I must say that last weekend has to be the most perfect weekend I’ve had in a long time. Friday we got our tattoos. Saturday, that was pretty uneventful, but we did stop at Best Buy for a few things - added on to my Dylan collection. From zero, to 4 albums heh.

But Sunday, Sunday was grand!
We both got up really early, around 8. We headed to St. Paul - first we stopped at the Black Dog for some coffee and breakfast burritos, then we walked across the street to the farmer’s market and stocked up on things. It’s early in the growing season, so there aren’t a lot of fruits or vegetables, but we did end up with about $60 worth of meat - mainly from Prairie Pride Farms - they have some incredibly wonderful meat and their barbecue sauce can’t be beat.

After that, we were off to Swank Interiors where we picked up some wonderful modern vintage items. Swank sells things from the 50s, 60s, and 70s mainly. I’ve been looking for a few things, one of them something to put my sugar/flour/etc in, and that’s when we
spied these guys - Sugar, Flour, and Coffee tins. Remember these things growing up? I know my grandma had a set, only hers was green. We’ll use the sugar and flour tins for their intended purpose, but the coffee tin will probably end up holding tea bags, since I have a ton of them in my cupboard.

I’ve got a thing for older clocks, especially the ones with the date/time numbers that ‘flip’ down into position. Mishka pointed this one out, and I had to have it - the owner even gave it to us at $10 off what she had it listed for. It looks a little rough right now, but I intend to pick up a few things and restore the plastic to like-new condition - it’ll be grand. The only thing that could be better is if it was orange.

We also picked up a few other things, which you can see on this flickr set, but the one thing I really dug was these candle sticks.
You may or may not be able to tell by looking at this smaller photo, but the base of the candle sticks are made from an actual gear from some now no longer used machine. As a result, they are very heavy and a tad steampunk in a way I find perfect.

While at Swank, we also learned that next weekend there’s the “St. Paul Retro Loop” - it’s a yearly event where 5 retro/vintage stores in that particular area have sales and cross-promote themselves. You’ll find everything from vintage furniture to retro clothing, LPs, appliances, and general kitsch. We were in the market for a particular style of bookcase, which happens to be in the warehouse, so next week we’ll do the retro loop, ending at Swank where she’ll take us over to the warehouse. While we’re there, I’ll casually mention how I like to take photos, drop her card, and let her know I’d be happy to help inventory all of their items. Michelle will need contacts like these, and the people that hang out there are fun and funky, so I think it would be a great time.

Afterwards, we went home and unloaded our goods, then headed back out - this time to Valley Natural Foods. Valley is an organic co-op, one of 8 stores located in the Twin Cities area. They specialize in natural foods, organically grown, with a focus on local farmers. There’s one literally 5 minutes from my house. I’ve driven by it many times, stopped a few, but thats about it. This time, we bought a membership and now own 4 shares of stock in the company - and more importantly we plan to do all our shopping there from now on. We’ve been trying to eat healthier over the last couple of weeks and I’ve really noticed it - I wake up early on the weekends, need less sleep, have more energy, it’s been grand.

Other then that, everything is same old same old, though I have been spending entirely to much money on gig posters lately, but there are so many absolutely gorgeous ones out there, and the price is right! (Not to mention: Having a girlfriend who can decipher all of the different types and weights of paper and printing processes really helps, too.)

When I got my first tattoo, I was 20. It cost $125, and was a lot of money.

Yesterday, 10 years later, I got my second tattoo. It was $280, and not a lot of money.

So, catching myself looking through tattoo designs, I think I might have gotten the tat-bug again.
Only this time, I can afford it, easily.

So now, I need to figure out what to get next. The current one, the phoenix, was easy. A phoenix immolates itself, then rises from the ashes. I was almost dead, but now I’m stronger then ever.

So now begins my search….

Check it out, click on the pic to see the full size pic. Mishka got a new tat too, but it’s hard to get excited about that - and I can’t put up but a few pictures, because most of them show her bazongas. See the whole set over on Flickr. Loving this tribal phoenix :). Done at the Ink Lab on Lake by Saul.

Ok, now I’m having some annoying problems with everything aligning right. So you’ll have to put up with it unless I can figure it out. I’m assuming if I write enough here, that it will eventually correct itself. Of course I could mess with the code, but I’m tired and I don’t really feel like it. Let’s see if this works now.

It works, but not like I wanted it to. Screw you justification!

Come June 26th, I’ll be in Washington D.C. to help lobby the restoration of Habeas Corpus. Want to help fight? You can too - and the transportation is on ACLU.

Tonight though, I think it’s time for a new tattoo!

So, Sunday we went to Grand Old Day in St. Paul. It was, to say the least…. ok, I guess. There was a tiny art show with an art car and a few craft booths, but other then that it was mostly bland modern music and booze. It truly was a sea of drunken college kids - though there were a couple of girls in bikinis in a kiddy-pool, so that was cool.

We ate at Grand Thai - it was mostly empty as the entrance was behind a large stand that sold lemonade and fried cheese curds. I order the Red Curry, hot, and was pleasantly surprised with just how good it was! It may be the best curry I’ve had to date - real fiery with an overall sweetness from the coconut milk that really cooled it down - I loved it. Mentally added it to my ‘list of places to go’.

Ever since I was wrenched from my bed early on Sunday to deal with some oncall issues at work, I just haven’t felt right - been sort of tired and a general ‘worn out’ feeling. Hopefully it fades for this weekend.

There’s a ton more to read - this was a real mental dump - click below to see it all.

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