Brass Knuckles

the first of many Calgary tattoo, my brass knuckles and rose. i always wanted brass knuckles with girly twist. (hence the heart - i like to try and put hidden hearts in my tattoos.) its funny how opinions change over time. 3 years ago i got a little swallow on the right side of my chest. i only did the outline as i didnt want it to look to trashy. now chest tattoo are one of my favorite tattoo to look at. thats why i decided that my chest tattoo was the perfect one to get next. as soon as i got to calgry i started looking at tattoo artist in the area. a had some spare time one sunday arvo and my roommate evan drove me to on place i was looking at downtown, as soon as i waked into the studio i got a good vibe straight away. after spending some time looking through different artist portfolios i saw one that caught my eye. i decided straight away he was going to be my Calgary tattoo artist. i booked a appointed with him for the following friday. after talking to him for awhile i discovered he had only been tattooing for 6 years, he recently moved to Arthouse tattoo from a smaller shop. i think he does great work. the next friday i walked in ready for my next tattoo. 10mins later i realised i didn't even eat my ritual before tattoo breakfast. originally he put the design on, smaller than what it is now. i decided go bigger, bigger the better for tattoos i say. the outline sucked. i put in my itouch and listened to some BOTDF and grinspoon. after the outline was finished a loosened up alot, took up the earphones and chatted way to my artist for the shading he was a pretty cool guy. one of the guys who works there was Australian, t was refreshing to hear another Australian accent. a few minutes later 'land down under' men at work came onto the radio, it brought a smile to my face. the pain factor was pretty bad but having the tunes and chats certainly helped. the weather in Calgary is soooooo dry so i had to make sure it was moisturised throughout the healing process. i love my new tattoo, i had had alot a good compliments about it. well its looks like my Canada experience is up to date now. planning my next tattoo now.....
tattoo done by Luke at Arthouse tattoo, kennsinton, Calgary

My Little Squirrel

Before i came to Canada it as my idea to make the whole back and front of my lower right arm into a 'tattoo passport' type thing. i already had some sewing scissors on my forearm, which i didnt love as it wasnt done very well. My favorite thing about Montreal was the squirrels. they are everywhere and i knew straight away that my little mate would be tattooed on my arm. after searching my the perfect traditional style artist i settled with Sacred Heart tattoo in Montreal. i originally wanted a squirrel with some traditional style roses around him, but let the artist talk me out of roses and into red maple leaves. i wish i had stayed with the roses as i dont love the leaves. but he did fix my scissors aswell, now they look a trillion times betternd i dont tr to hide it anymore. the guy who tattooed me was great, he was friendly, great to chat too and great to have some smoking breaks with. as for the spot, i personally found it abit painful, just a sharp pain, but it only took 2 hours so that is dealable. i have been asked many times, "does it hurt?" i thought i'd write what i personally thought were the most and least painful tattoo. i know every one deals with pain differently and have heard "i fell asleep on my tattoo...." many times (just ask the girl with all those stars on her face - little liar).

Amys Tattoo Guide to Pain
* one star least painful - ***** 5 stars most painful
Foot - yeah it hurt up near my toes. ***.
Inside Calf- only a little bit. **
Outside Calves- my favorite spot, dosent hurt at all. *.
front thighs - *
back thighs - **
lower back - *
between the shoulder blades - ***
shoulders- *
wrist- **
forearm - ****
upper arm (outside) ***
inner arm **** (like a bitch)
chest **** (one side hurt one side didnt)

keep in mind that my personal opinion, i think the outline hurts and the shading is a breeze some ppl might think different

Part 2: Calgary

So $450 later my Air Canada flight touched down in Calgary, Alberta. After a few days in a back packers hostel i was able to move into my new place in the northwest of Calgary. For news years me and my new roomies went to Blairemore, first night there was the coldest i have ever been in my whole life. new years was awesome a couple of days of drinking, drinking games, drinking kegs and did i mention drinking? also took a massive stack going down the mountin on a tube. was fun though. So i lived with Tyler and Nicole, troy and Kailee, Evan, Stryanna, Guinness (dog- my fav one), Rio (dog-the annoying one) , Valley (dog- the spoilt one), Spike (the neglected one), Phillip (cat- the cutest one) and Princess (snake - the friendly one - she died today RIP). this house mainly consited of drinking, watching tv with tyler, ordering food with tyler, smoking with tyler and playing wii. For a month after i arrived in Calgary i hadnt started my new job full time yet so it was bliss staying up late and sleeping in til noon for 6 weeks. In Feb, i started my new job looking after 3 kids for 2 different families. Ben, Lucy and Jack, in the beginning it was a very slow day but now it goes pretty fast and i really enjoy it. i gives me the chance to explore Calgary with the kids aswell. i have been to Calgary Zoo like 5 times in the last 2 months, but i did manages to see some cool shit, finally saw a moose, bears, wolves ect. In March we moved to the new place minus Stryanna and Spike. i like the new place better but i living with heaps of ppl has some downers. tyler, nicole and me keep it real though. my favourite drinks i have discovered so far comes in a can or bottle form and is called Kokanee. i drink it pretty much every weekend and it hasnt given me a hangover yet. Also Ceasers, yes awesome in a drink. i might go get one now.....

The Story So Far.... Part 1: Montreal

Well its been 5 months since i last set foot on Australian soil. it really cant believe how fast it has gone. So i thought id recap on what has happned on my journey to get here. in October 2008 i decided to try again and come to Canada, so i told my roomie at the time we are cutting the lease and i was going to move home to save some money. i pretty much joined a agency straight away and thought id put my childcare skills to use and work in Canada as a nanny. i was told orginally by the agency that i would be in Canada most likey in March/April. Well for the next 13 months i was constantly sending forms, funds to the agency in toronto and to the Canadian Consulture in Sydeny. the visa i orginally applied for that took months and months of waiting to find out if i could come i didnt get, so i applied for a different visa and got it within weeks. so if i had appiled for that visa first i could have been here in March instead of November. During the tiresome visa process i was match with a family in Montreal, Quebec. through the many emails and phone conservations we thought we would be a good match. Once i recieved my visa, i kissed my friends and family goodbye and departed Brisbane. the flight was a pain, touched down in LA and had to run for my next flight to New York City. it was once i was in New York, i finally got excited! i wasnt there for long but did get to ride in a yellow taxi cab. i will be going back to NYC next summer for my holiday. then i caught a flight to Montreal. The first few days in Montreal were great. the family seemed ok and things seemed to be working out. it wasnt until after the first week that things started to come apart. i quickly found out that the people i was living with and working for just may have had head issues. if i told you every crazy, rude, unbelievable thing they did to me there we would be here all day. i would end up in tears everyday because of that woman. i really wanted to go home at this point. after about 1 month of putting up with that crap i decided to get the hell out of there. a few things good did come out of Montreal. The city itself was pretty amazing. During the free time a did manage to get, i checked out the city. it was wierd listening to people speak french, i did struggle with that part at the beggining, even wanting to get a coffee seamed like a daunting task. i went to the biodome and saw a beaver, i went to olympic park, Mont Royal was amazing, shopping in montreal would be amazing if you are skinny enough to even fit into the clothes there. a Australian size 12 would be considered a plus size over here. the old port and the Notre Dame was awesome, the highlight on my time there was getting my first Canada tattoo. will touch more on that later. The girl i worked with Michelle was my little lifeline for the short time i was there. the family took me to a ski resort called Mont Tremblant north a montreal. i enjoyed my time there, i was staying in a back packers hostel insted of with the family. i met some awesome people there and had a good time. once i got back to montreal i was on the hunt for a new job and a new start. 2 weeks later during a heavy snow fall i pack my bags after yet another fight with the crazy one and left in the middle of the night, bags in tow i walked 30mins to Nuns Island shops and waited in the freezing cold for Michelle to pick me up. i stayed in the hostel for a week until a packed my bags and caught my flight to Calgary, where my new start was waiting for me.