Headed out.

Halloween.
And how am I celebrating?
By catching planes and renting cars and driving my face off.
I have a 12 hour day of traveling to do,
and when I arrive, it'll only get crazier.

I did get a few things out of the way, early-ish.
Wanting to look my best for Albie's wedding,
I bought some brand-new Carhartts.
I'm not even going to wash them first,
it'll be like wearing cardboard pants.
And I also got the hardest to pack wedding present ever.
I'll be the kid at the airport spending more money on bag checking than the actual plane ticket cost.

After the wedding bells on Sunday,
I'll be at Off the Map Tattoo for the following 7 days straight.
And it looks like my Thursday appointment fell through.
I'm open all day, kids.
Email or call if you want in.
Good ideas have precedent over first in line.
(no kidding)


If you happen to stop Identity Tattoo while I'm away, drink a Dr Pepper
in my room so it doesn't feel so empty when I return.

Taking over the Internet.

I didn't even leave the house today, kids.
The closest I came was removing the window screens,
or maybe when I reached just outside the front door to grab the mail.
I'm definitely not bragging.
Well, maybe a little.
I did get tons of stuff done.
And the to-do list finally did get shorter.

Other than drawing for clients from two different states,
I did a bunch of web work today.

IdentityTattoo.com had a soft launch this weekend.
It's not quite finished, but you get the idea.
Todd, Ben, and I, finally all under the same (cyber) roof.

And I made a header for Meryl's blog, just to fancy it up a little.

And since I am not going to be at the shop for Halloween,
I made this Identity flavored jack o' lantern to decorate the new site and the shop blog.



There's few things better than salted pumpkin seeds right from the oven.
Casey and I ate them all up before I snapped a photo,
but they were so good.
I'll be making more soon,
if not here in the next couple days,
then while I'm playing house guest at the Maynard House.
I hope Northampton is ready.

Such a good day.

Sundays are days Meryl and I spend together,
since it's the one day we both have off.
And since I'll be out of town the next two,
we tried to fill this one to the brim.

Of course, we first brunched it up at Seward Cafe.

We then went to the Bell Museum of Natural History, which is like a smaller Peabody Museum (in Connecticut) and without dinosaurs.
Which is fine with me, I only went for the dead birds.

I found out that I'm able to take them any of the window kills that my friends and I find, and someone there will turn them into study skins.
Perfect.
There's a couple freezers that will be happy to emptied once I get back.
I'd love to offer them my services once a week as well,
doing the study skin stuffing myself,
but I've already got an overfilled plate.
Maybe someday.



Once it got dark we crossed the Mississippi into St Paul to enjoy a Halloween show put on by BareBones.
We didn't get any good photos since it was so dark,
but there was puppets, costumes, stilt-walkers,
fire, and a 35 piece orchestra.
So dope.




Some of the stilt-walking moth creatures got lowered out of these cocoons 50 feet up in the trees.
That was by far the best part.
If you're in the Twin Cities, and you don't go Friday or Saturday,
you are f*ing up.



It's crunch time, now.
Tomorrow's my last day off before the trip,
and I just added a couple new projects onto the list.
And we bumped into Nona this morning at Seward.
Dark Dark Dark is playing thursday night.
Perfect.

Getting Spoiled.

I tattooed all day every day this week,
packing them in, before I pack up and head out.
I'm not sure how I made it through this week.
Maybe it was all the gifts and good mail and packages I received.

The buttons I made in August were such a hit that I ordered more.
But I couldn't find the file for my previous order,
so I made completely new ones up.
(and these ones are even nicer, no?)
500 of them means they should last me more than two months this time.



And when Ann came in to get tattooed this week,
she brought me another present,
and again it was in multiples.
But these aren't just any pine cones picked up from your backyard.
Nope.
These are throwback seed grenades from 1975,
and courtesy of the Redwoods.
My little space of Identity Tattoo is looking so sharp,
much in part to Anne and her gifts of collections.



I got a package from New Hampshire in the mail this week,
and it wasn't even from Albie Rock.
Quality craftsmanship from Hurricane Mountain Pottery,
sent as the most generous 'thank you' I've gotten in a long time.
We started with some business cards, but they'll be much bigger things happening soon.



Today's weird little token was waiting for me when I came in to open the shop this morning.
But I saved that photo for a different kind of blog.

Four days of tattooing left in Minnesota....

October is flying by.

The weather has gotten much nicer recently.
It hit a high of 50 today, and since Shamira needed some excercise,
we did a lap around Powderhorn Park lake.
Of course, I would have loved finding a dead bird and getting a photo for my other blog, but there was none to be found.
I did see dead fish, dead bugs, and even this squirrel tail (minus the body, so I'm assuming the squirrel is dead, too).
It was still a very nice walk.



Back to work tomorrow.
Did I get all of my projects done this weekend?
Of course not.
But I did do the homeownery stuff like lawn mowing, garage cleaning, and hardware store shopping.
And not only did I go to the Anne Carson poetry/dance performance at the University on Sunday, but I also served cake afterwards.
And, most importantly, I got done a serious art project for IWYS, details and pictures of which will be released soon enough.
Another weekend gone, but well enjoyed.

east, and then really east.

Rachel and I got to finish yesterday the antler/rose/egg combo that we started a couple weeks ago at the Minneapolis Tattoo Convention.
Half of it is healed and half is new in this photo, which makes for a weird combination.
I'll be sure to get a fully healed shot soon.



So Meryl and I finally purchased our plane tickets to Japan today,
thanks mostly to Adam.
We fly out on a non-stop, 13 hour flight to Tokyo on December 30th,
and won't return till January 14th.
We'll be ringing in the New Year a full day ahead of ya'll.

Got some tips on what to see over there?

If it wasn't for the trip to the east coast coming up,
Id be packing my bags already...

Change of Color, Sharing of Words

Here's the corner in my newly painted room at Identity Tattoo.
I'm sure 70% of my clients aren't going to be into it,
and another 10% will be confused that it's not just a temporary, seasonal paint job.

"Mincemeat" never looked so good.





Tonight was the Dislocate reading at the University, and Meryl was one of four who read some of their work.
She did a great job, of course (not that I'm in any way biased).

Thanks to Molly for not only taking this photo (and others), but for sending it our way so quickly.



Around Midnight, Casey rolled into town.
She figured if she's tough enough to bicycle across the country,
she'll be able to handle a Minnesota winter.
We put out the "no vacancy" sign for the time being,
but that's disregarded by anyone we want staying with us anyway.

I'm not amused.

2.5 inches of snow wrecked my autumn buzz pretty hard this morning.



I'm looking forward to this winter in Minnesota even less than the last two.
So, of course, it comes even earlier this year.
Awesome.

I did head into the shop today to do a second coat of paint in my room.
I changed the two red walls to "Mincemeat".
When first applied, Todd said it looked like a pumpkin exploded,
but once dried, I think it looks sharp.

I'll post the finished interior decorating photos tomorrow.
Right now I'm going to go bury myself under some comforters and dream about warmer places.

Days like This

Dark Dark Dark from the other night.
There's two places to check out some of their new stuff.
Daytrotter has a little write up with songs to listen to (and download!) here.
And 'Trouble No More' got added to their myspace playlist.
You're welcome.

Meryl and I had brunch at Seward Cafe today.
It is a Sunday, after all.
Tea and biscuits and gravy is a wonderful start on a cold day.

We also hit up the Lyndale Farmer's Market.

Back at home, I got busy winterizing stuff.
That might sound premature,
but it snowed this week, and it's going to snow again tomorrow.
So outside water spigots have to be drained and shut off, rain barrels need emptying.

Before I tried to figure out the storm window situation, Ryan came and picked me up for a tour of places other than Minneapolis.
We visited his dad's farm, a town called 'Nowthen', the Mississippi River in Elk River, and the weirdest barber shop ever.

The horses and cats wanted attention, but the chickens and rabbits weren't interested.





Peeking in the windows of the taxidermist's paradise,
which happens to be a barber shop.
There must have been over 50 animals crammed in there.
A full lion, monkeys, deer, big cats, everything.
It doesn't even make sense,
but it's pretty effing great.







The last stop was to pick up some stuff Ryan had gotten me.

Three sexy hurricane lanterns to add to my collection.
You don't need hurricanes to know that these are hot.

Thanks for the outing and the lamps, Ryan.

All Healed Up.

I'm looking forward most of the time,
always onto the next thing.
I don't think I've ever posted a healed photo on my blog, just the day of (or next day) shot.
Especially with black and gray work, that can be misleading.
Thanks to Mike for keeping me updated on the healing of this owl piece,
and for reminding me to grab a new photo once it healed.

We did this at the Minneapolis Tattoo Convention,
and it was looking like this the day we did it.
Now, 3 weeks later, it's fully healed:



Having half the Hebranks in town this weekend went well.
We've got less than a week, though, before DePasquales regain the majority.
Casey is done biking across the country, and will be taking it easy at Louderhorn Inn for a while.

The week of rain has ended, and today has been beautiful and sunny.
I kicked off the day with a visit to Central Library to pick up a dead bird that was found and waiting for me,
and tonight is the MPLS stop of Dark, Dark, Dark's tour.
I'm spending all my in between time working on a project for the next issue of IWantYourSkull.

I might be at the shop, but there is no working in sight.

Full Bellies, Full Moon, Full House.

'No Vacancy', kids.

Who's in town this week?
My sister, Kelly, is staying with us, and hopefully enjoying her second annual Minneapolis trip.
And guess who else?
My Mom.
No kidding.

This is some big news.



Meryl and I tried to get Louderhorn Inn ready for their arrival on Saturday, but there were some serious forces working against us.
Like the United States Postal Service, basic plumbing, Mother Nature, and some other stuff.
The fun started on Friday, when Meryl called me at Identity Tattoo to tell me that not one hour after giving Shamira a bath, the postman also decided to shower her.
In the face.
With Mace.

Once they arrived, though, things have gone pretty smoothly.
There's a slight aroma of pepper in the air, but we haven't been home too much to enjoy it.

We hit the Farmer's Market after breakfast today to reap some of what other people sowed.
Visited the sculpture garden on the way home, cooked a big meal with all of the fresh ingredients, and then went out to the mill ruins and the Guthrie for a play.
Nothing says family time better than the endearing dialogue of Oscar Wilde.






Today was a Full Harvest Moon.
Did you see it?
The clouds broke this evening, and by night the entire sky was clear.
We got a perfect view from the Guthrie's endless bridge of the moon, the Mississippi River, and some historical landmarks.
It was a nice ending to the second day of their visit.
Tomorrow we head to Stillwater for some serious mantiquing and continuous eating.