minisaremighty

[Shortpig]

I noticed Kathy hasn't been on the forum for almost a year. Does anyone know how she is doing?

 

[minisaremighty]

I noticed Kathy hasn't been on the forum for almost a year. Does anyone know how she is doing?

Hey Marie! Thanks for asking...it has truly been a long time since I've been on the Back Porch, lots of new names!

[SIZE=12pt]Let me start from the beginning…[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]In January 2008, John (my husband) and I were trying to figure out what type of career change he could make and be successful with since we could see the engineering firm he'd been with for nearly 20 years was flailing. Knowing that John has great untapped artistic skills and he liked tattoos, I came up with the wild idea of him becoming a tattoo artist…he liked it, but didn't think he could do it. After a quick bit of research, I discovered there was a local tattoo school that was starting classes the following week! We managed to come up with the deposit and he got in. He was able to keep his job and work around the schooling (his boss knew he was in ART school, but not that it was a tattoo school). We weren't sure how to pay for the remainder of the school, but it just kept working out and before we knew it, it was paid for.

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[SIZE=12pt]While in school, we decided that we wanted to open our own shop rather than him work in a studio where he'd have to pay out 40% of his income. Decided there were far too many shops in Bend (where we had lived together since 1988) and we were VERY tired of Bend so opted to move to the Oregon Coast, our favorite vacation spot. In April we located this perfect little house right across the highway from the ocean in Seal Rock, at a price we could afford, so we bought it. We also found a great location to open our shop, a nice little complex right on Hwy 101 with tons of visibility. It was a dream location and we hoped we could get it whenever the time came. :love [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]In May, we had a garage sale and met a man who lived 2 streets over. He asked why we were moving and after further conversation, discovered not only did he own a home in Seal Rock, but he also happened to own the very same building that we had hoped to get into in Newport!

This was also the same time we parted with our last mini horse and all of our goats...

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[SIZE=12pt]In June, I found a job in Newport, eight miles up the road from our new house and moved over here while John finished up school and stayed with the kids for the summer. I commuted back and forth all summer.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]In July, John got his license and then in August, he was laid off voluntarily from work (they needed to lay someone off, so he volunteered) and then he worked full time in the local tattoo shop where he schooled. When he left his job, they thought he was crazy and told him he could come back if things didn't work out.

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[SIZE=12pt]In Sept., John and the kids moved over here . We decided to cash out John's 401k and company stock and use part of that money to start up the shop and the rest for savings . This was just before the market took a dive, so we lost less by cashing out and taking a penalty than we would have if we'd not cashed out! Also, the company stock took a MAJOR dive and we ended up WAY better off by cashing that out too!

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]We also FINALLY got our house in Bend on the market. The house had an offer on it and closed within 50 days! That was INCREDIBLE for the market in Bend, most similar houses had been on the market for 12 months and had NO offers.

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]We opened Crazy Eights Tattoo in late November. Off to a bit of a slow start, but once January hit, we got VERY busy and have stayed that way. Everyone told us we were crazy and 8's have figured prominently in our lives starting with our very first kiss on 8-8-88. It's so successful that we are adding another artist next month that will work on weekends.

Here is a link to our shop: www.crazyeightstattoo.com[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]And, the engineering company John had worked for has laid off ALL the employees he'd worked with for 15-19 years and will probably close by summer….John knew it was coming, that's why we made such drastic changes. Unfortunately, his coworkers didn't have the same foresight and are now scrambling trying to find jobs (and there aren't any in that field in that area anymore).

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Our kids now to go a small town schools with less than 850 kids total k-12 in the two schools. There were 1500 student s in the high school my daughter was suppose to attend in Bend. We are much happier and they are thriving living in a rural community. It's been awesome!

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[SIZE=12pt]People told us we were crazy…now they have all taken it back! We truly are crazy, but we took a chance and we are so happy we did! Well, that's the short version! LOL!! Sorry it's so long! So if you are ever in the Central Oregon Coast area, stop by and visit! We are NOT your usual tattoo shop. Ours is bright, colorful, clean and has a fabulous artist (if I do say so myself!)...You can see our shop, John's work and our address on the link above.[/SIZE]

Here are some photos of "our" beach:

Where our house is located.

And the trees in the park we walk through for beach access...

 

[Miniv]

Kathy, That is all so cool...........I love hearing how things just fell into place for you all. It just validates my belief about going down the RIGHT path.

 

[Shortpig]

Hello Kathy, sounds like your family is now doing great. Except for not having your fur kids that is. Should we decide to head to the coast I will keep your place in mind. I have been to Seal Rock before with my family during a family reunion trip. I grew up in Tillamook so I can understand how you would love living at the coast. I still have all my fur kids including Duckie. She has sure grown up and might I say matured into quite the looker. Hard to believe but Jimmy Dolittle and Jasmine are 17yo this year and Ariel is 16yo. The baby of the group is now 4yo. He is a nice sweet little gelding named Koda.

Just because you don't have furkids doesn't mean you can't come on here to catch up and say hi!

I think it's great that John was able to find something not only to support his family but that he also loves doing. That is truly awesome. Sounds like the stars aligned for all of you at the right time.

It has been so nice hearing from you.

Marie

 

[LindaL]

Wow kathy!!

That is really awesome how things worked out for you and your family!! Sometime major life changes are just "meant to be" even if they seem scary at first. I went to your tattoo shop's myspace page and looked at his work...and I think I may need to come on down to have him do some new tats on me!

 

[CyndiM]

Congratulations and Good Luck on this new venture!

 

[Basketmiss]

What a wonderful story!! I love that you guys had a dream and did whatever to make it happen.I believe that is WHY it all worked out so great-If you TRULY believe , it WILL happen..

Looks like a beautiful place to hang yer hat...

 

[anoki]

WOW!!! Sounds like one 'crazy' year!

Glad to hear everything worked out...I love reading stories like that!! And wow, you live in a beautiful area!!!!!!!

~kathryn

 

[minisaremighty]

Hello Kathy, sounds like your family is now doing great. Except for not having your fur kids that is. Should we decide to head to the coast I will keep your place in mind. I have been to Seal Rock before with my family during a family reunion trip. I grew up in Tillamook so I can understand how you would love living at the coast. I still have all my fur kids including Duckie. She has sure grown up and might I say matured into quite the looker. Hard to believe but Jimmy Dolittle and Jasmine are 17yo this year and Ariel is 16yo. The baby of the group is now 4yo. He is a nice sweet little gelding named Koda.
Just because you don't have furkids doesn't mean you can't come on here to catch up and say hi!

I think it's great that John was able to find something not only to support his family but that he also loves doing. That is truly awesome. Sounds like the stars aligned for all of you at the right time.

It has been so nice hearing from you.

Marie

Hi Marie...It's amazing how times flies and we all and our fur kids get older...and older...and older!

LOL! How can Koda be FOUR already???

Oh, I know I can visit the Back Porch, but life keeps me pretty busy, so though I've thought of it many times, I just have a hard time finding the time...

Yes, the stars have definitely aligned for us...and we are thankful for every bit of it.

Thanks everyone for your kind words...we are definitely a lot happier after making such drastic life changes...We had some hefty goals in 2008 and accomplished them all. We only have minor ones for 2009 and so far so good....

Linda, we'd love to see you, so feel free to stop by the shop when you are down this way! We get sooooo many great comments about our shop, because it's NOT a typical tattoo shop, dark, cluttered, creepy, etc.

John is still clean cut (after 20 years as a draftsman, it comes naturally)...he doesn't have any visible tattoos and people are always so comfortable around him because he listens to what THEY want and you'd be amazed at the stories we hear from people that are stuck with a tattoo they hate because the tattoo artist didn't do what the client wanted....He's also striving to be at the top of the game when it comes to tattoo artists. He has people he admires and he's taking classes from them to be the best he can be....I'm very proud of him...