we were made to love
Hi friends! I thought I would do a compilation post where I write about all of my latest tattoos, the first of which I did get all the way back in mid-June (yes, I know I said I would never get a tattoo in Summer ever again, but it was just the one!) Listen. Summer is difficult because everyone has their cute tattoos on show, and it never fails to give me the itch for another, and that's what happened here. Luckily, I didn't have too much going on in the two weeks that followed this one, so desperately trying to stay out of the sun to heal it wasn't so bad, at all! (saying that, I did need to go get it topped up in August because it's the most fine line tattoo I have, but we had a quite rainy August so it was all good after that!)
I then returned to see my besties at Luna Nova at the end of September to spend an afternoon ticking four tattoos off of my list, leaving me with only three remaining to get, which is completely insane! I had the best time getting all of these and spending so much time with two of my favourite girlies ever. I hope you love them as much as I do!
1. Heartfirst - Kelsea Ballerini
This is a tattoo that I pretty much planned the very second that I heard this song when Kelsea released it as a single for her album, Subject to Change. It was so much fun to sing live when we went to see her in London too, and it's one of my favourites. I instantly pictured this design idea in my head as soon as I heard it in April of last year, and it (clearly) couldn't live on my tattoo list any longer.
This one is on my left inner arm. I don't know how this happened, but I have accidentally created a bit of a Kelsea themed arm, as my left arm also features my cowboy hat tattoo, representing her song, love is a cowboy, from the same album, as well as the word 'unapologetically', which is the name of her second studio album, so it fit in just perfectly.
There's not much to say about this one except that it's an overlapping candy heart tattoo with the words 'heart' and 'first' in capital letters, as they always are on candy hearts. It's an incredibly happy and light-hearted song about jumping into life with your heart first which is a mentality that I'm adopting more and more as I get older, set to sweet-sounding, fluffy country-pop instrumentals that sound straight out of the outro of a 2000s film, which is completely my vibe. It sounds like Summer, falling in love, and all of the best things in life.
2. 'It's Your Choice, Ace' - an ode to Rory Gilmore and Logan Huntzberger
My next tattoo was the first of four that I had done on September 29th, which is the most tattoos I've ever had done in one day, which was so much fun and I'm very grateful to both Maly and Lucile for spending their whole afternoon with me! This is my fourth Gilmore Girls tattoo, and it's an Ace of Hearts playing card with a line from the show written in the Gilmore Girls font, or at least the closest I could find to it, Sackers Solid Antique Roman, across the centre of it. I think the font looks so perfect and reminds me of the warmth and cosiness of the show just by looking at it. I also love that the heart in the middle of the card is outlined instead of filled in because it makes it super unique.
I'm absolutely obsessed with Gilmore Girls as most of you will know, and I'm particularly obsessed with Rory and Logan's relationship, (prior to A Year in The Life, don't talk to me about that, that doesn't exist). I'm a Logan girly through and through and it was about time that I dedicated a tattoo to the pair. The line is featured in the iconic scene from 'You Jump, I Jump, Jack' where Rory finds herself in the middle of a Life and Death Brigade event where they jump off the scaffolding together. In order to convince Rory to do the jump, Logan says: 'It’s your choice, Ace. People can live a hundred years without really living for a minute. You climb up here with me, it’s one less minute you haven’t lived.' While I absolutely do not have any plans to have my own 'jumping off things in the ocean' à la Midnight Rain by Taylor Swift moment, I do love the sentiment behind that statement, so this is another tattoo which reminds me to live life to the fullest and do things my way, in ode to one of my favourite TV couples. Coincidentally, my first Gilmore Girls tattoo, which is the second tattoo I ever got, also references the Light and Death Brigade as it's a tattoo of their catchphrase, 'in omnia paratus', so as I said, Logan girly through and through.
3. Honeymoon Cat
This design is exactly what it sounds like - Stephen and I had the absolute best time when we went on our Greece honeymoon in May, and I knew immediately that I wanted something to commemorate it. We ran into so many absolutely adorable cats every day that we were there, and as a huge cat lover, a cat tattoo (or cattoo) was always going to be in my future one day anyway, so I thought why not combine the two? It was really fun designing this one with Lucile, and choosing a Grecian style wall for the cat to sit on, so that it represents our honeymoon. I love the celestial element of the design too as we all know that's very me! This also links the design to the constellation tattoo on my right arm which Stephen designed for me, where planets and stars represent the places where we first met, which I totally love. I think this is the most adorable tattoo that I have and it's definitely one of my favourites. I can't wait to show it off to all of the cats of Chania when we inevitably go back because we loved being there so much. The only thing about this one is that it really makes me want to pull our plans of getting a cat forward, so everyone send us the good vibes we need to be able to move into somewhere big enough to have a cat, soon!
4. Wild Heart - Bleachers
Wild Heart is one of the first Bleachers songs that I heard, as it's on the Love, Simon soundtrack, which is how I initially discovered the beauty that is Bleachers. I already have a tattoo from the same album, so you can read more about my love for them in that post, but I unexpectedly burst into tears during this song when Jade and I saw them live last year, and I never want to forget how incredible they were live, and how emotional I felt that night, so I got this to remember that. To me, it's a song about being young and alive, which is exactly how I felt at that moment.
5. Book - Taylor and Lucas Co
This is a stunning bookish design which I fell in love with and immediately asked for permission to have tattooed on to me, as soon as I knew that I wanted a bookworm tattoo. There's something really special about designing your own tattoos as I've done with all of mine barring this, (and two of my upcoming tattoos!), but it's such a huge honour when artists and creators allow you to have their work showcased on your skin, I'm so grateful for that. I've been a huge bookworm for my entire life, and this design with the open book and the foliage really speaks to the magical and whimsical quality of reading an amazing book, and entering a new world while doing so, I absolutely love it.
If you're here and you're looking for a new small business to support, please check out Taylor and Lucas Co (@taylorandlucasco on Instagram) because their designs are so insanely beautiful. I'm a huge Swiftie so they're perfect for me but they also have a vast variety of stunning embroidered apparel for music and book lovers. There's something for everyone, especially now that the weather is getting colder, so now is the perfect time to check out their cosy Autumnal jumpers - not only are they incredibly talented, but they're also incredibly lovely people!
As always, I've popped this into the 'tattoos' category on my blog, so feel free to have a scroll through that if you missed any of my previous rundowns of my tattoos.
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