conclusion that yes, it could be done… with a #1 tattoo needle, which he would have to order because he rarely keeps them in stock. We discussed cost and number of sessions, and set the appointment for just before Thanksgiving, but he called about a week before and asked to reschedule because he had not yet recovered enough after shoulder surgery. The new appointment was December 12, and that day I kept asking him if he was sure he could do it, because I was perfectly happy with Plan B. He told me that he was scared to death of it, but wanted to challenge himself at the same time. Considering I have known him for 9 years, I trusted him and knew that he would not agree to the tattoo if he doubted his abilities. Session 1 took about 4 hours. Pain wasn’t bad at all, except for the British Museum right on my wrist. I was glad he saved that part for last because he thought about leaving it off, then decided to include it after all.
February 20, 2023 was finally the day of session 2, which took about 2 hours and I thought it was finished… until I found a few things he missed, so back I went on March 15 to get it finished. The pictures and video really don’t do it justice because it looks so much better in person.
And here is a little video because you can see the detail much better. The darker spots are where the tattoo was touched up and hasn’t healed yet.
I’m really happy with how it turned out and I want to give a big fat THANK YOU to both Brian, and Daryl at Scarecrow Galleries Tattoo Company. This amazing tattoo will always and forever be my favorite.
Tattoosday – Part 2
As they say, tattoos are addicting, and next came this little ladybug, which is covering up the little heart tattoo.
Then this beautiful hip / thigh tattoo
These next two I had done on the same day because neither took very long.
Tattoosday – Part 1
That’s a thing, isn’t it?
I have a little “show me yours and I’ll show you mine” agreement with Karma, and I’ve already posted about my first three tattoos here, so I will post my other ones in the next few weeks, with my (as of yet unfinished) London tattoo as the grand finale… because it deserves a post all of its own.
Next came a little flower growing out of my shoe (the bit where the leaf is? HURT!! Ow) and a small heart, that I technically still have…but it’s been covered up with another one.
And then a lotus / lace design on my stomach
My next one was a seashell on the top of my foot. Funny story there… about half way through tattooing, my tattoo artist must have assumed it hurt (which of course it did, but it wasn’t that bad) and – without asking – put a numbing gel on. Which stung like crazy! I looked at him and said “what did you do that for?! I didn’t need it and the stinging is worse than the tattooing!”
2014/052: Karma’s Photo Hunt
Did you enter Karen’s A Blogger Contrived Photo Hunt ? If not, there’s still time, as the due date isn’t until February 25th.
For this photo hunt we were supposed to choose a word, and then look for objects around the house that start with each letter of our chosen word. It sounded easy, but then I had a hard time finding objects to represent the letters.
I chose my name as my word: Michaela (for those of you who didn’t / don’t know 😉 ) and I decided to take two photos for each letter…
M is for Music (OK, not technically an object) and this is my favorite way to listen to it
M is also for Markers (Sara thought of those, because I couldn’t think of anything else LOL)
I is for iMessages…. again, not technically an object, but they’re the only good thing to wake up to when you’re up at Stoopid o’clock. Reading those is the first thing I do after dragging myself out of bed, and having TEN of them waiting for me that morning was a nice surprise (even if they are all from the same person)
I is also for Ivy…. one of the more recent plants I bought. We shall see how long it will survive. I tend to forget to water them. Oops!
C is for Coffee…. the other nice thing when you’re up at Stoopid o’clock!
C is also for Candle. Love them!! This one was on my desk (will be again soon, but it has been temporarily replaced with a different candle) and I light it in the morning when it’s still dark out (you know…at Stoopid o’clock 😉 ) so I don’t have to turn on the light
H is for Hearts…. because I know you all would have been disappointed if I didn’t post any hearts! These are my heart-shaped rocks that I found over the years.
H is also for Herbs, and I’m glad they’re not spelled Erbs, or I might still be looking for another object that starts with H 😛
A is for Apple…. sadly I’m allergic to raw apples, they make my throat itch terribly!
A is for Apple (I know I said that already LOL)
E is for Ear buds…. sometimes those are needed to listen to music.
E is also for Eggs…. which I don’t like at all unless they’re deviled eggs.
L is for Lace
L is also for Letters. I still love it when I get a letter in the mail, how about you? All these are from Germany.
A is for Art…. and I have two talented artists as daughters. 17-year-old Melissa, and 10-year-old Sara. I’m sure you can tell who drew what 🙂
A is unfortunately also for Antihistamine, because Allergy season is right around the corner.
2012/296: Traveling Man
Before the flower overload, I thought I’d post the pictures of our recent outing to Deep Ellum, Dallas’ arts & entertainment district. It was cold that day and we didn’t spend as much time there as I would have liked, but at least I got pictures of the Traveling Man Sculptures, really the main reason I wanted to go. Maybe we can go back another time to take pictures of the murals.
Walking Tall
Waiting on a Train
Awakening
2012/150: Self Portrait
Not mine… Mel’s!
She brought one of her art projects home recently, and when she showed it to me my reaction was “Wow! WOW! This is really good!!!… Can I have it???” 🙂 Just wish she had rolled it up instead of folded it…
2012/033: She May Have Gotten It From Her Mom
Sharing my creation today 🙂
I used to draw as a teenager, but sadly only have one single drawing left, that I did when I was 18 years old. It hangs in my dining room, and if I ever remember to take a picture of it, I may share that with you, too.
2011/337: Abstract
I saw gorgeous abstracts like this one on Robin’s blog recently, and had to try them myself. I’ve only had time for one so far, but I can’t wait to dig through my pictures again and create a few more! If you’re wondering about the original image, it was one of this year’s 4th of July fireworks.
2011/328: Happy Thanksgiving
My faithful readers (whether you’ve been here from the beginning of this blog, or found your way here since then)
… just one of the many things I’m thankful for today.
Artwork by Sara
2011/279: Highschool Art
Melissa missed a day of school recently and had to bring her art project home to finish it over a week-end. They had to print out a photo (had to be a photo, it couldn’t be a drawing or painting) and then duplicate it on the scratch pad. I think it turned out amazing!
Of course I forgot to take a picture of the finished project, and had Melissa ask her teacher if she could borrow it (and return it the next day) so her crazy mom could take a picture of it for her blog. Melissa said that hers was one of the pieces of art that her teacher chose to display at the school.
2011/072: My Daughter, The Artist (2)
Part 2: Anime
These last three required a little creative editing because the pencil was really light and didn’t photograph well.
My personal favorite is “Hanna”.
2011/039: Bonus – Snow Art
Maybe we will have another snow day tomorrow?
From the National Weather Service:
“The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a Winter Storm Warning for heavy snow and sleet … which is in effect from midnight tonight to 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Precipitation will begin as rain in northwest parts of North Texas early Wednesday morning … continuing to overspread North Texas. As temperatures fall to below freezing Wednesday morning … the precipitation will transition to a freezing rain and sleet mixture before changing to all snow by early afternoon.
Total sleet and snow accumulations are expected to range from one to three inches. In addition … a few hundredths of an inch of freezing rain could coat roads and exposed objects before the precipitation transitions to sleet and snow by mid morning.
All wintry precipitation is expected to taper off during the afternoon. Snow flurries may persist into the evening hours in eastern counties. A winter storm warning means significant amounts of snow … sleet … and ice are expected or occurring. This will make travel very hazardous or impossible.”
And, yes, it’ll be bitterly cold again. The weather service says wind chills will reach near zero in some parts of North Texas from Wednesday evening until sunrise on Thursday.
The Weather Channel’s forecast has the area warming to 36 degrees on Thursday, 47 on Friday and sunny and 50s for the weekend.
Snow art by Sara. Drawn with an icicle
2009/329: Poor Melissa
She had all four of her wisdom teeth pulled on Monday and will be getting braces in mid-December. She was pretty miserable Monday afternoon and evening, and pretty out of it from the anesthesia… and frustrated because she was thirsty and couldn’t open her mouth very far, let alone swallow. But she managed to get a few sips of milk, and take her pain pills, and antibiotic. We made sure she took a pain pill every four hours and even woke her up in the middle of the night. They pretty much knocked her out… and made her dizzy and she needed help walking. The fact that she barely had anything to eat in more than 24 hours (except for a few bites of apple sauce) didn’t help matters either and left her feeling weak.
But, as Tuesday wore on, she started feeling a little better, even ate some soup and a slice of cheese. She was still in some pain, but Advil took care of that, and by evening she was back on the computer, IM’ing her friend Lexi. Her face is still pretty swollen and I’m sure she’s happy that there’s no school this week. The bright side about a swollen face is that mom isn’t mean enough to take pictures for the Christmas card! 😉
Sara was very concerned about Melissa when she came home late Monday afternoon, and drew this picture. She would love nothing more than snuggle with sissy and make her feel better, but of course that only annoys Melissa. Although I’m sure that Melissa knows how much Sara loves her… she just doesn’t want to admit it.
(Art work by Sara)
2009/220: Vacation, Part 7
We decided to go to Hershey, Pennsylvania since it wasn’t too far out of the way, and that’s where we were on Sunday, July 5, 2009.
There wasn’t enough time to go to the amusement park, and we only went to Chocolate World. We took the tour through the “factory” first, and then the girls got to package up their own Hershey Kisses at Hershey’s Factory Works. Of course we browsed through the shops, too, and bought some chocolate!
From there we went on to Baltimore, Maryland where we ate lunch (Greg was dying to eat crabs!! YUCK!) and then visited Greg’s brother for a while. Unfortunately our sister-in-law and nephew were in Maine on vacation and we didn’t get to see them.
Our next stop was Frederick, Maryland. If I could live anywhere in the world, this would be the place! I actually lived there for a little over a year and still miss it.
We stopped at Carroll Creek Park, which was still under construction when we moved to Texas. It’s a really nice park with lots of restaurants and shops, a “river walk” and beautiful bridges and artwork. All the artwork you see here is painted onto the bridge and the walls, even the stones and ivy were painted.
2009/88: Celebrate The Arts
This week was Celebrate the Arts at the local high school. Melissa performed with her school’s choir on Tuesday evening, and they sounded wonderful! Unfortunately, Greg and Sara didn’t get to go, because the performance was scheduled for 8:20 pm – almost an hour past Sara’s bed time.
On Thursday, Sara brought a note home from school, saying that her art was selected for the art show this week-end. Of course we had to go and check it out Friday evening.
This is her masterpiece that was chosen:
Caillou
Sara drew this for me yesterday, all by herself, just by looking at the picture on the card.
My Little Artist
Or mini-Mel, as I sometimes call her. She adores her big sister and wants to be like her and do everything she does… and that includes drawing. I think Sara got her talent from Melissa, because she does really well. Here she’s drawing Okeefeenokie, the cat that Melissa gave her for Christmas. Don’t ask how she came up with the name, she gives her dolls and animals all kinds of silly names.
And to show you just how much Sara loves Melissa… a few months back, they were both sitting at the dinner table and Sara told Melissa “Sissy, you’re my hero”. Awwwww
Or just recently she came into the computer room, dressed in Melissa’s way-too-big-for-her pajamas and said with a big grin on her face “Mommy, look! I’m Melissa!”
Now I need to get a picture of my big artist….
Für Heike
Melissa and Sara both love to draw and whenever I send a letter or package, they insist on drawing a picture and include it. This one is for my best friend who lives in Germany.
I don’t know why they decided to draw giraffes. They usually draw horses, and Melissa can draw some really good dragons, too. (And I have no idea what that yellow triangle above Sara’s giraffe is)
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