First Trip to Camp Driftwood

Continuing the "best summer ever" we spent last weekend in Leesburg, Alabama at Camp Driftwood. That is the name of our friend Josh's parent's new lake house. I hope it is the first of many! There was talk of returning in the fall for kayaking and campfire. Lovely.

Saturday we rented a pontoon to cruise around Lake Weiss. It was so fun! Like I mentioned yesterday, Priscilla was out on it for a while. When we came back to our dock to make lunch I dropped her off so she wouldn't get too exhausted and we went out again!

This is Billie! She belongs to Lauren and Josh and is a frisbee catching swimming maniac! She is so beautiful and sweet.

Varuca came too! She is the puppy we found in our backyard if you remember. She has gotten so big already! She used Priscilla's life jacket too.

It was such a beautiful day, pretty much until we parked the boat and got out to swim. Then it got dark and started raining out of nowhere. Wah! We waited it out and it finally stopped. It was pretty dark for a while, but it was still a great day for swimming.

I got so many photos of Travis leaping off the boat, but this one is my favorite! Look at that form!

It might look like it was just me, Travis, Crystal and Marc, but there were four other people there! I just don't know how much the others like pictures of themselves in their bathing suits online. I know the four of us don't care, ha!

This picture makes me laugh! Look at Travis just tipping off the edge! And Marc looks like a cherub flying by!

Billie stood at the top of the stairs with her frisbee. You can't come up unless you throw it!

Boat ladies! Look at Billie's perfect selfie face.

Boat! When I was growing up my grandparents had a pontoon boat and we rode on it a lot. I wish they still had it!

The fun wasn't done once our boat rental was up. They had this nice dock to swim off of! That big blue thing is a trampoline! The lake was really low (it is a man made lake and they let the water go down as it gets into fall) but it was perfect for floating.

I love this photo! Look at that sweet puppy!

I wish we could have stayed a few more days. There is nothing like swimming and laying out on the dock to dry off.

The cabin has this wonderful HUGE picnic table and grill. We made hot dogs for lunch twice, and grilled pizzas for dinner.

I'm real into these Stiegl Radlers. Perfect summah drink.

We had to leave all too soon on Sunday. Here's to Camp Driftwood! May your flag fly forever!

Priscilla's Big Weekend at the Lake!

This past weekend Travis and I were invited to spend the weekend with friends at a lake house in Alabama. I have always wanted to take the pugs swimming to see if they like it but I don't know a dog friendly swimming hole in Nashville, and since pugs overheat so fast I don't want to take them on a long trip and risk heat exhaustion. This was the perfect place! The lake house was right on the water so I could pop Priscilla right back in the air conditioner if she got too hot! Phyllis didn't get to come because she doesn't like big dogs and there was a big sweet golden retriever there the whole weekend (you'll see her later!)

I was still a little worried about the heat, but the vet told me Priscilla has the best nostrils she's ever seen on a pug so I figured it was worth a go. I took way too many pictures. And I'm probably posting too many. But she is so cute!!!!

I ordered a life jacket from Amazon since no where in town has them this late in the season. It was on super sale too! I'm so glad it fit. Pugs are notoriously hard to fit since they have short bodies but big barrel chests. If you are shopping for one, we got her a small and it fit great!

We rode out on the boat and I got ready to see if she would like to swim. Priscilla is pretty happy as long as she is near you. She swam right too me and just kind of clung to me at first. It might have been the first time she was in the water in her life!

 She much preferred riding out of the water on a float. I think it made her feel more secure. Here she is with Josh, the birthday boy! His parents own the lake house and I'm so thankful they let us use it for the weekend!

 After a little while paddling around I put her back on the boat (with the life jacket of course). A few minutes later my friends were yelling that she had fallen off and went under! I panicked but thankfully the life jacket pulled her right back up. She had wandered through the open door at the front and somersaulted off! Poor thing! Thankfully, it didn't seem to phase her much.

We swam a little longer then rode back to our dock. Look at that wet baby!

Back on the dock, back in the jacket. Poor old blind thing doesn't slow down when she gets to the edge of things. While a few of the boys took the boat back, Crystal, Priscilla and I floated in the lake. I still wasn't sure she liked it so I put her back on the dock but she whined at me and tried to jump off until I pulled her back in.

 Look at her swimming! She wagged her tail while she did it!

 Mother daughter portrait.

 She seemed most comfortable in this float so I pushed her around in it for a long time.

Her face! I'm pretty sure now that she liked it. I'm proud of her for being so brave! It was a LOT of activity and excitement for an elderly lady who spends most of her time asleep on my couch.

After drying off she seemed so white and fluffy like a little bunny. She was a little cold so I wrapped her in a blanket and went outside. She got to sleep with us, which never happens. I think that was her favorite part of the weekend. She was very good and only barked at me once, to put her in between us. So sweet.

 The next day Travis didn't want her to get wet since we were driving home mid-day. He was a little sun burnt so he sat in the shade on the dock and held her for a few hours. In the life jacket of course. She was very content.

 The handle!

 Ugh I can't get over her cute little face!

She slept the whole 3 hour drive home wrapped in a blanket. What a big weekend for my girl!

Ink and Iron Nashville/ 10th Tattoo of the Year

This past weekend I got my first tattoo at a tattoo convention. Most of my work is done by the same two guys but when I saw that one of my favorite artists on instagram was coming to Nashville as part of the Ink and Iron Convention I jumped at the chance to get a piece from him. And I love it! Look at this guy!

I got tattoed by Phil DeAngulo, his instagram is longstreetphil. I've been following him for a while and I love his style and color pallet. Having never gotten tattooed at a convention before I was a little nervous about it but I ended up having a great time. Phil was really nice and the other guys around him were fun too. I hope I'll be able to get tattooed by him again. He is based in Columbus, Ohio which isn't that far away from Nashville.

Travis wasn't planning on getting anything but he ended up with two! The toe was done by Holly Clouse. Her banner has a drawing of Lebowski on it and I suggested that he get a severed toe with green nail polish. It is so gross and so perfect. Travis has been talking about getting a pigeon tattoo and Nate Wilson had one drawn up and sitting out on his table. It was meant to be! Isn't it cute?
When I was talking to Phil I realized I have been tattooed TEN times this year! I think part of it is following so many tattoo artists on instagram. I see so much cool stuff it makes me want to get tattooed all the time!

I've gotten four Friday the 13th tattoos this year, including this precious tiny rabbit's foot and cute Totoro, which is my first below the elbow tattoo. I also got a kewpie face and a monkey paw. If you don't know about Friday the 13th tattoos, some shops offer small tattoos of sheets of flash for $13 dollars. There is one more Friday the 13th this year and I'll probably get at least one more. If you are in Nashville, Monolith on Nolensville usually does it, that is where I have gotten all of mine.

I got this Beyonce inspired piece from Eli Draughn after one of his clients didn't show up for the drawing. We changed the words in it and I LOVE it. One of my favorites.

I finished my kitsune tattoo in the spring with Jason St. Clair. A kitsune is a fox from Japanese folklore, isn't her skull bonnet cute? I still have to get the underside of this arm done. Travis and I have been going to Jason for a long time and he has done most of our tattoos. He did the octopus at the top of my arm about six years ago. I'm going to get him to do a tanuki on my right foot this fall as long as I can get my nerve up. The top of the foot hurts so bad!

A local artist posted a sheet of Valentine's flash and I had to get this little Dirty Dancing tattoo! Almost no one gets it, but I love it. On the right is the TCB tattoo I got, the same as Travis and two of our friends. Jason did all four for us.

And last but certainly not least, Eli started on these Watership Down tattoos for me. I'll be back in the fall to get them colored. I got Hazel on the right and Fiver on the left. The plants around them are from the books. Primrose (mentioned in the first line) then strawberry, blackberry and buckthorn, which are names of rabbits in the book. Watership Down is my favorite book and I've read it more than 20 times. I can't wait to finish these!

One last shot of this beautiful gator! I love tattoos (obviously) and am happy I've been able to get so much work done this year. I've got lots of plans for the future!

Tubing down the French Broad

Tubing was on my 'must do' list for Asheville. We went with Zen Tubing, and picked the southern location. Sadly it turned out the be the coldest/rainiest day during our trip. But it was still really fun! I want to go back and do it again next summer.

We rented a cooler tube of course.

My friend Marrion came with us too!

When we were paying there was a HUGE group of kids getting ready to go. Oh no! We put in right before them, but they really spread out so thankfully we weren't stuck in the middle of their group the whole time.

I loooooooved it. The water was really low so the trip took about four hours. Which was perfect.

It is hard to tell in photos but it rained for probably 30 minutes in the middle of our trip. Which kind of sucked. But if you are already on the water I guess it isn't so bad.

After a while we pulled up to some rock islands and ate our packed lunch.

Since the water was low you would be waist deep, then two steps later be ankle deep. Travis liked pushing us along and it was funny to see him suddenly towering above us. Next time I do it I hope the water is high. It would have been great to swim every once in a while.

Ahhhh, this is the life! I could have fallen asleep it was so cozy.

Oh no those kids caught up with us!

Tubing was just as fun as I hoped it would be. I really wish there was a place to do it in Nashville!