A Swollen Saturday

Yesterday I finally did something I had been putting off for six years... I finished (well, began to finish) my foot tattoos. I've had "Art" and "Love" on my feet since August of 2006 (yeah. Fun fact: I was dating Mike at the time and he sat there with me when I got them!). Anyway, the tattoos were atrocious. They were wonky angles, they were crappily tattooed. I went to an apprentice and I've spent 6 years wondering when I'd find the courage to fix them. 

I had every intention of covering them up completely, but the line work was so thick and heavy that the tattoos would be borderline black blobs if we did that. Instead, Laura (my amazing and talented tattooist over at Music City Tattoo) worked her magic to fix up the lettering up (tons!) and fill out the rest of my feet. She made a great point by saying the sentiment chosen (but never finished) on my feet was still an important and relevant one to me, so it could be worth it to just make them better. The thought of the pain is what had stopped me for so long. I thought for sure I was going to cry. I had mentally prepared myself for it to be the worst tattoo ever, but it was surprisingly not bad. Probably because I really psyched myself out though. The first one went off without a hitch and we had time to kill, so I said let's do the other one too. Okay, well, that was probably not my brightest idea. By the time the other foot was done and I was ready to head home, I could barely walk. In fact, I could barely waddle to the car. Driving home (all 4 or so miles) was torture due to the swelling and tightness of the skin. I immediately called work and was like "I don't know if I can come haha". Not so keen on me skipping out on a night that had potential to be big, my manager suggested I just load up on some ibuprofen and call her in a few hours. I did just that. Elevated and stuffed full of anti-inflammatory meds. Luckily the pain went away almost immediately and the swelling, too. (Partially) to my dismay I was okay enough to work, even though it wasn't the most comfortable event for the evening.

So that was that. I worked a full bartending shift last night on two brand new tattooed feet. I knew it was a possibility when I scheduled it on a Saturday so I wasn't upset or anything. It was actually kind of nice to get on my feet and out of the house. Today they're tight and ready for some lotion, but I'm already in love with them. We'll add color in a few weeks once these heal, but I'm glad I finally found the guts to go through with it. I can be a pansy sometimes! I'll post an unwrapped photo once the outline doesn't look like... well, like it does now. ;) I had to put on my big girl britches because I didn't want the ugly tattoos to show in our wedding photos. Now I need to find some simple flats/shoes to wear for the big day.

That's how I spent my Saturday! What tattoos do you have that you felt were the most painful? Or surprisingly not that bad?!

PS; Sorry for so many pictures of my feet! I know feet are super icky to a lot of people... uhm, so, yeah. There's mine ;) They're not the cutest things, but they get me from point A to point B alright!