Church, tattoo convention, work party

That was my Sunday yesterday in chronological order. It was an interesting day to say the least.

10:00-11:30am
I love going to church. I've written about that before on here--how much I appreciate being able to go when I don't have to work. I don't know, I guess when you can't go (and not simply because you decided to sleep in) you realize how much you actually like it. My pastor just kicked off a series on generosity, which is always a needed reminder to not hold my possessions too tightly. To be honest, he could talk a lot longer and I would be happy to keep listening. He's low key and not over the top, but you can totally see his deep love for preaching God's Word. He's got a quiet yet intense passion for sharing God's Word. My week is always good if I can start if off with church.

2:30-5:30pm
My sister, Leah, and I went to the Minneapolis Tattoo Arts Convention, which wasn't as cool as you would think. My tattoo artists asked me to go and enter a contest for best female back piece. I've paid $20 to get into the MN Renaissance Festival, so I was expecting a little more for my money. This was the first tattoo convention I've ever been to, but Leah and I both weren't that impressed. It was kinda dingy, smelled like cigarette smoke (even though we were in a hotel), and there wasn't too much going on. It was definitely cool to look at all the portfolios--there are just some amazing tattoo artists out there! Unfortunately, the idea of good presentation was lost on some: Leah had one album falling apart in her hands as she turned the pages. I'm sorry, but if you don't care enough to present your work well, that reflects poorly on you as an artist and makes me question your care when inking somebody. I may be a bit biased but Beloved Studios, in my opinion, totally gets that. They had lovely look books for the three artists that were there.

So, I entered the contest...and did not win. But the pieces that beat me out were AMAZING! The lady who won first place had this fantastic full back tattoo (I'm talking from the tops of her shoulders to just above her butt). It was a tiger with a Japanese inspired landscape behind it; the thing looked like a painting, it was so rich and vibrant. She just looked like a an average middle aged Minnesotan, and then, bam!, crazy amazing tattoo. Kudos to you, lady!

Leah did find a vendor who sells some awesome earrings of the kind she likes.

It was cool to see all the awesome tattoos that were being shown off for the contests, but the announcer had such a foul mouth. I'm like, "Really?! This is a public venue--you're not sitting around drinking with your buddies. A little professionalism would be nice." It just amazes me the derogatory things directed at them that women will laugh at. But apparently that is the prevalent view for the types of people who were there. It saddens me that so many women accept that as normal and okay.

I wanted to show off my back without being immodest; it took me quite a while to find a shirt that covered me completely in the front. I'm proud of my tattoo and want people to see it, but I'm not going to walk around half naked to do so. Unfortunately, I seem to be in the minority. I respect myself and expect others to treat me respectfully as well. I'm also not going to go out scantily clad either. Part of getting respect is dressing like I deserve it. Anyways.

The best part of the whole thing was that I found an awesome birthday present for my other sister, Hannah. It's something you would not expect to find at a tattoo convention at all, yet it fits her to a T. And yes, her birthday isn't until October. What can I say, if I find something I know people will like, I just buy it and hang onto it.

So, I can say I've been to a tattoo convention, but I definitely won't attend that particular one again. It just wasn't worth $20 to get in and then pay $10 to enter a contest. Mainly I just went to support Beloved and show off their awesome work.

And part of me is like, why would you want to get a tattoo in that environment? You're only going to be able to get something small, because you have limited time. It's a loud, distracting, crowded place. At least for me, if I'm going to be getting needles stabbed into my skin, I'd prefer it to be somewhere more private and less chaotic. If I really like a particular artist and want to get a piece done by them, I'll save up my money and travel to wherever their shop is.

7:00-11:00pm
Yes, it was a Christmas party in January. When you work in retail, there's no way you could close early in December to throw your employees a holiday bash. It's actually pretty nice to have it now: the holidays are over, it's not so insane at work, people are more relaxed and in the mood to have fun. Half Price rented out a banquet hall at Grumpy's in Roseville. I thought it was nice and had a great time. I rarely see my co-workers outside of our job, so it was great to hang out and not have to talk about work related stuff. No grumpy customers, no bodily fluids to clean up, no massive book buys to sort through....just food and good company. I invited a former co-worker to come as my guest, and it was so awesome to see her! It was a great evening of hanging out and laughing a lot. I really am blessed to work at a place where I get along with all my co-workers so well. There can be so much drama in some work places, but at my store we tend to laugh more than anything.

It was a very full Sunday to say the least!