My first & ONLY tattoo.. *UPDATED PICTURE!*

Inspired by 

mainesprincess.blogspot.com  

& 

peachesandnothing.blogspot.com's 

tattoo blog post & I decided to share my story as well! :D Thanks, Nadin & Georgie! <3

Phoenix on my Right Side..

Let me start by saying that if you think it's inappropriate and TOO revealing..

"GET THE F*CK OFF MY PAGE!"

This isn't showing boobs, vaj, OR asscrack, so quit being so judgmental. You don't know what I went through or what this piece means to me. I am proud of this and people that are SOOO against tattoos in general all suck donkey balls. 

You don't have to like it, 

but don't hate what you don't understand. 

So, ANYWAYS, I wanted to share a little piece of me with you guys! I would NEVER get a tattoo that didn't mean anything at all to me. Even if I decided to get one in the spur of the moment, I still need to think about what means enough to me for me to permanently mark my body. I DO believe my body is a temple, so this piece and every other piece I will do in the future will mean something special to me whether anyone else can understand it or not. 

How long did this take? 

I did this in 2 sessions!

Outlining = 4 Hours

Shading = 5 Hours

What is a PHOENIX?

A phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird, near the end of it's cycle, it ignites and bursts into flames. In it's ashes, it arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self.  The Phoenix's ability to be reborn from its own ashes implies that it is immortal.

My Story: 

I've always been a shy and timid girl growing up. I never spoke up for myself. I got walked on all over. I was teased and even stood up for a dance with my middle school crush. My self esteem was pretty low. Anyways, in high school, I got sick. REALLY sick. I'll do a separate post on that when I have time because it's a SUPER LONG story.. But I went through absolutely physical HELL. 

• I lost my hair due to chemotherapy and worse wigs and hair extensions for a few years. Only a handful of people knew.. or maybe everyone knew, but just acted like they didn't notice?! 
• I was TOLD I would only have 6-8 months to live.
• I wasn't told until AFTER my miraculous recovery that I was in a critical state and basically on my deathbed at one point. 
• I was TOLD I would possibly have a 10% chance if any of EVER bearing kids in the future if I underwent certain procedures, which I did.

I guess my whole family prayed every night and my grandpa prayed to GOD, telling him to let him be sick instead of me.. What's crazy is that when I got better, the doctors had NO IDEA how or why I was recovering so fast out of nowhere! But the sad part is my grandpa is in constant pain and can barely walk now. This pains me immensely. 

After I was out of the hospital, and realizing just HOW precious life is and how close to death I was. I wasn't going to live the same way I did before. I speak up for myself, I stand up for what I believe, I speak my mind, I'm basically living life to the fullest. It was basically like I was RE-BORN.. In the chinese zodiac, I'm a fire tiger, look it up and it describes me perfectly! 

So basically, I'm saying I was re-born from my ashes, I'm still me, a new me, a better me, a me that will not take life for granted. I use to be a wuss when it came to physical pain too.. But after what I went through and all the sh*t I got poked and stabbed with in the hospital, pain doesn't faze me! Come on, we women are better at handling physical pain than men anyways, HELLLERRRR?? CHILD BIRTH!!! x) 

I was 19-years old and this piece didn't even hurt, just popped in my ipod earbuds and zoned out.. It's not as bad as some people make it out to be. After your first piece, you get addicted. But budget wise, I can't be splurging on any more tattoos at the moment. I'm proud of this. My first tattoo and I went all out! 

Go big or go home, right!?!


*UPDATED PICTURE*

A lot of people have asked me even before I got my tatt what would I do when I get older and my skin sags, or if I get pregnant (which I am now). I want to say first that, like I said previously, I was told by my doctors that I wouldn't be able to conceive children, so getting pregnant never worried me. But now that I am, I am more than happy, and I am STILL VERY PROUD and happy about my piece! I know as I get older, my skin may sag, but when I'm older, I won't be showing my tummy to the world anyways, so no biggie. 

If you look below, my tatt hasn't really stretched at all and I know PLENTY of girls that have much bigger pieces that cover their entire stomach and there were no problems after birth. They still look sexy as ever! RAWR!* :D