Tattoo Tales

Lots of people ask me about my tattoo...they wonder what it means, what it is, and mostly, they just want to look at it. It's actually not even done, it needs to be colored and touched up. Luckily, my brother's currently in the process of learning the art of tattooing, so hopefully, he'll finish it for me :)

Here are some pictures while in the process:

Let's talk about what the actual tattoo first...it is a heart-shaped pocket watch metaphorically representing what makes my heart tick. Happiness, love, peace, equality, natural beauty. It was drawn for me by my older brother, and a lot of it is just his interpretation of who I am. I got it on my twentieth birthday, and after twenty years of figuring out who I am and what I believe in, this tattoo pretty much explains it all. It took 3 hrs, and was done by my brother's friend Leo :)

This tattoo is the first of what I wanted to be a 10 year process. I wanted to get a heart-shaped tattoo every year around my birthday to symbolize what the year meant to me. Eventually, I'd have two decades worth of memories on my back. I based this all off of my favorite Gandhi quote: "Where there is love, there is life" which I want to get either at the bottom of the rest of my tattoos, or along side this big one.

For this year, I want to get a little post-card inspired heart, from San Diego, to Seattle, with love. When Kyle and I get married, I want to get a puzzle-inspired heart, and our initials on two of the pieces...but all the other years could be anything...

In addition to these, I want to get a matching tattoo with my sou lmate Sarah Dozier :) considering we've been planning on doing so since like junior year of high school! I also want to get a henna-styled star with the words "alcanzar las estrellas" in memory of my parents and my heritage.

After these few essential tattoos, I promise I'll be done, haha :)