...and I'm feelin' pretty darned happy about it.
My Christmas present this year was...
...a...
TATTOO!
~Gasp~
I know, I know. You're shocked. Stunned. Flabbergasted.
But I did it, and there's no turnin' back now.
See, it goes like this... I've had this little mantra, it's pretty simple, but it gets me through when life throws the tricky stuff at me. I find myself repeating it over and over when I'm on my long runs. There's a copy of it on my fridge, and I finally decided to make it a permanent addition to my life.
She believed she could, so she did.
Plain and simple. I love it.
I've never ever ever wanted a tattoo. There's never been anything that's tickled my fancy in that department ya know? But something about it just spoke to me. I guess in this, my fortieth year on the planet, I discovered something cool about myself. If I believe it, I can do it. (Or I'm having a midlife crises... take your pick.)
Okay, enough hemming and hawing... do you wanna see it?
Okay...
(Sid, close your eyes.)

It's absolutely perfect. Sigh...
But I've gotta tell you, the getting it part was NOT absolutely perfect. But we all know that right?
I've been planning this little gift since Summer as a reward for completing the half marathon and Bridge 10K, so I've had pllllenty of time to deliberate, weigh the pros and cons, and talk myself out of worrying about the insanely crazy intense pain that would be caused by a tattoo artist's needle thingy jabbing into my virgin flesh a gozillion times.
So I didn't even need to take a valium or anything when I headed down to Good Fortune Tattoo Studio.

I'd already made an appointment with Amanda (the owner) thanks to the fabulous referral from my friend J.J (THANK YOU JJ!!) so she was ready and waiting for me. I told her what I wanted, she drew out the phrase in several different fonts and let me pick my favorite.
Then she traced it onto some transfer paper, invited me to sit down on the super comfy but sort of sinister looking chair and copied it onto my skin so I could see if it's what I wanted and make any necessary changes.

She comforted me by saying things like, "It's reeeeally gonna hurt" and "Don't worry, it won't feel any worse than wearing really high heel shoes all night."

She's really cute and pretty and wears nice jeans, and I was really diggin' her. And then she lunged at me with her zapper of fire and I decided that I didn't like her very much anymore.

In fact, there were a few minutes where I was pretty sure I hated her. I may have fantasized about stomping on her precious little hairless dog Bella.

In fact, she and Mendy (my trusty photographer) seemed to be enjoying themselves entirely too much. Mendy's a dental hygenist. They're both sadists.

And then she was done.
And I loved her again.

Truth be told, it wasn't that bad. In fact, I'd probably do it again if there's something I feel passionate about. Probably not. Althought there was LOTS of laughing and NO tears, it was pretty crazy painful.
But now it's done, and I'm happy, and I have a sickeningly sexy tat on my tootsie to remind me of this time in my life.
Merry Christmas to ME.
;)