Getting Ink Done

I have finally gotten around to having another session on my abstract peacock sleeve. Spent all day Thursday with the bonkersly brilliant Bez at his Triple Six Studios in Sunderland. We watched movies, we talked rubbish, we giggled about this awesome advert from an Australian rail network keen to promote safety and the proliferation of homages (I think the movies one is a personal favourite):

My arm is currently looking less swollen than yesterday (boy do wrists and elbows go puffy) but rather more, erm, slimy thanks to a hefty coating of bepanthen. Yeah, it’s pretty gross. But will SO be worth it. I’ve got another session booked in later int he summer to have the peacock’s head done and add purple to the feathers. So excited. Here’s the master at work…

And this is how it looked before I slapped the bepanthen on this morning. And yes…I’m wearing a tattoo machine t-shirt in these pics. Bez designed the ego machine. The first time he ever used a production model was on me, to do some of the line work for my peacock sleeve. He’s just finalising designs for two new models. So proud of him. The man is a legend. And a bloody good tattoo artist too. Obviously. Go Bez!

This post was brought to you by Dumb Movie Ways To Die.

Beana’s Hen Do <>

Hello! Late night posting from me this week. Been mad busy so haven’t really had chance to sit down and blog. But I should be back on track soon. In the meantime, thought I’d share this sneak peek of Beana & David’s golf course e-shoot and something a bit less, erm, professional with you. Ahem. Y’see Beana and I went to school together. She’s my oldest friend and I love her to bits, so when she asked me to photograph her wedding I squealed. With joy. And this weekend I popped down to rural Essex to snap some pre-wed shots of her and hubbie to be David on the golf course. More to come next week, but for now allow me to introduce Wilson & Quaid…

And, well, while I was down in sunny Essex I also attended Beana’s hen do. Oh my word. It broke me. Broke me bad. But boy was it fun. I’m just glad next time I see those girlies I’ll be staying sober and in charge of the camera because I felt dreadful the next day!






This post was brought to you by far too much booze, quite frankly!

May Day <>

What a lovely week! I couldn’t have asked for better. Started with a trip down to London to see Low at the Barbican (amazing) and catch up with some friends on Tuesday. I’d not seen Damian for a week so was lovely to get to hang out with him away from work pressures for a couple of days. Nice beer, good food, smiles aplenty. Was fab.




And then the weekend came along full of sunshine and even more smiles. How gob-smackingly awesome was the weather? Corr blimey. I’ll admit I got a wee bit of sunburn from spending so long working in the garden without enough sun protection. Silly me. We got loads done (the garden is going a complete overhaul having last been shown love and attention in the mid eighties I’d say) and also managed to squeeze in a trip to my favourite bakery in Slaithwaite for brekkie, a few hours with my folks, a four year old’s Hello Kitty themed birthday party, and a couple of light refreshments on Monday afternoon as a reward for all of our hard work. Yay for bank holidays, I say. Roll on the next one (and please let it be just as sunny).




This post was brought to you by Phosphorescent : Muchacho (seeing them tonight at the Ruby Lounge in Manchester).

Pretty Things << chat chat tuesday >>

Exciting times here at LifeLine Towers. Spring is making me giddy as can be. The garden is positively bursting into life. We’ve finally had our guttering fixed and can now concentrate on some landscaping. Glamourous, I know, the guttering…but it so badly needed doing. It had rusted all the way through and during the snow in March it actually cracked apart and started to fall down. Nasty! But no longer a concern. Instead, home life is all about bulbs and buds and seedlings growing on windowsills. I love it.

Last weekend I had some friends staying and during our strolls in the local countryside we all fell in love with these handsome fellas. It’s the first time I’d seen baby hairy coos. OMG they are so blummin’ cute. Hee!

The excitement carries over into work things too. I took delivery of some very fine items last week. First up this gorgeous guest book for Becky & Ross featuring their favourite e-shoot images. I can’t wait to hand it over when they get hitched on Sunday

I also have this beautiful Folio album ready to post out to Nikki and Matt. Mmmm. Fine art goodness and a photo cotton cover. Love it!


Right now, I’m curled up editing another e-shoot, watching Grey’s Anatomy (the fella is away so I’m making the most of some girlie time) and eating this not so little beauty of a cake, baked yesterday. I like cake. Cake is goooooooooood

This post was brought to you by Grey’s Anatomy : Season 8

LoveTea << chit chat tuesday >>

Yeah – I missed a week. I was so busy enjoying the bank holiday last weekend that I totally forgot to blog. Ahem. It wont happen again. Especially because I wasn’t being completely LAZY last weekend…I was actually working for some of it. So keep your eyes peeled. There are 3 e-shoots and a couple of weddings coming soon to these here pages, don’t you know. So I had better crack on with my editing. But before I do, I just wanted to share something awesome with you. LoveTea. Now…you know that I love tea. That’s a given. Tea is the drink of champions. No doubt about it. I’m not new to loving tea. But LoveTea is my new found favourite tea experience. Holy heck it’s a good idea. You get to try different teas each month from single tea estates. Living with a guy whose passion (and indeed job) is all about sourcing and roasting single origin coffees from around the world (did I mention that my wonderful fella is the guy behind the Grumpy Mule brand?) I got rather excited at the prospect of a tea equivalent and I have not been disappointed. So far I’ve tried two from these guys, and both have been delicious. First up was Belseri Malt which is a Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe tea. Really fruity and rich. Mmmmm. And today I received my sample of Paksong Oolong Wild Excelsior from Laos which has a more delicate flavour with gorgeous floweriness (well, that’s what I’m calling in). I think it’s safe to say I am hooked on this trying new teas thing. The thing is…I want more. More tea! So I’m going to have to sign up for a bigger package, me thinks. If you fancy giving it a go (you totally should if you like tea), I talked to Matthew (Master Brewer and all round lovely chap) at LoveTea and he’s offering you lot a 40% discount on your first month using the code LL40 at the checkout. Hurray for LoveTea.

Did you see my super cute infuser there, by the way? Mr Tea. He’s awesome. Everyone should have one. LoveTea sent me a wee bag to make my tea with, but Mr Tea kicks the butt of any bag. You know it. Almost as cute as my nephews…I was lucky enough to spend a few days with them last week and I am so very besotted with them both. Even though one of them pukes up like ALL THE TIME and the other one is a cheeky little monkey. Tee hee.

This post was brought to you by Low : The Invisible Way

Snow Drifts << chit chat tuesday >>

Well I never. It snowed, as you are doubtless aware. And here in West Yorkshire it snowed a lot. And there were snow drifts. Our garden looked insane. We spent several hours clearing the driveway today (shoveling snow it hard work – blimey) and I tried to capture the bonkers nature of the snow drifts…but I really couldn’t do them justice. At the back of the house, the snow was piled up about five feet. Down the side, a huge bank of snow about three feet tall curved along the fence line. And in the front the depth varied from just a couple of inches to a couple of feet. Bonkers I tell you. But at least we have managed to dig the car out now and chopped enough logs for the fire for a few days. Oof. And I’ve topped up the bird feeders and put some bowls of water out. Don’t want my feathered friends to suffer!





In other news…I popped to Manchester on Thursday (before snowmageddon) to meet up with some friends and see an amazing Yo La Tengo gig. While I was there, I picked up my birthday pressie from Damian. An absolutely GORGEOUS leather camera bag from Grafea. Love it! Can’t wait to take it out on an adventure when this blummin’ snow clears. Til then, I’m planning to stay indoors all snug and warm!

Leeds Beer, Cider & Perry Festival << chit chat tuesday >>

Once upon a time in a muddy field years ago, I met a crazy lady called Hayley. Having started volunteering for the Oxfam Stewarding Team at roughly the same time, we became good friends. Moving up to Yorkshire last year meant moving nearer to Hayley. Hurrah. We get to go out walking together mostly which is ace. Last week, however, we didn’t do much walking. Instead, we popped down to Pudsey Civic Hall for the awesome beer, cider & perry festival put on by the Leeds CAMRA branch. Armed with our beer guides and a moustache pencil, we set to work sampling the wares of many a local brewery (and some further afield too). Twas brilliant fun. I think the pictures I drunkenly took show that. Ahem. If you’re interested, one of my fave beers of the day was Urban IPA from the Tiny Rebel Brewery in Newport. Yum!

This post was brought to you by memories of some fabulous beers and Belle and Sebastian : Tigermilk

Peak District << chit chat >>

This week has been a bit bonkers here in Meltham. Baltic winds and snow one day, lovely bright sunshine the next, then more icy winds and today icky rain. Thankfully I was able to take full advantage of the one sunny day, though. We (Murphy and I) hopped in the car and trundled across to Dove Stone Reservoir to catch up with my friend Jamie and his gorgeous lab, Cassie. The canines had a blast chasing after balls and sticks (and each other of course). It was so nice to see. Bless ‘em. And I have to say I was really happy to be out in the fresh air too. Seems a shame to be looking out of my window at the hills instead of getting out and walking in them! Roll on the better weather. I want to go out and play!

This post was brought to you by Arboretum : Coming Out Of The Fog

Things & Ink << chit chat tuesday >>

It’s been an exciting week. I’ve already told you about the e-shoot and wedding last weekend and obviously I’ve been working on those plus designing album layouts for some of my awesome 2012 couples, which is ace. But even more excitingly for me (in a completely selfish way) I’ve achieved the first target I set for myself this year in terms of number of bookings (exceeded last year basically) and that means I am allowed another tattoo sitting. Yay! I’m booked in with Bez at Triple Six Studios in May, the day after my sis goes in to have her half sleeve work done. It was agony for her having the initial line work done this time last year…she hadn’t realised that she was a few weeks pregnant and that’s why her pain tolerance was way down. Bless her. I’ll be going in for a full day of colour work on my peacock sleeve. Yay! Can’t wait to get it coloured in. In the meantime, to help deal with the excitement (and, I’ll be honest, impatience) I’ve been rereading my copies of the first two issues of a magazine that launched fairly recently dedicated to the feminine side of tattooing. Things & Ink is beautiful in every way, I’m a huge fan. For women who tattoo, women who have tattoos, women who love tattoos, well, anyone who loves women and tattoos really. It’s awesome. Check it out if you get chance.

In other news – TULIPS!!!!!!!!! I blummin’ love a good tulip, me, and right now I have some flowering in the garden (which is currently a bit snowy) along with my lovely crocus, and there’s a lovely big bunch in the living room too. Tulips! Yeah.

This post was brought to you by Metric : Fantasies

A Year In The Making << chit chat tuesday >>

This weekend was the anniversary of my first date with a really lovely fella. We met online, drawn together by a shared and slightly obscure taste in music, and chatted for weeks before finally setting a date to hang out together over a beer in Sheffield. We clicked straight away. There were more beers. And more dates. I started staying at his regularly. He met my family. And I met his. Before we knew it…I’d moved in. And now he is what I mean when I say home. This life we share together. It’s ace. And I still get little butterflies in my tummy when he looks at me and smiles, just like I did that day in the Red Deer. I am a lucky lady indeed. He has the patience of a saint! We’re currently trying to plan a holiday for later in the year. Our first trip abroad together. I can’t wait! Last year we managed to take a few domestic trips but I hardly took any photies. Boo. Here are a few snapshots that make me smile though.

Whitby – camping trip in April 2012

Norfolk – a few days at The Pigs in September 2012

London – getting drunk with friends & seeing a fab Calexico gig in September 2012

Bute – a coffee tasting event at Mount Stewart in October 2012

We’ve got lots still to do at home before we go anywhere exotic, though. I’m super excited at the prospect of gardening again soon. For now I’m having to make do with a few tubs of bulbs on the windowsill, but it wont be long before the ground is covered in pretty flowers too. And last week I managed to put my latest acquisition (an awesome Ercol plate rack) up in the kitchen. Of course I don’t have anything to go on it, yet. But I’m sure it wont take long to fill up…

This post was brought to you by Wooden Shjips : Wooden Shjips