I got to meet an awesome tattooer and person this past Sunday – Noodles. Alisha Rice introduced me to him via their tattooing relationship and mega cat enthusiast agendas. Since Noodles works in a super successful and busy shop outside the city I didn’t expect to see him until my future appointment around Thanksgiving Day. However, he had a last minute opportunity to work at Chicago Tattooing Company and I figured if anything I’d pop in to say hello. Well it worked out he had time and I was stoked on some “Rollo-esque” flash he had done a while back so I chose a skull Dopesmoker.
Home Sweet Home. Well sweet old home. I flew into Denver for a quick visit Friday through Monday and boy was it fun! I got to see my family, go for a wonderful hike, eat some delicious food, finish my fantasy sleeve, hung with my badass super babe crew, visited Allegro Coffee headquarters, and attended a Game of Thrones premiere party! I will do a separate post on the Allegro visit and the Game of Thrones party in the next few days. Let’s roll the footage!
first stop! The Curve for some effing good green chili.Alisha Rice finished my sleeve! Guess it’s time to work on something else!my homie TWINKIELOVE 24/7 painted this super super adorable portrait of me and my ugly tribe. xoxoxo
the artist known as twinkielove24/7 and I hiked dinosaur ridge in morrison.it was pretty muddy on the downslope.but worth it. gorgeous view of red rocks/the hogback. le sigh i miss mountains.i made this amigurume dragon for out GoT party hostess Alisha Rice.the Allegro Cafe – super amazing there.BEST VISIT EVER.
Surprise Surprise I blew the 12 days of Christmas blog challenge. BUT – as soon as I landed in Denver, I hit the ground running. It was the most filled, fun, and best holiday I have had in years! Roll the Photos!
Worst flight out ever.Biggest Gingerbread house EVER.Filled in that Dragon by Alisha Rice@alishariceMMMMM. Green Chili.Moar Gingerbreads.Even MOAR Gingerbreads.Dim Sum with ma bhuds.Afternoon Tea with Dad and CymTea Roof.Arizona Ricecakes in the fur and blood. @arizona_ricecakesKrampus Tags.Blitzkrieg & Me.Making mints with Lori.Nita’s Mass Book.Look I got my Wish!!!Fammmmily.Palestinian Eggs.New running swag.New pics + new LG photo printer.
That’s pretty much the short list. Not too hard. I’m excited I get to go home to Denver and celebrate with family and close friends. I also get my arm worked on by Miss Alisha Rice. I also plan on drinking 3 jugs of the almond nog. SAY SOMETHING.
Jeez. Let me start by saying sorry that I have been the worst blog owner ever in December. I’ll briefly just mention jet lag, knitting/making holiday gifts, and life as why I’ve been MIA here. I don’t like it. I’m thinking I’ll finish up the November challenge I never finished (because of Thailand) and get back in the daily blogger groove.
Let’s see what’s new? Well I have been knitting like a fool and I have so much to show you all – except it’s all gifts for people who read my blog so…. you’ll have to wait. (*stomps foot*)
I’ll recap the weekend for you a little since I had a wonderful time. Friday afternoon we had our work Holiday party at Maggiano’s Little Italy. The food was alright, the dessert was AMAZING. I decided after the official party to go out with a few co-workers to mingle and be social. It was great getting to talk to some people I don’t get to interact with on a daily basis. Also I really enjoy being sober at social gatherings – I never have that moment of ‘oh shouldn’t have said that’ or ‘wait what???’ I did have a hard time getting home during rush hour on Friday night though – after all that I ended up home at 7:30ish and decided to prep for my BIG DAY on Saturday and knit/cuddle with animals.
My body the animal mattress.
Saturday: Well a few months ago I scheduled an appointment with Dusty Neal at Black Anvil Tattoo in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Now a few months ago it was not winter, there was no snow, and the mild last winter we had made me forget it even snowed here in Chicago. Fast forward to Saturday December 14th – there is a winter storm warning for my entire drive. Wonderful. I briefly thought about re-scheduling, but I just am stubborn so I pretended like a winter storm was not happening. I left Chicago at 5:30am to moderate flurries/snow fall and proceeded to drive the 208 miles to Ft. Wayne for my 11am appointment. I will say that the snow driving was not ‘that’ bad. However, people in the midwest (forgive me midwest followers) have NO IDEA HOW TO DRIVE IN THE GODFORSAKEN SNOW. Being a Colorado-girl, I guess I was forced to figure out scary snow driving from the start. I also understand my car in the snow and was able to make it to Ft. Wayne only 15 minutes behind schedule. Travel Advised in Case of Emergency? Tattoos by Dusty Neal are emergencies in my life.
Saw this on my phone at 12:30AM as I tossed and turned and knew I had to go to Ft. Wayne Despite the Weather. Copyright @dustyneal
When I got to Black Anvil in Ft. Wayne I can say I was beyond impressed. Dusty Neal is not only an amazing amazing amazing artist and tattooer, but he is a great and inspiring human being. I had a blast being tattooed for about three hours. As time went on more friends of the shop started showing up and the commentary and tom-foolery happening was a hilarious and pleasant distraction. I just can’t say enough wonderful things about Dusty Neal and his shop. The entire experience was professional, relaxed (although I’m hardly intimidated in a shop these days), spacious, clean, gorgeous, and perfect. I will most assuredly go back (in the spring/summer haha).
Right after finishing.Close up – that eye is INSANE! So gorgeous and so much detail.
For size reference – also a swollen arm lol.
I left Ft. Wayne at about 3:30pm and by the time I hit South Bend, Indiana, the roads were no longer wet so the drive home jammed by. Pure stubborn ideals, 6.5 hours of intense snow driving, 3 hours of tattooing and conversation, and one epically beautiful tattoo = the best day.
My lesson this weekend was to value safety and your responsibilities by being prepared, but don’t stop living life because you might have to white knuckle drive for 200+ miles.
Oh and Vladimir helped me Sunday prep to ship gifts to Denver and Friends.
I tried to do this every :10 of the hour, but honestly most of those :10s I was sitting in my doom cube at work. That’s boring so here are 10 photos that may or may not be from :10.
Jeez I didn’t blog for 2 days and I felt like a ‘blog-poser.’ BUT I was super busy and honestly, I didn’t want to write about what the daily blogs were. I’ll post another later Monday to get back on track with the October Daily though.
So if you follow my Instagram some of these will be familiar, but there’s some newbies in here too.
I bring the ghostface to ghostfaceknitter – pre-Michael’s run.If you’re not playing Bitstrips….this photo should change your mind.The best Ginger Ale I’ve had. Bruch at Lula’sMoroccan Coffee Glass.Boris and my KVLT hoodie. They regrammed it on Instagram and Twitter!Put up retro/vintage curtains – the Controller okay’ed them.Yarnbox and Fiberhound delivery came!
Saturday Morning face rubbing on my new Orange Goblin tshirt.Then my buddy Ronnie Baker (instagram: ronniebakertattoo) started my giant General Cos portrait on my leg.
I had such a fun and busy weekend! I got to hang with my DH4L homie A TON. Then, I crafted, saw Chicago in a new light, ate loads of frozen yogurt, ate other super tasty food, and of course prepped for Halloween cards/photos. Here’s a few photos from the weekend. Over 3 pounds of froyo was consumed.
Millennium Park/SkylineThe Bean at night.Gotham Tower – just kidding.Bloomingdales Friday Run.Rails of Glitter all day Sunday.Prettiest girl this side of the Mississippi….Hot Woks – Tuna Bacon Tobiko Salad. mmmm roe.Margaret Cho!
What are your goals and dreams for the future? You can share to us your dream house, dream workplace, or even your bucketlist before you turn 25!
Well since I am over 25, I’ll just ignore that part of today’s October Challenge prompt. I can tell you some dreams for my future though. In no particular order:
1. Be the authentic me – always. Never compromise myself again – for anyone.
2. Get a little professional with GHOSTFACEKNITTER. Meaning gain 5x more followers by next year for example – that sounds like a challenge to me – CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
4. Meet as many crafters/knitters as I can. I seriously love meeting other craft artists. I get along with them and I just have so much fun being able to seriously ask another person if I should hoard yarn now or risk waiting for a sale?
5. Here’s the one I just can’t let go of: Get my PhD. What’s that you say? Dr. Ghostfaceknitter has a nice ring? I know. It’s something I have always thought about whether jokingly or not. It would require the most time and dedication of anything I have ever pursued – but most things that are worth having require that don’t they?
6.Travel! On deck in 2013 alone: Des Moines for knitting at MIDWEST KNITFEST with Jen at MakeXdo. Thailand to visit my MINI ME. Denver for the holidays to celebrate OG style.
7. I just really can’t stress NEVER COMPROMISING AGAIN.
I’m excited I switched gears in my life – actually I got on an entirely different road – and am able to get the most out of me and in doing so, give back to others. I’m stoked to be a part of this blogging world, knitting/crafting communities, helping with the Elders, loving life, loving my family and friends, and for the first time in YEARS loving me.
ghostfaceknitter.com 