I had been wanting one for years, but could never commit to a design. Just when I thought I had finally decided, uncertainty would set in and I would have to start the search again. I didn't want anything with words, but I knew I wanted it to have an antique look. I didn't want it to be tribal or too trendy. After all, I would have it for the rest of my life.

On Mother's day last year, my husband, my son, my grandson and I were spending the day together. My son wanted to take me to Olive Garden for lunch. Right before we left the house, I got a wild hair and said "What if I got a tattoo instead?". We went to several places only to find they were all closed...it was Sunday. We had just decided to give up on it and go have lunch, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a place we had been looking for, but couldn't find...AND they were open!

As we got out of the car, I got really nervous. I hadn't decided on a design and would have to do it quickly if it was going to happen that day. We went in and started looking through books. I stood up and as I turned I saw it on the wall! It was perfect! It is oval in shape, the outline is mostly vinery, there are roses in the center and it says "Wild Irish Rose". I know I didn't want words, but it was beautiful and it summed up my identity in a weird sort of way. I am very Irish and proud of my heritage. I have been told by people that live were visiting from Dublin that I have the map of Ireland on my face...not to mention the dark red hair.

I got it on my lower back, a little lower than what you normally see. It is for me and my husband, so I didn't feel it was necessary to have it visible to others.

While I was getting it, my son sat beside me. My husband stayed out front with my grandson. It was incredibly cool to have them with me when I got it!

At one point, my husband came in and sat beside me. He had not been overjoyed by my decision to have it done. He looked incredibly uninterested in that "I can't believe you are doing this" kind of way that most women can easily recognize. He never really looked too happy about it. About two weeks later he told me that he had suddenly become amazingly turned on by it!

I am going to get another one...when I hit my goal weight. I would love suggestions for the design!

I have 3. One is of Thumper, (right calf) One is the Theatrical Faces (think Motley Crue's Theater of Pain, album cover (left calf, more toward the back)

Butterfly with tribal art under it, (lower back)

I want more. I would like something to do with archery. I would also like something that could incorporate my 3 daughters' names. I would like one of these ideas on my back between my shoulder blades.

I have two- my first I got when I was 18 a red gecko lizard on my ankle. He works for me- I'm Liz and always was called Lizard as a kid, he's red and a fire animal and I'm a Leo- everything just fit for it.

The second I got on a whim with my best friend the night before my wedding. We went and got matching ones - mine is on my left shoulder it's a tribal sun w/ a crescent moon it it. No real deep meaning in the design, just in the time that I got it.

Hubby doesn't really like that I want more tattoos but I am working on him. I kind of feel like each one should be linked to something important. I am planning something for next years birthday- which also happens to be my 10 years drug free birthday as well. Seems like a good time for one. Also have something planning for a moth in a few years to honor my grandmother who will have been gone for 20 years... her favorite book was A Girl of the Limberlost, about a girl who gathers specimens of moths and insects to pay her way through school. It's a good book, and I think it'd be a nice way to remember her.

After that I hope I'll have made it to goal and will have to come up with something special to mark that occasion. In the meantime- I'm pretty sure I'm going to stretch my ears just a bit so I can wear some cooler earrings. Hubby's just gonna have to deal.

sunshine - I'm July 31! Can't wait- I'm going in to get some stretching! My sun/moon is done in all black - but it's starting to fade out. People rarely get to see mine because of its location - but sometimes when I'm wearing a tanktop it peeks out and someone will notice.

Morgan-I LOVE the turtles...the color is amazing!!!

SCraver-I have a tramp stamp also. It sounds very much like yours, minus the flames. We should compare pics sometime.

Broadabroad-LOVE the peacock feather, Awesome color!!

Angie- I had one recolored and I thought that hurt worse than any of the others I have had done. I also thught it hurt longer afterwards.

LoserWannaB-When i got my butterfly tat, I was not sure what I was going to get. As I stepped out of the car I said to my friend, I am not sure what I want...but it won't be a butterfly. Then I found this one in the artists flash...I LOVED it!!

I have 3. The first I got when I was 31. I had wanted one since I was 15. Hubby was so oppsed to the idea. I started dieting and said if I lose 50 pounds can I get a tattoo. He said lose 50 and you can. Well I lost 70. (Too bad the weight loss didn't last as long as the tattoo) It is of a dolphin with waves and a sun. I had that one recolored and some more definition added about 9 years later.

My second is my butterfly. It is on my back near my right shoulder. It is kind of Asian looking and very colorful. i knew I wanted one on my shoulder but I wasn't sure what I wanted. In some ways it represents my free spirit. That is what I thought when I picked it out, I thought that even more when hubby saw it. I did not ask or tell hubby before I did it. He was SO MAD when I came home with it. He yelled for 30 minutes then didn't say one word to me for 3 days. He got over it, I never appologized for it and to this day I LOVE it!!

I got my Tramp Stamp for my 38th birthday. I let hubby know before hand. He wasn't crazy about it, but conceeded. It is a sun and moon with stars and waves. It just spoke to me when I saw it. I have always been very drawn to water and the sun.

I want two more. I want a portrait tat done of my kids. I have a picture of them when they were younger that I think would make an awesome tat. I also want a seahorse. I am definately not an artist so drawin my own is out of the question. So far any I have seen either look too cartoonish or too "evil dragonish". I have no idea where I will put them though.

I have two, but really three.

See, the first one is on my shoulder, a star with my initial in the middle - it's sort of my signature on letters and stuff.

The second one i got on my lower back - the I Ching symbol for chaos (and no, not in a screw-the-world punk rock way, though i was punka rocka then - just that my life was extremely topsy turvy back then).

The third one, covers my mid-to-lower back, and it covers up the chinese symbol (it was in the way, unfortunately). It's the "f holes" found on string instruments. I like how it fits with my natural curves.

I have another i've designed that I want to get, but I think i may use it as a weight-loss reward for like, 10 pounds or something.

don't think i'll do a touch up because i don't care too much about it. would rather put the money into a new one!

I share the exact birthday with Harry Potter down to the year. It was very exciting to find that out in the final book. :geek: