No Celery Please

I am not sure I am going to be able to wait the full six months that I imposed on myself before I get the next tattoo.

It’s going to be awesome…  The SB’s favorite guitar – Lil’ Snappy Hoo Ha  – with his red hat hanging on the headstock.

The idea came to me after a loooong time of trying to think of a design that would properly signify my relationship with the SB without just being something like a heart with his name in it or something equally cliche (not that there’s anything wrong with cliches – if that’s what you REALLY want).

But it just clicked in as so right.

I know, I know.  Live with the idea for six months before committing it to skin.  I should follow through on my own rules, or else I run a very high risk of just impulsively getting random things inked into my skin.  Seriously, I know me.

But I just am kinda thinking that for this one tattoo, maybe I could break the rules…  But once the rule is broken – danger!

Sigh… it’s only February.  I can wait.  I CAN!

So I suppose it is a VERY GOOD THING that tattoos are not cheap, because, hello?  I am totally obsessed now.

I am so in love with my tattoo that I want more!  more!  more!  (and, I think I will eventually get more, but certainly not all the things I am thinking about).

Handily for my obsessive nature, I have two things to obsess with now… and, frankly, although I am so loving my tattoo that I want another, I really need to get a new pair of skates.  I want the Riedell Wickeds… and I want them in orange – that’s gonna run me around $400, so, yeah, no more tattoos now, at any rate

But… since I am thinking about it… here are some ideas I am toying with.

1 – The SB’s favorite guitar “Lil Snappy Hoo-Ha” with his red hat sitting on the head of it.  (I really do want to get something representative of our relationship… but not into “name” tattoos).  I had been thinking about just the hat, but, I dunno – been toying with “SB” related themes for a while.. this one just seems to stick with me the most.

2 – A skate – or, skate wheel , or, something skate related.  Honestly, though… I think I want to make it to my two-year derbyversary before I go with something like this.  I think I would be proud to carry a reminder of this time in my life forever engraved on my skin… but I’d like to be able to say I did it for more than one year before I go down that road.

3 – Something Gabber related.  Perhaps just a cartoon of a small black dog…  But I love that Boo and think she deserves a place on me.

4 – A Chinese dragon wrapped around my ankle.  Now – I am kinda torn by this one, because although my family does have something of a varied background, there is no drop of anything even remotely Asian in my ancestry… so I feel a little like an Asian-culture inspired tattoo is a bit disingenuous… like I am co-opting something that doesn’t really belong to me.  BUT – on the other hand, I have co-opted much, much Asian-inspired culture and design for my home, so, why not?  Also – the Dragon tattoo would be both an expression of how much I adore the cultural aesthetic, and also a nod to my very very favorite Chinese restaurant – the Dragon Buffet… in fact, I would probably try to incorporate the Chinese characters for either “Mushrooms in Garlic Sauce” or “Dim Sum Dumpling” into such a design.

5 – A cup of hot tea to go next to my cake.  Tea is another one of my “Favorite things” and I think it would be cute next to the cake.

I had also given some brief thought to having a piece of chocolate cake put on the other thigh… but I think that might be taking the gag just a little too far…

So many ideas a-swirling!

I am sooooo loving my tattoo.   Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday – with the swelling gone down and less redness.

I was surprised that it really didn’t hurt that much, and the healing process was pretty easy too.  I don’t know if that’s because I got it on my thigh, which has plenty of cushion and no bony parts, but I am just immensely pleased with the whole thing.

I think I am going to have to get another…  I heard it before and I think it’s correct… these things are like Lays… you can’t have just one!

Some people think I am odd for getting a piece of cake on my thigh.  I haven’t explained it to most people other than just saying “I LOVE CAKE!” – because I don’t really feel like explaining to random people on the street how this tattoo represents so much more than just cake.

One reason for the tattoo is as a way to declare victory over my past excesses in the cake department.  Not that I would ever give it up… but I have a much healthier relationship with cake (and most things food) than I used to.

It’s also a way to move forward on some of this body acceptance stuff…  yeah, ok…  my thighs may not be the tightest, most toned, “hollywood” thighs around, but by golly, I wanted a tattoo, and I got one, and I don’t care what people might think about it!!

I’ll post another picture when the healing is done.  Today it started peeling (like a sunburn would) and the hardest part is NOT PEELING IT!  Must….   Not…..  Touch…..  But the colors “pop” a lot more under the place where I can see it’s peeled off – can’t wait to see what it’s going to look like fully healed!!!

For many years, I always said… “If I ever weigh less than 150 pounds, I’m going to get a tattoo”

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!  Because the whole idea of that was just ridiculous, right?  150?  Hah!

So now, I find myself pondering, for the first time semi-seriously, the concept of getting a tattoo.

A permanent piece of artwork embedded in my skin.  Never to be removed (short of work with a laser).

What kind of thing might be a thing I would want to press into my flesh?

Not a flower or a bird or some other random symbol that is pretty but ultimately means nothing personal to me.

Not a character or a logo… these things, no matter how much we love them at the time, tend to pass. (witness how much I used to adore Bugs Bunny… but I don’t think I’d want him emblazoned on my shoulder.)

I have no cool “heritage” to exploit.  No tribal or native background.  The ancestors are almost universally French… no real “design-y” things there.  I mean, sure I have a single native American or Gaelic person in the family tree here and there, but nothing that I would say has influenced my upbringing to a “people”.

So there are a couple of things in my life that I love.  My husband, my dog…  but I don’t think I want someone’s face tattoed on me. 

Sure, I do the derby thing, but I think I’d want more than just a few months with a hobby before I determine to make a lifetime mark.

So I just don’t know.

I have a sister with a hummingbird tattooed on her foot.

A sister with a pair of cherries on her butt and what used to be a rose on her abdomen (two kids ruined that one).

A niece with a star on her back, a vine up her side, another star on her hand.  But do those things mean anything to them?  Besides decoration?

Maybe I am reading to much into the whole “tattoo” thing.  Maybe it CAN just be pretty.

I like to hike.  A woodland thing?  I like to bike.   I like to skate.  I like to read books.  And take pictures. Hmmm… I suppose if I were totally honest with myself about my favorite things, I’d get a tattoo of a great big piece of chocolate cake with ice cream.

Hmmm… now that might be an idea.

So… those of you with the tattoos out there… do they have “meaning”? or are they just pictures?  How’d you pick them?  How’d you know this was something you wanted irreversibly in your life?

Maybe I should just get “This is my tattoo” put somewhere.