Month: August 2020

Tattoos and memories…

I have collected some tattoos over the course of my lifetime. At this time I have eight tattoos and a few more designs mulling around in my head. It is true tattoos can be addictive. I didn’t stop at one and I always seem to come up with more ideas of what I would like to get next.

Each tattoo reminds me of a person, place, or time in my life. I cherish each one of my tattoos and I love them all. I am thankful that I have no regrets and my tattoos have all turned out great. I don’t have any miss spelled words or art that you can’t quite tell what it is. I would not suggest rushing out to get a tattoo. Take time and plan something out with meaning. Also, they hurt! Find a good artist you trust and don’t think cheaper means it will be of great quality. It’s going to be on you forever, think it through.

My first three tattoos are all of stars. I have always had a love of stars. I have three stars on my back upper, middle, and lower. It kind of became a joke that my life is a three-star rating. I will always have my life as a work in progress because as long as I am alive I am always going to be working on making my life better. Making it the best it can be.

I have a Cadillac side piece tattoo that makes me laugh because it didn’t go quite as I planned not many of my plans do. After owning the big old black caddy for 10 years, I decided to have my dad in the dead of a Canadian winter when it was freezing, go out to the garage to un-tarp the car, and get the exact measurements of the front hood emblem. My plan was to get the exact hood emblem from the caddy tattooed on my side. I absolutely love to watch that hood emblem dance at the end of the hood in a ray of sunshine. I miss that car when I am not driving and it just brings me a feeling of pure happiness. You cannot be sad on the crushed velour seats of the caddy. I wanted to always remember that feeling of pure happiness. I took the exact measurements and pictures to my tattoo guy who drew it up and placed it on my side and it looked like a tiny microscopic dot on my giant side. We both laughed and said blow it up to fit my side. That is how I ended up with my entire right side as a statement piece. You can’t miss the caddy symbol now. BAM!

I have two tattoos inspired by a former friend who helped me more than she will ever know. Our lives have parted and gone down separate paths but I hope she is doing well. When I moved home to Ontario from Vancouver Island I missed the island so very much. All I ever wanted was to find a starfish at the ocean. I would spend hours and hours sitting at the ocean trying to heal my broken heart. Tasting my own salty tears and dreaming of a better life. My starfish and shell tattoo on my left foot is forever a reminder of the days I buried my toes in the sand at the Pacific Ocean. It reminds me of all my wonderful Island family and friends. My friend Kelly had a starfish tattooed on her elbow so it’s not matching tattoo but she did inspire it.

That same friend and I have matching tattoos on our hips. Even though our lives have taken us on many different paths I will always be thankful for the times we shared. We played countless hours of the Nintendo game Dr. Mario. We blasted the tunes, we stacked the pills and we killed the germs. We have matching Dr. Mario tattoos with hidden hearts inside pixel pills. Mine is green because that was her favourite colour and hers is purple because that was my favourite colour. The picture of us after getting those tattoos is my favourite picture of us. I couldn’t have survived all my life’s struggles without you girl. Thank you!

My left arm is where I wear my heart. I have a little corgi outline tattoo that is running towards my heart which I got as a fundraiser for the humane society. Get a dog tattoo to help save animals um yes sign me up. I love my corgi. Last year I decided to get what I described as my dog Charleston done in royal derp. He was a royal dog with a derpy personality. I wanted the portrait to capture his personality with a crown hanging off one of his giant ears. I gave that idea to my tattoo girl. I had an appointment booked when she got injured and had to delay I was so upset but then she came back and was better than ever. I have the ultimate royal derp corgi tattoo. It is the perfect image and captures him beautifully. He, unfortunately, passed away and I swore I could never survive life without him and I thought this tattoo would make me upset when he was gone but I find myself smiling every day being reminded how lucky I was to have shared eight beautiful years with him. Also, the wild story of finding his sister and now everyone just thinks this isn’t the king tattooed on me but the queen. Maybe I need a queen corgi tattoo on my right arm?

What will I tattoo next? Am I done? No, I don’t think I am done. I am a dreamer. I always have the next idea dancing in my head. I would absolutely love a pink flamingo standing on one leg up my leg in bright neon electric pink. If I was a bird I would be the loudest pink flamingo ever!

Where do your thoughts lead you today?

Do you start your day with a good thought or a bad thought? Are your thoughts distracting you?

When I was trapped in negativity every thought I had, from the moment I was awake, was negative. Nothing ever went and well, it’s not a mystery why. Having nothing but negative thoughts isn’t really a great way to start or finish any day. Now I try to start each day off with a good thought. I usually start each day off writing down the first good thought that comes to mind as like a mantra for the day. I find it helps manage the days that don’t go the way I wish they would. Most days I have distracting thoughts, but these can be good as well. When I find myself being distracted by negativity I refer to my good mantra of the day. The first good thought to keep my day going good. This blog is about where my distraction took me today.

Today like many days before I sit down to write the idea in my head, which was nothing to do with horoscopes, stars, or psychics, yet this is what I wrote. Like I said before, sometimes when I sit down to write I have so many ideas I cannot write fast enough and sometimes no ideas come to me, and then I find myself distracted online. Today I started an idea and got stumped so I took a break to check my email and ended checking up my horoscope too. Something I haven’t done in a while. I used to be obsessed with what the stars have in store for me today? I would quickly grab the Saturday paper away from my family and friends and read my horoscope. You know in the days before the internet.

I was recently at a night sky viewing with so many shooting stars. I can’t wait for all my wishes to come true. I recently was having a conversation about what do the stars hold for the future with a friend when I decided to look up my horoscope and this is the blog you get this week. My distracted thoughts.

I have always had a love of stars. I would lay outside for hours on end just staring up at the sky, waiting for a shooting star to make a wish upon. I always believed the stars had powers. I always believed the stars watched out for me and kept me safe at night. I believed that the people who passed away here on earth became stars and watched out for me. If that’s true I have some of the best stars in the sky.

My horoscope sign is Pisces. When you google about Pisces you will find an overwhelming amount of information but I found the personality part interesting as it says: “As the final sign, Pisces has absorbed every lesson — the joys and the pains, the hopes and the fears — learned by all of the other signs. This makes these fish the most psychic, empathetic, and compassionate creatures of the astrological wheel.”

I am always saying look for the lesson. Things happen to teach us a lesson, be it bad or good look for the lesson. Life is a series of lessons if we pay close attention we have a lot to learn.

I always wished I could have been psychic just to know what it feels like. Having the ability to see forward or back in time seems like such an amazing concept. I admit I didn’t think it was a real thing. It seemed too good to be true. How could a complete stranger who just met you know so much? That was until I went to a psychic who was able to talk to my grandmother who had passed and knew such vivid details. The message she told me and the way she described her, blew me away. Few moments have ever made me speechless but this reading did. I kinda chuckle, my grandma was a very strong lady and I knew if anyone was coming through that passed away she would have elbowed her way to the front of the line. That psychic ladies’ reading still makes me think about my life.

I am a water sign and I love to be close to the water I believe the water is my happy place. The water allows me to focus and resets my thinking, clears my mind. If I can see the stars and water then that’s a bonus. I love where I live.

Allow the good thoughts into your life and watch your life change. Surround yourself with good people and life is better. Where will your thoughts take you today?

Water…

I have always lived near the water. I believe water can heal your troubles. Watch the water. With each wave, you take in the good and wash out (let go of) the bad.

There is no better feeling than spending the day by the water. From the river to the lake, and on to the ocean, I love it all so very much. My dad lives on a river, I live near the lake and the Ocean is my go-to destination, my happy place. I hope to stick my feet in all the oceans before my time here is over. The river runs by fast most of the year and then almost comes to a stop to enjoy summer. The river has little fish and turtles which are a delight to watch. The lake has the best sounding waves and is great for swimming. The geese are always down at the lake enjoying and making loud honking noises. The ocean teaches us a lot about tides and safety. The Ocean is forever changing. The vast beauty of being able to look out and not see the land is captivating. To catch a glimpse of a whale is beyond words. Collecting starfish and sand dollars on the beach of the Pacific Ocean brings back such fond memories that I share with my family.

I do not think there is a better feeling than the warm, bright sunshine on your skin. I love it when it’s windy and the wind almost blows you around. You have that amazing wild, wind-blown hair and the waves become alive. I could listen to the soothing sounds of the waves crashing all day long. Watching white caps come towards the shore is hypnotic. I love listening to the sounds of the rocks and sand being waved around. I love when wild weather forces the shore into revealing a whole new level underneath.

With every changing day, the lake I live near is never the same. It is one of the most beautiful places to watch the sunrise. I feel like it reminds me that every day is a new opportunity for everyone to bring change upon themselves and the world.
Some days we have bad days and it’s like a giant wave is sucking us under. That moment we lose control and you have to figure out how to get to the surface. You have to figure out how to get back to the surface and which way to swim to safety. Sometimes in life, we all feel like this. We all have moments that wave us, knock us down, and make us question life. But for every moment like that, I look at the lake and its calm. It looks like its glass. It’s not moving it reminds me each day is a new beginning and we can be in control.

When I was seventeen years old I wrote a poem while sitting near the water. I was at the start of a very dark place. I was obsessed with slam poetry especially if it was dark and left me wanting more. From seventeen to eighteen I was processing a lot of feelings and wrote some dark things but this is one I always enjoyed.

Let the water wash over me.
Let the water take over me.
Let the water become me.
Let the water wash away my fears.
Let the water wash away my tears.
Let the water wash away all my imperfections.
Let me come out of the water clean.
Let me come out of the water a new me.

I feel like every time I sit by the water no matter the trouble I am facing it has the power to heal my heart. The water lets me come back to a new me. It helps through all of my senses to reset my feelings. It gets me back on track. I can see a change in how water is every day. I can taste the sweetness in the air. I can feel the rocks, sand, and cool water. I can smell the freshness. I can hear the powers of the water healing.

Being near the water is my happy place! Get out and enjoy the water.

Oldie…

The dream of writing a book has been in my head since I was a kid. Recently I signed up for a week’s writing course through Hay House. Louise Hay was a huge inspiration in my life. The first time I attended a Hay House convention they were talking about a writer’s course and if you were the lucky book picked they would make you a published Hay House Author. That has been my dream now for years. I am going to write this book I have in mind, no matter what happens. I always love to dream. The dream of being a published Hay House Author is my book dream.

I was listening to the zoom conference on replay because with shift work I missed every one of the live chats but the first one. Thankful they have the video replay.

The conference was on zoom with Reid Tracy now CEO of Hay House and Kelly Notara’s. They definitely got me thinking and threw a wrench into my book idea. I now have a clearer idea of what I wanna present. Back to the writing board I go. I know it will all come together and this will be the book of my dreams. I can do it!

Since I was a kid, as soon as I could write, I have been dreaming of a book. I always knew my book would somehow be centered around my love on animals. I have always felt like I could communicate much better with animals than with people. I understand the messages from animals.

In the conference they were talking about a first book might be the book before your book. This made me nervous I don’t want this book to be that kind of book. I want this to be THE book. Then I remembered wait this would be my second book. When I was around 10 years old I wrote a horse themed book complete with a hardcover that was made of wallpaper. I began to wonder whatever happened to that book?

Great news, while looking for something completely unrelated in my storage area low and behold I found my first book. Complete with hardcover made out of flowered wall paper. It’s bound together with a combination of staples and duct tape, my go to supplies. It is an original first edition copy that didn’t make the best sellers list. It is titled Oldie locks and the 5 ponies and my pony dawn says it’s a great read on a Saturday or Sunday. I figured as an adult people always worked during the week and spent all weekend reading. I dedicated it to my Opa and Lauren a.k.a Granny. I spent most of my childhood on the farm and the reason I thought I could, and still do, communicate with animals is because of Granny. She has an unbelievable way with animals.

The story takes you on a journey of my love of horses and my fear even as a kid of getting old. The book starts and I describe how Oldie puts on wrinkle cream every morning because even as a kid I was terrified of getting wrinkles and being an old lady. I don’t say how old Oldie is in the book but I would have said in her 30’s if you asked me then, that’s as long as I thought people lived.

In the book I have 4 ponies in the barn. Dawn was my pony growing up she healed my heart from all my little kid problems that I thought were life ending. She was my very best friend and the reason I wrote the book. The other pony named in the book is Kherry which was grannies horse when I was a kid. She was an Arabian horse with a huge personality of her own. I made up the other fictional ponies in this story and I laugh now they are named Anna and Dan which are now the names of my best friend and my son.

In the ten page book I talk about my dog Kelly who was a Dalmatian and grannies dog Sky a boarder collie always coming to the barn. I am shocked to walk in on Anna and Dawn talking. I thought talking horses would blow the readers mind. I also secretly wished my pony Dawn could have talked to me. The book ends with Anna having a foal which I named Prince and it ends with me telling the readers he dies at 35. Truth be told I thought everyone animal or human died at 35. I typed out all 10 pages and did my own art work. I probably should have invested in someone else to do the art. Wow, my people and horse drawing skills.

In the back of the book it says that I wrote it at age 11. I am so very glad to have found this gem in storage. My son is now reading the book and asking me so many questions.

I am excited to be writing another book where I still believe animals teach us lessons of life. I am happy to report I no longer believe everyone dies in their 30’s, oh goodness. I am thankful that in this book I won’t have to use my amazing lack of art skills to portray my message.

I am thankful for the writing convention that threw a wrench into my book plan but put me on a clearer path. I don’t know when the book will be done. I guess that will be when my message is out the way I want it to be. It is a work in progress. I am excited and enjoying the journey.

I am thinking about doing guest blog spots so I can focus all my writing time into my book. Would anyone wanna do a guest blog? Reach out to me via e-mail. If I can blog you can too! It’s been a great experience sharing with you all.