Dragon Fantasy tattoo Pictures

Dragon Fantasy tattoo Pictures

Bully's

I know everything happens for a reason. What I really want to know is the reason behind why my kid has been bullied since he was in grade school. WTF!!!

Sometimes this makes me question God.

Let me just say that, when schools toot their own horn about being a “Bulley Free” school they are most likely full of shit.

Is it my childs fault that he has always been just a little bit smaller than the other kids his age? I mean hell that’s genetics, there is nothing he can freakin do about that. Is it cause he’s a “pretty boy”, or cause he dresses too nice or maybe it's his natural athletic ability that makes other boys jealous? I do not know.

What I do know is the constant bulling since he was young has made him become someone who wants to just blend in. Does that not break your heart.


As a parent you can only do so much. I have had many dealings with the school and teachers, because if you get too involved then you actually make things worse. It is such a helpless feeling as a parent, to not be able to protect your kid.

My son is now in High School. It’s his first year. He went out for soccer and made the JV & Varsity team as a freshman. Pretty good right? He also makes really good grades. One would think, what’s not to like.

The reason I am writing about this is, in the past the bullying has only consisted of verbal abuse. Once in Jr. High he got shoved. Well last week my baby, kid, son got jumped in the parking lot at school. In the area of the buses. Where all the freakin teachers are supposed to be to keep an eye on things.


Well………… Where the hell were they??

Once again someone dropped the ball in doing their part. I know, I know High School is a new ball game. I get it.

My son isn’t so small anymore in size but still smaller than most his age.

There is no feeling in the world like the one where your child calls you at work to tell you they have been hurt by the hands of another human being.

As I got this phone call, my mind was reeling. I am 30 minutes away from home. I’m racing there with all the “what if’s” going thru my mind. Knowing how long it will take me to get to him.

What if there is internal bleeding?
What is he has a concussion?


And then the


How embarrassing for him. To have this happen in front of everyone.

In the end, I took him to good ole urgent care, who wouldn’t see him since there was going to be a police report involved. The told us to go to the ER. I don’t know about you but I am a frequent flyer of the ER cause of my health. So my family it all to familiar with the length of time it takes to get seen. Then there is the now increasingly expensive co pay of $200.

So as my son and I sit in the parking lot I look at him and ask him what he thinks. I do my own assessment of how he really is.
Can we avoid the ER?

Yes, this is freakin sad. That the world has come to this, where we can’t afford to go to the ER, unless your freakin dying. We are not poor by any means. But when your co pay is $200 dollars you better be dying before I am walking thru those doors and paying them that kind of money to sit and wait to be seen for 5 hours minimum.

I am not a bad mother. I am actually one of those over protective mothers. I would take my son if he really needed it.


So he didn’t have a black eye. He only had one cut and it didn’t need stitches. It appeared he didn’t have a concussion or any internal bleeding.

So we went home.

Of course I still watched him like a hawk the whole night. That is the freak in me coming out.

In the end I got with the school, met with the principal. Reminded them of how much their no bulling program sucked and then pressed charges against this other kid. Only after I asked the police officer what will happen if I were to press charges.

I wanted to make sure that this child would be taught a lesson and get help to deal with his obvious anger issues and called it a day.I do know that the school ultimately is not the only one at fault. The parents of these kids are the ones that are also at fault.

I know shit happens for a reason.

But

 it doesn’t make it any easier

 when the shit happens

to your baby.

Unusual view of a fire hydrant I photographed in San Francisco:

BoSu

I’m here today to Pimp the “Bosu” ball.

I have seen ppl in my gym using them, and I thought they looked interesting. Of course with the germ factor there is no freakin way I would use one that everyone else in the gym has gotten all there hairy sweaty bodies on. Then a runner friend of mine said her physical therapist had her using one and so she bought one.

I was definitely intrigued, but I wasn’t really sure what they were used for. Duh, yes I know they are for exercising. I’m not that stupid. I already have a “Yoga” ball at home. I use it on and off. So why would I really need another “ball”, and a half a ball at that.


So I had mentioned this to my sportsman maybe 2-3 times. Just in a casual convo, but at no point did I go on and on about really needing one. Then my fav holiday came around (Valentine’s Day) and my sportsman bought me one. Let me just say they are not cheap. Anyone who has been somewhat interested in them knows this.

This present completely surprises me; first off we had already agreed that we were not buying each other anything this year. Just a card, was what we discussed. So to say I was surprised was an understatement.


I finally get the ball out of the box and get it all blown up, and decide to give it a whirl. Let me also give this very important disclaimer. You should not allow your small dog (Chihuahua) to get on the ball with you. It stats specifically that small nails can pop your ball and for what this sucker costs I don’t think anyone wants their ball popped.

Did I mention that it came with a workout video also? So I decide I’m gonna give it a go, for a few minutes. Just to see how it works. Next thing I know, I’ve gone thru half the video in my t-shirt, underwear, and bare feet.

I however don’t recommend for beginners to use the the “Bosu” ball without clothes on. At least until you are better at your balance. Otherwise you’re looking at some nasty rug burns from falling off the thing.

So my sportsmans walks in and is dumb founded that this is what I chose to work out in. Now honestly I didn’t “choose” that to work out in. I was only going to watch the video for a moment. It’s just the exercises seemed so easy that I just got caught up in the moment.

Let me just give you this other warning , for first time users, be very careful not to over do it on the first day. It is sneaky like that, where you think it is so easy and then BAM, the next morning you can’t get out of bed and you feel as if a bus has run you down.

This is all due to the use of muscles that haven’t been used in oh, let’s say a decade (at least for me).

Don’t worry though; you should fully recover in a day or two. I’ll have to get back to you on how “quick” you will see results.

AS I haven’t seen any yet for myself.

WARNING

I’m thinking that maybe just maybe I should have plastered on my blog page “WARNING”!

 If you are the least bit sensitive then this blog is NOT FOR YOU!

Which is why my current dilemma has infuriated me. Ok, so it has done more than provoke me. I wouldn’t say that my blog writings are worse or better than others I have read. To me they are just average. No reason for alarm. Just a mixture of stuff. Some ha ha funny, some a little more serious, some factual informational stuff and some about family crap.

Maybe it’s because I am relatively new to this whole “Blogging” thing. I do not know. What I do know is, if you don’t like or aren't interested in what I write then don’t freakin read it. Pretty damn simple wouldn’t you think? I welcome comments all day long. What I don't accept is someone pissin and moaning cause they "think" I may or may not have written about them. Leave your comment and move on.

To those ppl I say, "Youre so vain, you  probably thought this blog was about you.

So after some commotion and re thinking who my true friends are. I have been compelled to change my old blog to invite only. Now that I have my new blog up and running , I swear this time I will be very cautious in who I give the link to.  That means absolutely NO co-workers!!

I’m sure in time (maybe 20 years from now) I will stop holding a grudge about what has transpired.

Its just I am one of those ppl who strongly believes in loyalty.

Once you break that with me, you may never get back in the “inner circle”. So basically, I will just cut you off.

Honestly,

they can’t blame me

for being banned,

 I warned them.

 

Yesterday on Twitter I asked Yoko Ono this question:
'What were your expectations from life as an artist before John walked into the Indica Gallery?'
Not sure if this was the answer I was looking for, but she replied:
'John walked into Indica for confirmation that we were on the same page.'
So there you have it.


Talking of pages, I've just started reading 'Suttree' by Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy is one of my favourite authors, for his immensely detailed descriptive powers and sense of time and place. His strength of imagination leads you to believe that he always writes from personal experience even though you know that can't be possible. Two of my favourite books are 'The Border Trilogy' (ok that's three books - but one story) and 'The Road', a powerful and heart-breaking book recently made into a film starring Vigo Mortenesen.
I was immediately hooked by the first short paragraph of the prologue to 'Suttree' for it's alliterative poetry, a hallmark of McCarthy's writing:

DEAR FRIEND now in the dusty clockless hours of the town
when the streets lie black and steaming in the wake of the
watertrucks and now when the drunk and the homeless have
washed up in the lee of walls in alleys or abandoned lots and
cats go forth highshouldered and lean in the grim perimeters
about, now in these sootblacked brick or cobbled corridors
where lightwire shadows make a gothic harp of cellar doors no
soul shall walk save you.

Have a wonderful weekend.

My darlings, what are you up to this weekend? Alex and I are going to Abbey's house to celebrate Febgiving, which is basically Thanksgiving in February! Her friends made it up. Isn't that a great idea? Hope you have a relaxing weekend, and here are a few great posts from around the web...

The top ten mispronounced foodie words.

Wow, holy bedroom makeover!

What a lovely wedding (with orange shoes).

Oh, Nutella snack drink, where have you been all my life?

Good to know when climbing trees.

Grace Kelly would have liked this pencil skirt.

Flower pinata.

Funny shopping moment in the UK.

Loving J. Crew's "real models" series.

Beautiful bookstore cafe.

Loving these old-school toys.

Another adorable Olympics commercial. What a great song.

The cutest cross-country road trip proposal story.

Plus, five Cup of Jo posts you may have missed.
* A well-dressed autumn.
* Wine tip.
* Venice underwater.
* A quote to remember.
* An Ode to the Indie.

(Illustration by Adrian Tomine, whom I spotted in a record store once. I awkwardly trailed him around but was too shy to say hello)

Winter weather

New York is having another blizzard today. Blarg. I'm about ready for winter to be over, aren't you? To make things a little cozier, I'm thinking of making cauliflower soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Plus, the women's figure skating finals are on tonight! Hope you guys are staying warm and cozy. xo
(Top photo by The Sartorialist)

Olympics commercial

This Olympics commercial is so sweet!

Went to see the Chris Ofili retrospective at Tate Britain yesterday. On the train on the way up I sent a Tweet to Danny DeVito (as you do) in response to something he'd said on Twitter, and immediately received a personal reply from him. Made my day. Chris Ofili came in second after that.

The exhibition is split into two parts. The first deals with the works that brought him international recognition as a young Brit Artist, the decorative pieces that make reference to his Zimbabwean roots and contemporary Black culture. The second section of the show has his more recent work that has left the decorative, elephant dung-adorned works behind. I like the first - large scale works layered with intricate patterns and collage elements - not sure that every piece needed the statutory lump of elephant dung attached to it, but all the major collections around the world that these are on loan from probably disagreed. Here is 'Afrodizzia' 2.4m x 1.83m. The medium is given as 'Paper collage, oil paint, glitter, polyester resin, map pins, elephant dung':

The second part of the show dealt with his recent series of works since his move to Trinidad alongside his mate Peter Doig. I'm sure I could detect a Doig-like influence breaking through these works, and much as I like Doig's work too, I don't like either of their post-Trinidad-move pieces. These are truly large scale works - the size of warehouse walls, and very disappointing. I just don't think he'd have made it on the back of these works alone. The jury's out. Here's one of the better one's I don't have the title of:

Still in San Francisco, here is my photo essay of Alcatraz [taken in 2006]:

City Hall wedding hair

Jess and Mike got married at New York's City Hall, and I love that she just wore her hair down. Beautiful and so relaxed.

(Photos by Heather Waraksa, via Oncewed)

Book covers

The baby was kicking, so I woke up super early this morning and spent a random hour looking through book covers online. So many hilarious and clever designs out there!

P.S. More + amazing + covers.

Flower power

Steven Alan's new floral underwear is so cute.

Aoccdring to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Iceland escape

My dad is obsessed with all things Iceland, and the country really does feel magical. This teeny house is perched on a cliff on Elliðaey, a southern island in Iceland. How amazing does it look? I'd love to ride a bike down that hill or lie in the grass at midnight.

P.S. Would you be brave enough to walk around the very edge?
P.P.S. More travel fantasies...

Pizza cones

A new eatery just opened in Manhattan, and they sell pizza cones. Not sure what to think (weird? awesome?), but I think I'll ride my bike up there today and try one.

Update: I went up there for lunch and got a mushroom pizza cone. At $6.40, it was expensive and sort of grody. The dough was bland and there wasn't enough sauce. Still, it was funny to try! xo

(Via Heartthrobs & Villains)

Maternity dress

Now that I'm six months pregnant, I've been craving something pretty to wear, so I just ordered this striped maternity dress from British online shop ASOS (which has a fabulous and not-too-expensive collection). My fingers are crossed that it fits when it arrives in the mail! :)

For other maternity clothes, I absolutely adore belly bands, which let you wear your regular jeans. Gap Maternity has cute shirts and leggings (I like how skinny they are at the bottom), and Target Maternity's long-sleeved tee has been my go-to shirt throughout my pregnancy (clearly).

Do you lovely ladies have any other recommendations? xoxo

It's Not Personal

“It’s not personal”.

Who really says that? I’ll tell you who, someone who is an ass, cause you know damn well that 99.9% of the time it was personal for someone.  It just wasn’t personal for the person who was saying it.

I really hate when people say that. How rude!

Why would someone really say that to another human being? One can only assume lack of respect or they just don’t give two shits about the person they were saying it to.

Which brings me to the word “Respect”. I will repeat what I tell my kids. You don’t have like someone or even agree with them, but you do have to be respectful towards them.

How do you respectfully tell someone “It’s not personal”?
I don’t think it’s possible.


Wouldn’t it be nice if the whole world operated that way, treated one another with respect. However, reality is people are just mean shitty pathetic sometimes.

I don’t claim to always be a nice person. My biggest fault is being brutally honest when asked for my opinion and even sometimes when I’m not asked for my opinion.


I am not afraid to speak my mind. I know I could probably use a filter sometimes on the things I say, but I don’t intentionally set out to be mean or make someone feel bad, by any means.


Soooooooo back to the kind of people who say “It’s not personal”. When I hear someone say those words I want to run right up to them and give them a big dose of reality.


You thought I was going to say I was going to kick their ass. To be honest I was thinking it. However I would never do that. Seriously, for real. I am 40 you know, getting into a fight at my age could be very damaging. Brittle bones you know.

So next time you are in a situation where someone says,

“It’s not personal”

I recommend that you tell them

to go fuck themselves and

then give them a big smile.

Also tell them that Jesus loves them.

I bet that will forever change their life.

How to look confident

Want to hear a fun fact? New York Magazine recently published 50 steps to simple happiness, and they offered this funny trick: If you leave your mouth in that slightly upturned position it takes after saying 'Cheez Whiz,' you'll look relaxed and confident. Huh, who knew? Could be great if you were walking into an interview or feeling nervous at a party.

(Photos by Lucie Camp and Anna Melcon Bond)

Wedding kisses

I will never get tired of photos of wedding kisses.

(Photos by Our Labor of Love)

A nice ad [click on it for a bigger image]:

Full Back Skeleton Tattoos Pictures

choose Full Back Skeleton Tattoos Pictures for your tattoo

Still in San Francisco, and following on from Raoul's Café in Little Venice, here is the next in occasional pieces on my favourite cafés and bars. Vesuvio's bar on the corner of 255 Colombus Avenue and Jack Keroac Alley, sits next door to the famous City Lights Bookstore founded in 1953 by Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the first all paperback bookstore and still the home of the Beat movement. Vesuvio's was established in 1948. In 1955 Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarity in 'On the Road' by Jack Keroac) stopped at Vesuvio's on his way to a poetry reading and at this point it became the official bar of choice for the Beat writers.


It was here that Jack Keroac once spent a long night in 1960 when he should have been on his way to Big Sur for a meeting with Henry Miller. Miller had written to Keroac saying he'd enjoyed reading The Dharma Bums and would like to meet the emerging writer. Keroac continued drinking and calling Miller on the hour saying he was delayed. They didn't meet that night.


The interior is warm and woody and welcoming. A long bar on the ground floor is overlooked by a gallery running around the first floor. The walls are covered in photographs and an impressive original art collection. Two friends and I managed to get a regular table on our visits at the far end of the bar, sitting beneath a portrait of Keroac himself. This is the very table, and I'd quite like to be there now:


Our visits to this great bar inspired this poem at the time:

Sidetracked by Keroac

In the dingy darkness
and dark dinginess of Vesuvio's
his ghost is omnipresent.

Would-be poets and writers
cloak themselves in the atmosphere,
connect with the fabric, the myth,
hoping something will rub off,
stain their imagination.

Libby brings another pitcher -
Where are you guys from?
They make small talk but only see
her bare arms and shoulders,
the way her breasts sit snug
in the skimpy red top.

Across the road the neon flickers -
Adult DVDs - love eggs in their nest.
The Tiffany lamps and the photos
lend a cosy ambience to the bar,
warm against the rivulets of rain
tracking down the windows.

Libby brings another pitcher -
she has a winsome smile.
Later, three would-be poets negotiate
the length of the bar, stagger
towards the exit, none the wiser.

Have a lovely weekend!

My sweet readers, what are you doing this weekend? I got back from Florida this afternoon, and Alex and I are going out for Italian tonight. Nothing better than lasagna on a Friday night. :) Hope you have a wonderful weekend, and here are a few great posts from around the web...

Pretty Australian homes.

Feeling knotty.

Ooh, red glasses. Now there's a thought.

A history of Obama feigning interest in mundane things.

Raspberry fingers.

Fashion inspired by the movie An Education.

Weekend getaways from New York. (Yes, please.)

Fashematics makes me laugh.

Belt rack.

Maps.

Built by Wendy's new collection.

How to really love a child.

Genius art-history poster.

Jeffrey Monteiro.

This French film looks adorable. (Just craving subtitles.)

Who is the cutest?

The sweetest marriage proposal. Congratulations, Christina!

Plus, five Cup of Jo posts you might have missed:
* Dunton Hot Springs.
* Avocado toast.
* 3-D business cards.
* A messy French bun.
* Your own bike lane.

Sending you all a big kiss! xoxo

(Paris photo by Jake Messenger)

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

Do you know what a shaved pussy cat looks like? Better yet do you know what it costs to shave a cat?

Well, everyone you can see it right here on my blog. 

This is my moms cat sofie. She has ringworm. 

Can you see all the nasty shit fungus on her back? Cause that is what ring worm is, a freakin fungus.

I know your thinking that is completely disgusting right? Well I'm thinking the cats new "shave" job makes her look like one badass cat.

Look at that tale. I bet she could open up one big can of whoop ass on you with that tale and of course she is related to me, so you should seriously watch yourself.

Poster love

This print really rings true.

(Via Abby Sharp. Photo by the Sartorialist)