Mandy Garcia

A week after our Thailand/Vietnam adventure, we made an impromptu trip out to Los Angeles… seriously, we bought our tickets the night before our departure… After much deliberation and whatever with the Musink collaborater (this is a story in itself) we packed up the whole shop and headed out there for the Musink tattoo and music festival, held on the Orange County fair grounds.  Musink holds a special place in my heart… if you’re my good friend, you know the history behind it all.  Anywho… aside from all the hassle, our boys Toby (Humble Beginnings Tattoo) and Joel Albanez (Soul Signature traveling tattoo artist, Seattle based) came down and the tattoo family was together again.  Orly was too busy having the time of his life traveling the south east asian shoestring with his lovely wife… so, he was the missing piece… none-the-less, we did the convention as a family.  A special shout out to the artists (and their ladies) out of A-Town Tattoo, Anaheim, for showing us so much hospitality and love!

Southern Cali this trip… TOTALLY RANDOM nutsness

• Inglewood: Met up with Aisea and the fam, yikes!
• Costa Mesa: Fair grounds where Musink was held
• East LA:  Yes, we wandered into the jungle.  I blame our hungry tummies that were DESPERATE for some authentic, non-chain food (we looked everywhere in Costa Mesa)… although fearing we would get shot, we had a well-worth-the-risk, authentic Mexican feast.
• Venice which actually turned out to be Culver City: Like idiots, we didn’t book a hotel in L.A. city, so, all the hotels were booked up due to a Clippers game at the Staple Center, so we drove for hours at night, thinking we were in Venice cause of GPS, and woke up to find that we were in Culver City.
• San Pedro: Went to visit the homie Mr.Angry Woebots and his beautiful lady Bonnie, who opened up their home to us, hooked it up and took us around the beautiful coastline where we visited the Korean friendship bell, and a bird/seal sanctuary.  And he showed us his awesome collection of toys which made my Lucky entirely jealous.
• Long Beach: cruised over to see the Queen Mary where the Ink & Iron tattoo convention will be held in June.  Passed time while we waited for Aisea to get done tattooing by, of all things, watching a movie: Shutter Island.  We’re in another state, and we choose to see a movie, nerdfaces.  And, while in Borders, saw my Skin Deep mag on the shelves, which was TOTALLY weird because I was in another state and saw myself wrapped in plastic.
• Carson: GPS tricked us, and unknowingly, we ended up staying at some random hotel in the boonies thinking we were at the same hotel as Aisea and the gang.  Stupid GPS.
• Then off to a bunch of side of the road towns as we set our sites on getting up North to San Jo!  Those pics will be up next…

But for now, enjoy the LA goodnessygoodness… photo creds to Lucky Olelo, Joel Albanez, Tobias Torres

The last leg of our trip was Vietnam… We flew into Saigon, where we were met up by former Soul Signature tattoo artist/my dear Vietnamese brutha from anotha mutha, Tin.  We then drove two hours to his hometown, My Tho, where the insanity ensued.  He and his friends reaaaaally went out of their ways to make us feel comfortable, being that Vietnam is still a third world country and is still extremely dangerous.  And of course, over the years that we worked with him, he told us many-a-story of the crazy shit that goes down there.  Really, there are no rules in Vietnam, well, none that would apply in America, and if it weren’t for them, we probably wouldn’t have left our hotel.  I mean come on, he told us that it is cheaper in an accident to kill a person than to let them live, because you would then be forced to pay their medical bills.  After all the stories that he has told us, I didn’t totally believe him, that is, until our stay in Vietnam.

Our new found friends showed us the time of our lives in Vietnam.  And, being Vegetarian, I would just utter the words “salad” and someone would disappear for a few minutes and come back with salad and pepsi light in hand.  They told me that only the monks don’t eat meat, and vegetarian meals were hard to come by and I really appreciate all that they did to accommadate me.  The Vietnamese food that we know in America is nothing like the real deal food in Vietnam… and the Vietnamese coffee in America will never ever ever live up to the high standards to which Lucky and I now hold for true Vietnamese coffee.  When we left, we were having coffee withdrawals… these guys run on coffee… when you visit friends in Vietnam, be prepared to go to a coffee shop at least three times a day.  You know a country takes coffee seriously when their coffee shops are bigger and more lavish than any restaurant.

To say the least, we didn’t lift a finger, and everyone fought over paying the bills, doing anything to not let us pay!  So silly!  And everyday was filled with something to do, all planned out by our friends.  Sights you would never ever see unless you knew a local.  So sweet.  I don’t know what we would have done if not for them.  Tin is like the king in his city, and no one fucked with us, and everywhere we went, we were guaranteed safety.  One day my friends, we shall see each other again…

We miss you all!  Much love, respect and aloha to you all!

**click thumbnails to enlarge view**

…amazing photos, photo cred to Lucky Olelo…not so amazing photos, by me, hehe.  Next entry… LA and San Jose…

Lucky and I could totally see ourselves here for awhile.  The little town life, the friendly locals, taking our carabao (water buffalo) for a afternoon walk, thirty cent meals, amazing artwork, beautiful sunsets… I could go on and on.  My heart is still here, even though a month has passed.

**click thumbnails to enlarge view**

Stay tuned for next update… crazy VIETNAM!

I am seriously soooo spoiled rotten.  This little island to the south of Bangkok truly is a gem.  I got there and was like, “This is what people expect when they come to Hawaii… but this is the slice of paradise that Hawaii has lost.”

FYI… SANDALWOOD VILLAS IS THE BOMBEST PLACE EVER IN THE HISTORY OF PLACES, EVER when it comes to ballerific terrific pampering goodness.  I never, ever, ever thought I would live to see the day that I would get to stay in such an amazing place.  Private villas built for kings, rich, famous… it was ours for the week, thanks to David and Aui and Mrs.Hendriks without which, we’d never ever in our wildest dreams have the privilege to sit pretty in the lap of luxury!  David (owner of Sandalwood, aka, our friend Elizabeth’s papa) truly hooked it up and went WAAAAAAY out of his way to accommodate us and show us the time of our lives.  Truly, he and his wife Aui were the bees knees when it came to hosting a wonderful vacay.  They call the place “Koh Samui’s gem” which doesn’t even say enough to represent how absolutely stunning the place is.  Seriously, no amount of pictures could do the place justice.  It’s comprised of 10 boutique villas, all completely independent of each other, each one having its own unique touch.  I mean come on!  We had our own infinity pool and our balcony had a jacuzzi tub!  The estate is set up to seem as though you are the only one in the whole place, seeing as how you don’t even see another guest your entire stay… True seclusion, the perfect getaway.  Taxis refuse to drive to the place because it’s up this crazy mountain, so the views are absolutely breath taking, the cliffside is yours for the taking.  If ever I’m rich someday, I’ll ask David for the floorplans and I’m modeling my dream home after this place.  AHHH I could go on and on and on… but this blog won’t update itself, right?  Haha.

So of course I had to start off the blog with it, gloat, brag, all that jazz… Jealous?  I would be.  Okay I’m done.  I think.  **Sigh** What I would give to return to this place ASAP….

I know that I keep pushing back and pushing back and pushing back the whole updating thing.  Things have been real hectic, up in the air and, well, crazy…  But… soon my friends, very soon… when I return to Hawaii, I will be getting my shit together.

After being exposed to so much tattooing awesomeness, artwork inclusive, abroad, I feel sooo ridiculously humbled, even not worthy of calling myself a tattoo artist.  I have so much to work on, such a long way to go, and I’m so happy that I am afforded the opportunities to see and learn and broaden my horizons.

Hawaii is such a small rock, monotonous, distracting, and at most times, uninspiring… Like I’ve said time and time before, the tattooing in foreign countries, and the tattooing here in California never ceases to take me aback, and just be in complete awe of what’s being done out here.  I feel so ridiculously unproductive, and so novice.  I feel like I should rid myself of all distractions… phone, internet, whatever… and just lock myself in my room and practice practice practice and hopefully produce something possibly decent.

To being productive… and a total hermit… I love you all.  Thanks for the inspiration and love love love.

SOUL SIGNATURE SHIRTS ARE FINALLY IN!  COME AND GET IT… $30.00… HIGH QUALITY PRINTING.  LOTS OF HISTORY BEHIND THE DESIGN.  COME IN AN ASK ABOUT IT, YOU KNOW YOU WANT ONE!

AND!! I’LL BE ADDING THE AMAZING WORK OF JAMES GARCIA PHOTOGRAPHY TO MY “WORK WITH PHOTOGRAPHERS” REAL SOON.  Just took awhile for me to shape up and get ahold of the photos.  You know he’s good cause he’s got an awesome last name!  Cheee!  Haha, nah… these were taken at the San Jose ‘08 State of Grace Convention… a bit of a throw back.  Can’t wait to work with him in hopefully the very near future… like next week if we’re in Cali!  Check out his stuff…

www.jrgphotography.com

Thailand… I miss you so much.

**photo credits** my lucky olelo… www.hisuerte.com

So I’ve been getting a bunch of emails, calls, texts, messages, etc, regarding getting tattooed by me… and I just wanted to apologize for not being able to get to them quickly. Lucky and I have just gotten back from our 3 week adventure in Thailand and Vietnam, and, luckily bittersweet, I got sick when we got home (thank god not on the trip!), and have been so ever since. I am feeling better and will be returning to the shop tomorrow.

For all of you who live on island, it is best to contact me at the shop versus via email. Serious inquiries are welcomed to come in for a consultation, and take preference over calls and computer related inquiries.  Regarding emails, I am sorry that I have not been able to reply to you all yet, I am only one person, but will get to you and I value your interest in my tattooing!  If you are new to the tattooing game, visit my contact page to get your bearings as to what to do to get tattooed by me or anyone at the shop.

Once again I’m sorry for the wait, thanks to you all for being so patient!

-Mandy

We were truly given an amazing opportunity to hang out with some of the most amazing, respected artists in the world… Such nice guys.  You know how you get star struck and can’t possibly believe that these guys are even talking to you… they were just normal guys, wanting to hang out, see some stuff, have fun, and eat LOTS (and I mean LOTS of food)… The convention had such an awesome line up… even the OG’s (well, everyone there pretty much was a great somebody in the tattoo world) like Shige, Mike Ledger, and Mick from Zurich were in the house.  Made new friends, hung out with some old ones, watched some insane tattooing.  Special shout outs to Tim Hendriks and his lovely lady/our crazy friend Liz, Federico Ferroni, Dan the Man, Ichibay, and Chris Garver for making us feel nothing but welcomed.  Even got my own limited edition Tim Hendriks machine!

Check out their awesome sites…

Tim Hendriks- www.saltwatertattoo.com

Liz Hendriks- www.travelingbirds.com

Federico Ferroni- www.fedtattoos.com

Danny Chan- www.royaltattoo.com

Ichibay- www.threetidestattoo.com

Chris Garver- www.chrisgarvertattoo.com

Mike Ledger- www.myspace.com/mikeledgerinc

Shige- www.yellowblaze.net

I could stay abroad FOREVER, but it’s time to face reality, get back into the daily grind… that is, after I get over this damn jet lag.  Technically, it’s tomorrow in Thailand.

I’ve been totally lagging on the site so I need to get back on it… Lots of adventure tales and amazing pics from Bankok, Koh Samui, and Vietnam so, check back soon.

And I’ll be updating the all the pages on my website ASAP.