Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Let me tell you a little story of why I'm a baby. As an almost grown child, not yet a teenager, I spent enough camping trips in the White Mountains to not be afraid of bears. There were bear traps everywhere, some containing bears that we were able to oogle at, and signs on every other tree warning you to drop to the ground if a bear came. Act like you're dead and it'll think you're dead. Because of that, I was not afraid of bears. Just act like I'm dead and I'll be fine? Easy! No worries about being ripped limb from limb!

Until last week when a friend ruined everything. Everything, I tell ya! We were on a hike and got to talking about bears and mountain lions, both of which we have in Flagstaff. We were talking about various people we know who have seen both animals while on hikes or mountain bike rides, which made them kind of real to me. I had heard of mountain lions occasionally being in peoples back yards and bears being seen on bike rides, but no real firsthand experiences. All stuff read in the paper until my friend told me some stories. At the end of our hike, I didn't think I was scared or anything and still felt the same un-afraidness of mountain lions and bears as before.

Queue to a week later when I went on a run/hike with Vince while he rode his bike. After a while of exercising together, we split paths so he could go one way and I could go another. I was good for the first 1/2 mile, then realized I was all alone at the top of the mountain where I was most likely to run into a dangerous animal, it was stormy and dark and sprinkling, and I was totally going to get eaten by a mountain lion or bear. Calm down, I didn't actually see any animals, I was just scared. And was so sure one was stalking me right then. What am I even supposed to do if a mountain lion attacks me?! So I ran. And ran. And kept running. Which in turn kind of scared me more because I was wearing a rain jacket that got noisier the faster I ran. I'm not very good with loud noises, let alone one that's right next to my ear, and my heart-rate just kept accelerating.

Finally, I ran into Vince after a couple miles alone and started to relax. I laugh at myself now thinking how silly I was, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to run like that otherwise!

Anyways, here are pictures, a mixture of iPhone and my 'big camera'.

Before we started I made Vince take a picture for our photo album, and of course he had to mess around for 20 shots before I yelled and started to walk away saying, 'SCREW IT, I DIDN'T CARE ANYWAYS.' One of the shots he put a banana on my head and laughed like a five year old.

This was when I was alone, at the outlook overlooking the city, which you can't actually see. It started raining more and I hightailed it back to the car. 

Dark and stormy!

After the run with my favorite girl.

By the way Beth, if you're reading this, I don't blame you. Or maybe I secretly hate you now.

Happenings

|| Life is so much easier when you remember to take your hyperthyroid medication three times a day as prescribed. So. Much. Easier.

|| I got a new tattoo! Here's a preview...a picture of the finished project will be posted soon once it's healed.

|| Some days I need someone to follow me around to punch me in the face when I'm being too anal for my own good. Like when I beat myself up for getting a 43/50 on an Anatomy & Physiology II test even though I still have a 98.3% in the class and we're almost halfway through the semester. A NINETY EIGHT POINT FUCKING THREE. Seriously, self? You're going to worry about that? Fine, here's a punch to your face. Now you have something to worry about. But, since I enjoy the way my face looks, I'll settle for a hefty serving of Cherry Amaretto Coconut Bliss to distract myself. (The best paleo dessert around if you ignore the minuscule amount of guar gum.)

|| Today I pretended like it was summer again.

 

It was a sunny 60 degrees outside after a bitter cold and light dusting of snow the other day. I sat in the backyard soaking up some Vitamin D, ate a cheery salad, played with Roxanne, and pleaded with the universe to let it stay warm. The other day I was looking at an old blog post from the summer to email the link to a friend and I swear, I almost cried. It was like I forgot for a while that there was such a thing as summer and I soon as I remembered it I missed it so much it hurt! I'm ready for tank tops and shorts and exercising outside. Moments like this make me really want to live someplace like LA where there are no seasons. Maybe it's healthy to miss something so strongly, though.

|| Speaking of missing something, MY GRANDPARENTS ARE COMING HOME! They've been on a mission in Peru for the past 16ish months and weren't due to come home until October, but will be back early because of some medical issues. It feels like I haven't seen them in an eternity and I'm excited to see them despite the unfortunate circumstances!

|| Again, I'm going to talk about working out. I took a weight lifting class at the gym today and it was great! We're focusing on free weights for the month (a major perk to having a small class: you get to choose what you want to learn!) which is what I really need help with. I've got all the machines down pretty well but I don't feel like I'm getting enough from them. Enter free weights! I can already tell that by adding free weights to my workout I'll be getting so much more muscle since it's a whole body workout for stability. Bonus? I look and feel like a badass while doing squats with a barbell.

Also, as much as I love the gym, running in the quiet woods on hard packed snow is quite nice.

|| Lastly, here are some yummy foods. I sure do love eating.

All tha tattoos.

Finally, FINALLY! A post that has all of my tattoos. I don't think I've officially posted a finished piece of my arm and it's been finished over a year! So let's start at the beginning. (And sorry about the url on all the pictures. If they end up elsewhere on the internet, I want people to be able to find the original source to credit the tattoo artists.)

My first tattoo ever I got when I was 16 in someones kitchen. Best tattoo I have. Except not. I have no pictures of it and don't plan on taking any until I cover it up with a new tattoo. Sorry! It's a very poorly done peace sign.

The second tattoo I got was three spools of thread on the left side of my chest and the third tattoo was a couple months later with three more spools on the right side of my chest. I love sewing, and eventually want my whole chest piece to be a crafty chest piece, with random things like a thimble, a whisk, pin cushion, etc for all the random things I create. Read more about the experience here.
Tattoo Artist: Jay when he was at Burley Fish

The fourth tattoo was the word 'ownlife' on my belly, like a straight thug. It's from the book 1984 (go read it, folks) and means 'individuality and eccentricity'. Read more about it here.
Tattoo Artist: Jay when he was at Burley Fish

The fifth tattoo was my ring finger. Vince and I weren't married or even engaged yet, but I knew he was the one. Fortunately he felt the same way and didn't freak out when I told him about it. I don't really have any good pictures of it but take a gander here. Tattoo also done by Jay.

The 6th tattoo was my arm piece. My big, beautiful, arm piece. This scene took about 14 hours over five sessions. I did the first outline session in March of 2011, added some shading in May, got engaged in July and panicked thinking I'd have a half-finished tattoo for the wedding and quickly banged out two sessions in July and August before my wedding in September. The final session was to fill in the some little parts and do a touch up, which happened in September after the wedding.
Tattoo Artist: Tanin at Birch Avenue Tattoo
Based off the mural 'The Veridic Gardens of Effie Leroux' by Joe Sorren

My seventh tattoo was my legs. Does this count as one or two tattoos since it's both legs? Either way, I got 'Together we stand, divided we fall'. Silly, yet seriously awesome.
Tattoo Artist: Tanin at Birch Avenue Tattoo

My eighth (ninth?) tattoo is the deathly hallows symbol on my elbow. I can't decide if it's my favorite one or not! I got it for $13 on Friday the 13th with my best friend Annie.
Tattoo Artist: Tanin at Birch Avenue Tattoo

Annnnd that's all for now! Do you have any tattoos or plans? Do you have any questions about tattoos, even if it's something silly like, 'Does it hurt?' I'm going to write up a post about them and my experience soon!

Because somebody doesn't know how to click publish...

I thought I clicked publish yesterday, aka Saturday, but I guess I didn't.
Like whoa. A Saturday Love post? That's right, back by popular demand (of one person) I bring you Saturday Love! I've got a lot of new readers since I stopped doing it, so here's a brief overview of what it actually is: Every Saturday I post about 11 things I love, wether it be pictures, links, quotes...anything! It's pretty simple, but it's nice to be able to have an outlet that allows me to focus on what I love as well as get rid of the million bookmarks I have on my computer. Feel free to join in on your own blog and leave a link in the comments! I'll link to them in the next weeks post. (And you can read previous Saturday Love posts here, but I warn you the pictures are so awful they'll make you cringe.)

<1>

Ok, seriously, this kind of thing makes me want to cry. If I were in that subway I would be bawling! I love music like this and love flash mobs, so it's perfect.

<2>
My aunt's friend writes a mommy blog called The Diaries of a Wimpy Mom and it is SO funny. Her posts are usually super short and always make me laugh. Here's an excerpt from a recent post:

Her arms are like her arch nemesis, pestering her in her sleep until she wakes up with a blow to the face...by her own fist. I can't even imagine what that must BE like- being ATTACKED by your own body part. Poor girl.  And although I feel so bad for her, flipping and flopping like a fish out of water in her crib at night, I can't help but secretly laugh to myself about how much this whole scenario reminds me of cow tipping. It's like someone pushed her over in her sleep and left her there to moo it out until someone came to her rescue.

I almost peed my pants when I read that!! Go check the rest of her blog out.
(And sorry Patricia, I'M A MOMMY BLOG LOVER. I mean, BABIES, how can you say no?)

<3>
Volunteering at the ER. I've already learned so man things on my first night, like that fact that there are SO many people that come through in a 4 hour period on a Saturday night. I changed probably 40 beds!

<4> 

My last and final CSA share! I made the BEST kale and potato salad with the potatoes I got. I have the recipe up and ready to go soon!

<5> 

Yellow flowers in the front yard!

<6>
Ghetto Hikes. Funniest tumblr ever. The guy hasn't posted since February, and I've been sad about it, but if you've never seen it, go read through the archives! I just read through them again and laughed just as hard. 

Is rabbits eatable? Or you just sposed to cuddle the fuck outta them?

<7>


Short hair. I came across an 'old' photo with me and my short hair last year. It's super long again and I love long hair, but not on me. I never ever wear it down and it's to the length where it gives me a headaches when it's in a ponytail. I'm going to cut it this short again in the next week!

<8>

I don't have a tumblr and rarely look at them despite the fact that I am posting three different ones here, but I love the Reasons to be Fit tumblr. I really like things like this to help get me pumped up before exercising!

<9>
No More Harvard Debt. This guy went to Harvard and graduated with about $90,000 in debt. He made a huge goal of paying it off within ten months and he did it early (granted, he makes a six figure salary). He really limited his budget, sold off his cars, and brought a flask when he went to the bars. Granted, I don't have a six figure salary, but it's oddly inspiring to read through the archives of how he achieved his goal. It makes me want to be extremely limited in what I spend my money on so that I don't have to have a lot of debt when I graduate!

 <10>

Creek time with Roxi girl and my bestie!

<11>
Lastly, this.

Created by: OnlineCriminalJusticeDegree

Humpty-Dumpty 1.25.12

So Picnik, my absolute favorite internet photo-editing website, is saying they are shutting down and moving to Google+ in a couple months. In the meantime, they took away the collage feature, which is how I create all my collages, including Humpty-Dumpty. I have searched and searched high and low for ANY kind of site that is similar and easy like Picnik, and have had no luck. What do you guys use for collages or photo-editing? I don't feel like spending a couple hundred dollars on anything! For this week I used the app  PicFrame, and I kind of like it. I can create the collages straight on my phone using pictures from Instagram and my regular iPhone camera. We'll see if I continuer to like it...

Humpty-Dumpty...get it? An iPhone photo dump on hump day? I know, it's so clever I can't believe I actually thought of it on my own. This happens every Wednesday, or every Wednesday I manage to do it. Click here to see previous entries. Want to join in? Leave me a link in the linky thing!

|| New shelving in our kitchen! I'm not done organizing it though... ||

|| Roasted garlic, goat cheese, and crackers...man, did our farts smell like straight up garlic. ||

|| BEST CHOCOLATE EVER. Holy cow. When I get a salty chunk? I die. ||

|| A new teapot for my Christmas present! I have the best friends ever!||

|| New tattoo, as you saw already. ||

|| Butternut squash. ♥ ||

|| Quesooooo! ||

|| New ring I scored...I love it! ||

Whoooo are you? Who, who? Who, who?

Sometimes blogging is weird. I mean, yesterday, 164 individual people have looked at my blog and today there's been almost 100, and I haven't even posted anything new! (Until now...) I don't even communicate with 164 people on a daily basis, or even regularly on a monthly basis! I only have 34 people who publicly follow my blog, so who are you guys? I really want to know! (How many references of The Who can I possibly put in one post?)

I know a lot of people who read my blog are old friends on Facebook. It's funny because I'll sometimes run into them (you!) out in the real world and we'll say hi to each other. I don't know much about them aside from the posts on Facebook, most of which I don't read or I get sucked into it for hours, so I'm usually interested in everything they tell me because I probably didn't know they had a new baby or what classes they are taking. But they? They act like they don't know what I'm talking about, but I know they do, I can see it in their faces!

It's always funny, because most of the time these people don't want to admit they read my blog. Why? I don't know. All I know is our conversation would go a lot easier though if they just said, 'Ya, I read it on your blog!' instead of listening to me re-hash a story that they know the ending to.

Sometime I also think old friends don't admit to reading my blog because they didn't actually like me in high school and now it's 'awkward'. They may like me now because they actually know me, not just rumors about me, but they aren't sure of how to bring up something I talk about on here. Let me just say this: there are a few, a very few people, that I absolutely still dislike from high school(honestly, only one girl comes to mind!), and everyone else I've forgotten about. I mean, I haven't forgotten about the people, just the bad things that may have happened between us.

I have had so many people (way more than I ever thought I would) email me or message me on Facebook saying how different I was in high school and how much they like me now and love reading my blog. Or they say they never knew 'x' about me, but they completely relate and wish they had someone to talk to about it sooner. It's always awesome when that happens. In fact, the way Veronica (ya know, my bridesmaid?) and I became friends again is because she started reading my blog! She always thought I hated her, and I always thought she hated me! But guess what world? That wasn't true.

There are some people I communicate with in Facebook and in real life that I wouldn't be in contact with if it weren't for this blog. I think this is a great space for me to put myself out there and for others to learn about me. I understand how it could be a bad thing, but for me, I think it's great. I've learned a lot about myself and others, and have met so many great online and real-world friends!

So, here's a request of you, my lovely readers: let me know who you are. Leave me a comment or email me (iffyinklings@gmail.com), even if we didn't like each other when we were younger. We can always be friends now! Or, you can keep reading this here blog in silence, I'm still happy with that. ♥

Because it seems weird to write a post and not have a picture (I don't know why I feel like that; a post on my blog without a picture seems incomplete!) here's a sneak peek at my new tattoos! I plan on doing a post soon that showcases ALL of my tattoos in one place, as well as some tips. After getting tattooed for 20+ hours I feel like I have a little bit of wisdom!

$13 Tattoos

My best friend Annie got her first tattoo on Friday!

Birch Avenue Tattoo (the place I seem to frequent more and more these days) was following the old tradition of doing $13 tattoos on Friday the 13th. I was told about it last week but didn't really think about it again until I saw their Facebook reminder of it.

Annie got a musical rest symbol on her ring finger. This was her first tattoo and we were both nervous about it! She has an appointment scheduled for next month, again with Tanin, so this was a good way to break her in before a bigger one.

I also got one as well, and I'm so happy with how it turned out! It still amazes me how perfect looking a tattoo can be considering I can't even draw a straight line on paper, even if I have a stencil.

I've wanted to get the Deathly Hallows symbol from Harry Potter tattooed on me for a long time, but I have so many other planned ideas that it wasn't really on the top of my list. I realized now was a perfect time for it though because I wanted a small one! The problem was thinking of where to put it. I plan on getting my other half-sleeve done at some point as well as my upper legs, so I didn't want to get it either of those places because I didn't want to cover it up or figure it into any other tattoo. I also didn't want it on my hips/ribs/stomach because it'd be weird to have such a small thing randomly placed. So, the only place I could think of that I'd be fine with it and I'd be able to cover it easily was my elbow! I'll already be wearing sleeves long enough to cover it for nursing, so it worked out pretty well.

The picture makes it look off-centered on my elbow, but it's not!

I also have a tattoo appointment scheduled for next week to get the tops of my thighs done, and I'm ready for it now! Vince isn't completely excited about the whole thing because he likes my legs, but I'm still trying to sweet talk him into loving it. We'll have to see!

PS I got my big camera back after cracking the screen (a brand new one!) so I'll be able to take pictures of my completed half-sleeve soon!

Humpty-Dumpty 12.21.11

Humpty-Dumpty...get it? An iPhone photo dump on hump day? I know, it's so clever I can't believe I actually thought of it on my own. This happens every Wednesday, or every Wednesday I manage to do it. Click here to see previous entries. Want to join in? Leave me a link!

From left to right.
||1|| Homemade fudge with sprinkles! I brought some to my work and Vince is bring some to his work tomorrow. I also made butterscotch fudge and peanut butter fudge with chocolate drizzles. ♥
||2|| My ceiling is leaking. It's deteriorating.
||3|| Dinner of champions: hot dogs...with no bun.
||4|| My nice Alyla!
||5|| Salads are the best made at home!
||6|| Sherpa-Derpa.
||7|| My tattoo is FINISHED.
||8|| The new plant I'm 'babysitting' from my grandparents that is now hanging in our bedroom.
||9|| Wine.
||10|| Beautiful snowy downtown! I love winter sometimes.
||11|| Dinnnerrrrr.
||12|| New gloves!

I love lists!

This is kind of a brief update about some things in my life. None of them warrant a full post, so you get this! Think of it as an assortment goody bag - they're the best! Oh, and what do you think of the new header?!


Work My official last day is January 12th at my current job. I am so thrilled and it makes the last few weeks do-able, but at the same time, I'm nervous! This will be the first time in almost 4 years that I am not working full time, so I feel like I'll have all this time I won't know what to do with! I'm pretty sure I still won't have time because I'll be in school full time, work part time, my niece for a day, and volunteering one or two mornings a week...wait a minute...this actually sounds like I'm going to be busier! Ha! BUT, it's a busy that I am thrilled to have because I'll be doing everything that I love.

iPhone 4 I get asked a lot what I think about my new phone and I used to rant and rave and say it was the most awesome thing ever. I still think it's the most awesome thing ever, but not for $90 a month! I have the lowest plan all around and it's still quite pricey. It's extremely convenient and great, but at the same time I could do absolutely fine without it. I've heard it's pretty handy when you are in the nursing program, so I'm hoping that's true!

Snow We got a storm this week and another one is supposed to come in this weekend. This one wasn't so bad and it hasn't been bone cold, so that's nice. It's been pretty sunny when it wasn't snowing, so it seems warmer than it is with that sun hitting you!

Dog Roxanne has gotten even worse with sleeping on our bed. As SOON as I sit up, she slides behind me and lays on my pillow. And I mean just sitting up, not even getting OUT of bed! She's so fast that I don't even get to pull the covers over my pillow before she does it. I love that she loves laying on our warm pillows, but COME ON. I'm so over the dog hair. I'm thinking a baby gate might be needed for our door soon! (We took off our door for more space and we just have a pretty curtain up...)

Husband Vince is a little over work like I am, so we're trying to figure some things out for him to do. Maybe work one or two days elsewhere? Take a class at the community college? We're not quite sure, but he's gettin' ready to figure it out. Maybe now that the mountain is open and he's learning to ski he will be a little less antsy!

School Finished, and I passed with a 4.0! Next semester I'm signed up for Chemistry, Biology and Math...what am I doing to myself taking all the hard classes in one semester?! I guess that's what I get for taking all the easy classes earlier.

Friends Wait, I have friends? Ha. I've been pretty busy this semester but I've made it a point to make time for my people. Not as much as I liked, but I'm so happy when I get to hangout, even if for a bit. I have a full weekend ahead of me with a few of them, so I'm excited about that!

Tattoo I still haven't remembered to take a picture of my healed half-sleeve, just this one I posted right after. (And my goodness...that post makes me want summer again!) I was going to take one now, but I have an appointment to finish it this weekend aaaaand it's too hard to figure out right now with my dead brain. It's pretty tricky to take a full picture of the tattoo because there are so many angles! I'll take one after this weekend though for sure!

Things that I've been up to lately when I haven't been here.

So. I could write a whole post on every picture, but just thinking of that overwhelms me! Instead I'll post some pictures with a little blurb underneath. My life isn't very exciting, so... Also, I still haven't even finished posting my pictures from my CO trip in June, so think of this as progress. Those will be posted sometime in the near future. (Like the next year? Ha!)

Sidenote: I put this post together two days ago and I looked at it again today to make sure everything was good, and I realized it pretty much all revolves around food. Welcome to my life.

So sometime soon I will elaborate on some of these pictures because I do have good information to share, but for now, that is all! I'm off to go on a run with Rox before I go into work...