Tuesday!

Today's highlights:
-waking up to yet another lovey dovey and super long email from my darling.
-spending the afternoon with dear friend and "big sis" Rhonda and getting my hair colored and trimmed!
-Taco Bell for dinner (soo not my usual, but it was delicious and a rare treat!)
-coming home to Madeline just about freaking out from being so excited...nothing is better than the unconditional love she gives Hank and me.
-photo updates from Hank on tour. Especially the pictures from Babycakes and Red Bamboo! So jealous!
-realizing that he gets home in ten days, very awesome.
-thinking about Amber's visit which is coming up very soon! So excited for all of our usual escapades to ensue, long walks downtown, and girltalk...


not the best pics, but I wanted to show you my new hair! It's not a huge change but my bangs are a little shorter :)

from Hank's Flickr- Baby Cakes for Danielle :)

Baby Cakes for Danielle :), originally uploaded by hch3.

Hank played a show in NYC today...got to enjoy Red Bamboo and Babycakes. Lucky!

Eddie Graces Egghead's Shoulder

I recently met a gentleman from England, along with his wife, as they were milling about outside of Madison Square Garden.

He referred to himself as "Egghead," I'm guessing due to his bald head. I first noticed the logo for the band Slayer on the back of his calf, along with several other interesting looking tattoos. He estimated he has about a dozen tattoos.

But, like the best Tattoosday stories, he shared this amazing tattoo on his right shoulder, hidden under a sweatshirt, which he pulled off so I could see it properly:


That's a phenomenal piece, courtesy of his artist Ben Boston at The Tattoo Studio in Bristol, England.



The tattoo is a likeness of Eddie, mascot for the band Iron Maiden, one of the premiere metal bands that came out of England in the late 1970's/early 1980's. I won't bore the reader with the catalog of my Iron Maiden fandom, but it certainly made the tattoo even that more wonderful for me.

I even had a nice chat with Egghead and his wife about concerts we had attended.

I thank Egghead for sharing this awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Quick like a fox!

Hi all! I am making this incredibly short and sweet, as I should have been asleep an hour ago! I wanted to let everyone know that I will be making my photo post later this week, and showcasing all of the things you guys wanted to see! I fear it may be even as late as this weekend- I am super busy but I will try to get it done before! :)

Just wanted to quickly say that today was SO much better. I woke up to a super long, sweet, and encouraging email from Sarah, and an ultra-mushy love letter from my darling hubby. Both things made my day immediately, and I had a wonderful time at work! My students always make me laugh, so I knew that regardless I would have a good work day, but those letters really cheered me up! After work I went on a super long run/walk with Robyn for almost two hours, and we ended up at Hugo's for dinner. Delicious! Now I'm snuggling with Madeline (I wasn't home much today and she needs extra love), and then I'm off to dreamland. I have so many fun things to blog about as soon as I get more time beginning Wednesday or Thursday, so stay tuned!

Have a fantastic night- I will leave you with two more photos from Halloween.

Scott's Heart is Testament to Love and Hate

I met Scott last month as he was walking down 7th Avenue just south of 30th Street.

His only tattoo just jumped out from his right forearm:


He referred to this as a "time of my life" tattoo and it was "inspired by a horrible girlfriend".

It's also another example of someone wearing their heart on their sleeve.

He worked with the tattoo artist, Adam Rosenthal at the Th'ink Tank Tattoo in Denver to come up with a design that melded a biological heart with a Valentine's heart.

The heart is stitched together with a needle and thread. The thread spells out the words "love" and "hate," which exemplified the tumultuous relationship.


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

Sad Sunday

I am in bed right now, and I've spent almost all of my day here, being sad. This is not out of character for me, but lately it definitely is, and I hate that today has been a "low" day. Hank is playing at The Fest in Gainesville today but he still took a long time out of his day to cheer me up and make me feel better. Gosh I love him. But today was the only sad day- I had a fabulous weekend! I spent Friday with one of my wonderful and lovely best friends Sarah and we had a girly sleepover that was much needed. There's so much I can say about her...I feel just so lucky to call her my friend. We've been soul sisters for about seven years now. We had a bit of non-communicative period right around the time she met her Andy and I was getting serious with Hank, but right after my wedding we rekindled our friendship and have been back to normal ever since. Sometimes friends go through periods of time like that, and I feel fortunate that our friendship was strong enough to get through that transitional period. If you follow my blog you know that Sarah is up here all the time, hanging out with Hank and me. Hank and her know each other really well, which I love, and Madeline gets so excited whenever Auntie Suki comes to visit.

Here are some photos of us from a long time ago...I am thinking 2002? We look like little babies!





I love old photos! :) So yes, Friday was spent having a little sleepover, and then Saturday we slept in pretty late and then got back up to Prescott to start our Halloween festivities. One of my dearest friends Terra came down from Flagstaff to join us, and we all got ready and headed over to our friends' house for a little get together/"teacher" party! In our group there was a Vegas card dealer, a little Indian, a sailor and her captain, and the Lone Ranger and Silver. It was so fun! I actually wish I could wear my costume as a regular outfit! haha. Afterward we went downtown, danced our hearts out, and ended up eating the most delicious pizza at the end of our night.

This morning we slept in late and then got lunch at Subway. Once everyone left I felt like I had a "fun hangover" of sorts. I got to spend so much time with so many people I love, and now they were gone and weird depression feelings started creeping up into my mind. I absolutely hate hate hate feeling sad, and I'm already sad enough with Hank gone. I keep myself very busy though, and other than getting a little bummed at night, sleeping in our bed alone, I can usually stay pretty positive. Today though, was hard. I'm a very healthy person, but the combination of last week's Homecoming festivities and this weekend's stuff has left me drained emotionally and physically! I need to recharge my batteries this week with lots of yummy food and good exercise! Hank will be home in 13 days though and I am sooo happy. These next few months are insanely huge for us, and I am just so excited for all of it.

I hope all of you had an amazing Halloween and are enjoying your Sunday! I am determined to get out of this funk and have a beautiful Monday. I already feel a bit better having written about my sad day, so thanks so much for reading about it.

My small camera broke, and I didn't want to bring my D-SLR out, so I have to wait on friends to post photos. I do have a few photobooth photos though, so here you go!










*edit- Robyn just posted some, so here they are, and I'll add more as they go up! :)

I should also add that in most of these my face may look a little "off!" haha. Sarah's dog jumped up into my face and gave me the hugest fat lip. By last night it had gone down a lot but I couldn't smile normally and I do think I look a little weird. But whatever. Had to mention it ;)

three English teachers!








downtown!

Day of the Dead Special: Electrical Sugar Skull

I met Mike at the end of September, but have been hanging on to this post to share today, on the Day of the Dead:


I've posted numerous sugar skulls here (click this link to see all posts tagged as such), but this one is particularly interesting due to its proximity to the tattoo below, which is the logo for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), or the electrician's union, to which the contributor belongs.



The tattoos were done by Rob Hotte at the incomparable Lotus Tattoo in Sayville, New York.

For an extra El Día de los Muertos bonus, I encourage folks to check out my old friend Mike's Day of the Dead Mariachi troupe here.

As for this post, I thank Mike for sharing his incredible tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

*

Extra bonus material:

About 2 months ago, a reader named Leslie sent me the following blurb:

Hi! I ... sent you a link to Albuquerque's Tinta Cantina - the shop does all kinds of work but they really do a lot of Day of the Dead stuff - in particular - look under the artist Jason. I do not work there, nor am I trying to promote them - I just think that the tattoos done here in New Mexico are quite different from the interpretations you show from the East Coast and that you might find it interesting.

Thanks to Leslie for sharing this link with us here on Tattoosday!