Getting my first tattoo

Yes!!! Finally! I Did it!

 

At first, it was a rather simple idea… a thin straight line from my elbow to my wrist within the middle the letters that spelled the name of my one and only baby girl. ____Miley____
But. I was still breastfeeding. And everyone strongly advised against it back then. (this was 7 years ago) Fair enough I thought So after 3 years of breastfeeding It became clear there would be another baby sooner or later. Might as well wait a bit and make it a line with two names.

Patience.

My second baby girl was born and I remember doodling on every piece of paper their names in one long connected line.  ____Miley____&___Haley____  Trying to get the shape and caligraphy just right.

Like practicing an autograph, The line had to have the perfect flow and casual hand-drawn feel to it, styled and still be straight and readable. Not too curly not to dull, but just interesting enough. And certainly not some standard existing Font. Besides that, I still had to wait. Because…still breastfeeding.

Haley became 1,5 and I started searching for the right Tatoo artist. I was prepared to travel If I’d found one further away. As long as the artist could make clean thin lines and I felt “right” about the person behind the needle. As I would wair his or her “mark” for the rest of my days, I was making sure It would be a positive experience.

And then I became pregnant with baby nr.3 The most beautiful little-unexpected surprise of our lives.  And by now, you must know, I had been waiting for 5 years to get this thing on my arm…  So back to the drawing board to add one more name.  ___Miley___Haley___Quinn___   Sometimes I even took a pen and drew it on my arm and took a selfie to see how it would look! Now I’m typing this I realize that this may sound a bit obsessed. Well, maybe I was.

When Quinn was still a newborn we were in a nearby town when we passed by this awesome looking tattoo shop. It wasn’t like any tattoo shop I’d ever seen. It was light, fresh, with a gorgeous mandala-logo on the window. Inside there were plants and beautiful artwork. The whole shop looked welcoming, soft, friendly and creative. So we walked in and we met Manon from Le Nou Tattoo. Her artwork is just amazingly full of feminine shapes and figures, detailed mandalas, Botanics, and subtle shades and razor-sharp fine lines Check out her Instagram here.  She was so friendly, relaxed with a calm confidence that just made me trust her instantly! But Quinn was still a Tiny baby. So I waited just a bit longer.

“The line had to have the perfect flow and casual hand-drawn feel to it.”

When Quinn got one-year-old I became impatient. A few years back my eldest daughter still breastfed occasionally until she was 5 years old. That would mean that it would take another whole four years before I could have my ultimate “mommy Tattoo”.

 

Breastfeeding and getting a Tattoo?

But why isn’t it a good Idea to get a Tattoo while breastfeeding? Mainly, If your tattoo would get infected you maybe would need Antibiotics that don’t go well together with breastfeeding. Some say there is a slightly bigger chance of infection because of a lower immune system and a bit thinner blood. But let’s be honest, I think those last two reasons have as much to do with delivering a baby and recovering from that than breastfeeding. I guess having a tattoo within the first 9 months after having a baby/pregnancy maybe isn’t a good idea either. Anyway, This is What the breastfeeding experts at La Leche League had to say about it. 

 

“I’m Hearing myself say “Michiel, I really think you have to hold my hand””

“Shurley the pain is going to get so much worse. But it wasn’t…

“this is it!?” I asked.”

“I suddenly became really nervous!
There was something I didn’t think of beforehand…
Would this hurt much!?”

The time is now

After 1,5 years of breastfeeding my babies aren’t that dependent on breastfeeding anymore, Its just a nice bonus for all the antibodies and such. But if I would have to skip one week for what reason so ever. She would survive just fine! Besides that, I wasn’t going to let a Tiny little tattoo get infected. A good licensed tattoo shop,  healthy lifestyle, Hygiene and common sense are your friends.

So I decided it was time. I sure as hell wasn’t going to wait until I am 38 to do this thing!
It already had waited for ages (7 years). And then last Oktober Michiel and my Mom surprised me for my 34th birthday with a booked appointment at “Le Nou“. The earliest date available was February the 7th. Wich says something about how good she is I guess.

 

February 7th, 2019

Happy as can be, with my hand-drawn line design perfected over the past 7 years. (being a bit of a neurotic perfectionist about it, but it was done.)  I’d never been more ready for this than for anything in my life!  Even a pregnancy takes less freaking time than it takes me to get a tiny little tattoo! I mean really!?

Only until the very last moment when a sat down and with the sight of the surprisingly friendly looking tattoo machine I suddenly became really nervous! There was something I didn’t think of beforehand…  Would this hurt much!? I had been so busy thinking of the design, artist, timing… and now only seconds to go and my heard was pounding like crazy. I’m Hearing myself say “Michiel, I really think you have to hold my hand”

 

The sound of the buzzing needle and 3..2..1… 

I remember thinking the first 10 seconds, this isn’t IT yet, It can’t be. Shurley the pain is going to get so much worse. But it wasn’t… “this is it!?” I asked.  “Yes, that’s it! Its actually get easier as I move towards your wrist!” WOW, What a relief! Feels a bit like sharp scratching. This didn’t hurt at all! It took no more than 20 minutes and than it was all done. Not a drop of blood or wound fluid had spilled. It looked sharp and dry. Even the redness wasn’t so bad. And I never was happier with a birthday gift!

Now 2 days later I still find myself looking at it and being so completely content with it. So happy I had to wait because now I have all 3 names in it. If I hadn’t had to wait until my breastfeeding days where over I would probably have done just the first name and later two separate tattoos with every new baby name. What I like about this one now is that what I thought would be just a cool design turned out to be a timeline. One continuous line, their names all connected. It’s perfect! Everything came together and I’m loving it!

LOVE it!

Thanks, Michiel for making the reservation and tanks mom for sponsoring half of it for my B-day, and last but not least thanks to Manon from LeNou Tattoo for doing an awesome job!

And to my three baby girls, Miley, Haley & Quinn, I love you forever, just like this tattoo.
Want to see the end result!? scroll down to see the rest of the photo series.

Love,  Jolanda

 

Going to Amsterdam

Let’s go to Amsterdam!

We will go and have a drink at the docs. (at Pllek) I will hold you close until you will feel secure enough to explore a bit.

I will drink my tea, with some honey and we will sit by the fire…
And then you will run through the cafe like you own the place.
Of course, it will be totally exhausting running after you the whole time. but I don’t mind.

Then I will wrap you up high and warm up against me and we will take the ferry to the central station.
We are feeling tiny and light, passing people by left and right through the rushing crowds trying to board the fairy. And well be watching the water and buildings pass as we cuddle all the way there.

Ah Amsterdam
So many intriguing people, all different shapes and sizes, all going different places, living different lives.

We will wander around a bit, maybe do some window shopping, and we will be all alone while being surrounded by so many others. Standing still, watching everyone rushes through their daily routine.

So glad to have you so close to me in my arms.
This is the city, my love. Is’nt it magical!?

Love,
  Jolanda, Michiel,
Miley Haley & Quinn

Music in this video is by:
Meydän – https://soundcloud.com/meydansound/

Babywrap is from: We are Wovens – Boots are from: H&M – 
Blue fauxfur coat from:  Zara – Big floppy hat from: H&M –  Orange vest: Pull and bear – Flower dress: Pull and bear

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Going to Amsterdam

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Bohemian roomtour – Urban Jungle

Eclectic Urban Jungle

Take a look in our Bohemian styled home. We have created an urban jungle filled with beautiful plants, macrame, flower wreaths, vintage finds, artwork and carefully selected and styled toy corner for our kids.

You can find our previous roomtour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STmpvcOPoDg

We hope you like it! If you do, please make sure to let us know in the comments and subscribe to our channel!
enjoy!

Love,
  Jolanda, Michiel,
Miley Haley & Quinn

Music in this video is by:
Meydän – https://soundcloud.com/meydansound/

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Bohemian roomtour – Urban Jungle

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Slowing Down! – Recap 2018

Happy new year everyone!

Time is flying by and everything is going so fast.
Treasure every second!

Here is an overview of our treasured memories of the year 2018. We hope you had a great year and a wonderful new years eve.

May 2019 bring you all the love and happiness in the world!

Love,
  Jolanda, Michiel,
Miley Haley & Quinn

Music in this video is by:
Meydän – https://soundcloud.com/meydansound/

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About this Curveball…

Uncertainties are scary yet exciting…

Normally we like to share our highs, but we do hit some low’s along the way, just like everybody else. So let’s get real. So here is one huge bump in the road we are dealing with right now.

The beginning of 2018 brought us stability… Something we haven’t had in quite a while. I didn’t have any pregnancies or newborns this year in our family of 5 (we think our little family is complete now) and we had a stable income through our Wedding photography (If you were wondering… this is what we do). No crazy sh*t happening around us. Just a nice day to day routine and all was good. We finally got into the flow of balancing work and family.

On top of that my Instagram and this blog started to generate some income too! We had some pretty awesome collaborations amazing brands. It’s still not enough to stop doing weddings (not that want to stop doing weddings, weddings are awesome). But it was enough to let all the photo and video editing after we shot the wedding days over to Michiel, so I could focus on investing my time on creating content for this blog, the vlog, and my Instagram!

-“And then came Oktober… Oh my. What a curve ball!”-


The curveball

Things were pretty amazing!

And then came Oktober… Oh my. What a curve ball!
Our stable income was not so stable anymore.
The short version: We don’t have enough weddings in 2019 to keep ourselves afloat! So we need to make some adjustments. We need to push ourselves out of our comfort zone once again.

To fully understand what happened I need to explain it a bit more:
It takes us 2,5 week to process all the photo and video images of just one wedding. We do a maximum of 18 weddings every year. We don’t have room for more. 
The summer month we survive with the income of the weddings, the winter months we survive on the down payments for the upcoming weddings and the orders of wedding albums of the past wedding season.

We reach 90% of our clients through the biggest wedding fair in Holland. We participate two times a year, and then we are fully booked.
No need for online ads, campaigns or another form of advertising.
But this year, the wedding fair of October was a complete fail. Where normally there are on average 5000 visitors, now there were only 1000. We got ZERO bookings from that fair this year. Something that has never happened before in the last 5 years. And on top of that, the fair of March 2019 is canceled. The whole fair stopped. Forever!

-“looking back afterward it always has been exactly the way it should have been. We just didn’t know it yet at the time.”-

So now we have 4 weddings booked for 2019, Wich generates not enough to get us through this winter, or the next summer for that matter. so we need to get familiar with online advertising. But oh’my… its all sooo complicated and time-consuming learning process. And we don’t have the time, we need bookings like yesterday.

 

So Now what!?

I’m positive that we get this online advertising thing down soon, and we’ll get enough bookings for the upcoming summer. But until then, we have a bit of a financial problem. So one of us needs a job somewhere for the upcoming 4 months. On “project base” or for a longer period of time if we like it enough. And with “we”, I mean preferably Michiel. I want to stay focused on creating our content and keep the inspiring Wild&BOHO collabs going! I’m only selectively applying to jobs that I would LOVE to do so much, that I would maybe ditch all other stuff and stay working there forever! And there are not so many vacancies out there that will get my attention. I’ve written 3 so far. Michiel 5 and counting. We’ll see…

-“It’s not a curveball… its a Pusch in the right direction by the universe.”-

I’m stressing a lot about the What If’s.
Our reserves are running dry and something needs to happen soon! The uncertainties are taking its toll. Images of every imaginable scenario are going through my monkey mind. The never-ending chatter of my internal dialogue who sometimes gets stuck in a carousel… Going round and round in circles. Pointless and exhausting. We are doing our best here, there really is nothing more we can do.

One of my goals for 2019 is to just let the universe do its thing.
I’m going to do the best job I can, work my but off, and then I’m going to let it go. No stress. Trusting everything will be fine. Because looking back afterward it always has been exactly the way it should have been. We just didn’t know it yet at the time. This is a chance to grow, evolve, move forward instead of getting stuck in the same pattern over and over again. It’s not a curveball… its a Pusch in the right direction by the universe.

Our glass is half full. We have love, we have each other, we have our creativity, we have a nice home. We’ll pull through. 

-“Because of you this blog and our Instagram has started to become a way to support our family”-

So if you reached all the way to this point in the blog, I want to thank you for reading!
You are here not only for our best moments but apparently also here for our struggles.
Thank you for being there for us, for following our blogs, watching our video’s, checking out our Instagram posts and by leaving a comment now and then. Because of you this blog and our Instagram has started to become a way to support our family a bit! Maybe one day we can fully focus on creating art and cool content full time! We appreciate your support so much. So Thank you Thank you Thank you!

Have a Wonderful New year’s eve! We love you guys!

Love,
Jolanda, Michiel
Miley, Haley & Quinn

 

Blog post: Jolanda Marti
Photography: Michiel Fook

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Opinions… Choose: Frozen canals or blazing hot sunshine!?

Opinions matter…and everyone is always having theirs.

 

What’s your opinion on that? What would you choose? What do you think? What would you prefer? Who do you support? 

I’m always inclined to prefer extremes be passionate about really outspoken things and have really clear opinions. I Love SUPER sweet, or SUPER salty… I LOVE the blazing hot summers or the really cold freezing and snowing winter days. I root for the underdog, I think this planet and animals should be protected more, I feel like the first world complains way too much, and I think this world has way too much injustice.

When I love something I tend to go completely overboard. I can get lost in following a series and don’t want to watch anything else for 7 seasons 15 episodes each. When I love a drink or some food I will just drink or eat that thing until I can’t stand in anymore. I LOVE certain trends or fashion, or I think it’s absolutely hideous. I Really Really REEEALLYYY love plants in my home. And everything with natural materials and textures!

“I am an open book… yes you may know my thoughts. But ask me again tomorrow, and I don’t know if the answer will still be the same.”

I know that some of these things are just a matter of taste or opinion, and some a matter of “right or wrong” and some a matter of perspective, knowledge or information.
I am an open book… yes you may know my thoughts. But ask me again tomorrow, and I don’t know if the answer will still be the same.

I can switch my opinions and preferences or how I feel about something just like that. Because a preference or opinion isn’t like a birthmark… you aren’t born with opinions or preferences. Nothing is set in stone, once you’ve developed an opinion about something, It’s not a lifelong decision. I’m allowed to change my opinions or preferences.

It feels like some people make us feel like your opinion is supposed to be cour identity. The essence of who we truly are. Making it shameful, weak or event tradeful to change our opinions, to change our minds, to evolve. But most of the time those preferences and opinions are dependent on your knowledge. So if you are a stubborn person who clenches on to his opinion or preferences despite new information that might prove you otherwise… well that isn’t a very wise thing to do, isn’t it!? I feel that that is just bitter, stubborn, proud, and short-sided. Maybe even a lack of intelligence maybe!? I’m not sure… but It feels wrong to me.

A lot of the times an opinion is also a judgment on someone’s address… like I just did back there:
“I feel that that is just bitter, stubborn, proud, and short-sided. Maybe even a lack of intelligence maybe!? I’m not sure… but It feels wrong to me.” That’s not a nice thing to hear if you feel it applies to you. But it is the truth about what I was thinking while typing this.
So should you always share your opinions!? Probably only if someone is asking you directly or if you think it’s really important to share it because it is something people just NEED to hear. Even if they maybe won’t like it. And you never know, if you might even hear some new information or gain a new perspective that will change your mind if you are open to it and flexible enough.

“I prefer to say “I don’t know” Because I just don’t know how I feel about it.”

In some cases on some topics, I prefer to say “I don’t know” Because I just don’t know how I feel about it. Because I don’t have enough Information or I need more time to process the incoming data. Knot knowing is ok too. It’s a nice place to stay and just observe.
Mostly on things like a new song or new fruit gets me confused, and I need to taste or hear it more times to “get to know” all the different details in texture and rhythms and flavors happening. Of some things that are happening in the world… sometimes I just decide, I don’t know what is true or false anymore, I Just don’t know what to think or feel. and it all will make me feel powerless angry and depressed. I don’t have to save the world. Let’s make it a better place one little bit of the time.

So I never feel guilty about changing opinions or preferences. Next step is to not feeling guilty sometimes about being happy and privileged to be living somewhere where my kids can be safe and grow up being happy, while others in the world are not! I Just wish Everyone in this world would be safe. And that’s something I Find hard to accept.

“I will be shouting on the top of my lungs:  “THIS IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR”.”

So I’m going to enjoy the winter days and hoping for snow and frozen lakes and channels. If my prayers get answered I’m going to shout on the top of my lungs:  “THIS IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR”
And a few months later I will be hoping for hot sunshiney days and when it comes I will be shouting on the top of my lungs:  “THIS IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR”.

And it all will be the truth because I will mean it every single time!

Blog by: Jolanda Marti
Photography: Michiel Fook

Opinions… Choose: Frozen canals or blazing hot sunshine!?

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