Ups and downs

Today was such a weird day. I had a very strange emotional night last night, to the point of almost crying myself to sleep with Hank holding me! Gag. I hate feeling that way...and really for no reason! I just felt stressed out and full of anxiety and when I get that way there's usually not a reason for it, it's just a feeling in me and once I get through it I am fine. But while it's there, it's bad. So anyway I went to bed feeling not so well, and I woke up feeling not so well either. This carried throughout my day, and whether it was my mood, or my kids just being jerky, it wasn't a good day in my classroom. I got home and fell asleep on the couch, basically feeling hopeless and just very sad overall. I woke myself up because I had a gym date with my friend Robyn (I ended up waking up too late and miss the "Pump Iron" class, boo), but I made it to Spin class. The class was just what I needed, and 60 very hard minutes later I was covered in sweat and everything negative in my body had left. I came home feeling great and when Hank got home from practice he could tell I was back to normal.

I spent the rest of the night making a little video (below) to announce the winner of the giveaway- yay Chelsea- and then hanging out with Lance and Hank for awhile. I'm whitening my teeth right now and then I am hitting the hay. Tomorrow I am determined to have an amazing, positive day no matter what. After work Robyn and I have a long run planned through downtown and I am really looking forward to that. She's an awesome workout partner and I feel very fortunate to be able to have a friend to share my fitness adventures with!

So, that's it for now. I hope all of you also choose to have a wonderful, positive day. It's easier said than done, but it really is a choice, and no matter how you feel right now, you can choose to wake up tomorrow and make the best of it.

Here's to a great day! And a goodnight... :)

Zizo Stolasky, Tuareg Tattoo Shop

Olá! Meu nome é Zizo Stolasky. Tenho um studio de Tatuagem em Boituva chamado Tuareg Tattoo Shop.

Encontrei o site de vocês na Internet e achei legal, parabéns pelo trabalho. Estou enviando algumas fotos dos meus trabalhos. Obrigado pela oportunidade

Zizo

Tuareg Tattoo Shop

Endereço: Rua Guilherme Primo, N º57, centro, Boituva - SP

Telefone: (015)

E-mail: tuaregtattoo@hotmail.com

Congratulations Chelsea!

Oh, hi!, originally uploaded by Chelseabirdd.

You are the winner of the nail polish giveaway! :)

Here's a video about it that I just took- PLEASE excuse my gross hair/everything. I just got home from a really, really hard 60 minute spin class and I'm super sweaty w/no makeup but I really wanted to a take a little video of me picking the winner! So, you get to view me in all my glory, bang-pushing out of the way, sniffly nose self! haha.

So again, congrats to Chelsea! All of you should add her adorable blog too-

chelseabirdd.blogspot.com

A Word of Thanks.....

With the onset of Fall, I compose this note as the month of September is coming to an end.

I look around sadly at the long pants, long sleeves, and covered frames that, just a few weeks ago, were so much more interesting to behold.

I am filled with sadness.

The past month has been a record-breaker for Tattoosday. When we first spun off from BillyBlog, we garnered 120 hits in the first three weeks of our infancy.

Last year, I was amazed by my progress, in September '08 we racked up 13,351 hits.

And this September, when I anticipated a drop off from a record August, Tattoosday soared into uncharted territory, on pace to top 38, 000 hits on the last day of the month. This may not seem like a big deal, but blogging is often lonely, and the number of hits is often the only measure of recognition we receive.

So, the summer ink is running dry, but despair not, I will continue to spot tattoos, although perhaps not at the dizzying rate of the past few months.

I have a backlog of posts and a head full of ideas to keep us entertained as the leaner months loom.

I thank you all for your continued readership and participation. I am very appreciative of your support!

Bill Cohen

Rafael Nigris, Tattooarte

Olá.

Me chamo Rafael Nigris, tenho 26 anos e sou tatuador. Me chamam de Rafiusk aqui em minha cidade. Moro em Rio das Ostras - RJ e tenho um estúdio no centro da cidade chamado TATTOOARTE, trabalho com meu sócio que também é tatuador. Estou nessa marivilhosa arte há 4 anos e antes estudava pintura clássica na casa de cultura de minha cidade.

Gosto de fazer meus próprios desenhos e já tenho algumas séries. Participarei de minha primeira convenção em março de 2010 no Rio, onde competirei com séries de desenhos, tatuagens orientais, new school, old, preto e cinza e comics. Gosto de trabalhar com todos os estilos e dou muito valor à Biossegurança em meu estúdio.

Estou me formando em Biologia e vou fazer pós em biossegurança. Agradeço a força que o A TATTOO da aos tatuadores e obrigado por deixar fazer parte do site de vocês.

TATTOOARTE

Tatuadores: Rafiusk Tattoo e Pézão Tattoo

Body Piercing: Rafael Caboca

Secretário: Geléia

Endereço: Rua Drº Raul de Oliveira Rodrigues, nº 74, Centro Rio das Ostras - RJ

Shopping Portal - sala 105

Little Dead Riding Hood

I met Amy in Penn Station earlier this month and she agreed to share this, one of her eight tattoos:


Actually, she has since e-mailed me about her ninth, and I am waiting for a photo.

This tattoo represents an undead version of Little Red Riding Hood, which is Amy's favorite fairy tale.


She also likes zombies, so it seemed like a good match.

This tattoo was inked by T.J. Mcinnis at Mcinnis Tattoo Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

Thanks to Amy for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Zack's Spectacular Foot Tattoos

I met Zack earlier this month as he was walking north on Broadway. But, like many Tattoosday encounters, the ink I spotted (on his leg) was not what ended up here on the blog.

Behold, Zack's feet:

These incredible foot tattoos were created by Beef Stu at Bleed Blue Tattoo in Lexington, Kentucky. Zack recently moved to New York from the Bluegrass state.

Zack told me that the idea for these tattoos came to him in a vision. His right foot tattoo is comprised of a DNA strand, the key to life.
And the left foot. with the skull, represents death.


The word "LIVE" is spelled out above the pieces, with "LI" on the right foot and "VE" on the left. The tattoos, together, Zack told me, serve as a "reminder not to get caught up in the shit" and to "make the most of what you can between life and death".

It took three or four sessions (the feet are not easily inked) for these tattoos.

Thanks to Zack for sharing his amazing foot tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Other modes...

Do any of you wonderful people have a twitter? Or a facebook?

Let's be friends!

facebook
twitter

Bukowski

Being an English major in college, and an English teacher now, of course I love poetry. I used to be very, very into borderline obsessed with Sylvia Plath when I was about 15 and obsessed with Bukowski and Anne Sexton and all the rest of those amazing confessional poets throughout my adolescent and teen years. And hell, I'm still obsessed with my darling Plath and read the others as much as possible. I think reading that insane poetry made me a little odd growing up. I still can't figure out and remember how exactly I got into all of it, but I was terribly emo way before that silly term even existed, and I used to write insanely dark poetry quite often. It's funny because I think I always appeared happy but I had this weird little dark side to me that I reveled in. Now that I'm so happy most of the time, grown up and out of my coming-of-age emotions, it's hard for me to really sit down and write like I used to. I still do, but not as frequently. I read for at least two hours everyday though, and today I rediscovered this poem and it made me really happy, and sad, and feel weird. It reminds me of something from a long time ago.

Do you have a favorite poet? I'd love to hear who you love.

I'll leave with the poem I stumbled upon-

some dogs who sleep at night
must dream of bones
and I remember your bones
in flesh
and best
in that dark green dress
and those high-heeled bright
black shoes,
you always cursed when you drank,
your hair coming down you
wanted to explode out of
what was holding you:
rotten memories of a
rotten
past, and
you finally got
out
by dying,
leaving me with the
rotten
present;
you’ve been dead
28 years
yet I remember you
better than any of
the rest;
you were the only one
who understood
the futility of the
arrangement of
life;
all the others were only
displeased with
trivial segments,
carped
nonsensically about
nonsense;
Jane, you were
killed by
knowing too much.
here’s a drink
to your bones
that
this dog
still
dreams about.


-Charles Bukowski

Stephanie's חַי

It was a string of elephants marching above Stephanie's right ankle that first made me stop and talk to her, but she offered up this, her first tattoo, as well:


She started with the Chai at the top of her left breast. At the time, Stephanie was dating a guy who was covered in tattoos., She was 35, uninked, and going through a mid-life crisis. The shop was in Brattleboro, Vermont, but it has been gone for years.

She liked the tattoo so much, she later added the Star of David and the leaves. The Jewish theme was a tribute to her cultural identity as a Jew.

It somehow seemed both suiting and slightly inappropriate to post these tattoos on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar.

I am waiting to hear back from Stephanie for clarification on her string of elephant tattoos. But, in the mean time, I thank her for sharing this deeply personal tattoo with us here on Tattoosday.

Lovely Sunday

Today was Dogtober Fest, so once we were up and at 'em, we headed downtown with Madeline. My old friend Tim was in town with the Raw Spirit Vegan festival that took place this weekend, so Hank and I got to spend the afternoon with him, which was awesome. I've been friends with Tim for many, many years and it's always good to reconnect with him and catch up. I first met him when his band played in Phoenix about 5 years ago maybe and we've kept in touch, on and off, ever since. He's a great guy.

So anyway, downtown was super crowded, but the best kind of crowded- puppies and dogs everywhere! Big dogs, small dogs, fluffy dogs, dogs with hats, dogs with boots, seriously millions of dogs! Madeline loves people and pups, so she was in heaven.

Since Tim was working at the vegan fest he brought some awesome, delicious food with him to share with us, and I have to make note of the raw, vegan chocolate mousse pie he brought. It was one of the best pieces of pie I've ever had in my life and I was completely blown away by it. It came from a raw "bakery" in Sedona and I can't wait to take a weekend trip with Hank over there and enjoy some more.

While downtown we ran into various friends and their dogs, so it was a very fun day and the weather was to die for! Seriously perfection.

Here are some photos:

walking down our street


my feet in the green, green grass in our front yard


happy Madeline!


Robyn and Bodhi


downtown






beautiful, beautiful day


Tim and Hank


Tim and Ashley's dog, Nipper - "his name makes me nervous..."






Greyhounds that need rescuing, they were so beautiful!


THE pie!


Amazing pie, happy me!


Tim and me :) :)




a little closer, I can't decide which one I like better :)


family photo


Afterward we came back home and Robyn and I hit the gym, I did some grocery shopping, edited HOTW's new album's lyrics, and now I am here in bed, thinking about going to sleep! I'm very excited for this week, for no reason in particular but I feel it will be a good one!

Happy Sunday night everyone! And don't forget to enter my nail polish giveaway below. xoxo

Raphael Malveira, Alex Kidd, 169

"Olá!
Sempre visito o site e gostaria que postasse minha tattoo, eternizando um dos melhores jogos de 8 bits da década de 80... Alex Kidd!

Estou já fazendo meu desenho para fechar o braço com Caverna do Dragão.
Agradeço a atenção."

Raphael 

Milton Sartorelli, Evolution Tattoo Studio

Meu nome é Milton Sartorelli, tatuo há uns 22 anos, tenho meu estúdio de tatuagem há 10 anos de nome Evolution Tattoo Studio. Gosto de todos os estilos de tatuagens, de preferência orientais e preto e branco.

Evolution Tattoo Studio
Endereço: Rua Fernando Costa, N º 36, centro, Boituva - SP
Telefone: (015) 3363-1075
E-mail: miltonsartorelli@fasternet.com.br