This time five years ago HUBBY and I made our union official and were married at the National Gallery of Australia.

Five years seems like a major milestone, but both of us have been really blase about it.  We had a hard year last year and it really tested us.  But we bounced back and now I feel like we’re stronger than ever.

It’s amazing how every day brings something new.  Just when you think there’s nothing more you can learn something funny happens.  Everyday is a mini adventure.  It’s wonderful.  I’m a big advocate for a good marriage; which is what I think we have.

Case in point, I woke up the other day and headed for my morning (afternoon by the time I woke) shower to find this message written in bathroom crayon. (No, we don’t have kids. Yes, I have bathroom crayons. No, you can’t borrow them.)  It cheered me up immensely and made me do the “Awwww…” thing.

He is my best friend.  He is the first person I want to talk to.  He is the person I look to for comfort and advice.  He is the one that holds all my secrets as if they were his own.  He’s the one that lets me constantly touch him inappropriately.  He’s the one that laughs as loud as I do about fart jokes.  He’s my everything and I am one very lucky gnome to have him in my life.  Happy anniversary Baby, I love you to binoculars!

Not many people in my circle play, or understand why I play, World of Warcraft.  In fact, if you’d told me that I would become a World of Warcraft player two years ago I would have told you to “get real”.  But here it is nearly two years since I first started playing and I’ve spent 80% of today playing World of Warcraft.  And you know what, I enjoyed every minute of it!

I don’t know why, but I love playing this game.  I love the changing environment.  I love the graphics.  I love the yearly in game events.  I love it all.  I even love that it’s task based and has it’s own economy.  I’m just crazy like that.

When I haven’t been playing World of Warcraft I’ve been completing the first of two of my Doll’s for Haiti.  I had planned to only do one and get it in the post today, but HUBBY has yet to secure a job so I’m holding off on spending the money on international post until we know what’s happening there.  I’ve also decided that one doll would get lonely in the post so I’m doing a boy and a girl.  I’m not 100% happy with how the girl has turned out, so I’m going to mix it up a little when I make the boy.  I’ll be sure to post all about it when they’re done.

I also managed to hand in all the documentation for my new job.  Apparently a security clearance takes 48 hours to complete and once that’s done (and I’m cleared) they’ll extended a start date.  So I’m thinking I’ll be back at work within the fortnight.  It’ll be strange to be going back to the first place I ever worked full time, but it will be nice in other ways.  (Like the income and security!)  HUBBY’s contract offer fell through and so he’s back to the drawing board.  But I’m positive that all things happen for a reason and it’s in GOD’s hands.  Until it’s sorted out we’re just going to have to watch our spending.

Tonight I played indoor soccer as a fill-in for someone who wasn’t able to make it.  I had a blast.  I’m so unfit it’s not funny and I have no idea how the actual game is played, but I still had fun.  Unfortunately the person who started the team wasn’t so thrilled to have ring-ins.  Oh well, you can’t win them all.  (Oh, and we didn’t win the game either!)  Maybe next season we’ll try and field our own team or something… who knows maybe Roller Derby will be more than enough for me to handle!

All in all it’s been a fairly relaxing day.  Spoke to my parents which was good (like always) and we had some laughs.  I’m really hoping that we’ll still be in a position to go away in April/May.  If we’re both not working soon though it’s looking shaky.  Just need to have faith I guess…

When I started this blogging lark over a year ago I didn’t really know what I had in mind.  I wanted to move from the LiveJournal world where I’d been happy but contained to a bigger sandpit.  Sure I had the dreams that every wannabe blogger has of being the next big thing in the blogging world, but that all seems like too much hard work.  I wanted to have a place where I could experience who I am and record the things that I enjoy.

I had been reading (and still do) Decor8 and Design Sponge and thought I’d like to have a blog in the same vein as those.  A place where people could come and look at the prettier things in life and dream of how they’d make their homes more their own.  So for awhile there I tried to find things that I thought other people would like.  It went well, and I enjoy it, but it never really rang true with me.  I struggled to find the motivation to post regularly or add anything more to the discussion.

Then I found Kindness Over Matter and I thought, “Maybe I’ll just spread joy and happiness.  I like joy and happiness so I’m sure other people will too.”  And for awhile there it worked, but again it didn’t really sing true to who I am.  I started to miss the intimacy of blogging about the real world; about what was happening to me.

But I was scared.  Scared that if I shared who I am, warts and all, that people would reject me.  So I continued to live a double life.  I bottled up what I was thinking and only showed what I thought people would find acceptable.  Then in November when I made a life changing decision I couldn’t keep it in any longer so I started Skinny Girl Trapped.  I started to blog about the personal side of life.  The things that I was going through medically and how it was affecting me.  It felt good to let it all out.  To have a place where I could just vent and rant and share about what I was going through and engage in a discussion with those reading and commenting.

Still something was missing.  It was too much hard work trying to keep the two sides apart.  To try and be me – but what I thought was a sociably acceptable version.  So I let somethings slide.  I avoided other things and I stopped doing what I enjoyed because of fear.  Fear of rejection.

It’s not a new thing in my world this fear.  It’s been here for a long time.  Not exactly sure when I let it in or when I started letting it dictate my choices in life.  Then last night while laying in bed thinking about my current state of affairs I saw the connections.  I’m living my life from a place of fear and it’s causing me to make decisions and react to things in a way I’m not happy with, or proud of.  I’m losing sight of who I am because I’m worried about what other people will think.  I’ve let myself be ruled by the critical voices in my head and not by the voice of reason I know I have.

Lately I’ve been operating out of a “hurt them before they hurt me” mentality.  I’ve been on the defensive, and I don’t like the person that makes me become.  I’ve felt attacked and so instead of just letting it wash over me I’ve decided to go on the defensive.  I’ve been negative, judgmental, irrational and hurt.    Which is not the person I want to be.  It’s not the person I believe myself to be at my core, but it has become the person I am putting out into the world.  It has to stop.

It’s time for me to drop the guards and be the person I know I am.  I need to reassess what’s motivating me and look at the way that I have reacted to those things.  I need to remember that the people that love me and the people I love will still want to be with me, warts and all.  I need to believe that as long as I’m true to myself then I will find people to compliment my world.

I need to remember that just because I don’t ‘click’ with someone doesn’t make me or them any less valuable.  It’s not a popularity contest and I don’t have to please everyone.  My days as the performing monkey are over and it’s time to move on.

As I lay there in the dark having this mini revelation I also had the accompanying moment of “How the hell do I do that?”.  I’m not really sure how one puts the fear aside and lives a true life.  I have some theories which I’m going to put into practice and see how it goes.  One of the theories involves this blog space.  I need to be true to my blogging self and stop worrying about the “audience”.  I need to do what makes me happy and use this like I used to use my Livejournal.

It’s a scrapbook of my life in digital format.  That means warts and all.   I have opinions and tastes and not everyone is going to agree or enjoy them, but I do.  I also like to learn about the world and debate the illogical reasons of my beliefs and choices.  How can I do that if I’m filtering my world to make it more ‘palatable’ for this mystery audience?

One thing I can do is stop with the double life.  So I’ve merged Skinny Girl Trapped and gnomeangel.  I’ve imported all the posts into the one place so now people will know I’m battling morbid obesity and I’m doing it through radical surgical treatment.  Being ashamed of that fact is part of what lead me to the position in the first place.  Eating to quieten the voices was not the most successful decision I ever made.  So there it is, I’m fat.  Not as fat as I used to be, but still fat.  I’m working on it and I’m ok with that.

I’m also going to start blogging about the little rants I have in life.  It might help me save HUBBY from having to listen to them over and over again.  I find that when I write it down it leaves my system and I can get on with things, where as at the moment I rant and rant and it gets bigger than it should be.  It won’t be pretty and I won’t be apologizing for being a fractured person.  It’s all of what makes the good things about me so good, because under it all I’m struggling every moment to overcome the nasty fearful hateful place that seems to want to taint everything.  Because I’m human.  I’m trying to be the best version of myself, but to do that I need to realise I’m not perfect and I don’t need to be.  I just need to be honest.

Long rambling post short; things are going to change around here.  Not drastically, because after all what I’ve been doing to date has been a part of me (just a slimmed down version, ironically) it’s just going to expand.  There’s going to be some remodeling and hopefully some regular posting.  I hope you stick around, but if not that’s ok.  You’re ok and I’m ok.  It’s all good.

I’ve had a crochet hook and ball of yarn sitting on top of my “How To Crochet” book for over two years now.  I’ve tried numerous times to figure out how to do it.  I’ve even sat through a couple of really boring YouTube tutorials on how to do it.  No luck.  I think I may be defective.  I’m determined to learn how to do it.  There’s just so many things that I want to be able to make that rely on the ability to crochet.  So in 2010 I’m going to find someone who’s willing, and patient enough, to teach me to crochet.

I can hear some of you asking now, “Why would you want to learn that?”  Well I’ll tell you why.

1.  Tradition.  My Grandma used to crochet.  I never really knew her, but the one very vivid and strong memory of her I have is of my ‘hole blanket’.  It was a rectangle granny squares blanket that she had made.  It was like a rainbow of colours and I took it everywhere with me.  I miss that blanket and would like to create the same memories for our children one day.

2. Speed.  It seems, to a novice like me, that it’s quite a speedy little craft once you know how.  It would be great to be able to spend a few hours each day and have something to show at the end of the week.  I’m a big fan of speed.

3. Versatility.  I see all these great creations everywhere all done through the art of crochet.  I want to be able to take one skill and create multiple little pockets of joy.

4. Colour.  There is so much colour available in yarn these days.  I’m a major fan of colour.  I would love to live in a house that explodes with tamed colour.  Ok, I’ll admit it, I want to live in Attic24’s house! (Go check it out, it’s well worth it!)

5.  Snuggles.  I love snuggling.  Whether in bed with a good book or on the couch with HUBBY and the puppies.  Snuggling is one of the greatest joys in life and I would one day love to snuggle under a blanket that I made.

Image from Attic24

Just when you thought it was safe to garden…. ZOMBIE GNOME!

This is exactly why I love Etsy.  You can find the most amazing things made by the most amazing artists.  I love this! I have just the place for it!  If only I could convince HUBBY that it would make a vital addition to our home.

It’s been awhile since I’ve made a real post.  I’ve been going through some personal issues that have kept me from my normal (if you can call it that) blogging.  I’ve really missed it, which has been surprising on some level and not so on others.  I have been blogging over at Skinny Girl Trapped; but it’s been about my personal journey and not about the things out there in the world that I love to see and do.

It’s also been hard to go through these big changes at Christmas time.  I adore Christmas and I love blogging about Christmas things.  But this year I’ve just not had the energy or time.  Which has been a shame, but I’ve had to look at it like this is just one Christmas out of many to (hopefully) come.  Also it’s given me time to think about how I want to see in the New Year with this space.

So, in short, I’m still here but this space may be a little quiet until the New Year.  Maybe…

This time last week I was sitting in the waiting area to go into my surgery talking to two nurses about mundane things while frantically praying in my head for everything to go well.  That prayer was definitely answered and then some.

As of yesterday I have lost 12.3kg.  I can’t even begin to comprehend that amount.  Sure, when I put my jeans on last night there was room to move but its not like they’re new jeans.  Sometimes I find that I can move more freely, but then when I notice I always do a double check and I can’t remember what it was like before.

Three weeks into this adventure and I’ve already lost ten percent of my body weight.  I can’t remember a single diet where I’ve had that sort of success; especially in such a very short span of time.  It hit me yesterday that if I keep losing at this rate I will have lost twenty kilograms before returning to work.  That’s massive! (No pun intended!)  They’ll all think I’ve been to fat camp or something.

In another 4.3kg I’ll be back to the weight I was when I was married in 2005.  That’s five years of weight gain lost in under two months.  It’s unbelievable.

In my head I know that the weight loss is going to have to start to slow down soon.  My body will get over the shock of the surgery and start to adjust to the limited calories.  The selfish part of me hopes that this doesn’t happen for another twenty kilograms though.  If I keep up the exercise and watch what I put into my mouth I should be able to squeeze every drop from this weight loss and maximize the amount of loss over time.

I’ve had a few conversations with people that have struggled with weight loss throughout there lives about taking the surgery route.  They all tend to say the same thing, “I wouldn’t have the discipline to do it”.  I don’t know why they think they can’t do it.  I am the last person on the planet to talking about self-discipline.  I have none.  I’m a natural born quitter.  At the first sign of my desires being denied I throw the towel in.  The only difference this time is that my fear of dying on the operating table strongly outweighed my desire to break the plan.  That doesn’t mean that I didn’t struggle or break it.  I out of fourteen days I only managed to eat to the Optifast plan for ten of those.  Admittedly I didn’t go nuts when I broke the plan, but I still broke it.

There were many nights when I was in tears because I just wanted to eat what I wanted.  It was like going through withdrawals.  I was in the same mental state as someone trying to give up heroin.  They only difference was that everyday I still had to consume the thing that I was addicted to.  It was hard going.  It’s still hard going.

I have another six days on nothing but fluids and not a moment goes by that I don’t think about breaking away from the fluids and eating something normal.  Last night I stole half a teaspoon of melted cheese of the Turkish Pides that people were eating at my table.  I chewed and sucked the life out of it, but I still did it knowing that it could have a major impact on my healing process and send me back to hospital.  The only thing that keeps me on fluids at the moment is the thought of having to go back to hospital for an extended stay.  It’s not self-discipline keeping me in line; it’s fear.

It’s especially difficult because I feel fine.  Apart from the four incisions on my stomach you wouldn’t know I’d been in for surgery.  I feel like I could sit down and eat a full meal.  If I had a broken leg I could at least look down at the cast and know that I couldn’t walk a marathon.  But with this I need to be constantly reminding myself that my stomach is swollen and trying to heal and I need to be gentle on it.

People keep telling me that they’re proud of my achievements, which is lovely, but I don’t feel like there’s anything to be proud of.  I’ve had major surgery to deal with something that other people can do on their own.  I’m not eating like this because I want to; I’m eating like this because if I don’t I’ll end up back in hospital.  If I had my way I’d be hunting down a Sausage and Egg McMuffin and Hash Brown for breakfast.  I’d be currently planning the biggest meal for Christmas – a veritable eating smorgasbord.

The only reason I had the surgery is because the desire to have a family of my own outweighed my desire to keep that 80% of my stomach.  I’m also scared of dying a painful death due to diabetes or some other obesity related illness.  The chances of getting cancer are amplified if you’re overweight.  It’s all purely selfish.  If you constantly attend specialists that can’t see past your weight to help you then of course you’re going to do whatever you can to get rid of that weight.  For me I couldn’t get motivated to do it unless I had something like surgery hanging over my head.  I found my carrot and stick and it just happened to come in the form of an operation.  I’m not proud of that, but that’s what it took and ultimately the end game is what I have to be about.

In 2007 I started on the challenge to complete 101 goals in 1001 days.  That challenge ended on 7 October 2009 and I didn’t manage to complete 101 tasks.  I managed to complete 39 tasks.  Some of them big – some small.  But overall I’m really happy with the outcome.

Here’s the list of what I managed to achieve:

1. Make friends with a neighbour. Alivicwil lives in our street! :)
2. Organise a funeral plan. April 23 2009
3. Go and see something in a theater (non-movie) in 2008 and 2009.
   • Saw Wicked in the West End, London – 30 October 2008
   • Saw Steel Magnolias, Canberra – 16 July 2009
4. Have our wills done. Completed 23.04.2009
5. Play street cricket on Australia Day. Completed 25.01.2009
6. Take a class in water-colour painting. Completed 09.05.2009
7. Set up my own website. Completed 2008
8. Vote in Triple J’s Hottest 100 in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Completed 02.01.2009
9. Read 60 books in 2008. Read 50 -> See here.
10. Spend a New Years Eve in Sydney. Completed 31.12.2008
    • Booked on NYE train for 31.12.2008
    • Spent NYE 2008 in Sydney
11. Clean the BBQ in 2007.
12. Landscape the front courtyard of our townhouse.
    • 04.05.07 – fence panel and gate added
    • 23.08.07 – river pebbled the front gardens
    • 22.09.07 – stain the fence with decking oil
13. Completed 19 September 2008
14. Get my braces off. – Completed 2008
15. Attend a filming of Enough Rope.
    • 12.01.07 – applied for tickets
    • 30.03.07 – email to confirm tickets will be issued shortly
    • 07.06.07 – email confirming show attending on 18 june 2007
    • 18.06.07 – attended the show AND got interviewed!!!
    • 24.09.07 – it’s me!!!
16. Wear the coke shirt I brought in Thailand without making it pop its seams. – 6 June 2007 wore it without it being like a body suit – yay!
17. Complete 50 Books in a Year in 2007. – completed 13 December 2007
18. Participate in NaNoWriMo in 2007. – participated, 1200 words written.
19. Establish a household budget by 11 January 2007. completed 10 January 2007
20. Turn 30 gracefully. – i did it gracefully, not sure about others though *wink*
21. Go horseback riding for the first time. > completed 10 november 2007
22. Go through the crap in the garage and throw out anything that has not been used in the last six months. – completed 3 july 2007
23. Finish making all of my lj entries ‘friends only’. – completed 8 march 2007 with the thanks to the marvelous lj techies
24. Get a permanent LJ account – 28 june 2007
25. Change my drivers license to NSW. – new license acquired 11 may 2007
26. See HUBBY without his goatee. – he shaved it off 23 december 2007
27. Buy a new vacuum cleaner. – completed 11 january 2007
28. Learn how to make more complex icons. – completed 27.12.2007: a little taste of complex
29. Celebrate my Nana turning 80 in 2007. – attended party in townsville 28 april 2007
30. Take a beadwork class. – taught myself to make earrings from beadwork how-to dvd and pack – 6 january 2008
31. Travel overseas again at least once. – Completed 11 October 2008; traveled to Cambridge and London in the United Kingdom
32. See a band/artist in concert that I’ve not seen before. Completed 11.12.2008
    • 11 December 2008 – Booked to see Billy Joel in Sydney
    • 11 December 2008 – Saw Billy Joel and it rocked!
33. Get another tattoo.
    • booked in for 11 January 2008 @ 12:20pm
    • completed 11 January 2008 – I give you Gavin
34. Plant flowers in our garden. – Completed 19 September 2008
35. Meet three (minimum) lj friends. Completed 18.12.2008
    • 13.01.2007 – met Alivicwil
    • 18.10.2008 – met Marjory
    • 18.12.2008 – met Aussiebuffy
36. Travel to Tasmania – Visited Hobart 27 November 2008
37. Sell a piece of jewelry that I made. – Completed 1 October 2008; sold on Etsy
38. Finish hanging all of our framed pictures. Completed September 2008
39. See a sunrise in another country. – Completed 11 October 2008; Saw the sunrise over London from the window on my flight into London

I enjoyed this challenge so much that I’ve decided to start another list and give it another go.  You can check out my list in progress here -> click!

I’ll be sure to keep you all updated with how I’m going.  If you’re attempting to do 101 in 1001 I’d love to see your list and progress.

Mission: 15 minutes to cook a casserole for two using Leggo’s Italian Beef Casserole Simmer Sauce.

Accomplice: Alivicwil

Materials:

• Leggo’s Italian Beef Casserole Simmer Sauce
• 300g Diced Beef
• 1 cup of sliced Zucchini

That’s it.  Unless you want to serve it with mash potatoes, rice or bread.  If you want it to be accompanied by some complex carbohydrates you’ll need to acquire the needed materials and prepare to your liking. I’ve chosen to go with a simple mash.

Obsticles: George & Tyson

Time starts now…

When Alivicwil arrives get her straight on to kitchen duty.  A word to the wise, you’ll need to keep a close eye on her as she gets easily distracted by shiny things and the internet! To help keep her focused, and us amused, we decided to put VH1’s Karaoke on in the background.  Everything in life is better with sing-a-long to Abba!

To give you a little taste of the magic that Leggo’s inspires in our house – I give you the gnome and Alivicwil performing to Abba…

Ok, so that might have been from Muriel’s Wedding, but it was very close to that in our kitchen! (Minus the cat fight.)

Back to the task at hand.  As Alivicwil had purchased rump steak it needed be diced.  Lucky for us Alivicwil is skilled with a knife… and a fork?!?!

It’s at this point that I’m reminded of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine catches her boss eating a Snickers with a knife and fork. It’s also at this point that George and Tyson decided they would try and wear Alivicwil down and get some steak love.

What they hadn’t counted on was Alivicwil’s skill at knife throwing.  (Well she’s not so much throwing as “dancing”.)

Once everything is prepped it’s really simple.  You just brown the meat and throw together the vegetables with the Leggo’s Italian Beef Casserole Simmer Sauce.

We made mash potato at the same time that our casserole was simmering.  Once it was all done and ready Alivicwil then gave it the old Master Chef touch and plated it up.

The meal was surprisingly tasty.  Given that one of the best things about a casserole is the amount of time the flavours have to soak into the meat and become one with the sauce.  The Leggo’s Italian Beef Casserole Simmer Sauce seems to come with that goodness already in the packet.  We added carrots to the mix as it’s a bit light on the vegetable side of things, and they were a yummy addition.  Good thinking, Alivicwil

The real question is did we succeed in making it all in under 15 minutes.  No, end-to-end it took 30 minutes.  With the mash potato side dish we needed the extra time, and really you couldn’t have this meal without some type of accompaniment.  I think the extra simmer time also came in handy, it just gives the zucchini and carrot time to soften up.

We may have flunked on the time component of the mission, but we ended up with a really yummy meal that I would happily make again.  Even George ended up with a little Leggo’s Italian Beef Casserole Simmer Sauce magic of her own…

♣ This post was sponsored by NuffNang.

When my Mother was diagnosed with Cancer this year I headed into Tattoo Extreme in Queanbeyan and asked for a feather tattoo with a pink ribbon on my right wrist.  At the time I was really surprised to get in and see someone so quickly, but I reconciled that concern with the fact that what I was getting wasn’t that difficult.

When I got to the store I was sure that the girl who’d been given the task of tattooing me was once their receptionist.  They assured me she’d been tattooing for two years and was capable.  I’d had work done there before and was really happy with it, so I saw no reason to doubt them.

We talked design and she showed me what she’d drawn up.  I really liked the design, and despite my apprehension at her skill level when ahead with it.  Halfway through it became evident that her and I weren’t on the same page.

Her technique was shocking.  I’ve never bleed so much or felt like someone was dragging needles through my skin.  Her mixing of inks was horrible with my whites ending up looking like a pinkie brown colour.  What was supposed to be a pink ribbon ended up looking like a pink and white stripped ribbon.  The point of my feathers stem was more like a deep hole.  It was horrible.

I hoped against all hope that it would heal and come good.  Funnily enough as it healed it got worse.  I ended up scarring across the middle of the design.  It also become evident that the “artist” has colored outside the lines.  A pre-schooler can keep it between the lines!

I can’t even begin to explain how upset I was.  To make it worse it’s position on my wrist was so prominent that every time I did anything I was forced to look at it.   It made me so very unhappy and I covered it every chance I had.

HUBBY and I spoke about it and decided that I should try and find someone to cover it up.  I will never return to Tattoo Extreme in Queanbeyan.

I rang and booked an appointment with Tattoo Culture in Tuggeranong.  When I went in there for my pre-appointment I spoke with Rachel.  She was BRILLIANT!  Put my mind at ease that it could be covered and that they would do their best to make sure I was happy with it.  She was really lovely and polite.  She introduced me to Luke who would be doing the work.  I left there with such a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

Originally Luke and I had spoken about turning the feather into something that looked more like a feather.  Even trying to make it look more like a peacock feather.  When I turned up to my appointment and we sat down to do the work it became evident that he wouldn’t be able to make it look like it should.  He explained his concerns and we talked about options.  We decided to leave it and come back in  a week after he’d had a chance to do a design to cover it.  I had suggested a sparrow, but as the week progressed I became more concerned about ending up with something that looked like I’d served time.

When my appointment came I turned up armed with a lot of other designs and ideas and Luke patiently talked me through them all.  He even spent some time doing a mock-up of another koi on my arm.  The design of the sparrow sat on the bench and as I looked at it I became curious about what it would look like on my skin.  So he humoured me and put the outline on my wrist.  It was love at first sight.  Despite spending an hour talking other designs I gave him the go ahead to do the sparrow.

He was AMAZING!  Calm, confident and gently.  He just hadn’t warned me how much going over already tattooed skin would hurt.  Mother Trucker!  I’ve not experienced anything like this pain! We sat for two hours and got a majority of the design done.

That was back in July.  Yesterday I went in and had him finish it up – which is why there’s some scabbing in these shots.  Much of the color on the body had faded and the old design was coming through, so Luke recolored with darker versions of the ink the areas we’d already done.  He also added color to the ribbon and touched up some of the line work.  Now she’s done and she’s beautiful – just like my Mum!

I’m so very happy with it. I love the little details, like the point on her beak, the colour of her eye and the graffiti feel to the tail.  I said to HUBBY when I got the original work done that it would be my last, but after having Luke work his magic I’m so tempted to get more work done.   Only this time he wouldn’t be held back by somebody else’s work, he could do something spectacular.

I’m also thinking that if I ever get 1,000 unique visitors to this site in one day I’ll get Luke to tattoo me a gnome to commemorate… I could do with a little gnome companion!