My Fifteenth Tattoo...

They just keep getting better and better. I have found my tattoo place here in Florida. Chris Slota at Rock-A-Billy in Lauderhill, is OUT-freakin-STANDING. I give him an idea and he delivers! And his prices are really awesome for the work that he does.

So back to the tattoo...This one means alot to me like every other one I have. Haha. Each part has its own story. So I will give you the low down...

The simplest way is to start with the roses (since they kinda have a similar story behind them). So the first rose is a "George Burns Rose". I had it (and the other one) back when I lived in Ohio. Here's a pic of the rose in real life:

Close up

Every bloom is different

I have this rose because growing up, George Burns was my idol. Yeah I was a weird kid. But he always looked at life and made the best out of it and he was hell bent on having a good time. He once said that he was 90 something years old and he was going to drink and smoke as much as he wanted and nobody was going to stop him. He lived his whole life doing what he wanted and didn't care what anyone thought. He must have been doing something right seeing as though he lived to be 100! Not that I want to live that long, but I want to have the same youthful spirit as he did. And I think I do.

The second rose is a "Ronald Reagan Rose". Yes you guessed it I had that rose bush also and yes he was another idol growing up. You're so damn smart.

I love the story about Ronald. He was such an awesome guy. He was different from George Burns, but he still struck a cord with me. To briefly describe his past, I would say I can't. He did so much in his life. The two main things that stuck with me the most was how he stood up for people and his love for his wife Nancy. Back in the days before he joined politics...bare with me here it might get boring, but it's important to me.... he was an actor. He saw how everyone was being treated unfairly and he spoke up for everyone. He always had a way of speaking and everyone just listened and couldn't help but like the guy. After improving on the worklife of actors, he moved on to politics..yada yada yada... Deep down the hopeless romantic in me (which I usually keep locked up with a armed guard) has fallen in love with the relationship between him and Nancy. He loved her SO much. He was always writing her love notes. It's just unbelievable how much one man can love his "girl".

And finally the middle: the compass.

So growing up, another one of my idols was the guy who invented the compass. Haha. Nah I'm just fucking with you. It symbolizes that I may not always know where I am headed, and most of the time it's all over the place, but I always manage to get exactly where I am supposed to be. Simple as that. I left the design of the compass up to Chris and this is what he came up with. I really like it. You can't really tell by this picture but it's kinda angled. And I really love the nautical star.

I am really surprised it stands out just as much as the roses do. That's a whole lot of color going on in just a small amount of area. That's just the way I like it.





Done by Chris Slota at Rock-A-Billy Tattoos in Lauderhill, FL
Lower right arm (inner)


**On a side note, I want to thank my two unlikely idols (as a girl growing up). You may be gone, but you're with me always.**

All good things...

Well my BFF is back home in Ohio. Bummer. We had such a blast in the short time she was here. The first day it rained all day. Yuck! We still had fun. I picked her up and showed her my boat then went and got some food. We went to Bulldog Barbecue. Then it was off to the adult candy store (aka Total Wine and More). Since it was raining I decided to take her out on the town. We started drinking at my apartment then went to Duffy's to grab some dinner. After food and drinks we went to the Hard Rock Casino. She had never been to one before. What a great opportunity for me to pop her casino cherry! The Hard Rock in Hollywood is pretty awesome.

We met one of the guys I work with and his wife, brother and brother's girlfriend. Then we hit the slots. She wanted to start with something easy. I did pretty good for once. At one machine I had around 7 bucks then ended with 25. Of course I lost it all later. Jenni didn't do as good. Poor thing kept losing it all. Haha. After that I took her outside to where the dance clubs are. We walked by a few until this one caught out attention. It was playing some older music. We decided to go for it. It was a blast! The band was awesome! So were the people there. It's surprising. I kept telling her how mean people in Miami are and everyone we met that day was nice. Weird. Anyhow... I kinda called her out. I wrote the band a note and they announced it in front of everyone. It said: Jenni from Ohio down here visiting, recently divorced and single, ready to mingle" haha. That got her alot of attention. Haha. She gave me dirty looks, but she deserved to have some attention. We talked to a guy who looked like Pitbull's twin. After a few hours she hit that wall and it was time to go.

I made sure I was quite that next morning. Haha. Mostly because I wanted her to be able to get as much sleep as she needed. There is nothing wrong with sleeping in. Or at least I think so. Once she was up we spent the morning just relaxing on the balcony and soaking up some much needed sun. It ended up being a beautiful day! No rain, alittle windy, but the sun was out and it was warm. It made for a great tourist day. We ate at Shuckers. I knew she would like it because you could sit in the sun and be right by the water. Next I showed her Sector, then drove all the way up South Beach. It was the typical SoBe. We almost got ran over by two semis pulling onto the road, got to see a man walking his bunny (no seriously, a real bunny), all the crazy looking people, the mess of driving, and then we drove by the boat show. That was pretty amazing seeing all the nice boats. Then it was beach time. I stopped at Haulover Inlet. There was hardly anyone there so we were able to just walk along the beach and pick up shells. The water really wasn't that bad either. I was surprised it wasn't colder.


After about an hour or so at the beach it was time to do some shopping. Well souvenirs anyways. I bought some stuff for myself, but I also got some stuff for the girls too. I think they will enjoy everything. I wished they could have came down too, but Miami really isn't a good place for kids. Plus Mommy needed some time away to relax and be her again. Next time Jenni comes and visits, I will hopefully be in Cape Canaveral and the girls will have a better time there. So like all good things, the mini vacation had to end. Jenni flew home this morning and now I am lost without her. I miss her and can't wait till we met up again. This trip brought us close again  so I know we will still talk all the time, but it's just nice to be able to hang out together from time to time.

Now I kinda wished I worked today. I'm off my "best friend" high and I'm home alone. Just sitting here kinda bummed. But next week will be yet another busy (and most likely stressful) week. Oh joy...

Just another manic Monday...

I'm so glad it's Friday. I was having a crappy/stressful week.  Monday I had the OOD and shit hit the fan. Of course. We had the computer systems go down, the a/c go down, divers, technicians all over the place and people taking shit apart. XO granted liberty early so I mostly had the boat to myself. The computers got fixed. The a/c got a band aide. The band aide was a portable a/c unit near the bow with piping down a hatch. Whatever, it works. But the biggest pain in my ass was the red gear technicians. They needed more of the piping off then what was secured. So I had to give the Senior Chief a call and made sure it was ok then started to shut off some valves. I thought I had most of them but some of the engineers came back to pick some stuff up and they helped out. Only they didn't have all the valves secured.

So as the guys are starting to take pipes off, Senior appeared and started securing breakers to the engine. So I had alarms going off and water spraying all over. Come to find out a couple of the valves that needed secured, well they don't close all the way. I'm down there (already covered in grease) with a crow-bar trying to close it with as much pressure as I could. Well after alot of water flooding the bildge, and searching for some wooden plugs, the techs put one of the check valves on to stop the flow. Uhhh busy night!

Tuesday afternoon I had to run all the way down to Sector to grab the full dress bag for the boat and all the crap in shipping and receiving. That was a pain. Then I found out that Amanda (my friend that was on the boat but then got pregnant) was at the hospital in labor. I tried to go visit, but she didn't want any company. I understood. As I was making my way back up to West Palm on Wednesday morning, I got a text saying that she had her baby at 4 that morning. Poor thing was in labor 24 hours. Aww. I'm gonna try to swing by next week and say "hi" and take a look at the little fella.


Then because alot of people had firefighting school, those who didn't had to stand extra duty. I was the OOD on Monday and then JOOD on Wednesday. Wednesday duty was alittle better, but it felt like I was on a "port and report" schedule. Thursday morning I woke up and had to drive all the way down to Sector for a dental appt. I get there and have to wait almost a half an hour before they get me in there. After they said I needed to get a cleaning before they could fill the rest of my cavities. Haha that's when things got interesting. The Doc asked if I had made an appointment  and I sad no. She started to give me some flack about it and I just flat out told her there was a reason that I haven't made an appointment. I told her that I wouldn't unless I absolutely had to and that there is no reason why I should be forced to have my mouth ripped apart for a so called cleaning. We got into a conversation about it and her and the assistant said they never she Rosie (the woman who cleans your teeth, aka Rosie the Ripper). They go some where else. So after talking and joking around with me they talked to her and fit me in for a cleaning. This time it wasn't so bad. She must have gotten her pee-pee stomped on. She put some numbing topical on my gums multiple times and apologizes when she poked a little too hard and was actually fairly gentle. Usually I'm walking out of there with tears in my eyes. I have a high pain tolerance so that's saying something!

So when today rolled around I was so glad to have it off! I went to the store and stocked up for my visit with my BFF. And so it begins..... YAY!!!!

What's a motto with you...

OK so I have a new quote. It's good enough to become the boats new motto!

Wait for it........

"If it isn't broken, just wait cause it will be"

Fitting right?

(Stickers coming soon...)

Another Saturday...

Well not much going on today. I stopped by Rock-A-Billy Tattoo in Lauderhill to see Chris Slota, the guy that did my tall ship tattoo. He was in the middle of a tattoo of course, but I had some quick works on a tattoo idea I have to fill the space on my arm by my tall ship. He thought it was freakin awesome and he seemed just as amped to do it as I am. What is it you might ask? Well if I told you it would ruin the surprise! haha. I"ll just say that it has ALOT of color and detail work and one aspect of it I am leaving it solely up to his imagination to come up with the design. It's probably going to take a couple of sessions. The bad part is that I have to wait a until the 22nd for the first apt. He is booked up till then. At least he will have some time to come up with a really cool design. SO STOKED!

I'm also stoked for next weekend! I took some leave because my BFF from Ohio, Jenni, is coming down to visit! It's been around 4 years since I had last seen her. It is going to be soooo much fun! No matter how long we go without talking, we can always pick up where we left off. Now that she is newly single again I am going to make sure she has a really good time. She deserves it!

I will have to make a trip up to Ohio at some point to see Jenni's mom and the girls. The youngest I last saw as a newborn. She doesn't remember me at all, but the other girl Hannah is my bestie. She used to call me Aunt Tishelle. Haha I love her to death!

Lastly the broken pile of shit is up at Rybovich Marina again. So far it has sucked. I don't know what the command has in their heads, but it surely isn't the crew. We almost didn't get Friday off even though they had promised it to us. After the good Ole' Senior Chief had a few words, it was left up to the department head's discretion. So of course they gave us the day off. Seriously people? The boat is dragging everybody down and the command isn't helping. We are tired of the boat always breaking and then have to give up days off and also deal with a longer work day. Shit has to stop! The only good thing is that we can still work out in the mornings. Rybovich has an awesome gym.


So with this I leave you with one of my latest quotes:

"When you're so far down the shithole it's gonna be dark. There is no bright side."