my friend nia got her very first tattoo

i got to accompany one of my best friends, nia, on an adventure to get her first tattoo! she just had a birthday so it was her birthday present to herself.

we went to only you tattoo in grant park. i had never been there before but i really liked it! it was a very nice and clean atmosphere with very friendly staff. i'm thinking i'll try this place out for my next tat.

nia designed her own tattoo. it's a tree with the word "peace" in the branches and the word "grace" at the roots. she also included a quote that she had seen graffitied somewhere ["a singing bird will come"]. how cool is that?! i think its really beautiful.

she did great. tattoos can be painful [depending on who you talk to] and nia was afraid she would embarrass herself by crying but she didnt!! no tears! although there was some serious hand squeezing..my fingers were turning purple.

yay tattoos!

<3 jojy

my favorite street art

isn't it beautiful?! the artist is Molly Rose Freeman and this particular piece is called "The Soul's Bright Anchor" which comes from a poem by Natasha Trethewey [2012 U.S. poet laureate and atlanta resident]. 

i was researching this art a few weeks ago and found her website [she also has an etsy shop!] that lists the other cities where she has done street art. it all looks super cool!! 

i would like to commission her to design a tattoo for me. i've been itching for another one and i think it would be the coolest to have something lovely and geometric tattooed on my body. i'm thinking it would start on the back of my neck and move down across my right shoulder and continue down part of my arm. 

these are the things my dreams are made of, y'all.

<3 jojy

[this art is located on the underpass at whitefoord and dekalb. photos are my own.]