Meaningful Ink

I have a confession...an obsession that I cannot stop thinking about...I am counting down the days until I can get my next tattoo. [Unless someone buys me one, it's going to be at least a year, but still].

I love thinking that no one, besides me, is ever going to have the same map on their body. They will never have the same moles, scars and wrinkles. I am completely, one hundred percent me. But I still like to decorate my skin to celebrate the thoughts that are in my head. The process is beautiful and a work of art prior to the evidence of the art.

It all starts with an idea.

October 2010, WQ Symbol

For years we drew some sort of WQ with a heart symbol on our wrist to remind ourselves of our strength and self-love. After 2 years, I decided it was time to give myself this permanent reminder.

August 21, 2011

When I was 16, my cousin passed away. He had had cancer from age 2 to 6 and had been cancer-free for two years when he passed. Shortly after, a friend drew the above ambigram, and I held onto it until my brother's 18th birthday. We each got tattoos dedicated to him, our life inspiration.

August 21, 2011

 I still wanted to incorporate an actual sun into my tattoo, and decided to get one behind my ear. I would have liked it to be a little higher because of its size, but I love it.

February 2012

In 2011, my best friend [my "wife"] told me she wanted us to get matching diamond tattoos. I told her only if we did so on some weird body part...like our big toes. A year later, she took me to get these - a symbol of our friendship and our strength.

September 2012

The infinity tattoo with my fiance was the only tattoo I ever got without thinking for months on it. I've known since I was 18, that I wanted to get a tattoo for him in some way, but this was his idea and I love it. Even before I was engaged, I knew that he was there, committed to me.


My next few tattoos will be super fun / meaningful ones as well.

I'm planning on getting "time and change" on my left thigh - a testament of my time at The Ohio State University, and the everlasting friendships. "Time and Change will surely show, how firm thy friendship O-HI-O."

I also want an intricate back piece [much after I'm married]. The angel veins of the heart absolutely astound me. In the bigger strings I plan on including symbols of the people who have changed my life - my family, friends, future children, etc Around the tattoo it will say "If I were to pluck on your heart strings, would you strum on mine?"

Behind my neck I want to get an infinity sign with the word strength spelled in it. The loops will incorporate a heart and a peace sign "peace, love, strength, forever." I've been wanting the peace sign and heart since I was 17.

I plan on someday getting tattoos for my future children as well :) and lately I've been really thinking about getting a chest piece. I'm not sure why, I used to think they were very limiting, but they have really grown on me. I love the beauty in some of them, like Christina Perri's. Basically, I want a bunch of "small" tattoos all over, not necessarily a sleeve or full body piece.  Who knows what else! It is just so exciting to plan this art work.

When I was younger, my friends always talked about piercings and went and got them. I only ever wanted my nose pierced [which I did at 18, and then got the other side pierced at 22]. I've also had my tragus pierced but took it out after a couple of months. I currently don't have my nose piercings in, but I definitely miss having my left one [the one I got first]. Interestingly enough, I found out that my nostrils are different sizes drastically when I got my right side done!

Take a look at my opinion article I wrote for the Daily Sundial last year!

Happy Tuesday!

Judgement?

What are your thoughts on tattoos?

This article was reposted in it’s entirety from The Spectrum, the independent publication for the University of Buffalo.

Article by Lisa Khoury

I get it. It’s the 21st century. You’re cool, you’re rebellious, you’re cutting edge, you have a point to prove, and you’re a woman. Awesome.
Ladies, I know you’re at least at the legal age of making your own decisions, but before you decide to get a tattoo, allow me to let you in on a little secret. A secret you may have not fully realized yet thus far in your life. What you must understand is, as women, we are – naturally – beautiful creatures.
Seriously, though. Your body literally has the ability to turn heads. Guys drool over us. We hold some serious power in our hands, because – as corny as this sounds – we hold the world’s beauty.
But something girls seem to forget nowadays, or maybe have not been taught, is that women hold the world’s class and elegance in their hands, as well. So what’s more attractive than a girl with a nice body? I’ll tell you what: a girl with class. Looks may not last, but class does. And so do tattoos.
An elegant woman does not vandalize the temple she has been blessed with as her body. She appreciates it. She flaunts it. She’s not happy with it? She goes to the gym. She dresses it up in lavish, fun, trendy clothes, enjoying trips to the mall with her girlfriends. She accentuates her legs with high heels. She gets her nails done. She enjoys the finer things in life, all with the body she was blessed with.
But marking it up with ink? That’s just not necessary.
I’m not here to say a girl should walk around flaunting her body like it’s her job – that’s just degrading. Instead of getting a tattoo, a more productive use of your time would be improving and appreciating the body you have been given, not permanently engraving it.
Can you get meaning out of a tattoo? Arguably. If you want to insert ink into your skin as a symbol for something greater than yourself, then maybe you are proving a point to yourself or the rest of the world.
But at the end of the day, are you really a happier person? Has this tattoo, for instance, caused you to learn something new about yourself? Has it challenged you? Has it led you to self-growth? Nothing comes out of getting a tattoo. You get a tattoo, and that’s it. You do something productive, though, and you see results. That’s a genuine, satisfying change in life. Not ink.
Invest your time, money, and effort into a gym membership, or yoga classes, or new clothes, or experimenting with different hairstyles if you’re craving something new with your body, not a tattoo.
I promise, it will be a much more rewarding experience, and you won’t find yourself in a rut when your future grandkids ask you what’s up with the angel wings on your upper back as you’re in the middle of giving them a life lesson on the importance of values and morals.
God knows the last thing this world needs is another generation of kids questioning their basic values and morals.

Email: lisa.khoury@ubspectrum.com