First blog ever! 


And maybe I'm six or seven years behind the creative energy train, but better late than never. As you may have read in that handy mini-bio off to the side, my name is Chloe. I am a lover of crafts, and as of today: a lover of kindness. Well, that has always been the case, but I was reminded of my deep affection for acts of kindness today in an unlikely way.


 My roommate, Suz (she's awesome, just saying), I went today to get her a swallow tattoo on her foot. It was also going to have "Jeremiah 29:11" beneath it. Upon arriving at Lady Luck tattoo in Spokane, her original drawing was rejected by the artist. Apparently, the swallow was simply too fat. So after some searching and redesigning, a new tattoo was created. And it looks fantastic!! Graceful and elegant, just like Suz's feet (and Suz herself ;D). 


When she asked  how much it would be, he asked her, "Well, what's your budget, love?" Suz said she had around ninety-five dollars in cash available, but when Noel (the artist) hemmed and hawed, we feared it would be a more expensive venture than we had thought. After a few moments of silence+the sound of the extremely confusing (big surprise, isn't that the point of the entire show?) episode of LOST playing in the background; Noel said "How about 66 dollars?" Suz was quite surprised and as a college student, incredibly overjoyed at the price.


Noel was a man in his late sixties with an appearance reminiscent of Santa Claus and a reformed member of Hell's Angels, with a saweet New Zealand accent to boot. He took one look at my foot tattoo (which I had had done by a different artist of Lady Luck) and announced that it was in need of a touch-up. And that it would be free of charge. Awestruck by the idea of a free session, I agreed to it. He then proceeded to fill the blotches left by scabs coming off a bit too early (Note: if you ever get a tattoo, neva' eva' eva' pull those scabs off early! You will thank me when your tattoo emerges fully inked and blotch free after the scabs (naturally) fall off. Gross, I know. But worth it, yes.) 


Back to the free-of-charge touch-up. Noel, who turned out to be a needle wielding DaVinci, completely redid my tattoo, giving the birds a lifelike quality, and the letters a bolder and more graceful curve. In the end, I was given a ink that I no longer just Like, but an ink that I feel wonderful about. And when I asked if I owed him anything at all for the beautiful work, he replied: "Love, I'm not American (haha, slight snub- but sadly true). I'm a firm believer that no one should be charged to be content with something. You deserve to be completely happy, and there should be no price on that." 


I now understand why he looked so similar to Santa Claus.


Pics to come when I stop bleeding! Huzzah!


Love, 


Chloe