Ink me

When I was younger I hated the idea of tattoos. I remember how my high school sweetheart talked about getting some, maybe even a full sleeve one day, and I was just livid and disgusted. "Why would you cover yourself in ink? You're limiting your job possibilities. I think it's tacky." Granted, at that time, I was still on track to go to college for dance and dance professionally, so tattoos really weren't the best idea for someone in my field. And I guess I just transferred my personal sentiments onto those around me (sorry!).

But my, how my opinion has changed.

My senior year of college, I got my first tattoo: a small shamrock on my left foot. I figured, it's tiny and I could always cover it up for performances and such.

Aw. I love when people ask "Cute tattoo, are you Irish?"

No, I just permanently put a shamrock on my foot and have flaming red hair and freckles

because I'm Spanish.

Grrr. I only get mad because it happens all the time.

Looking back, I think going to the college I did was a big part of what changed my perception of tattoos; it was an all arts school in Philly, with an amazing dance department that accepted students purely based on talent.. not physical appearance. There were some slightly bigger people, some little tiny ones, people with piercings and dyed hair and, yes, tattoos. Visible ones. Big, colorful, pieces of art on their bodies that have not kept them away from performing professionally (some have gone on to dance on cruise ships, at theme parks, and with the Rockettes). A big reason, though, is that the cover-up makeup they have nowadays is pretty spectacular. Not to mention the fact that tattoos, like social media, have become a HUGE part of today's culture.

That being said, I now have five tattoos, with a plan for at least one more. I intended for this post to just share my most recent experience, so sorry for getting a little wordy!

Here goes: I decided that I wanted to get a nice, big cherry blossom tattoo on my side.  I seriously had no idea what cherry blossoms even were until I started dating Scot and came to DC to see them in April of 2008; I have since fallen in love. They are beautiful. They make me happy. They come back year after year after year with just as much gusto and beauty. This obvious sense of renewal and rebirth really resonated with me, especially at a point in my life where things have been changing: I’m switching career paths, I’m getting married, I’m scared for the future and big life changes.. but I know it will be ok. I know that I’ll regenerate with just as much gusto (and beauty?!) as those cherry blossoms. And I wanted/needed to get it done before I graduated from school this past July.

Enter an exceptional tax rebate that paid for the whole thing, and a kick ass tattoo artist, Chris Mead. Chris has done a couple of my other tattoos as well as a bunch of Scot’s. I showed him several pictures and inspirations for my piece, and he drew it up within a couple of weeks. I was hopeful that it could be done it two sessions – one to outline, one to shade. I was also hopeful that it wouldn’t hurt too bad, so you can see how delusional I was.

This baby took 3 sessions, each 2+ hours long. The first, I took a leftover Percocet from when I had my wisdom teeth removed (almost a year to the day before hand, odd), plus a glass or so of wine.

Literally pulling my hair out from pain.

 I never said I made the best life choices. But it worked, and we got through the outline.

Nice and shiny from the Bacitracin. Excuse the bathing suits (and pasty white skin).

It's all I could wear.

Two-ish weeks later, I went back to get the shading done. This time comprised of a few Advil and later a few beers.

Oh hey, Stella.

Again, bad life choices. And we didn’t even get the whole trunk filled in.

 

You can see some of the empty spots if you click on the pic. And yes, some blood. Yuck.

Another two to three weeks later, I went back for what I was determined would be the last time. After getting just the branches filled in the last time, I was so PUFFY. I couldn’t wear normal pants because my hip/abdomen area swelled up so much, and I felt like I got repeatedly punched in the kidney/stomach/intestines. I didn’t want to go through that again another two (or more) times.

Enter Xanax and beer. TERRIBLE life choices.

I remember being in pain, rocking out to my iPod pretending I was actually the one singing the songs, and being completely shocked when Scot pulled the headphones out and told me I was done. Needless to say, I felt like hell on earth the next day, what with my little cocktail and severe body pain and all.

But just look at how pretty it is!!

Seriously in love <3

And please don't ask about what I'm going to do if/when I get preggers.

Cry, probably. And pray.

Worth it? I’d like to think so. Recommended? Hellz no.

I recall my mom saying recently, "What about when your old and have all those tattoos? You're going to be a 'cool' grandma, I guess!" Well.. I like to think that I'm just cool in general of course, but honestly? I won't be any different from everyone else my age.. you see tattoos everywhere now. Many jobs no longer discriminate against you if you have a bit of ink showing. I'm not talking full body coverage here (I personally still don't like facial/neck/chest tattoos), but someone having a sleeve or something on their arm, ankle, what have you.. that can easily be covered up and it's just not that big of a deal anymore. The stigma related to having a tattoo is also slowly disappearing. It used to be that only prisoners, sailors, and military (men) got tats, but it's now reached people of all different strokes as a way to express themselves and be unique ("just like everyone else").

So that's that; aside from my shamrock and cherry blossoms, I have three other tattoos in relatively visible places, but ones that I can also cover pretty easily.

One last picture for you.. Scot also got a tattoo by Chris around the same time I did. His idea was to have the Alkaline Trio logo made into a shamrock to be put on his ribcage, but to be green and look more realistic. From this basic image:

(source)

Chris created this:

Freaking amazing, if you ask me. The man is an incredible artist, and Scot and I are both so sad he moved to California :((

Did I scare you all away from potential tattoos? What do you have, if any?

((All pictures are personal photos, unless otherwise noted))