Tokidoki Barbie

WOW..... I know that I am slow to hop on the Tokidoki Barbie bandwagon..... About 8 months behind, but DAMN!  I am surprised at some of the opinions people are spouting in regards to her "look".
With terms like "prostitute", "slut", "trailer trash" etc being bandied about, I'm not feeling the love.
http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/844917/new-tattooed-barbie-causes-a-stir

As I said before, I had an extensive Barbie doll collection as a child.... Hell, I even had a hippy looking Cher doll which didn't inspire me to smoke pot, well at least not when I was 10.  And *if* I smoked pot at a later time, that decision had NOTHING to do with the fact that my mother had previously given me a Cher doll.

If Barbie is a tool to influence young girls into making smart career decisions, I find McDonalds Barbie MUCH more offensive:

If we are going with the theory that girls would choose to become rockin' tattooed girls strictly because their Barbie had some sick ink......... then how did I and every girl that didn't own one make the decision to become tattooed???  And what about girls that didn't even own Barbie dolls?? Jeezus, they must be completely lost.
Interestingly, I didn't own the Nurse Barbie (although this one was a little before my time) yet chose to go to nursing school all on my own.

She is pretty fucking awesome though, I'd like to own one now.
And the only people I observe attempting to look like Barbie are full grown adult women!!  Who are obviously suffering from some serious mental disorders.  Here is a case in point:

I'm sure some people like that "look", but it's a little frightening to me........ tattoos are much more beautiful, and REAL.
But it's her right to do as she pleases to her body.
Just as it's my right, and the right of every little girl lucky enough to own a Tokidoki Barbie, to tattoo or not to tattoo. 
The way I look at it, if someone is looking at me, judging me, criticizing me for my tattoos......... well someone else is getting a break!!!

While looking for Barbie images to post I found this one:

Cat Burgler Barbie........... A Barbie with tattoos causes more of an uproar than Criminal Barbie?? REALLY???
Being a cat burgler IS glamorous, fo sho...... so i retract my own outrage :-)
I bet she has some tattoos under that catsuit, since the prevailing theory is that people with tattoos are criminals................... ok I'm done being snarky for the moment............

Enjoy your Friday my friends!!!
I will taking a motorcycle ride this evening (thus enforcing the stereotypes, you're welcome)!!

Sugar Skull Barbie

Tokidoki Barbie..... ($274.99 on Amazon)
I feel ashamed............... I want one.
She is everything that I'm not....... our only similarities would be our tattoos........ i still need to have her.  I had a fantastic barbie doll collection as a young girl, along with a kick ass Matchbox car collection.... I was a bit of a dichotomy I suppose.  I could have never imagined a tattooed Barbie! Of course, my mother probably wouldn't have allowed me to have it anyway.
If I had been put in charge of designing Tokidoki Barbie, I first would have given her a different name, Tokidoki is the brand and I'm sure they probably wouldn't want to associate themselves with a TrippyBeth design anyway.
But I digress......
My Barbie would be called Sugar Skull Barbie I think.   She would have beautiful red hair, a pierced nose, some sick tattoos on her arms (one full sleeve for sure),  on at least one foot, her back and shoulders.  She would wear some cute denims, a tank top, a suit vest and a simple pair of flats.  She would sport a black headband and a pair of retro looking eyeglasses.  Sugar Skull Barbie, doesn't drag pets around with her for show, nor does she carry a ridiculously large bag.  She's just a normal, quirky kind of girl, with lots of normal and quirky friends, some tattooed, some not.  She is neither an heiress or a socialite and doesn't pretend to be, she is happy just being herself.......
like all little girls should be.......

My Maiden Reflection.....

I begin this blog as I am trying to substitute one obsession for another…

I am on the backside of a failed romance (he didn’t like tattoos anyway) and am embarking on a blogging journey, that will, hopefully, not be fraught with peril.

It seems that the more I become obsessed with my own tattoos, the more i notice, admire and covet tattoos on others.  I want to tell tattoo stories, the motivation for the ink…….. whether it’s simply because of the beauty of the image on their skin, as a memorial, a symbol, a reminder, to commemorate a milestone….. whatever the reason I think that it’s poetic and beautiful.

(Except for the forehead tattoos proclaiming “fuck the police” and various other images possessed by utter and complete fucktards).

So I will begin by telling my own tattoo stories.

I have had a love affair with tattoos for many years.  But didn’t have any ink deposited in my skin until 6 years ago.  My first tattoo was in the typical spot the majority of girls are tattooed, on my ankle.

I had wanted this particular tattoo for some time, wanted it as homage to my grandparents who had been deceased for 5 years.  The tattoo that I choose was a columbine.

Of course, my columbine has no relationship to Columbine High School or Klebold and Harris, the architects of that absolute shitstorm.

The columbine I had chosen is a wildflower that is prolific in the hills of Kentucky.

At the time my grandparents eloped (my grandmother left a note for her mother in a hen’s nest inside the chicken house) they were very poor.  My grandfather ventured into the woods and dug up some of the wild columbine for my grandmother to plant in her flower beds.

I vividly recall my grandmother telling me this story as a young girl.  It made me hope to, someday, have someone love me like that.  It’s the little things in life that sometimes stick with you the longest, and that story planted itself in my brain and my heart. 

That kind of love continues to elude me………….. but at least I know that it is possible.

So…… on my birthday some friends and I (friends that I did not retain custody of in the divorce) traveled to Tattoo Charlie’s of Lexington, KY http://www.tattoocharlies.com/ .

I had taken a beautiful photo of a columbine with me and the lovely and talented Charlotta (her portfolio can be found here http://www.tattoocharlies.com/html/charlotta.html) went about drawing the stencil.  I fell in love with it the moment that I saw the image on my skin. 

The actual tattoo was less painful than I had expected and was over with relatively quickly.

Here is a current photo of that tattoo that I surrendered my tattoo virginity to:

Notice the fetching scar that runs through the bottom portion of the tattoo?? 

Four years, minus four days after I got the tattoo, I had a little bicycle accident.  Take it from TrippyBeth, toe straps are fucking awesome when you’re riding………. Less than awesome when you’re wrecking.

I sustained a trimalleolar fracture of the left ankle and tore the ligaments from the bone.  But, as I lay there in the gravel immediately after I gently fell over (yes, it wasn’t even an accident story worth recanting) I tried hard to convince myself that I had only suffered a sprain…… I couldn’t have been more wrong.

So…… a plate and 7 screws later, this is what I’m left with…………. If you’re dumb (or uncoordinated) you’ve got to be tough.

I've got the dumb/uncoordinated thing down..... the tough thing, I'm struggling with.

It is actually a neat little scar, considering what lies beneath it.  My surgeon, who appeared to be about 14, was quite proud of it.  Instead of suturing the wound, he glued it to try to maintain the integrity of the tattoo.  I am very appreciative of his efforts.

I really need to get it touched up, but with the plate being palpable through my skin, I’m nervous about it (an example of my lack of toughness).  Hopefully I will muster enough courage to have it done soon, I really do love the tattoo.