Tag: tattoo

Back to work! (Sabbatical recap)

I will not say the past three months flew by, because they didn’t. They passed at a reasonable speed. I feel like I’ve been away for a long time, and I’m actually ready to go back. Or, at least, I’m not sad to be going back. No matter how much one might love one’s job, not working is still infinitely better. Especially if you’re still getting paid.

(Background: we get 3 months off paid every five years. My last sabbatical was Dec 2018-March 2019.)

First, we went to Baton Rouge where I discovered how good I am at golf and we had dinner with my aunt.

Then, I took a short trip to Canada to hang out with friends. We went to Schitt’s Creek!

My flights were all forked up getting home, but I got to spend a night with Kiki in Virginia!

Which made me a bit late taking the boys’ 200th monthly pic, but we got there.

Then I spent some time getting the boys’ car from their grandparents. (They very generously gave it to them.) I had to transfer the title, get it towed to a mechanic, etc etc.) And now I don’t have to drive to school to pick them up every afternoon! Yay!

I got another tattoo.

I spent some time with Kiki in Virginia. We went to a little town called Sperryville and went on a foggy hike and ate at a fancy restaurant.

Then we went on a quick trip to Chicago to see Pulp (again.)

There was a hurricane threat, and then I went to Florida with my mom and stepdad. I drove a U-Haul. I got to experience The Villages as well as see their new house. And sit on a lot of sofas.

I organized and got rid of stuff and did other random things around the house.

I made things. I got an iPad so I could learn to draw. Still working on that, but there are lots of fun Procreate tutorials out there.

I took the boys to an LSU game for an early birthday present (courtesy of Grandee and Larry)

I saw Johnny Marr in concert with friends.

I snuggled my friend’s new baby.

The boys started in another vaccine trial. I saw friends. I went on walks. Ziggy was cute. I made ice cream. Got a heated jacket for soccer. I sent 200 postcards. I early voted.

I painted my bathroom.

So. I can comfortably say I packed my sabbatical with fun things, but I also didn’t stress about much and relaxed quite a lot. Now. Back to work!

January in review

How on earth is it still January? I feel like this has been the longest month ever.

Started out flying home from the Dominican Republic, and finally getting Ziggy back home. We missed him a lot. He…did not seem to miss us very much at all. I guess he had fun. He was hoarse from all the barking (or something, maybe a mild case of kennel cough, the vet said, he’s all better now in any case.)

“You could have left me there.”

Soccer started right back up, and then on Sunday the 8th, we took the boys to their very first Saints game ever. It was also the first time they’d ever been inside the Superdome. It was a not-great game, but we had fun anyway. Except we walked to the dome from the ferry and it was sprinkling so by the time we actually got to the game, we were all kind of wet and cold. No big deal.

Later that evening, I flew to Austin for a work meetup. Got in close to midnight, just a few minutes before my birthday!

Woke up the next morning, said hello to my colleagues, picked up a chocolate croissant from the Whole Foods down the road, worked, was surprised (sort of, I mean, I kind of demanded it) by a beautiful cake, had a nice lunch and later a nice dinner. This was my fourth work meetup on a birthday!

The rest of the week was more working, yummy food, bonding with coworkers, getting a spur-of-the-moment tattoo with Vanessa, bowling, puzzle assembling, scooter riding, renting a Tesla with Beckett and Karen, driving a Tesla, visiting our friend Elizabeth and finally meeting her daughter. I gave her a quilt I made her with bees and she seemed to like it.

IYKYK

Back home, more soccer, then another tattoo the next week (that I had originally scheduled for my birthday, but the had to push back a week because of the work trip) and more soccer and more soccer.

pink hydrangea

This past weekend was the end of school soccer, and the very last game was between the freshmen and sophomores. Under Miles’s coaching, the freshmen won! And I got some great pics of Coach Miles.

maybe my favorite picture ever.

I did some sewing. Made some shorts, bought more fabric I don’t need, but that’s okay. We had a bit of an issue with mice, but I think we resolved it. I don’t ever need to see tiny mouse bodies stuck in traps ever again.

Also I have someone cleaning the house again and it’s wonderful and it really is good for my stress levels because, let’s face it, it’s not exactly my forte.

I wrapped up the month by making a king cake yesterday. On to February!

London and Manchester 2017

How lucky am I? The second time in a year to go to my favorite place on Earth, and this time, no one was barfing all over the Airbnb. (Okay, honestly, nothing could ever beat our trip last Christmas, but that was definitely a low point.)

This trip was for work. My team (the Happiness Hiring team, also known as Athena) met up in London to work on things, and then we went to Manchester for a couple of nights for an event. It was very busy, but what better place to be busy? Plus, we’d just made our three European teammates (Dan, Cécile, and Hannah) travel to Canada for the Grand Meetup, so it was only fair we went to them this time. We’re so kind and generous.

Monday
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Full color ink

It’s unlike me to not blog about this right away, but last month when we were at the Grand Meetup, I got tattooed again. Sorta.

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You might recognize the three bunnies from my post two years ago.

tattoo

Decided to gussy ’em up a bit. I had been thinking about color for a while, but couldn’t decide what to do. I didn’t want to just color each bunny in with the boys’ colors (I actually did it with sharpies once and it just looked blah and weird.)

When our company trip to Whistler was being planned, a group of us again talked about getting tattoos. I was looking at the tattoo shop’s website and was immediately drawn to one artist’s style. She did these gorgeous watercolor tattoos and I knew that’s what I wanted. Color that was messy and swirly and unique. (Like triplets? Okay, maybe trying too hard there.)

When the day came, we picked out some colors and she went to town. OH MY GOD it hurt. It hurt for weeks, actually. And the healing process was not pretty. Oh boy. But now, just over a month later, it’s finally ready for its unveiling.

The bunnies are green, blue, and red. The blue and the green are fairly close. I might go back to Auberon next year (if we end up back at Whistler) and have her touch up the colors to make them more contrasty, but I’m not that bothered. The only thing that bothers me is that not long after I did this, the boys changed their hair colors. Oh well, the tattoo is here to stay!

 

Getting inked

My very talented colleague Michelle (I mean, just check out her blog, it is the best) took some behind-the-scenes photos of my tattoo experience last week. Pretty cool!

More tattoo pics here.

pam-1
applying the stencil

pam-2
ouch

pam-5
hold stilllllll

pam-3
more ouch

pam-4
all done!

 

My dad would probably hate this

But I got another tattoo today. It’s to honor his memory.

He hated his tattoo. But I like to think he’d like this anyway. Or appreciate it. Or not be too terribly mad at me for getting it.

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It’s a spade (that’s what his tattoo was) made of the number 42 (his lucky number.)

Hot!

Dang it’s hot! But I ran today. For the first time since Friday. 3.5 miles, twice around the park. Walked a lot of it, actually, but I don’t care. Curious thing – I get blisters when I walk, but not when I run. Wonder if that’s a sign? I figured out, though, that I don’t care if I don’t get any better while in New Orleans this summer, only that I maintain running at all. Then, when I get to the cooler weather of Boston, I can work on improving whatever. I still want to do the London Marathon again next year, so I can’t slack off completely. Not that I want to or anything.

Here’s a picture of my tattoo for those interested.
tattoo