The New Me ... Part Two ...

And now ... to show off Part Two of the "New Me" ...

I got a tattoo!!

It's something I've been wanting to do for the last couple of years, and especially something I wanted to do on my 35th birthday.

I had to find the PERFECT design and the PERFECT person to do it.

I discovered Carissa Gray at The Crux in Saugatuck through many recommendations by many different people. She's an award-winning tattoo artist, and I figured that if anyone's gonna make this perfect for me, she would.

This is the absolute perfect tattoo for me ... delicate, feminine, and representative of our family. I'm the pink flower, Jon's the purple flower, and Blake is the blue flower in the middle.


I thought I would show you the tattoing process, for those who have never had it done before. It was a very enjoyable experience, not nearly as painful as everyone had told me. I did take a Xanax and ate a big meal beforehand, so that might've helped to relax me. I would relate the tattooing sensation to shaving my legs with an electric razor. It hardly hurt, and when she got to the "more sensitive" area (like around the ankle bone), I only felt a few twitches in my upper thigh. It really wasn't bad at all!

Laying in the chair, ready to go!

Carissa applying the stencil, making sure it's perfect.

Looks good to me!

Carissa getting her little containers for color ready.

We have color!

Here we go!!

Carissa said she was very proud of me for sitting so still! :-)

Outline is done!

It's finished!! I absolutely love it!!