Done at the super cool and fun California Emporium in West Asheville by Wade Elder.

My tattoos took about twenty minutes. I spent 2 days and quite a few hours at the shop while Chase had his left sleeve finished with all sorts of beautiful shades of blue by the very nice and talented Emily Roberts.

I’ve known that I wanted a tattoo on my right arm right there in blue since I was about 18.  What exactly I wanted was in limbo til about a year ago.  There was this day and this moment and this series of fantastic events that lead me to get the spiral.   Without going into to much detail it’s a reminder to myself that I’m not fucking crazy for living my life the way I do.  The minute Wade put the stencil on my arm there was a rush of overwhelming emotion and a sigh of relief that it was finally there.  There’s always the question of regret with tattoos … this symbol, this reminder to me, it comes from the happiest most exhilerating soulful spiritual part of my being … I’ll never regret reminding myself of such a thing in such a way.

The decision for the X came back in October after coming out of deep depression when my life fell apart piece by piece by piece.  It was the greatest learning and humbling experience I’ve ever had.   The X is a reminder of 1 verse from one song by the XX who’s album cover is simply an X.   “I think we’re superstars” If you’ve ever read The Alchemist I think the meaning to me would be similar to saying we all have a ‘Personal Legend’ it’s a reminder to follow your heart and to try to be the best person I can be every day.

Love and tattoos  A Valentines Day gift that I’m very grateful for.  Getting tattooed at the same time was totally fun and beats the hell out of chocolate and flowers.