Jolie's Cupcake

When I met Jolie, we weren't sure which of her thirteen tattoos would be best for the blog, but we decided to go with this one, on the inner part of her biceps:

This colorful cupcake bears the name of Jolie's sister Jackie. The two of them hope to start a cupcake business some day. Jackie has the same tattoo, only with Jolie's name instead.

The artist is Ed Knowles at 12 Tattoos in Groton, Connecticut.

Thanks to Jolie for sharing this colorful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Sunday

I love Sundays so much! It's especially sweet knowing I don't have to go to work tomorrow either! :) Hank and I slept in a little bit which was so lovely, and once we were up we decided to use a gift card from the holidays and have lunch at Wildflower Bakery. We don't usually frequent restaurants like this- we tend to stick to our local favorites downtown, and I was reminded again of why during this visit! The food was "okay," and it was so incredibly packed it was hard to find a table. Once we got one it was hard to really have a conversation because the tables were so close and it was just kind of weird. I am so appreciative of the giftcard (free food = awesome!) but I think we'll keep sticking to our old favorites and steer clear of chain restaurants like we always do.

After lunch we made a quick Costco trip and then went to see "The Lovely Bones." Having read the book twice, I had been looking forward to seeing this film for some time. One thing about me though, is that I never, ever compare the book with the movie. I know that I have an idea in my mind of how I think the book should pan out on screen, and I know unless the screenplay writer/director are mind readers, it will never ever match up. I just try and keep an open mind and remember that all books to movies are adaptations. This helps me to avoid feeling let down. This movie though, couldn't have let me down if it tried. Hank was a little apprehensive about seeing it, and he ended up really, really enjoying it. Overall it was a little too creepy/scary for me, but I made it through the entire thing without covering my eyes. I thought the acting was good (I actually really love Mark Wahlberg) and I truly enjoyed it, beginning to end. I think it was a tricky movie to make with all of the "heaven" type scenes, and I think it was executed pretty well. A lot of my friends have had different reactions though, especially the ones who had read it first. Have any of you seen it? What do you think? Next weekend I am hoping to see "Up in the Air" and "Leap Year."

We came home after the movie and I enjoyed a yummy cupcake that Hank had bought for me! Such a sweetie. The rest of the night is dedicated to...absolutely nothing! Sometimes those are the best kind of nights.

I wanted to also include a little "hello" and a thank you to all my new readers. There are quite a few of you, and I want you to know how much I appreciate you taking the time to stop by my little corner of the internet. If you'd like, leave your blog address in the comments so I can come see your little corner too! I made a cheesy video for all of you too. :)




poor Hank is still a little sick, what a trooper though, agreeing to snap a pic :)





cupcake compliments of Hank!

Happy October!

some of the Happy October cupcakes I baked for school tomorrow :), originally uploaded by daniellehampton.

In celebration of October I baked fall-themed cupcakes for one of my classes tomorrow. I am just so excited about the season finally being here. This weekend Hank and I have big autumn plans- pumpkin patch, tons of apple cider, hay rides, and then carving our chosen pumpkin and roasted the seeds. I am so excited! Growing up my parents always took up to pick out pumpkins and some of my fondest memories involve Halloween and all of the fun activities. I can't wait to have little ones of our own to make memories with, but for now Hank and my little family of two can start on that.

Speaking of little ones, last night I had this insane dream that I gave birth (15 minutes of labor haha) and a baby just slid right out...it could already talk and was so beautiful. It looked at Hank and me and said "Hello," and I know that sounds creepy but it really wasn't. My sister and mom were there and the baby looked over at Lauren and started smiling and laughing. It was the cutest little thing and I woke up with this insane feeling of peacefulness and happiness. So who knows what that means...

Yesterday I blogged that I was really feeling bad yesterday but I have to say that today was so amazing. It was a wonderfully positive day at work, and I was reminded yet again of how much my day depends on my attitude. Once work ended I enjoyed a hard trek around town for a little over an hour with Robyn, and when I got home I was feeling even better. I've been stepping up my workouts a lot lately and I am definitely in a really inspired place right now, in terms of fitness. Well really all things, but especially fitness I suppose.

Tomorrow is Friday, which I am very happy about. I am looking forward to a weekend of relaxation. My family was thinking of coming up, and other than a birthday party Saturday, Hank and I have no plans outside of our "Autumn enjoyment" stuff. I can't wait.

I hope all of you have a truly fabulous Friday!

With a Cherry on Top and a Side of Morrissey

I met Jasen several weeks back outside of the Whole Foods in Chelsea.

Jasen's left right forearm has a variation of the torn flesh motif in tattooing where the artist creates an illusion that a person's flesh is ripping away under pressure from the matter below the skin.

I have seen people with biomechanical tattoos, showing steel below the skin. Or patriotic pieces reflecting red, white and blue deep below the surface.

But Jasen is different. He is a Vegan with not one, but many "sweet teeth". So, with the help of the tattoo artist, Nick Baxter, they devised the design that would reflect delicious desserts bursting out of his skin. Jasen agreed that he wanted something "colorful, fun, and kind of ridiculous".


Okay, I know, the quality of these photos is not great. Very sun-washed. So, I was fortunate enough to find the artist's photo on his website:


Nick's site is cool because he even comments on the pieces. For example:

"Why can't every tattoo be a ridiculous skin tear-out? I'm proud to add this to the collection I've done, along with the gay unicorn and the surfer kool-aid man. It's on an awesome vegan dude who wanted to pay homage to the sweeter side of our shared dietary choice. Thanks Jasen for giving me a good excuse to have some friends over for a dessert-making and reference-photographing party...this tattoo was fun before it even started."

Nick tattooed this at a shop in Branford, Connecticut called Transcend Tattoo & Art Gallery, but has relocated to Austin.


Jasen also has the autograph of the singer Morrissey tattooed on his outer right forearm:



He saw him in concert in Philadelphia two or three months back and had the opportunity to meet him.

We talked about people getting musician's autographs tattooed (see all that have appeared on Tattoosday here), and he told me that Morrissey was the only famous person he would do that for. The singer is a vegetarian and is very outspoken about vegetarianism and animal rights.

Thanks to Jasen for sharing his cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Anniversary cake!

We are going to be traveling during our actual wedding anniversary (1 year on May 31st!), so our cakeshop made us our anniversary cake early. This is a remake of our cupcake tower topper, except the flavor is different. The original flavor was banana cake with banana pudding (Hank picked it haha- and none of the cupcakes were this flavor), but I didn't really love it, so we decided to have them make it with marble cake, chocolate pudding inside and vanilla buttercream on top. All of the wedding cupcakes were different flavors, we had everything from lemon poppyseed with lemon custard to red velvet with cream cheese. My talented friend Cas also made vegan cupcakes for our vegan friends to enjoy (soo good!). All of the cupcakes were amazing and our little remake cake was just as good! Our anniversary isn't for two weeks, but it was so fun to sit and eat our cake, and reflect on this past year.

Here are some photos of our actual wedding cupcake setup!