I am gladly following this woman’s blog now, The Hope Blog. It makes me so happy to see someone call another out on their ignorance! Who raises their child to feel so gosh darn self righteous that they deem it acceptable to write something so (ironically) classless and tasteless itself! Infuriating.
    When I choose to paint something onto my body it is because it is beautiful, creative, meaningful and for goodness sake it just makes me happy to carry art around with me wherever I go! When was that deemed a crime?? I could use this money to go to the gym, to buy new clothes, to get my nails done but guess what? That does not make ME happy! I am skinny, and perfectly content without having a “model” body because I am not shallow. I could go buy new clothes, but I shop at Goodwill quite often because you can find much cooler items there for a much cheaper cost. And a lot of times they still have the tag on them! Nails, again I am not too high and mighty to paint my own damn nails with a bottle of $2 polish.
     I have a child, I have a husband, I have bills. And I take care of all of them. No one is ever hungry and we always have a roof over our head. Rather than going out to dinner every Friday night or buying a Coach bag, we save for our precious ink. Because we feel it much more soothing to look at our art work than to spend $75 on a tank top. I am just outraged at the sight of someone being so pushy and offensive on their views of things. Call me old fashioned, but I was taught to keep my opinions to myself unless it was appropriate and certainly not offensive.

I really hate posting things like this, but I do think it’s important to have a well rounded view on how tattoos are perceived in the World today. Sometimes we surround ourselves with like-minded people and forget that there are some people out there who just aren’t as understanding and open.

It’s always people who don’t have tattoos and that don’t understand the lifestyle who have the strongest opinions. There is nothing wrong with saying that you don’t like tattoos, that’s fine. The problem arises when you cast judgement on people who you don’t know and tell them what they are doing is wrong without having any justification. This article was reposted in it’s entirety from The Spectrum, the independent publication for the University of Buffalo.

Article by Lisa Khoury

I get it. It’s the 21st century. You’re cool, you’re rebellious, you’re cutting edge, you have a point to prove…

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Mayday! Mayday! Parade..?

  Mayday! Mayday! Somebody Save Us!!

  If you know the band Mayday Parade, then this is quite obviously to you, a play on words. If you are unfamiliar with the musicians I speak of, well then I certainly implore you to look them up. Asap.

    Now I do recognize that there are plenty of wonderful musicians out there, and that by all means not everyone has the same palatte I do for music. Luckily, this post is not geared towards pushing my taste onto you. This is more of a “Hallelujah!” that there are still true artists around. Let’s be honest, we were all starting to doubt it.

     Nowadays, with all of the hype for auto-tuning, droning bass lines, provocative get-ups and the stick-in-your-head lyrics (That in all reality are meaningless and relate to nothing), it is emotionally detremental to any up-and-coming hoping to score a record deal. I find it difficult to find a current track on the radio and think “Wow, I know exactly how this person felt when they wrote it.” or “I can really feel the passion this artist feels for the music they are producing.”  You can just appreciate it so much more when a songs stirs up an old memory or instills a certain feeling inside of you.

     Today in the darkness of early morning on my way to work, I pulled a random cd from my case and was delighted to find it was Mayday Parade’s first album. A mere 6 track cd, purchased for only $5 outside of the Van’s Warped Tour 7 years ago. A group of men in their early 20’s stood outside in the hot sun, dressed in grungy Dickies and holding a Walkman CD player, asked me to please listen to their music and consider buying a cd. When I listened and responded with a “Yes please!”, they gladly handed me a cd, complete with hugs all around and many “thankyouthankyouthankyou”s. They were just trying to desperately get their name out there. And I’m not sure if you saw the stage list for last year’s Warped Tour, but they were IN it!

      As I listened to the songs today I began to smile, not just because I can appreciate how far they have come in the last 7 years, but because I could actually feel the passion they feel. This is what initially drew me in to buy the first cd. Regardless of your taste in music, any true music lover can genuinely appreciate that artists like this still exist!

   It was just so refreshing and reassuring to be reminded that some people still honestly believe in what they do, in what they love. There are still some out there that do it all for the music they produce and the fans they touch, and not the oh so popular Fame and Fortune.

Hello world!

I have been promising myself I would start a blog for multiple reasons. The first being, I have yet to see one that pertains to the life of a walking contradiction, such as myself. You see I am not only a stepparent, but also one who enjoys high heels/tattoos/quilting/pink hair/crafting/auto repairs/recipes/fishing…well you get the point. I am not exactly a typical anything and I know there are more of us out there than we realize!

So in high hopes, I am starting this blog to reach beyond outskirts of regular blogging and hit every and any topic you might want to see posted. I have no qualms with reaching into other sites and borrowing their ideas, attaching the website so you can enjoy what they have to say as well. Because let’s face it, great ideas are meant to be shared right??

Tell me a little about you and what you’d like to see! What makes you the wonderfully uncategorizable oddball that make you you?