Back to work!

I am finally getting back  into the shop after many long weeks of being too pregnant to tattoo weeks before labor and delivery, then having my baby Sonja to nurturing her and my healing body... I have lived vicariously through facebook to see what my peers have been up to. I  have been feeling so left out of my shop- while my shop  mates are going ape shit tattooing each other and doing some awesome pieces on new clients- the apprentice, Jessie growing so fast becoming a great little lady tattooist...I feel so prosperous, being able to leave my shop in the hands of Harry, Adam and Jessica while I go into a whole new world of Motherhood. I couldn't have done this without them.

Adam and Jessie tattooing Harry

Last picture I took before birth

Baby Sonja!

 Being pregnant and having a baby takes great strength to get through. I never have worked so hard for anything in my life- except for putting the shop together. My new endeavor is to marry the two things together now. Tattooing with a baby. I think it's going to more like raising a baby and tattooing. Not the other way... The shop turns five in two months which just adds to my high on life from all these working things- I am so fucking blessed to have what I have.

Winter oak

I have done a few tattoos upon being back at the shop, but I worked on the sleeves on the people that have been waiting so patiently for me. I can not wait to get rollin' on those pieces again. Sleeves are hard to take breaks from. So the tree is the first thing finished so far. I am hoping to catch up fast on the tattoos I will be working on this month and will try to stay on top of posting the freshness. :)

The beauty of pain

Sonja Dolores

I finally have done the most amazing thing a woman can possibly do- given birth.I have been looking forward to this throughout the whole pregnancy; a great endeavor on it's own. But I was so curious as to how I would handle labor and delivery.
It's funny because there are a lot of women that say to me, right before getting tattooed- If I have given birth, I should be able to sit through this tattoo. I always agreed, not really knowing the extent, but now I know there is absolutely no comparison.
For me pregnancy hurt. My back took the brunt of it, but I know most of that came from tattooing while pregnant. When I was just too pregnant to tattoo anymore which was 3 weeks before she was due, I stopped tattooing and my back instantly felt better.
So anyway, back to labor and delivery- I was hoping all the years and hours of tattooing all over my body would be some sort of preparation for birth, and it was in a way, but my labor and delivery ended up taking 36 hours so I don't think any of my tattoo pain or martial arts training would  have really helped after the first 20 hours of laboring. I breathed though it just fine until I reached 24 hours of contractions without any sleep.
The fatigue killed me, sending me into a trance to another dimension- Hell. I've been there before when getting my ribs tattooed but birthing is different, it's deeper. But the one thing that is the same with birthing and getting a tattoo is that all the pain is such a small price to pay for such beauty!
 I have now concluded that women ARE way tougher then men! Another question people ask me often at the shop.

Food for thought

For once, I am doing a write up on something else, besides tattooing! As if I have any other interests besides tattooing. Well, I do and a lot of them. The creativity doesn't stop at the shop- it follows me home and I like to get down in the kitchen! So this one is going to be about food.
I am a bit of a health foodie. I always believe you are what you eat. I did not always have this outlook but as an on and off again vegetarian and zero tolerance for gluten body- I have learned quite a bit on food stuff and would love to share this small amount of information.
When it comes to diet I believe variety is best. It takes time to eat this way and you must prepare hopefully at least 80-90% of your own food at home. In no way am I a nutritionist but I have had IBS since 2005 and have had to research quite a bit and  talking with other people about all the stomach/gastrointestinal stuff people are getting these days, I wonder often why people just don't change their diets instead of dealing with the pain!
Two very important things to be a part of your diet, is eat organic!
The next one is buy non GMO food!
It is expensive to do this but if you have a healthy diet and you consume non organics and GMO food
it kinda cancels out the the healthiness. So, read and check your labels.
Some things to totally avoid are:

• Gluten- it causes all kinds of problems, it is hard to digest, reaking havoc on your body and a lot of people don't know this. 

• Soy- soy is also hard to digest. It is not dairy but soy is a huge GMO product and has lost most of it's value. (Thank you, Mansanto!)

• Dairy- as we get older this is hard to digest. 

• Sugar- check labels and go for lower sugar intake!

• Yeast extracts and Starch- Try to find products without yeast in them. Especially if you are a woman. Starches are also hard on your body, and if you eat gluten free (GF) like I do, a lot of GF products are made out of a lot of starchy flours!

I recommend drinking almond/coconut milk (they have a mix blend) because it has no sugar in it and has a thicker consistency other than rice milk, which has sugars in it... Blue diamond makes a great one.

BIG RED!

GO GREEN!

• Rice~ eat a good brand, like Lundberg and brown!  It's your new best friend. Rice is another product that has been so tampered with, make sure to get the good stuff. White rice is treated with chemicals. 
• Yogurt~ eat Greek yogurt, it is high in protein and low in sugar. Other yogurts are loaded with sugar. Try to get something under 9g of sugar. I like to stay in the 6g of sugar range and then I dress my yogurt up with fresh fruit.
• Meat~ I eat meat sparingly and when I do I spare no expense. And I usually take a couple years off from eating meat and then I will gradually add it to my diet for a year and then repeat the cycle. 

Juice~ Probably shouldn't even have any unless you make it yourself, so get yourself a juicer! I juice twice a week and it is the best. I would suggest investing in some really good teas and make iced tea yourself for the fridge. Teas are loaded with antioxidants, etc. and I go for herbal non caffeinated tea that you can dress up with lemon or fruit yourself.


Big Red recipe:                                                        Go Green recipe:
2 big beets                                                               Handful of spinach
1 cucumber                                                              Handful of parsley
1 big fuji apple or two smalls                                    3 celery stalks
Small piece of ginger                                                1 cucumber
                                                                               1.5 big fuji apple