I’ve been planning to write this post about my tattoos since Andrew wrote one about his back in September. I actually started this draft in October and haven’t looked at it since. I really just never got around to having Josh takes pictures of my tattoos for me. But I finally did! So now I can show you all my ink!

I’m a big fan of tattoos.  I always have been. Maybe like Andrew it’s about looking cool or listening to too much punk rock. But really I just think they can be really beautiful works of art.  It’s like what I wrote about fashion and style. I think that having a tattoo makes a visual statement about yourself to the world. And I think that statement for me, is just that I’m a little (okay a lot) different than the average girl, I’m independent, I’m tough, I’m a little outrageous, I’m just not quite what you’d expect me to be.

I have four tattoos. They each represent a different time in my life or something that is important to me

Tattoo # 1 Rosie the Riveter:

I chose Rosie as my first tattoo to commemorate my time in undergrad. I was a History major and a Women’s Studies minor, so I thought Rosie would be perfect. I put her on my lower back on the right because i wanted it to be big and not generally visible when fully dressed. I got it on my 20th birthday and I cried like a baby. It hurt so bad and took forever. Lessons learned: fatty parts hurt the most and don’t get a giant tattoo as your very first.

Tattoo # 2 The Little Prince:

I loved my first tattoo and I eventually forgot how much it hurt so a year later, on my 21st birthday, I was ready for my second! This one was on the back of my shoulder, mostly on muscle so it didn’t hurt very much at all. I chose The Little Prince because it’s my favorite book and I was getting older, outgrowing my childhood, but not quite a grown-up yet so I wanted it to be a reminder to me not to forget what we know as children, that “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” Love that book so much!

Tattoo # 3 Mommy Banner on a Heart with Calla Lillies:

By now I had clearly become addicted to tattoos. So on my 22nd birthday, I wanted something that was a more traditional style tattoo that represented the importance of family and heritage. I chose an old school style heart with a banner that says Mommy. My grandfather, who just passed away, also had a heart that says mom. But I call my mom Mommy, so it had to be Mommy. I chose to surround the heart with calla lillies because they are both my and my mom’s favorite flower, and I had the artist do them in the style of Diego Rivera who is also both my mother’s and my favorite artist and represents my family’s Mexican heritage. I put it on my upper right arm because that is  such a traditional place for a tattoo and this was such a traditional style tattoo, and it could still be covered by sleeves.

Tattoo # 4 Lonesome No More Button:

My last (for now) tattoo is a matching tattoo with Josh that we got to celebrate our marriage. One of the things we have in common is our love of books and in particular Kurt Vonnegut books, so we chose the most fitting of drawings from one of our favorite Vonnegut books Slapstick. We joke that when we get divorced we will ex them out and put another drawing from the book, “Lonesome Thank God!” on the opposite hip! (When I tell people that they always give me the look that I imagine you have while reading this, Don’t worry we don’t actually think we’ll get divorced, calm down, it’s just a joke!) That was Josh’s first tattoo and only tattoo so far. He has ideas for others and wants another one, but he’s so indecisive I have a feeling he’ll never stick to something and get it.

That’s all of my tattoos so far. I have several more planned, including a matching tattoo with Andrew that we’ve been planning for the last year. But I’m waiting to have the extra cash for that! Tattoos aren’t cheap.