For all Things Tattoo

Tattoos, as do other works of art, require an inspired idea and a talented artist. In the past, tattoo images and stencils were available only to the professional tattoo parlor and artists. A person wanting a tattoo would go to their neighborhood studio and request a tattoo and/or select a tattoo from the artist's portfolio.

However, with websites such as BullsEyeTattoos.com, people can take an active role in choosing and designing their own tattoo. There are thousands of printable tattoo designs at BullsEyeTattoos.com to choose from, all of which are unique and able to be customized to meet the required specifications of the individual. The website permits the user to edit the image's color and size, also allowing for the tattoo to be stenciled either in black or white or filled with color.

The process for obtaining the stencil could not be any easier. Simply use the search bar to find your image, or browse the available tattoo categories. Once you find your image, simply select it. Then, all that is left is to purchase, download, and print your next tattoo and then find an artist to give you the ink you want.

Every type of tattoo imaginable can be found on BullsEyeTatto.com including Celtic designs as well as military images, angels, flowers, butterflies, horoscopes, and many others.

Along with tattoo stencils, the site also sells a large selection of apparel, belts, wall art, and jewelry. BullsEyeTattoos.com is a true one stop shop for all things tattoo.

Mother’s Day Movie Giveaway

Mother's Day is Sunday, May 12th and what better way to celebrate than spending quality time with your family and watching one of your favorite classic films?  Or, even better, one of mom's favorite films. Watching a classic flick together is the perfect opportunity to catch up and share family stories. You might even learn something you never knew about your mom!

Use this app for some conversation starters to get you started. You can also play the Guess-the-Scene Game for some fun or select your mood and let quotes and images from film express how you’re feeling!


Giveaway:
To celebrate Mom, Warner Brothers has offered to give one of these Blu-ray titles to one lucky reader! (Prize will be chosen randomly from the titles below!)

• A Star is Born (1976) (Blu-ray)
• Cabaret (1972) (Blu-ray)

To enter just leave me a comment sharing your favorite romance or musical flick from when you were a kid. That's fun and easy, right?

Get additional entries by tweeting this giveaway or sharing on facebook (once per day).  Be sure to leave another comment each time you share, with a link to your tweet or status.

Giveaway is open to U.S. addresses (NO P.O. Boxes), and entries must be received by 11:59pm on Mother's Day May 12, 2013.  Good Luck!

Spring Landscaping with Scotts Mulch

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Spring is finally here!  For those of us who live in the northern parts of the United States, that means we are starting to see buds on the trees and a few early flowers, the grass is turning green, and we can finally turn the furnace off and open the windows.  At least for a day or two before it cools down again.  The grass will continue to grow, along with the plants and flowers, and it's time to start thinking about gardening supplies and taking advantage of the nice weather to get the yard and garden ready for spring and summer.
Now is the time to start thinking about what you'll need to jumpstart your yard and garden so you can enjoy it all summer.

Some essential items to have include:

• Garden tools and gloves for working in the dirt.
• Compost and/or plant food
• Seeds and plants for planting
• Mulch to spread around bushes, trees, and plants.
  In Florida, that means Scotts Florida Select Natural Eucalyptus Mulch which is 100% Florida-grown and sustainably-harvested and plantation grown Eucalyptus.  It re-grows up to 4-times faster than Cypress, making it a great option for those interested in sustainable gardening , as well as being a great way to support the local economy.

I was noticing this weekend that we will need to spread some Scotts Nature Scapes mulch in our flower beds and around the trees and bushes, because it's getting quite thin in places.  Made from natural forest products, this mulch comes in a variety of colors and textures and helps to maintain moisture, prevent weeds, and create a groomed landscape all year long.  What that means is - put down the mulch now and save yourself a lot of work later.  Your plants and flowers will really appreciate it when the hot, dry days of summer come because the mulch helps keep the moisture in the ground and keeps the weeds down.

We'll also need to decide what we want to plant in our front flower bed this year.  It had gotten quite overgrown, so we tore everything out, and we're starting over again.  Sadly, that means I won't get these nice purple flowers this year, but I'm sure we'll find something nice.  Maybe something like these  yellow flowers?  They're certainly sunny and bright.  I don't really know yet, but I'm sure we'll figure it out.

What kind of plans do you have for your yard and garden this year?

Who Let the Dogs Out?

I have cats.  For my last post I needed a picture of a dog, so I put out a request on facebook yesterday asking for dog pictures I could use.  I ended up using a picture of my friend Alli's dog Liberty and a picture of a cute dog that showed up at my friend Mary's house one day.  BUT, I had several other friends share pictures of their dogs, and I just couldn't leave them out.

So, here are some pictures of some cute dogs - and one cute kid - for your enjoyment.

from my friend Lori

My adorable niece Sammi (on top of a dog)
shared by her daddy

A cool dog and a mouse - shared by Craig

My friend Melissa's dog

and my friend Susan's 'monsters'
Don't they have it tough?

Thanks to everyone who shared their dogs with me!

Protect the Love - Vectra Flea & Tick Control Sweepstakes

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Vectra flea & tick control for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
 
I was just thinking this morning how we all tend to think of our pets as family.  We talk to them; we love them; we call ourselves 'mommy' and 'daddy' to them.  I like to think they love us too.  They're definitely spoiled rotten.  Check out Weasley - doesn't he look like he has it tough?

Part of the love we have for our little furry friends means that, as pet owners, we need to protect our pets, and that includes protection from pests.  Vectra 3D  provides long lasting protection for dogs. It repels and kills fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, biting and sand flies, lice and mites (excluding mange mites).  For cats, there's Vectra for Cats, which kills fleas within 6 hours.  It not only kills and repels adult fleas, but also controls flea eggs, larvae and pupae.   It's easy to apply, safe to use, and only available through your veterinarian.

This is my friend Liberty.  She is loved very much!  Isn't she cute?

If you're a pet lover, be sure to like Vectra on facebook and enter the Protect the Love Facebook Sweepstakes. They will be giving away a $100 gift card to use at your next veterinarian visit each week for the duration of the Sweepstakes.  So the sooner you enter, the more chances you'll have to win!

Everyone who enters can also get a  free dose of Vectra flea & tick control.  Just enter the sweepstakes and then visit FirstDoseFree.com and fill out the form to print out a coupon for a free dose to redeem at a Vectra veterinarian near you.  It's a great way to try it and see if it works for you and your pet.

***Protect the love™ is the official social identity of Vectra flea & tick control. Vectra is a product of Ceva Animal Health, LLC and has multiple formulas for dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. *DO NOT USE VECTRA 3D ON CATS

Be sure to like Vectra on Facebook and follow @VectraPet on Twitter for more information.

Throw a Unique and Memorable Shower

When throwing a baby shower for a friend or family member, you want it to be different and memorable. Unique baby shower favors at ABCFavors.com could be just what you need to achieve that ideal.

Seed packets are a really cute favor that ABC Favors offers. Each favor contains seeds that can be planted after the shower, symbolizing growth and new life, just like the impending bundle of joy.  They can be imprinted with the baby's name, or the names of the parents if the baby's name isn't known, along with the shower date.  The back has a sweet little verse:

Please plant these seeds
And watch them bloom
Just like the baby
Who will be here soon!
Thank you for sharing
This special day with us.

Favors that can be used, rather than just displayed are always appreciated. Vegan fruit flavored lip balms with personalized labels are a really great idea as well as vanilla buttercream whipped hand cream with adorable personalized lids. Little travel sized hand creams and sanitizers with personalized labels make great favors as well.

There are also personalized mint tins which can be used for other things after the mints are gone, providing a sweet little reminder of the event every time the tin is used. Bookmarks are another unusual and useful favor idea.  Anything that guests can use repeatedly in the future is a great idea.

ABC Favors has a wide variety of fun and unique baby shower favors. They are affordable, adorable and able to be personalized, making them fit your theme and reminding the guests of the special day they spent honoring the mom to be.

Book Review: Bread & Wine

Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequist


About this book:

As a follow up to her two bestselling books, Bittersweet and Cold Tangerines, author and blogger Shauna Niequist returns with the perfect read for those who love food and value the community and connection of family and friends around the table. Bread and Wine is a collection of essays about family relationships, friendships, and the meals that bring us together. This mix of Anne Lamott and Barefoot Contessa is a funny, honest, and vulnerable spiritual memoir. Bread and Wine is a celebration of food shared, reminding readers of the joy found in a life around the table. It's about the ways God teaches and nourishes people as they nourish the people around them. It's about hunger, both physical and otherwise, and the connections between the two. With wonderful recipes included, from Bacon-Wrapped Dates to Mango Chicken Curry to Blueberry Crisp, readers will be able to recreate the comforting and satisfying meals that come to life in Bread and Wine.

I haven't read either of her previous books, but I was very eager to read this one when I was offered an advance reading copy by Zondervan.  We've often talked about how important it is in building relationships to share meals together, as well as tying the experience to the bread and wine that Jesus offered saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me" and "This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it."  Are we only supposed to remember occasionally, when we're in church, when we're taking the symbols in a ceremonial manner?  Or is it like Shauna says in this book - "And I believe that Jesus asked for us to remember him during the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the wine every time, every meal, every day - no matter where we are, who we are, what we've done."  Yes!

I really enjoyed the book.  The focus isn't really on the bread & wine, though that is an underlying theme.  Mostly it's about the importance of sharing meals together and the relationships that are built around the table.  Through good times and bad, the common theme is the food and the eating - together.  Shauna gives the reader a glimpse into her life, a life where she is learning to embrace her appetites, let go of her desire for perfection and just be fully present in the moment, and accept herself for who she is, and she invites the reader to "start where you are" and begin doing the same thing.

I could really relate to the need to let go of perfection.  I have a hard time letting people into my house (or my life) if I haven't had a chance to prepare, and I can make myself crazy doing all the cleaning and straightening before people are coming over - and they probably don't even notice anyway!  Sometimes the choice is, simply, be here - imperfect, messy, tired, whatever - or miss the moment, the conversation, the time around the table.  In that chapter, I marked the following line - "We have, each one of us, been entrusted with one life, made up of days and hours and minutes.  We're spending them according to our values, whether or not we admit it."  Is it more important to be perfect or to spend that time with the people who matter?

As I try to write this review, I keep looking back through the book.  I have little pink sticky notes sticking out everywhere, where I've marked passages that really struck me.  This one in particular:

"I want to cultivate a deep sense of gratitude, of groundedness, of enough, even while I'm longing for something more.  The longing and the gratitude, both.  I'm practicing believing that God knows more than I know, that he sees what I can't, that he's weaving a future I can't even imagine from where I sit this morning."

Shauna's attitude toward cooking and recipes pretty much sums up my feelings - "Recipes are how we learn all the rules, and cooking is knowing how to break them to suit our tastes or preferences.  Following a recipe is like playing scales, and cooking is jazz." - except that I don't really know much about music.  That being said, most of the recipes shared in this book seem a bit fussy to me, and I love to cook.  Yes, there are a couple that I will probably try - the Dark Chocolate Sea Salted Toffee, for one, OH, and the Roasted Broccoli - but most of them just sounded like too much work, and they called for ingredients that I don't usually have on hand.  Hopefully that won't discourage people from finding their own recipes and dishes to share, gathering people around their own tables, and building those important relationships.  Like she says, "Focus on making people comfortable, on creating a space protected from the rush and chaos of daily life, a space full of laughter and safety and soul."  Shauna has shared what works for her and her family here, and we all have to find out what works for us.  The point is to get started, open the door and start making our own memories around our own tables.

Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes is available on Amazon in both hardcover and Kindle editions.  For more information about Shauna Niequist, visit her webpage.

Thank you to Zondervan and Handlebar for giving me a review copy of this book.  I really enjoyed it.

Related articles

• On My Bookshelf: Bread & Wine (A Review)
• Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist
• This Book is Making Me Hungry: Some thoughts on Bread and Wine

I Might Need Professional Help

Purple (after the) Rain (Photo credit: bcmom)

The grass is starting to turn green and grow.  It will probably be time to mow soon, and if it keeps raining the way it has been - to mow and mow and mow.  That's how spring usually is.  Things start growing, and the yard needs mowed at least once a week, sometimes more.

The trees are all ready to leaf out, and the plants in the front flower bed are starting to come up.  Now is probably the perfect time to go out and dig up everything I don't want to grow again or at least pull out the dead plants left over from last year - before everything goes crazy like it does every summer.  See, I really don't know much about plants, really could have used an expert landscaper north bay to plan our landscape 'design' here.  Instead I just planted various things.  Some of them took off and took over, and some of them were choked out by those that took over.  The ones that took over would be nice, in smaller doses.

There have been several times I have gone out and just started pulling things.  I ended up with piles of stems, leaves, and plant parts, and I always worry that I'll pull out something that I really want to keep, like the plants that get those gorgeous purple flowers pictured above.  See, I never remember what the plant looks like.  With all that pulling, you'd think they couldn't survive, but by the time they start growing again, you can't tell I did anything.  Maybe it's a good thing that these plants are hard to kill, because I'm not the kind of person to have plants that need lots of care.

And, yes, I've talked to one of my plant expert friends, but I never listen to what she tells me.  It's probably because I don't really understand what she's trying to tell me...  It would be so much easier to call somebody like the landscape design north bay guys and get some professional help.  They make things look so pretty!

What is the Purpose of Wedding Pictures?

I've just been looking through our wedding pictures.  Yeah, looking through that wedding photography halifax page the other day got me thinking about those pictures.  It really is nice to have them, and looking through them sure brings back memories!  Wow - we were all so young back then!  And there were quite a few people in those pictures who we haven't seen in years and years, and some who are no longer with us, like my grandparents.

While there is at least one picture that I really should delete and destroy, because I really don't look good at all, and there are others where I wish the flash hadn't reflected in the mirror or that someone had told me how to stand so that I'd look better or told Jeffrey to move his arms so his tux jacket didn't pull weird, overall I like our wedding pictures.  No, nothing is perfect or perfectly posed, or even super creative, like if we'd hired someone like the photographer at halifax wedding photography, but we have a good overview of what our day was like and the people who were there to share it with us.  When we pull the pictures out, like we occasionally do, they bring back memories, and isn't that why we have pictures in the first place?

We remember that our flower girl cried the whole way down the aisle - but she still dropped those flower petals.

It's just that she was used to her daddy waiting up there at the end of the aisle - she'd been a flower girl before.  This time, it wasn't her daddy performing the wedding; it was mine.  He was waiting at the back of the room to walk me down the aisle, give me away, and then step around to the front and make sure he didn't get me back. She made it as far as the front row, found Jeffrey's mom, and spent the rest of the wedding on her lap.  She was fine afterwards.

We remember the lovely ladies who baked and help serve our cakes.  And punch.

We remember that our parents were younger than we are now.  How is that even possible?  Though Dad didn't have much hair even back then.  

And we remember that our wedding day was just the beginning of the life we would build together, and that is the most important thing of all.  It will be 27 years this June, and sometimes it seems like just yesterday.

I'm Not Used to Having a Little Guy Around

Jason spent the night last night, and most of today.  While I love having the little sweetie around, I realize that I'm not used to having a little guy around.  I have to watch him all the time.

Before his mommy left him, she said something about giving him a bath.  After dinner I checked the diaper bag to see if there was any baby shampoo - because I don't have any, not having babies in my house.  I found the shampoo, pulled it of the diaper bag, and set it on the end table next to the diaper bag.  Then I walked into the bathroom to see about getting it ready for a little boy's bath.

Don't ask me why I didn't just take the shampoo with me, but I didn't.  I was only gone for a very short time, but when I stepped back into the living room, I found a little boy playing in a puddle of baby shampoo on the floor.  In that short time, he had gotten the lid off the bottle - it's the kind of lid I always have trouble getting off when I want to, so how did he manage it so quickly?  Oh yeah, I am not used to having a little guy around.  (NOT complaining, mind you!)

I quickly took the open bottle of shampoo away from him, sopped up as much of the shampoo as I could with a washcloth, and ran the boy a bath, using the washcloth full of shampoo to make it a bubble bath.  Oh, and I put some bubble bath in, too.  Then I stripped the little guy down and put him in the tub, and used some of that shampoo to wash his head.

Then I let him play for a while. He had fun with the washcloth, the cup, and the ball, and he really seemed to like the bubbles. I just hung out with him and took some pictures.   Is there anything as adorable as a little person in the tub?

Maybe that same little person all wrapped up in a towel after the tub...