HaydenRose

Time travel! It's 9:30am here... so for breakfast I enjoyed a hearty bowl of Kashi blueberry crunch (something like that) cereal in an over-sized coffee mug because my fiance has been marathon eating oatmeal (no clean bowls) and we've been super lazy this weekend to chip away at the dishes. Yup, that felt weird to share with strangers... Lol

^I think the level of awesomeness has gone down, but people's perspective of what constitutes as awesome varies, so... each to their own. Big news for me, sort of. I've decided to make a career change, well really going back to my initial plan: Teaching. I completed my degree in Psychology and have been working as a caseworker for almost a year now and surprise! I'm one of the many that have become disillusioned by the stressful workload and little pay-off (monetary and satisfaction-wise). Teaching doesn't pay much better, but at least I'll be doing what I enjoy. I've also started writing on the side and it's brought way more happiness to my life. Just goes to show how important it is not to doubt yourself and stop doing what you enjoy. Back to school for me! *Excited cringe!*

^I don't see anythig wrong with this. It seems like now that you've had a conversation about it, there's more understanding. He doesn't need to like your tattoos, only accept them. My fiance has quirks that I strongly dislike (like taking off his socks with his shoes and leaving dirty socks all over the living room, yeah...) but at the end of the day his strengths outweigh his faults. You should always value the things you love about the person (In your case it seems like your BF is very caring) and not worry about the imperfections, because surprise! Every one has them, and NO ONE is perfect or perfect for you, but that doesn't mean you can't create a life together. My fiance has no tattoos and no plans to get any, and he isn't crazy excited about mine, but he ACCEPTS them and me, which is all that matters at the end of the day. When we met I had one hidden rib tattoo and 5 years later I have a bunch, but it hasn't changed anything. Once getting tattooed affects your relationship, then it's a warning sign, but I sense there are other things going on and you getting tattooed is just a catalyst.

Welcome to LST! Nice, solid tattoos! I'm sure you'll fit in fine :)

@beez thanks! I may try this. It reminds me of those strange, obnoxious commercials for head-on that were on TV constantly a few years ago haha

Haha I actually don't care, I just thought the image was hilarious!

I'm picturing tattooed people going to pharmacies, swiping a bunch of prep H tubes into a basket and checking out at the register while receiving some odd stares... Excellent.

Just get a tattoo and get it in black, it's probably not that big anyway. Wear bracelets. I don't know. So many girls nowadays have wrist tattoos I doubt you'll get fired over it...

Recently Divorced Man Shares His Inspirational Words Of Advice On Marriage | Moms | Wetpaint @Synesthesia read this ^

Haha! I love it!

Vampire Bill! Anyone. That's all I could think of, he looked just like Stephen Moyer.

Oh tattoo shops and being with close tattooed friends are about the only exceptions. And perhaps LSTers because I know y'all appreciate and have good tattoos.

Years ago during college I was working at Home Goods stocking items and this (seemingly un-tattooed) customer spots my foot tattoo and starts a discussion on tattoos/BLATANTLY hitting on me. Out of nowhere (without me asking) he shows me this god awful hip tattoo which in order to show me he has to fold and pull down his jeans a bit. I saw like the side of his dick and was not enthused !!!! Ugh I don't understand the need to strip to show off your tattoos. If you want to be all badass then get them where they show... I never indulge people who want to see them if it means I have to bare part of my body that is normally covered up.

I understand where you're coming from, but you've got to do things (like get tattooed) for yourself and not for other people, or worry about your decision's affect on other people. I used to care about what others thought about me, everyone does, but then I decided to do what felt right to me and now I love myself SO much more with tattoos than without.

I should be able to make it! Perhaps my non-tattooed other will tag along and every one can harrass him into getting tattooed :) And I second Manhattan since I'll be coming from Jersey as well.

Over the summer, my coworkers and I attended a staff appreciation BBQ, so the cats out of the bag. No one seemed to mind though. I was surprised to find out one of my coworkers has a ton of sweet Japanese tattoos. Needless to say, we are best buds now haha

I just saw they are making East of Eden again starring Jennifer Lawrence as Cathy. I hope it's everything I want it to be. Favorite book of all time for sure.

The time line for me and collecting tattoos have been a mixture of: 1. I have a solid idea/placement for a tattoo. 2. The artist I want to do said tattoo is guesting or has time available. 3. I have enough money on hand. I've been struggling with my next tattoo because I know a tattooer that I REALLY want a tattoo from is going to be guesting next spring, but I have no idea what I want from them. Also, I've been trying to slow down getting tattoos so I don't finish too quickly--especially since I like getting larger work done. I'd like to continue getting tattoos through my 40s (I'm 23 right now). So this all means that I'm getting one decent sized tattoo every six months/1 year. So even though this guest spot is months and months away, I need to decide if I should forego it this time around and wait or travel when I have a good idea. Anyway, right now I'm pretty dead set on getting a snake/peony calf sleeve from Chris O'Donnell. He's in my area, I have a strong concept of what I want. In a few months I could start planning it and saving up, etc. So part of me is thinking I should go for what I know I want and just follow my above strategy to make sure I don't get a tattoo from an artists I wish I had waited for a better tattoo idea. I've also decided to focus more on my legs for the next few years, so that I really am solid on what I want on my arms. Although I may finish out my outer upper arm before that because I have a few ideas and artists I've been thinking about. I was also thinking about having Rose Hardy do my other thigh next year, but I'm so worried I want to reserve that thigh for a "sleeve" like thing. Ahhh it's so hard to plan. I don't want to be crazy OCD and plan all of my tattoos but some times I feel like I need to... I just love collecting tattoos and never want it to end! :)

@beez I love that rose!

CA being awesome should inspire NY to get our shit together! We HAVE to do something like this. And btw, idk if it's just the California-glow but damn, LST is a good lookin bunch :)

Well why did you bring up women's bodies declining if you didn't think it made an impact on the choices women should make for their tattoos? I don't worry about what my tattoos will look like as I age. But I got that impression from you. You have to understand that you are a MAN talking about how and where a WOMAN should get tattooed. It's fine if you think tattoos are "sexy" on a woman, but end the discussion there, please. It's the same as when men blame a woman for not appreciating a cat-call. There's a point in the conversation where your opinion crosses the line. Maybe you didn't mean anything by your comment, I understand. My point is that this is a forum (watch how you articulate yourself, as meaning is hard to convey through text), tattoos are personal regardless of their meaning, and most (if not all) of the women on this forum have dealt with a lot of hardships as a result of deciding to get tattooed, so don't blame us if we don't take a compliment the way you wanted us to.

I think it's just different for every one. I have a good deal of work done in painful areas: ribs, collar bone, inner bicep. And I've done long sessions of 4.5+ hours. My 30 minute foot tattoo has still been the most painful and I doubt I will get my other foot tattooed for this reason. I have a high pain tolerance, too. So riddle me a pussy :) ^I also don't think I need to justify myself with my experience, but like I said: every one responds to pain and certain areas of the body differently.

I don't know how I never discovered Zozobra before now...

I love Rose Hardy's palms, done by Shane Gallagher. Symmetrical ones are pretty cool.

Thanks every one (@HettyKet @Graeme @Pugilist @taaarro) for the likes and support. I was worried I was being too much of a bitch, but that shit hit a nerve.