Tattoos!

For Mother's Day, I did something a little different this year. My mom and I both have one tattoo already and as most people will agree, once you have one, you want another! I made a little booklet of different tattoo pictures.  Here's what it looked like:

A few weeks ago, my mom made an impromptu decision to accompany my dad on a business trip and instead of going all the way to Chicago, I picked her up to spend the day and night with me. It was an awesome spur of the moment plan! While running a few errands that afternoon I jokingly suggested I could make good on my gift and we could get tattoos. After I said it, I got all chickened out and nervous. 

We stopped at a tattoo parlor and as fate would have it, the guy was booked straight for a month but just had a cancellation that Monday afternoon and had the hour open. So, we did it! 

Let me just tell you, getting a tattoo stings!  I can't imagine getting a sleeve of them or lots of big artsy ones. Thankfully, both of our tattoos took less than 5 minutes. Whew! You sure do feel like a badass afterwards, though! 

Here's my mom's:

And here's mine:

I wanted a visual reminder to keep things into perspective, with God at the center which is symbolized by the cross coming off the e. I just love it! Easily cover-up-able with long sleeves, a watch or bracelet. But still, something I'll see throughout the day reminding me to slow down, pray and be thankful for the incredible life I have, no matter how stressed I feel.

Do you have a tattoo? Did yours take longer than 5 minutes? Ouch.