{tattoos}

I might have posted something about my tattoos when I first started blogging, but I thought it was time for an update and/or new post in case anyone reading this now wasn’t a reader back then (anyone? anyone? haha!) and doesn’t feel like going back through any of my old posts. I mean, come next week I will have been blogging for… 5 YEARS! O.M.G.!!! Where HAS the time gone?!

Anyways, yesterday I added to my tattoo collection, so I thought I would do a post about all of my tattoos…

I got my first tattoo shortly after Ayden was born. It is a little baby angel sitting on an cloud with Ayden’s name above it. It is on my back, but not quite low enough to be what I consider the typical ‘tramp stamp’. Ugh, I hate that connotation. This picture doesn’t really do it justice because I was taking it from a reflection in a mirror and believe you me, it’s hard to take a picture of your back, haha! I often forget I even have this tattoo because I don’t ever see it. I loved it when I got it and I still love it.!I got my second tattoo on my right wrist probably a year or so after the first one. They (whoever they actually are) aren’t kidding when they say that tattoos are addicting! This one means persistence (or at least I hope it does, lol!). I had someone who spoke Chinese as her native language double check it for me. And even if it’s slightly wrong, 99.9% of the people that I run into and see it wouldn’t know whether that is what it actually said anyways. I got a little bit of flack for getting a wrist tattoo from some people, especially since I was so young. Some people thought it might hinder me being able to get a job in the future. I deal with people EVERY day for my profession and I have yet to run into someone who says something bad about it. Honestly, once again, 99.9% of people don’t say anything about it. And honestly, if I were to not get a job based on a tattoo on my wrist, then I probably didn’t really want to work at that place anyways. I love this tattoo simply for the meaning. I have had to be damn persistent to get through everything that I have. Having a kid at 18, going through college, graduating with my bachelor’s degree, going back for my doctorate, and now graduating with that! Hell yeah!I honestly don’t know how long after number 2 it was before I got number 3… probably another year or so. “Believe” has always been my mantra, hence the meaning of that. All through life I have been big on ‘don’t just hope for something to happen, believe that it will’. The footprints are Ayden’s from his birth certificate (shrunk down)… that is why one of the feet only has four toes. I wanted it to be just like his certificate (even though the child does have all five toes on both feet).There was quite some time between number 3 and number 4. I think, thus far, number 4 is my favorite. It doesn’t hold any specific special meaning to me, other than I really love lilies. Like obsessively love them! I could take pictures and stare at them for hours! They are so pretty, especially the star gazers! This tattoo hurt like a mother, but I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out! And just yesterday I got tattoo numbers 5 and 6! Number 5 is in commemoration of my half marathon. I think it is just too cute! There is enough room under the 13.1 to put a 26.2 if I were to ever decide to run a full marathon. To some people running a half marathon may not seem like a big deal, but it definitely was for me, so I wanted something permanent to remember it by!And here is number 6! I think it speaks for itself. Simple and sweet… just what I was looking for!My need for tattoos has been satiated for awhile. I doubt that I am done getting them, but that is just me. They aren’t for everyone and I full respect that, but they are for me!

CIAO! LOVE ME!