A New Tattoo and One Silly Kitty

When I knew that Ellie was truly nearing the end of her days, I made the decision to try and keep her memory as fresh in my mind as I could. One day, while sitting outside with her on a blanket in the back yard, I made a print of her paw - just a little black ink and some card stock. Nothing fancy. Ellie died later that week. When I had the energy to begin looking, I went to tattoo studios around Rochester to see who could offer me the best options for using this print as a tattoo. So many said that they could take me immediately, and wanted to charge upwards of $150 for a 'custom' tattoo... something to watch for... if someone says they can take you immediately, how custom is it really going to be? Also, $150? For something so small?

Anyhow, I went back to a group of artists that I had checked out many years ago and found exactly what I was looking for. I came across Dawn Kelley's art at Lucky Lotus Tattoo Studio http://www.luckylotustattoo.com/ and knew right away that she was the exact person I wanted for this tattoo. Take a look at her work if you like by clicking on her name above. This was back in September...

Today was the day. Time for the ink! So, I nervously went down to the city to meet with Dawn - I had no idea what she would look like - though I assumed she would be much older and a bit more 'hardcore' based on her work that I had seen... I was really surprised to see how young she was, and how comfortable I was with her! You never know what you will run into at a tattoo studio! She was great. She made me feel very at ease and worked quickly and quite painlessly (as much as possible when you have a needle poking you a zillion times a second...). Before I knew it, she was finished, and when I went to pay for the work, she only charged me $50.00. That is less than I paid for EITHER of my other two tattoos, AND this one was completely custom. I am so pleased that I chose her, and that I have this lifelong reminder of my Ellie with me.

I have another appointment with Steve Shales (also at Lucky Lotus - if I am correct, he owns the studio) this coming March to do some work to cover a tattoo that I got without thinking much about it. I got a tattoo a few years back because I wanted to have something in common with my sister Loren - so I got the same tattoo that she had. It is a simple kanji symbol... one that I have seen on a dozen plus people now. Anyhow, he is a master of cover up work, and I think that I will get something a little more me. At this point, I think that I will have him do a sea turtle - something that we really enjoyed while on our honeymoon in Maui - not to mention, something that was also in the movie Finding Nemo - Lanie's first movie ever that she saw...

On another note... what the heck is wrong with this kitten? You have to understand... I had the time to find my camera case, take the camera out, take the lens cap off, turn the camera on, focus, get close enough and snap TWO photos of her like this... this cat is NOT normal! Totally cute though!