daily life Archives - Tattooed Martha

Daily Life

October 17, 2019

The last three weeks in a nutshell: I officiated my 2nd wedding, turned the ripe age of thirty-one, went hiking through caves, started horseback riding lessons again, came down with a cold, and bought a new(er) car… oh and I’m kicking butt at work! 😉

It felt good to write all of that because I’m constantly feeling like I’m failing. But when I actually step back and look at my accomplishments, adventures, moments with friends and family, and making time for the things I love.. I realize that I’m doing okay with this juggling act of life. Maybe that’s something we all need to do more often. I know some amazing hardworking women that juggle motherhood, going back to school, working multiple jobs, running their own business, etc.. and I don’t think we take the time to step back and really appreciate just how much we’re capable of. And that we are all doing the best that we can and sometimes that just needs to be enough.

So let me go back to the beginning… If you didn’t already know, I became an ordained minister to marry my parents several years ago. Two of our good friends were tying the knot at the end of September and hadn’t yet found a minister to make it official. After I told them the story of how I married my parents in front of a waterfall in Oregon, the bride asked if I would do the honor. I quickly accepted and then realized I have a major fear of public speaking and would be officiating this wedding in front of 120+ people…

After practicing several times and choosing a high-neck blouse so no one could see me break out into red splotchy patches due to nerves.. it went perfectly! They even forgot to bring the microphone up so I had to speak even louder and it still went great! Jerrica was incredibly sweet and handed her bouquet off to me at the end of the night. It was a huge honor to be able to officiate and celebrate this wonderful couple. Congratulations yet again to Mr. and Mrs. Yasumura!

The very next day was my birthday and we celebrated by driving three and a half hours east to the Maquoketa Caves State Park. I hadn’t been there since I was a little kid, so we spent the day hiking through various caves, encountering several very scary and territorial woodchucks, and enjoyed a little picnic and beers. We got back into town late, but stopped off at my parents where my mom presented me an awesome spiderweb cake, we grilled out, and ended the night with a birthday bonfire.

That same week I started horseback riding again, painted pumpkins and watched Hocus Pocus with my niece and nephew, and we caught our first movie at the Iowa Theater in Winterset: Dracula! Every Wednesday they have Way Back Wednesday and play some of the classics. Last week was Bride of Frankenstein and last night was my favorite… Creature From The Black Lagoon! And I’m thinking a Creature inspired cocktail should be my next drink post.. what do you think?

I’m trying to squeeze a lot into this week again, so be sure to follow along on Instagram for all the adventures!

Have a great week!

Daily Life

August 22, 2019

Photo by Raelyn Ramey Photography

I kept feeling like somehow summer passed me by this year, but after writing this post and going through the hundreds of photos I took over the last 3 months, I realize I’ve just been incredibly busy! I actually feel like I really made the most of the free time I did have in between house projects and work. The one thing I was disappointed about was letting writing and creating new posts fall by the wayside. I’ve been doing this long enough now though to realize it isn’t the end of the world (or your blog) if you take some time off (planned or unplanned). It’s also sometimes completely necessary so that you can spend some time recharging and dreaming up new content. With fall being my favorite season, it’s also when I feel most creative, so I can’t wait to get to work on some brand new projects and recipes for you!

As I said, I did make sure to schedule in some much needed fun between all the crazy times and Hinterland was at the top of the list! We spent the weekend with friends and enjoyed the killer line ups they had both Friday and Saturday (Kacey Musgraves, Hozier, The Dead South, St Paul & The Broken Bones, Colter Wall, & Jason Isbell to name a few). We spent Sunday in recovery mode, but it was well worth it.

We also made some time for a little park date night and explored Clark Tower finally. I can’t believe we have so many cool parks and places to explore just minutes from our house!

Most nights we spend outside either running around with Kita, picking flowers, having a little bonfire, or trying to sweet talk the new “neighbors” that moved in. Yes.. we have cattle neighbors right now. One I’ve nicknamed Houdini because he continues to slip through the fence and we have to get him back over… except that one time he came charging at me and took off down the road. It’s been a learning experience to say the least!

In June we walked down to the field behind our house to see what was growing and discovered an unexpected amenity. In Iowa it’s typically corn or soy beans growing in a field, but this was something completely different. It honestly looked like acres and acres of weeds until the next week it bloomed into beautiful pink cone flowers. We learned that a seed company plants huge fields of wildflowers around the county, then harvests and sells them. Another friend that lives nearby (hey Raelyn!) discovered more of these wildflower fields and we actually did a photo shoot in one of them (I’ve linked all the gals that made the magic happen so check out their pages for more photos).

Photo by Raelyn Ramey Photography | Dress by Dame and Maiden | Makeup & Hair by Trixies Salon

Also growing like crazy is my tiny little garden! The cucumbers are consuming the stair railing and my pepper plants are thriving despite some damage from storms… oh and me falling on top of one of course. I was pretty disappointed when I realized I wouldn’t have the time to set up a big walk in garden like I did in the past at my parent’s home, but it goes to show you that you can still produce a lot with just a little space.

Since I feel like I’ve got a bit of a fresh slate heading back into a more regular posting schedule, I open it up to you… What is it that you enjoy seeing or reading more of? House before and afters? Cocktails? Quick dinner ideas? Daily Life posts? Home DIY’s? Leave a comment below or shoot me a message through Instagram and let me know! 🙂

Have a great weekend!

Daily Life

May 21, 2019

While it may sometimes seem like I’ve fallen off of the face of the Earth, I’m very much alive, kicking, and moving things along as best as I can.

April and May seemed to blur together with a 70/30 split between work and family. Chris’s brother, Andrew, moved to Texas at the end of April so we made sure to get a lot of quality time in. Taco nights are not the same, no more snuggles with Bella the Basset, and I already miss Andrew’s big teddy bear hugs. Texas is lucky to have him and we are already looking forward to our first visit to see him.

I also made the decision to go after a store leader position at another store within my company… and I got it! I was pretty nervous about stepping into this new role with a brand new team, but the transition has been smooth and I’m so happy that I stepped out of my comfort zone and just went for it. I still had to finish out the shifts at my old store and then went straight into the new store without any days off.

My time for the blog and my health suffered. I’m still trying to rid myself of a nasty cough that came as a parting gift from the cold I had for over a week and also had to admit I finally needed a real doctor and not WebMD when a persistent pain in my left kidney didn’t seem to be going away. I had blood work done and my first ultrasound and I’m happy to announce that my kidney is a boy! Just kidding… Everything checked out good and there’s no baby… no tumor.. and nothing out of the ordinary. The kidney pain remains a mystery for now, so I’m trying to workout regularly and eat a bit better to see if that helps.

That’s the last 30-ish days in a nutshell. Sometimes you’re forced to take a bit of a break while life is shifting and your body is telling you to chill out for a bit. I also believe a lot of my stress came from a lack of clarity. I always have big lofty goals I’m working on and after buying the house, it left me with just a ton of little goals. I sometimes find myself paralyzed and not making progress on anything because it feels like there’s so many moving pieces and things to work on all at once. I’m sure many of you can relate.. I can’t even imagine juggling kids and their schedules into the mix so I just want to congratulate all of you out there making it work with a plate more full than mine.

Any free time lately we try to go for long walks with the pup and enjoy the good weather and spring blooms while it all lasts. Since today was rather rainy and gloomy, I spent my day off running errands and working on a few cocktails (one was a fail aesthetically, but still quite delicious), so after taste testing both it seems like a good time to finally tackle the bathroom remodel. Gin always helps when attempting to bust down a plaster wall right? 😉

Now that things are settling down I look forward to sharing more house projects as well as some summer recipes! Check back later this week for my latest cocktail concoction!

Daily Life

March 28, 2019

I’m thinking that I need to up the Daily Life posts to two or three times a month because things have been changing quickly around here!

We’re about a month into living in the new house now and I can honestly say that it truly feels like home (and as you see above, Punk feels the same). We had our first family dinner here on Sunday and it was really wonderful to have everyone together in this space. I didn’t want a house just to have a house.. I saw it as my place to gather family and friends, entertain, cook, and share our space with them. When you want something for so long, you find yourself in disbelief and overwhelming gratitude when you realize it’s finally happened. I guess this is just my general PSA for you to stop in this moment and to look back at all you’ve accomplished and overcome.

If you follow along on Instagram you may have seen the news I shared earlier in the week..

We have our first farm dog!

Chris and I had just had a conversation about animals, particularly about getting a dog, to which I said, “No way!” At least not right now since we have so many house projects we need to get done. I’m not kidding when I tell you that the very next day I was home on my day off and look out in the backyard to see this big white dog running around. She was super friendly and I figured must be our neighbor’s dog that lives just down the road, but he said she was a stray. She hopped right in my car and we drove around to nearby houses trying to find her owner, but didn’t have any luck. She stayed overnight for two nights in our walkout basement until Chris had a day off to take her into the vet to check for a chip.

Sure enough she was micro-chipped which was disappointing news for us since we had gotten a little bit attached, but good news for her and her family. Chris contacted the owners, but they were out of town until Sunday so we happily agreed to keep her another day. After they showed up and we got to talking, we discovered that we’re neighbors AND I had actually started following their Instagram about a month prior. They run an amazing and inspiring flower farm called Pepper Harrow (go check them out). They said they had been trying to find a new home for Kita, but hadn’t found anyone yet. They offered to let us adopt her and I think we both thought they might have been kidding so I didn’t say yes right away. When we realized they were serious we accepted and went in to tell our family the good news.

Before we knew her name I started calling her Wednesday since she has a fondness for dead things, so we call her Wednesday, Kita, or Cha-Kita Banana. She’s a Great Pyrenees and Black Mouth Cur mix so she’s an amazing guard dog and I already feel safer having her here. She likes to bring us a slightly alarming amount of deer legs, furry hides, deer tails, and skulls. I of course, love her immensely already.

I’ll do my best to share a Daily Life in a few weeks instead of a month from now because who knows what animals we’ll have adopted by then! 😉

For more updates in the moment you can follow along on the Tattooed Martha IG or on my personal page!

Daily Life

January 31, 2019

Goodness gracious.. how is it still January?! By this point I thought I would be writing, “I can’t believe it’s March!” but something about this month has just stretched on for an unnecessarily long time. Perhaps sliding my car into a ditch twice, the white knuckle drives home in the snow, and/or that I’m just two weeks away from hopefully/maybe/possibly/ CLOSING ON MY FIRST HOME!

I’m waiting to hear back about the appraisal, but as long as that’s good, we’ll close on Valentines Day.. which will finally give me a good reason to celebrate it! The tricky part about this home is that even though it will officially be mine, we cannot move in full time until the new septic is installed. I’m looking at the silver lining of the situation and waiting to move in will give us time to thoroughly clean, paint, and repair some of the major things needed first (like maybe that gutter that’s dangling off the back of the house). Utilities are also higher this time of year given the arctic temps so it will all work out for the better that we’re forced to wait a bit longer.

That hasn’t stopped me from obsessively watching Fixer Upper and then looking at photos of my house and saying, “Yep, we’ll just knock out this wall here, add a second bath there, put French doors in here, and shiplap on everything!” I’m certainly no Joanna Gaines (probably more like Chip than anything), but I’m most looking forward to sharing this home with you all too. I’ve been wanting to expand the topics and structure of this blog into something much more and a big part of that will be adding home renovations, DIYs, sustainable living tips, and sharing more of my lifestyle and personal insights.

This might be a good time to gently introduce you guys to an idea that’s been rolling around in my head for awhile and that’s to say goodbye to Tattooed Martha..

I’m not talking about the blog, but the name itself I’m ready to part with. Tattooed Martha was born from a kitschy pun of being a Tattooed Martha Stewart.. cooking, baking, crafting, and entertaining, but I really don’t want to stay pigeon holed to just that. I also feel like it was identity created with another part of my life. A life when I was married, living in Portland, traveling around to tattoo conventions, and doing pin-up style photo shoots. It’s just not really who I identify with anymore and I’d like to be known as Sasha and not this “character” that people have envisioned. I hope that when I make the transition to something different, you, my readers, understand that we all evolve throughout our lives and it’s okay to let go of parts that no longer serve us.

The blog will remain a big part of who I am and what I do (and don’t worry.. all the content that’s on here now will still be there after a name change), but I’ve got a vision so much bigger than just a blog.

I’m certainly curious to hear everyone’s thoughts on this change, just know that my mind is made up on the matter! Haha just not the name, so perhaps you’ve got a few ideas of your own. Comment below and let me know what you think or tell me about a time where you were at a crossroads of letting go of something that no longer felt true to who you are.

Be sure to follow along on Instagram for sneak peeks at the house, recipes, and more!

Daily Life

January 7, 2019

We’re a week into 2019 and things are already off to a great start. We took off this past weekend to get out of town and spend some time at a cabin with family and friends. It was a nice way to blow off some steam after a hectic holiday season and there were plenty of good meals, good laughs, and good times shared. The real highlight of the weekend came right before we left town though, when I received an unexpected and yet very anticipated phone call from my realtor..

After months of waiting, we finally got a yes on an acreage I offered on. It’s not a signed and sealed deal just yet, but it’s moving along at least. I know way more about septic systems than I ever thought I would and I’m sure purchasing a fixer upper as my first home is going to school me on a whole lot of other things I never thought I would possess knowledge of. Like everything in my life, I like to jump in with both feet and couldn’t be more excited to take on this challenge. I see a lot YouTube DIY demos, paint, and wine in my future. Feel free to send me bottles of reinforcement!

Becoming a home owner was my one big goal (aside from Europe) that I wanted to tackle last year, but the right home/price/seller just didn’t allign and it hurt not being able to check that one off the list. I set myself timelines and deadlines for “THE” house to come to fruition and was met with disappointment over and over when things fell through. After reminding myself to look at everything I DID accomplish and also realizing I was standing in my own way, I let go of that timeline and expectation. One week and one day later exactly of releasing my grip on that goal and things are finally becoming a reality.

This is not to say you should just visualize or swing crystals around and your wildest dreams will come true. You absolutely need to prepare, work toward, and get your hands dirty when it comes to accomplishing your goal. Just remember to allow things to happen on their own timeline after you’ve done all that you can on your own.

Push yourself this year, work harder than you ever have, bring about healthy change, and remember to be gracious to yourself. You may feel like you’re running in quicksand most of the time, but I promise that you are moving in the right direction nonetheless.

Cheers to a promising New Year!

Daily Life

December 1, 2018

Alright it’s the beginning of the end (of the year that is) and I’m ready to end it strong! I don’t know if it’s just the right culmination of stress, anger, energy, and determination, but I have this fire to make things happen right now. I’ve been creating more regular content, reviving my newsletter, and writing out some concrete plans on how to navigate from the life I’m currently living to the one I want to be.

I realized that when I share with people some of my stories and struggles, the message I try to leave them with is to not live a life of mediocrity. Do not settle for anything less than extraordinary. We are not here to live out the same broken story of our pasts, relive the history of our parents’ bad marriage, or to keep working that safe yet soul draining job because it’s “all we know.” We all deserve better and I suppose I have to remind myself of that now and then.

One of my anchors to mediocrity has been my search for the dream farmhouse. I keep telling myself that things will change when I find the right home, but finding it isn’t happening as smooth or as quickly as I would like it to. I know, I know… “Everything will come together as it should.” but trust me, it doesn’t make the pill any easier to swallow in the meantime when you’re living almost 40 minutes apart from your partner, working opposite schedules and lucky to squeeze in a date night every other week, majority of your belongings are boxed up in your parent’s basement still, and you have Pinterest ideas and magazine clippings just piling up for that dream kitchen you’ve been trying to design for 2 years.

Letting that go and realizing I have the ability to change other areas of my life while I’m waiting has felt liberating. It’s one of those things that is written right in front of you the whole time, but you’re so focused on this ONE goal that you lose sight of everything else. And if you’ve found that you’ve done this too or might currently be.. here’s a bit of honesty for you to feel better about it..

Just a few weeks ago I was screaming into the phone at my boyfriend (thank you for loving me even through moments like that) that I was either going to give up and get an apartment in town or move to another state (again) because things weren’t happening here. I’ve also threatened to buy a ridiculously pricey motorcycle with my down payment instead of saving it for a house since the house thing isn’t happening. Let me point out that I don’t even know how to ride a motorcycle, renting an apartment would make me miserable, and moving to another state would solve absolutely nothing. But hey, I’m only human and we all have a drama queen living deep down inside of us that comes up with these “plans” when things aren’t going our way. Thankfully I was able to come back to Planet Reality and develop a plan that doesn’t involve zip code changes and learning how to ride an expensive motorcycle.

Onto some blog updates! A newsletter is maybe a bit antiquated for some, but playing the algorithm games with Facebook and Instagram posts so that my readers can actually see my content is exhausting. I try to grow authentically and by word of mouth so I don’t pay to boost or sponsor my content. My email list is the only platform where I can reach everyone organically and I think the best way to engage with you all one on one. I read each and every comment, email, and direct message and truly value the connections I make with everyone. So if you find you’re missing out on some of my posts, just simply subscribe to my newsletter and you won’t miss out ever again. You’ll receive a roundup of new posts at the end of the month, get access to exclusive recipes that will only be shared in email, and be the first to know about new projects and updates (like if I buy a house and/or motorcycle?). And not to worry.. I still love writing Daily Life posts and connecting with you all here, so these will be a regular feature.

Comment below and share with me one of your favorite Drama Queen Freak Out Moments or helpful tips on how you overcame a big goal or challenge! And to keep up with future posts, subscribe below!

Daily Life

November 2, 2018

Hello November! Last month was full of travels, straight back to a full work schedule, and house shopping. If you followed along on Instagram you saw that I celebrated my 30th birthday in Paris, traveled through to the south of France, and then across Italy. It was my first trip abroad and we packed in A LOT over the course of 3 weeks. Friends and family keep asking me about the trip and I still don’t know if I’ve fully processed everything we saw and experienced, so I’ve been answering with a lame and vague, “It was great!” and not much else. I’ve been trying to set aside a little time each day to write about each place we were so I can share each city in a separate post. There are a lot of great moments from the trip, but I will tell you my 3 highlights from Italy and share some photos NOT on Instagram yet down below!

Taking that much time off meant we flew back and immediately went back to work the next day. Winter is coming (GOT fans, where are you?!) and living in the country with a long commute to work means you have to leave some vacation days set aside for when you inevitably get snowed in. We’re also still searching for a house, so I will gladly jump at the chance of working long weeks since I have a fondness of old houses in need of lots of TLC and money to restore them. We have one in mind currently, but we’re in the fun negotiation phase so keep your fingers crossed for me!

Since I was MIA on the blog for all of October I’m thinking of some Halloween/Christmas fusions for recipes and crafts towards the end of this month. What would you like to see? And who would like a home tour on the blog of my dream shack when/if we close?

Alright I’m doing my best at keeping this fairly short for now. As promised, a few highlights from the Europe trip include:

Beppe – the 83 year old owner of the bed and breakfast we stayed at in Corniglia. He didn’t speak any English and did his best to understand my terrible Italian. He showed us everything in the entire apartment, lifted my massive luggage up the steps while proclaiming, “Forte!” (strong), over and over, and even made a joke about Chris being too tall to stand up in the bedroom loft. He was adorable and I’m unofficially adopting him as my Grandpa.

Hiking from Corniglia to Vernazza along the Cinque Terre trail. We went through olive groves, passed by farms with chickens, wild lavender and grapes growing, took in the most stunning views of the hillsides and Mediterranean, and enjoyed our first Italian pizza when we got to Vernazza.

Taking a pasta making class in Rome. We learned how to make three different types of pasta from a professional chef in the most beautiful loft space that once was an old pasta factory. Not only was it the most delicious pasta I’ve even consumed in my life, but the people we met in the group were amazing as well. It was the perfect night of delicious foods, wine, conversation, atmosphere, and communion. And I picked up a new skill and some recipes that I get to share with you all!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Get out and try something new!

Daily Life

September 6, 2018

I know the official start of fall isn’t for a few weeks, but in my mind it has already started and I’ll be the first to say BYEEEEE SUMMER! Don’t get me wrong, summer has it’s moments, but when you have a vacation planned for the fall, humidity is not your friend, and you’re basically a vampire and fry up like bacon anytime the sun hits your skin.. you kind of can’t wait for summer to get over with. I’m also slightly biased with my birthday being at the end of September, but it’s definitely my favorite month. It just seems to bring about an air of change, reflection, and creativity.

Since I haven’t been able to post a lot lately I wanted to touch base with you all on the blog. I kept toying with this idea of re-branding or relaunching it in hopes that I will be able to create more content or that it would spark something new, but the reality is.. the same amount of time (which is little) would be left to work on it and if anything I’d be creating even more work starting from scratch. So rather than scrap everything and start over, I’m going to return to it’s original purpose. Regardless of name or how often I’m able to post to it, will always be a creative outlet and platform for me to share and connect with you. I’m doing my very best to stockpile some new content to share over the next few weeks!

So speaking of sharing.. I have some really fun news to tell you! This is usually the part where someone announces an engagement or baby.. but for me that baby’s name is Europe! I got my passport in the spring and have slowly been booking flights and arranging hotel/AirBnb stays throughout France and Italy. This is seriously a dream come true for me and I am damn proud of myself for making it happen! My gentleman friend (I hate the word boyfriend) and I will be leaving on the 29th of this month and taking an overnight flight to Paris. I will arrive in the City of Lights on the 30th on my 30th birthday.. and yes I totally planned that.

I’ve already received so many recommendations on what to see and do, but I’m all ears if you have anymore ideas. I don’t do museums.. maybe someday, but I don’t want to spend the majority of my limited time standing in lines for my first visit. I just want to explore different cities, eat amazing food, have great experiences, and see beautiful things. If you have any suggestions that fall under those categories, comment them below!

Daily Life

July 19, 2018

Summer seems like a season where you get to kick back, work very little, and live a playful, stress-free life. My summer seems to have missed that memo and has been quite the opposite.

I’m at one of those annoyingly frustrating, emotionally exhausting plateaus in my life. I don’t want to say it’s a downhill point because I’m generally happy, grateful, and optimistic for a lot of things in my life.. I just happen to be hitting a rather hard brick wall in a few other areas.

The biggest obstacle so far has been finding a home. I thought I found one and things were going well until the inspection, which revealed that this home wasn’t going to be a quick, easy, fixer upper as we initially thought. My offer was contingent upon the inspection and appraisal allowing me to respectfully decline and get my earnest money back. Unfortunately the seller seemed to be out to make a quick buck and didn’t want to return my money to me or release me from the contract. My realtor negotiated a deal and I’ll be getting all of my funds back, but he had to take a hit in the pocket book because of them. It was a souring experience with something I’ve been looking forward to and left me leary of looking at/making an offer on any future homes.

In the end I know that things have happened as they should. I was going against my own intuition with buying this home. Everyone tells you that you have to start somewhere and get a “starter home” so I just kind of went for it. I thought it was just the fear of making such a big decision, but I think it was actually my gut saying.. “THIS ISN’T THE ONE!” I’ve been waiting for so long and it’s frustrating to see no proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, but I refuse to just settle.

After throwing myself a little pity party over the last few weeks I’m finally feeling strong again and ready to move forward. I’m working really hard to generate more content for the blog, launch an Etsy shop again, and nail down the rest of my reservations for Europe. My home will find it’s way to me in the process, so I’m going to focus on the things I can control in the meantime.

Thank you to everyone that has shared words of encouragement and kind messages over the last few weeks. Most of you didn’t even know what was going on, but somehow knew I needed some love and kindness to get through.

Until the next time..

-Sasha-