The Day We Became Cool Kids

Hello Friends! 

Satch: We have a very exciting blog-noucement for you bestie bucket list fans; we got tattoos! This is probably the most permanent thing on our list (I'm not sure if anything is more permanent!) And it's a toss up between this and sky-diving as to which one is the most bad ass. Needless to say, Salt and I think we're pretty cool right now. 

Salt: We're so cool that we can carry on being as lame as before, only now, because of our foot ink, it will seem 'ironic'. 

Satch: However, if you'd have spoken to us an hour or so before the event (and some of you lucky sods did) we would have seemed like the biggest chickens on the planet. As depicted here by our pre-tattoo photo outside wilkinsons. (We were hanging around because we didn't want to be lame and show up too early...) 

I think the biggest mistake Salt made was not going for a nervous poo before going in, because she came down with the BIGGEST CASE of verbal diarrhoea (yes I spell checked that) that I have EVER SEEN. Literally, I have known this girl for something like nine years, and I have never heard her talk so much! At one point, she genuinely used the phrase "Go hard or go home" when trying to appear cool to a heavily tattooed, giant man. 

Salt: I have no real defence for this. Fear took over, and I crumbled into a giggling, babbling mess. Incredibly embarassing. Especially when the aforementioned giant tattoo man started chatting away to me and I made the 'go hard or go home' joke, swiftly followed by an observation about how sweaty my hands had become. Sexy. And Cool. Sool.

Satch: So we went in and finalised the designs with Tony (we totally have a tattoo guy now), and signed away our human rights, as you can see: 

Salt decided to go first as she thought, in her words, "I won't do it if I see you screaming in pain." Nice. 

Salt: I'm a really considerate friend! But let's not pretend that there's ever been any doubt over which of us is cooler. Satch wins that, hands down.

 

Satch: Well, if you insist! When Salt was in the chair, there were many faces like this one below, but seeing as we all thought she was going to cry we were quite disappointed with how cool she was tbh. However, there was a beautful moment when my cousin Naomi and her five-year-old daughter came in to see how we were getting on, and Salt hissed "Get Maisey out of here or she's going to hear me swear!" 

Salt: FIFTY minutes (I genuinely thought it was going to take fifteen minutes, tops), a lot of talking, even more sweating and a made-up song about how much shading hurts (Tony even joined in), it was complete. And here it is nice and close up!

I've fallen in love with it. I wanted something really meaningful, but also something that would still fit in with my sense of style, so this seemed perfect. Each flower (without going into too many soppy details) represents something different and something that's been significant in making me the person that I am today.

Satch: While I thought it'd be hilarious to get up and walk about at this point, Salt wasn't having any of it, and it was my turn for the chair. I think I thought I'd be cool if I smiled all the way through, but these pictures clearly show how scared I was!

Salt: Not that I'm in anyway bitter, but Satch is the bravest lady I know. It takes some courage to get up in that chair after seeing your best friend go temporarily insane from the pain.

Satch: In fairness, my tattoo only took half an hour, as it was less complicated than Salt's, so I spent less time in pain. Plus, apparently it hurts more nearer to the toes, which only a small part of my tattoo involves, but Salt's entire ink was all in that area! Bad move lol .

Tony thought it'd be hilarious to draw a swastika in the middle of my sun design, which I went along with. However, as his English wasn't great I was extremely concerned when the swastika was still there when he rubbed it on my foot! 

How do you say: "I'm not actually a Nazi" in Spanish?!

If Salt's tactic was to babble her way through it, mine was to get everyone else talking so they'd distract me from the pain! I have never been so interested in the programme Fear Factor in all my life! At one point, Tony even looked up and said "You're so calm, you're doing really well" - literally the coolest moment of my life (even if inside I was swearing like a sailor!) 

Here's my tattoo. It represents my favourite C. S. Lewis quote - which I'm only writing on here so no one makes me recite it to them ever because A) it's long and B) I feel like a douche: 

"I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen; not because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." 

I figured getting a picture version was a good idea because I've only got little feet, so he would have had to do the writing really small. Plus, there's a bit of ivy going on because Salt and I thought it'd be cool (Ok, not cool, but cool to us) to get a bit of the tattoo the same. Ivy worked really well with both of our designs, and it means friendship. Winner! 

Salt: We're cool AND adorable. Winning combo.

Satch: We then had our feet wrapped up in cling film, and decided it was well time for a giant drink! Luckily, Cobb drove us to the pub because walking was a hilarious impossibility. If I held back making a fuss when the tattoo was being done, I didn't let "seeming cool" stop me from letting rip about how much it stung afterwards! 

Salt: Don't let the smiles fool you. There are things people don't warn you about getting tattoos, so I will. Yes, the tattoo itself hurts. Like nothing I've every experienced. Its painful. but manageable. And it carries on for just under an hour. But that's the worst of it right? Oh no.
Then, it bleeds. And then it stings. And then, while its healing, it gets really swollen and scabby. But the worst part of all? THE ITCHING.

You have been warned.

But even thought I am the biggest wuss-bag in the whole wide world, I don't regret it in the slightest. The pain was so worth it, and I'm starting to see how people get addicted to it!

 

Satch: I can also see how people get addicted; I already started fantasisng about a new one until Cobb's face looked so sad I couldn't! (He's not so fussed about tattoos...) I must admit, Salt's looked a lot more red/bleedy than mine did, but I have whinged just as much as she has! Still, I couldn't resist Facebooking a cheeky pic once the cling film was off and the nappy cream had taken some of the red out of it!

Salt: But did that really have to happen in a pub? Ironically lame?! 

Satch: Sure, I think that sums us up pretty well! Maybe "Ironically Lame" could be the title of our first album lol. 

Plus, I think the act of blogging about how cool we are for getting tattoos has taken away the coolness of getting tattoos - so nothing's really changed!  

So what do y'all think of our ink? (Love a rhyme!) Anyone ever get a tattoo in a more painful place, or considering getting one but haven't taken the plunge yet? Let us know in the comments below!