Stung by Arizona Living

Hello Lovelies.

I can't believe I haven't had a chance to actually sit down in front of my computer and type up a half way decent update post. Some of that being because I haven't had very much spare time and second being that our new internet company is a piece of dog poo. I can't even back up my IPhone on our personal home internet so here I am sitting in McDonald using their free Wi-Fi. A sweet old man is sitting in front of me randomly glancing in my direction in hopes that I will start up another conversation but respectful enough to understand that I am typing away. He reminds me of home, which brings tears to my eyes. A lot has happened since the end of May and I have so much to share. Let's start from the beginning of our oh so crazy summer.

In June we loaded up our pups, all of our belonging, at least what is left,  and headed back to the melting state of Arizona. The drive was horrible and scary at times, we decided to tow a trailer instead of renting a U-Haul truck and our check engine light came on as we entered New Mexico. Travis was freaking out and honestly inside I was too but I kept reminding him that if we break down at least we were close to his family and our friends. We made it safely to my father in laws house around 1 am and immediately unpacked the trailer. I never remember that it is so much easier to unload something compared to packing it up. Staring at all of our belongs sitting in a 6x12 area in my father in laws garage was a little bitter sweet, we left almost everything behind. You would think that after three times of leaving almost all of your belongs behind and starting over, a girl would be use to this feeling but I wasn't.

After a month of catching up with family and friends, visiting some of our favorite Arizona restaurants, and applying for a handful of jobs, I was offered a position with two different companies. I waited in line for a pre screening drug test and a few days later was provided a start date for a Tech Support Company. A few days later Travis was also offered a position with a different Tech Support Company and the madness began. Originally our schedules were supposed to be very similar but in the end we dealt with a month of opposite shifts and opposite days off. We barely saw each other and the company I signed on to was slowly showing its true colors. I couldn't take it. After three weeks of working I decided that I made a bad employment decision and I needed a change. Lucky for me, the applications I previously put out into the world had been picked up and I was called in for an interview. I was hired on the spot and couldn't be happier with my decision to take the position. Last night I gave my resignation and handed over my badge, it was a lesson well learned.

I begin my new position Tuesday and the schedule is guaranteed to be very similar to Travis's, the only thing we may have to fight for is the same days off. In the long run though, I would take being able to see him every evening than being on opposite schedules with no sight of each other. At this very point is when the older gentleman in front of me decided to strike up a conversation again. Today though is a new day and I plan on doing a lot of Pokémon Go Hunting. Oh did I not mention that we are addicted to the popular game, it is more a competitive addiction. If you haven't choose to go to a park and Pokémon Hunt with your spouse instead of going to a movie, you haven't lived yet. We seriously can not get enough of it, we are also looking forward to being able to go to city Pokémon events. It sounds cheesy but don't knock it until you try it.

Now that we are settled into our little condo on the side of an Arizona mountain preserve, we are happy to be back in the beautiful state of Arizona. I miss my family and Oklahoma friends like crazy but I know that moving to Arizona was the best decision for us. Except for the time that I was stung by a scorpion 6 times while trying to lay down for bed this past week. Travis almost had a mini heart attack when we couldn't locate the little devil after calling poison control. When we finally did locate it, we did as poison control advised and haven't ran into another one since. You best believe that we black light our bed before climbing in every single night now and our bed set is washed frequently.

10 Things I Never Want To Do Again

Over the last 24 years I have learned my lesson more than 10 times and I am sure I will continue to learn. There are things I have done that I am not proud of but I am not ashamed of them. Most of them I do not wish to repeat as they will only end the same way while others may end in a better light. You can't change the past though and I don't wish to. Some of my lessons are humors while others are quite serious either way, let me share with you a few things I would rather not repeat in my life time.



1. Get Married : Every since I was a little girl I dreamed of finding my "True Love" at a young age and growing old together. Never separating, divorcing, or even taking a break, that love that works out anything. At the age of 15, I found the man I now call my husband and so far my dream has came true. We have worked hard for what we have and even though we may not agree on everything we also compromise to work past it. Our wedding was a big event and one day I hope to renew our vows but as for the whole marrying another man, I don't wish to repeat that.

2. Roommate with a Stranger : Travis and I have had a handful of roommates since starting our "adulting" life. First it started out with long time friends than one thing lead to another and we opened our home to three strangers over the last 6 years. One of them were out of our hands but later became unmanageable and the other two were strangers we thought we knew but we were wrong. We wasted thousands of dollars trying to help others but only getting disrespected in the end. I am sure I should turn our room-mating experiences into a full post because there is so much to share. Both good and bad but the bad ones impacted us so much that we have made an agreement to never open our doors to someone we didn't have a history with, unless it is an emergency circumstance. If we can help it, living in a house with no roommates is our dream that we plan to make a reality. I mean heck we have been the only lease holders on everyone of our homes (other than my brother in law when he shared a house with us) and yet we let these people negatively impact our lives numerous times.

3. Ride on Top of a Car : Not much to explain here. In high school I had a good friend who was five months older so he received his Driver license sooner. We would take his car and drive to the closest park to do stupid stuff. Ride on top of the hood or roof was a reoccurring event. It was fun but completely stupid. We were lucky we never fell off and cracked our heads open or got ran over. I never want to test that luck again and I only get more fragile with age. 

4. Get a Tattoo from a House Artist : I go into detail a lot more about about my experience with getting a tattoo from a house artist in this post. After that experience I swore to always do my research and never go to an artist that didn't have years of experience that I could see on paper and skin. Shops also provide a sense of safety and tend to be more health aware.

5. Self Harm or Self Hatred : I have always been a larger pant size than the "average" girl my age. Even in middle school and high school when I was extremely active in Basketball and Softball, I could never seem to be "skinny". I hated the way my body looked even my breasts which I constantly got approached about. They were too big, and so were my thighs, hips, and stomach. I had my moments when I was proud of my body because rarely any girls my age had been developed like I was. That would quickly change because the more confident I became about my womanhood the more I was hit on and treated rudely by both boys and girls. I would go home and cut my inner thighs because the pain I felt from the cut helped me not to focus on the pain I felt about my own self. Once I got older and especially when I meet Travis, I learned to love certain things about my body. I learned to not focus so hard on what other people liked about my body. It is my body and I am the only person that should truly love my body. So in 2008 I vowed to never harm myself especially over something so silly like what other people think of my body. 

6. Own a Large Snake : For my sixteenth birthday I gathered up all of my birthday money and decided to buy a snake. My step father at the time owned a large constrictor and I fell in love with having one. My mom agreed to the purchase probably had no idea I would come home with a 12 foot albino python. After a year of growth, she reached up to 16 feet and my step fathers snake reached over 20 feet long. They both became so big and at times dangerous that we had to donate them to a local zoo. I understand the dangers of having a snake that large and don't wish to experience the uneasiness again.

7. Wear Braces : After having braces for 6 1/2 years I never want to have them again. This one is pretty plain and simple so no long description or reason why is needed in my opinion. They hurt like a B***h and were constantly cutting up the inside of my mouth. I was teased for having them but I always tried to remember that the pain would be worth it in the end. It was but I don't wish to repeat it.  

8. Stay at a Job I can't Stand : In 2006 I began my first "real" job at an lighting office where my mom was the office manager. I worked the entire summer coping and organizing paperwork, it wasn't the best job I have had but I loved it. When the summer ended I picked up some seasonal work at a Halloween and event store. I got to help people pick out what the wanted to be for Halloween or what gross stuff to decorate their house with. It was awesome, but the position was only available for three months. That following summer I started working at a grooming and daycare shop for pets. It wasn't easy work and it got a little messy but I loved every moment of it. Who wouldn't want to spend their day playing with dogs and get paid for it? When the company began to have financial problems I started looking for a new job. Luckily it didn't take long and I was offered a position working in a sandwich shop. I stayed for two years and enjoyed it before I choosing to leave for a better paying job. At first the job was interesting and at times fun but slowly it became something that I hated. If it wasn't for the people I worked with I would have went crazy. I was treated horribly buy potential clients and the companies leadership only cared about themselves. Big changes happened and I was eventually able to quit due to uncontrollable circumstances. Now I work for a company that at times drives me crazy but I love what I do and the people I work with.

9. Try Hardcore Drugs : For a short year or so in high school I experimented with one or two things and I made a big mistake that cost me my senior year experience. I don't regret what I did because I wouldn't be where I am today but I will never repeat it. This is another story I will have to save for another day.

10. To Sign an Agreement Before Sleeping On It : Over the last six years I have signed a few agreements, most of them being rental agreements. There were times were I took the agreement home and went over it a few times with Travis while others we signed on the spot. There were times where it worked out and others that we wished we would have paid more attention. As I get older more and more agreements seem to be coming up and reading them can be boring but it is worth knowing. Being burned is never fun and I don't wish to experience that again so reading every agreement that comes my way is a must.

There are probably more than ten things that I never want to do again but these are the appropriate ones that come to mind. Is there anything you have done that you never want to do again? 

7 Things You Should Ask Yourself Before Getting A New Tattoo?

Since I was a teenager getting a tattoo was a priority in addition to moving out of my parents and marrying my now husband. I loved everything about tattoos, the stories they tell and the beautiful art work artist create. The fact that they are permanent didn't scare me because I knew I would plan every one of them out perfectly. Once I turned eighteen, and I literally mean the moment I turned eighteen I got a tattoo. At 11:59 pm I was sitting in my tattoo artists house preparing to be tattooed at 12:01. My tattoo artist pierced my nose and had shown me a little book of all the tattoos she had done while living in New York. I was so excited that she was available to do my tattoo "under the table" because she was charging me a quarter of what I was quoted from "in shop" artists. Tattoos are expensive and I found that out really quick. I was working a minimum wage job, living with Travis in our own apartment, and barely getting by. I didn't have an extra $200+ laying around to waste on a tattoo so hearing that she would do it for only $60 was music to my ears. Looking back I wish I would have saved up the money and went the more expensive and professional route but I don't regret it. It taught me a lesson because after 3 hours of tattooing I had a crooked lined tri-cycle on my shoulder and it wasn't even finished. It wasn't what I dreamed of and now years later I am looking into getting it covered up. No artist will touch it unless I allow them to cover it up, because they can't promise good quality work if they work with what is already there.


When Travis and I decided to get a new tattoo, I really sat down and did my research. After a year I made the final commitment and contacted one of the best shops in Oklahoma City. We visited the shop before making appointments, meet the artists and looked at previous work on paper and on skin. Later that night we talked and agreed it was the right fit for us so we made an appointment. It wasn't cheap but it was good clean, quality work and I love it. I will have to do a touch up on it in a few years to make sure that it continues to stay bright and beautiful even for just words and I am okay with that. During the entire year of planning and preparing, I asked myself a handful of questions. I thought it would make for a good post and hopefully help out anyone who is considering getting a tattoo now or in the future.

Can you cover it up if you need to?

Even before I was old enough to get a tattoo this question was constantly in my head. I had and still have goals in life that requires a certain amount of professional appearance. Let's be honest, tattoos are still very "new" to the professional world even if they don't have any provocative or disrespectful meanings. When I first started working as a dispatcher and later a security officer tattoos were opened to be displayed as long as they weren't considered offensive to guests. Beautiful art work was displayed openly and guests commented on them daily, it was nothing short of wonderful. Recently though a new policy has been implemented that any employee who is visible to guests has to cover all piercings and tattoos. It sucks and even though I only have two tattoos, one of them visible it still had an impact. I had to wear a long sleeve shirt on every single day even when it was hot as an oven in the building. Even though I don't regret the placement of my tattoo, it is something I would recommend thinking about to anyone considering a first tattoo or a new one.


Will it delay or destroy any future career or personal goals you may have?
Let's continue with the question above because they kind of go hand in hand. Everyone in the world has career goals and always wants to excel. Professional bloggers want to have consistent traffic flow and growth, while creating a business and doing what they love. Athletic players, Movie Stars, and Singers want to have a large fan base, celebrity endorsements, and personal product lines. You and Me well we probably want promotions, better paying jobs, and career changers. Will your tattoos effect these from happening? It is kind of silly when you think about a piece of art work dictating if you advance or remain in place, but it's reality. Before getting your tattoo ask yourself if it will hold you back now or in the future.

When you get older will you dislike how it will look?

The internet is filled with badass 50+ men and women who are rocking amazing art work and some pretty sexy beards. (more men than women on that point) At the age of 24 how I look at the age of 50 shouldn't be on my mind but it is. Will my tattoos hold up to the way my body will change? Will the color be as appealing as they were when I first got them? The answer to that second question is probably not but I can keep it on point by getting touch ups and pre planning. Proper spacing, good quality work, and after care is the key to having tattoos that last.

Will your children, significant other, or family members be embarrassed or feel offended when they see your tattoo?

When you ask yourself this question also think about the reason why you are getting the tattoo. If you family is against equality and you want to get an equality symbol, do it! Don't allow someone's opinion on certain things dictate how you live your life and what you put on your body. I am not talking about those kind of things, more like words that the world see possibly offensive. Some of my friends during their younger years tattooed words like Slut, B**ch, F**k, and C**t. These words should bring a question mark to your brain. Now if you already have something like that on your body, no judgement coming from this corner of the world. People make mistakes and even if it wasn't a mistake, it tells a story.

Can you tell someone what your tattoo means, if they ask?

Both the tattoos on my body have a meaning behind them and I am not ashamed to tell each of their stories. The internet is filled with "cool" tattoos and their meaning to the person sporting them are most likely have a strong meaning for getting each and everyone of them. Heck I have even seen a tattoo and thought to myself, that would be a BA tattoo to get. After thinking for hours and hours I would slowly talk myself out of it especially when it comes to tattoos in other languages. Other languages or symbols are hard for me to wrap my head around for one simple reason. Is what I am getting tattooed on my body actually what I think it means? I have heard of the horror stories of friends who thought they were getting "love" tattoos and they mean dog, or nothing at all. True story right there. Always remember to do your research and I am not talking about asking the artist that is tattooing it. They probably don't care or don't even know.

How long will it take you artist to complete your tattoo? Can you stand the pain?

Tattoos hurt even if they provide pleasure at some point. In case that made no sense to you, when you get a tattoo your adrenalin pumps through your body rapidly and can provide a pleasure or numb feeling. Which is why some people say that they can be addicting. An average size tattoo with little detail can take about an hour to two. Large tattoos with more details have taken four times longer and numerous sessions. Beware though, sometimes spending to long on a tattoo can be dangerous and cause long term scaring and infection if not cared properly. What I have found helpful is going to a handful of tattoo shops and asking how long your tattoo should take. If one of them says an hour but three of them says three hours, I would choose one of the three hour shops. It sucks but its the truth.

Do you understand that it is permanent? 

Once you get a tattoo there is no going back well unless you have an extra $500 laying around and would like to sport a scar for a little while. The wrong tattoo or the wrong artist can cost you a life time of explaining and personal hatred. I have made this mistake and soon will be paying another artist $300 plus to have it fixed. When I was eighteen I was so excited to get a tattoo I took the word of a friend and went to someone who did tattoo out of their home. She had years of experience (so she said) and so looked professional as possible but after sitting in a chair for three hours and feeling like she was tattooing the same spot for twenty minutes straight. I ended up with an uneven shoulder tattoo that doesn't have a single straight line and is unfinished. The worst part is it has an incredible story behind it and it means the world to me but its not what I expected or wanted. Now I have to have it covered up because no artist will touch it in fear of making it worse. So before you make any final decisions, ask yourself if your willing to risk quality for a price discount.


If you are planning on getting a tattoo and have already asked yourself all of these questions then go for it. Get that tattoo appointment scheduled and share your finished work. Travis and I love seeing new art work especially when its something we have never seen before. If you read this and are confused or struggling to answer the questions above then simple sit back and think about. Even if it takes years, take as long as you need before putting something permanent on your body. You won't regret waiting and your older self with thank you.