Inspired!

I was inspired by Stephanie's blog today. She posted a BEAUTIFUL painting of her that she got for her 9th anniversary. You must check it out! It looks just like her, down to that mischievous twinkle in her eyes!
Here is my glamour shot from the early 90's! I look like a lion RAWR!


And here is the pencil drawing that a friend drew for me when he had some time on his hands.... What do you think?




So Steph, to answer your question.... You put it where ever you darn well please because its FANTASTIC!

"Why?"

"Why?" was the response I got when my mom saw my newest tattoo. When I got out of the pool last Saturday she said, "Did you get another tattoo?" and I said, "Yes, isn't it pretty!" She answered my question with a question. LOL! Now don't get me wrong, my mom is pretty easy going and doesn't care what other people do, but I am her daughter, so I'm fair game! Really, my parents have supported the decisions my brother, sister and I have made over the years, even if they didn't agree, the one thing we could count on is MOM and DAD! They were always there, and I appreciate it so much!

But the one thing my mom doesn't understand is my tattoos. Why would I want one, or two or the NINE that I have. My reasons are all over the board, really. My first one is a small rose on my right shoulder blade. I got it 17 years ago with a friend. We just decided to get tattoos! There was really no thought involved, I just knew I wanted one. At that time my mom was a bit distressed and said, "Where are you going to get it?" I promised that I wouldn't get it in a place where I'd need to "get to know" the tattoo artist first! She was relieved when I got it on my shoulder blade. I had that tattoo for years and really no one ever saw it, unless I was swimming. The next one I got on my right calf. I think it was 1998 or 1999. It's a star with a Yin Yang symbol in the middle. I call it my "break up" tattoo. I was seeing a guy who was against me getting any more tattoos so when he was finally gone, I got a tattoo! Tattoo number 3 is a sunflower at the base of my neck. I have no special reason for it, I just wanted one. Tattoo number 4 is some vines around the sunflower, that part was completed about a year after I got the sunflower. Number 5 is one that I have no excuses for, except maybe one too many Margarita's.. It's a bear claw on the right side of my neck, up high near the back of my ear. My boyfriend Christopher has the same tattoo in the same place. He thinks that makes us married. On to number 6. It's on my neck (right side) and it's some vines and a flower. Tattoo number 7 has to be one of my very favorite tattoos!! It's on my left wrist. It's astrological sign for Sagittarius and it's beautiful! Christopher got the Pisces symbol on the same wrist on the same day. Number 8! This is one that starts on one side of my neck and flows around to the other side. It is a dragon fly of sorts with flowers that trail off as if it was flying from the flower on tat number 6. I like this one a lot as well. Levi, my son, drew it for me! And last but not least is the most recent one. NUMBER 9! It's on my left calf and it has a vine with flowers as well as a Celtic Motherhood symbol. It sports a blue dot right in the center that represents my son. I think it's beautiful! I think secretly my mom thinks it's beautiful too! Right mom! :-)

Back her question, "why?" Because I think they are beautiful. Because I like being different. Because I can! I'm 42, I can do what I want! The best thing is that I know I don't have to worry about my mom and dad not loving me because I have tattoos.. I know they will always love me no matter what! I love you Mom and Dad!

Here are a few pictures, I won't bore you with all nine pictures!

The Joys of Gardening

This is the first time EVER in my adult life that I have had a GARDEN! Woot! Woot! Ok, so I didn't plant it, nor did I tend to it in any way.. Chris did it all.. Oh wait, I think I watered it once! Chris has done a great job growing all the pretty green veggies! So far everything is green, but soon, then Maters will be ruby RED! YUMMY! I remember having a garden in the house we lived in on 95th St. in Vancouver, WA. I love fresh carrots and tomatoes.. I seem to recall tomatoes growing through the fence.. Hey mom, were those tomatoes ours or did they belong to the neighbors.. Oh well, I ate them anyway!

So here is our garden in the beginning.



And here is the garden NOW



We have 4 ft tall lettuce! Is it supposed to grow that tall? We have MATERS! They are still green but they look super fantastic! We have eaten several dinners that included fresh peas! The corn is getting pretty tall and I saw a cucumber! Funny story about the carrots... They have looked great, the tops are all green and really tall.. Chris pulled one up a little over a week ago and it was about an inch long and white! He ate it anyway. Is that normal? Last night he pulled up another one and it was ORANGE! YAY! But it looked a bit deformed.. Like it had a parasitic twin. For those of you who do not know what a parasitic twin is, click
here
Yeah, I watch too much Discovery Health!!

Chris planted pumpkins and onions too. He hasn't said much about them so I guess the pumpkin won't be entered into the fair this year. :-( Here are a few more pictures so ENJOY! And I recommend that you all plant a garden!