Boh and I basically sat on the couch like this all weekend, formatting my dissertation.
I made up new rules for myself, like when you’re working on an enormous bibliography, it is okay to eat avocado, sriracha, and cheese broiled on toast for dinner. (I think it’s a great rule.)
Even though it is supposed to be spring, we had a bit of a relapse…
Boh shared my enthusiasm for the shift in weather. See?
But yesterday, I filed my dissertation. (Well, I hit the button to submit it, and I’m still waiting to hear if I managed to screw up the formatting.) But I also did something else, something I’ve been daydreaming about for years. I got my dissertation tattoo, a downy woodpecker, beautifully drawn for me by a woman who owns my favorite coffee shop and works at the tattoo parlor in the back.
(Ignore that bruise; it’s from a blood draw earlier this week.) I knew I wanted a bird, but I picked this bird, specifically, because there’s a female downy woodpecker who regularly comes pretty close to the house when I’m writing on the porch. This bird is about a lot of things: she’s connected to my research, but also to the home I’ve built here, to these last seven years of graduate school, and also to the movement (migration?) ahead of me. Isn’t she beautiful?
barefoot rooster 
Hooray for getting it formatted and turned in! Congrats. Love the tattoo (so different!) — and I love the idea of a combination coffee shop/tattoo parlor. Not quite as awesome as the combo coffee shop/yarn store, but pretty great nonetheless.
I can’t believe that we’ve been blog buddies for seven years now, btw. Time flies.
BTW, you’re giving me dinner ideas. That fancy toast looks amazing.
Absolutely gorgeous and stunning. Congratulations!
I’m with Jodi–that toast needs to happen.
Congratulations on submitting your dissertation. I’m not a huge fan of tattoos, or woodpeckers, they’ve been snacking on our house. But I do believe that if it makes you happy and doesn’t cause harm to yourself or anyone else, then it’s good.
Hopefully that’s the last snow until next November!
Oops almost forgot, hope whatever you had blood drawn for isn’t serious!
Give Boh a snuggle for me.
Smiles,
Lovely Tattoo! And congrats on formatting and submitting your dissertation! Still need to do that…
Glorious tattoo!! I love that it’s a one-of-a-kind piece and one that has special meaning. So perfect. And I agree with the other posters about your dinner. Yum!!!!
Congrats! Very cute tat! I adore downy woodpeckers and have many here where I live. So much sweeter than their gawkier relatives the hairy woodpeckers. I do have pileated ones in my woods out back. They are a treat to behold. Soo big and loud, though shy.