dublin tattoo magic

Happy Thursday! How are you doing? Are you taking time to check-in with yourself and give yourself the care, love, and attention you need? If not, it’s perfectly okay to set aside time for yourself to do whatever you want/need to do during ‘me time.’ If you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s blog post - “How-to: DIY Pallet Garden” - you can click right here to read all about how much fun I had creating my very own pallet garden! Also, if you didn’t get the chance to cast your free daily vote for me to be the next #MaximCoverGirl, you can click here to vote or click here to read about why it’s important to me (and then vote!). You can vote once every twenty-four hours for free, and I’d be so grateful for your support! I'm still in the running and in the top 10 of my group! Voting for round 3 ends TONIGHT, Thursday June 18th, so I’d love your support to make it through to round 4! Thank you for everything so far!!

Yesterday’s post was a bit of a break from the norm, but I figured if I’m going to start off my blog posts encouraging you to set aside some ‘me time’ for yourself, I may as well show you the results that come out of my very own ‘me time…’ besides all the iron I collect on Animal Crossing, that is. If you read my post from Tuesday about spending time with my friend Emily in London, it was a nice way to close out my London travels, though it would not be the last time I visited London in my year living abroad! More on that to come in another post. For now, let’s head back to Dublin, my home sweet home away from home!

Anyone who knows me knows I have a fondness for folklore. There were many nights in my twenties where I would get an Uber or Lyft ride home from a night out with friends where I would regale drivers with tales of the Chupacabra. It’s not a coincidence that I play a weekly game of Dungeons and Dragons with a couple of my friends from Dublin via video chat where we’re Bard Elves and Druids who fight off goblins and other beasts using magic and cunning (and perhaps a little music). Before I traveled to London, I actually treated myself to a new tattoo to mark and celebrate my time living in Ireland.

When I first stumbled on Buse’s artwork, I was blown away by the beauty and minimalism of her work, as well as her immaculate attention to detail. I immediately reached out to her in September and after a few back-and-forth messages, I was able to book an appointment a month later (just before my trip to London and before Halloween). She books up appointments really quickly, so I felt incredibly lucky. I immediately knew I was in good hands when she asked a number of questions about size, placement, and design. I sent her horrible clip art images to try and describe what I wanted, and when she e-mailed me back her mock-up idea based on what I wanted, I was blown away. It was even better than I had originally imagined with me only having to give one additional note about what I wanted to be on the siren's tail.

Meeting with her and having her do my new tattoo was not only an easy, comfortable experience because of my previous experience getting tattoos; it was because she was so great. We ended up talking the entire time about my reasons behind wanting the tattoo I wanted and how I believe there’s so much real-life magic in the world and life (even though my tattoo was of 3 “mythical” creatures). Not only was Buse a talented artist and tattoo artist, she was an incredibly kind person. If you’re ever in Dublin wanting a tattoo and she has an appointment, leap at the opportunity. You won’t be sorry.

Tattoos aside, have you ever encountered an artist whose work blew you away? If so, I’d love to know. Subscribe in the e-mail submission box below and reach out, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so happy you're here and that I’ve been getting a lot of really great, fun-to-read stories, questions, and feedback from a community all over the globe from all different chapters of my life (and from people I don’t know *yet*)! The other stories of people’s travels that I’ve gotten to read via e-mail, text, tweet, DM, etc. recently bring me such smiles, and I am so grateful for all of it! I hope I get to hear all about the crazy stories you’ve been thinking about as we’ve been on this virtual journey together! I couldn’t do this without you! So THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you.

And please, if you have 10-15 seconds to spare, I would really appreciate your daily vote for me to be Maxim Cover Girl 2020. Click here to vote! Voting for round three ends TONIGHT, Thursday June 18th, and I would really appreciate your help and support as I continue to try and become the next #MaximCoverGirl by moving ahead into round 4! Thank you for your support! Click here or on the photo above to vote!

Sincerely,

Johny

P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):

1. Won't you join me?

2. grateful for starbucks and sandymount strand

3. Once Upon a December in the National Gallery

4. plant a smooch for that gift of gab

5. may the 4th be with you: Dingle style

6. cinco de mayo: the best Mexican food in Dublin

7. pizza in roma

8. mussolini’s window and the philosophers’ metro stop

9. father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife

10. it's the vatican, not the vatican't

11. spoiler alert: i did not lose my hand

12. more pizza and gelato and Neptune, oh my