Smiles and Tattoos

I look a lot younger now because of the braces, but I really like this photo of Tyler and I. This was us going out for a friends birthday dinner.

Brittany and I.

Blake and I. He is seriously a hoot.

Katie, the birthday woman!

This is a photo I took when I had just dyed my hair. I promise I'm not nude, but wearing a strapless dress :)

And for the tattoo part. I remember saying that I would add photos of all of the tats that I have so far, so here they are, in order of when I got them.

My angel wings. For my father that passed away when I was younger.

My sparrow. Sparrows can mean many things, but most notably, they signify freedom, and this is the reason that I got one. The time when I got it, I knew that it was time for me to leave home. I have always been very mature and responsible growing up, but I was never really treated like I was by my parents. Because of this, I HAD to get out and be on my own. It was a big step, but it was time that I fly from the nest.

"No Lies, Just Love". I got this soon after I got out of a four year relationship. The purpose for these really is simple, but I get the most grief about this tattoo because people just don't understand. I got it because during that relationship, I knew that I wanted out of it, but I kept lying to myself and stayed in it for much longer than my heart really wanted to. I made a vow to myself to not to try to convince myself that something can work out, when you honestly know it cannot.

"The Harder the Conflict, the More Glorious the Triumph". Of course, the title of my blog and a quote that I will forever live by. Around the time of that break up, I had no idea why I had such a sudden change of heart and it really confused me and bothered me a lot. My emotions were out of nowhere, and totally unexpected. During the whole thing, after we were completely over, I still lived with him. Not because I wanted to, who would, but because we had a lease and I had nowhere else to go because of money. I am a good person, and because I am, I still paid my half of the rent even when I was completely out because that was a commitment that I knew I had. Besides that, during this whole time, my mom gave me a lot of grief for not knowing what my mind and heart was thinking, which made everything harder. Friends did, too. My friend didn't agree with me breaking up with him and the way that everything was happening, she recited this quote to me. Like I said, it really hit home and applies to everything in life. The harder the issues, the conflicts that you struggle through, the more you learn from them and grow. You appreciate so much more when you have to go through hard times.