Ink Tales: Number One

I love tattoos. I hate getting tattoos, as I'm one of the biggest wimps I know. However, I love when they are done on me and I love looking at other people's tattoos (you know, if they are nice and not in unsightly places). I've let enough time past since my latest one (5 weeks?) to be able to talk about the topic again, as this one was the most painful one yet. I thought I'd share each one of my tattoos and the story behind it, along with a tattoo photo session!

The first tattoo I got was a Christmas present from my parents when I was 17. I had begged for months to get one before I turned 18 because my sister had gotten hers for her 18th birthday, which was in February. Thus, she got to have her tattoo while in high school. I, on the other hand, would not turn 18 until after graduation...which was obviously not fair. So after months of presenting my argument (complete with charts and graphs), on Christmas morning I opened up a small package. Inside was one of my documents I had created with a big, red "Santa Approved" written across the top. A few weeks later, I was sitting in a tattoo parlor...about to feel the most intense pain I'd ever had. So...I got a tramp stamp of shooting stars and the word "Dream". I would like to make a disclaimer that the lower back tattoo had not reached it's height of popularity and nobody had heard the word "tramp stamp" back then. I drew the design myself (I know it's not a spectacular achievement, given the simplicity) and I wanted to remind myself as I started off on a new chapter of my life after high school to follow my dreams. At this time, those dreams included going to Bowling Green State University to study Fashion Merchandising (hence the fabrics in the picture)...although both of those things ended up changing, I still felt like it was important to do what I wanted to do and not be afraid of changing.

Although now this is my least favorite tattoo, I still love it because it represents the high school Jenna, not only in aesthetics (I used to be obsessed with stars), but also in concept. I used to daydream constantly about what my life would be like after high school...I wanted to be a cool college girl who had lots of friends and parties to go to, then grow up and be a successful career woman in NYC, get married to an architect at 28, and have two kids when I was 30 and 32. Although not all of these things went according to 17-year-old-Jenna's plans, I like to have something to remind me of that girl!

Dream