Karla's Tattoo Stories

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Meet Karla: 

I'm 36 and a mother of two. I have ten tattoos, with more to come. I plan to finish both sleeves and work in fishing, hunting, and mudding themes.

I am a hairstylist. I'm just not at a shop right now. I don't like the drama that comes with the shops.

My family didn't like my tattoos at first. (My grandfather always use to say that my ankle one better say, “I love Grandad.”) My family now just accepts that it is who I am. I never hide them and I'm more than happy to talk about them.

  My ankle tribal was my first tattoo at 17, just because... 

--> Tats weren't legal in Massachusetts at the time, so I got it at a house party. I'm still planning on getting "Granddad" worked in on the ankle. He passed away April 29th, 

 2014.

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The stomach one, I just wanted when I was 18.

 

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Next was my back--the reason you don’t go to random people’s houses to get tattooed! I was 18 and three different people have worked on it at different times to try to fix it. Eventually I will cover it! The back cost me $100.00 total. They were all supposedly "tattoo artists." Only one was my personal friend. I’m still upset. It’s an ugly mess! I plan to get it covered when I can afford it, so unfortunately it will be a while. (I kind of wish those guys from tattoo nightmares were out this way.) 

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Next was my playboy playmate. I just loved the playboy bunny. I was 22. I think I secretly wanted to be a playboy model when I was younger. Lol. I was planning on getting my then husband's name above it, but at the last minute changed my mind...thought it would be bad luck.

 

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Then came the cowboy hat. I was 23. It is the hat of someone who was special to me at the time. Cowboy hat will probably be changed some day. That part of my life is gone. I don't regret it; I'm just ready to leave that in the past.

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The butterfly was on a trip with my best friend and we both got a butterfly.

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The steampunk girl with my children’s names I got when I was 35. I love the whole steampunk style. It's retro and futuristic (kinda madmaxish). She wasn’t supposed to look like me, it just kind of ended up that way some how. My kids love my tattoos.

 

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The sleeve on the right arm represents me being a hairstylist. 

--> Colby, who is an owner at Broad st. Tattoo, has done the whole top half of my right arm and will finish my sleeve and do pretty much anything else I get done. She is a amazing artist and we just clicked right away!  

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Colby who is a owner at Broad Street Tattoo has done the whole top half of my right arm and will finish my sleeve and do pretty much anything else I get done. She is a amazing artist and we just clicked right away! 

 

Alyssa's Story~

Meet Alyssa Williams:

 

I received my BS in nutritional sciences from UMass Lowell in 2012. Knowing I wanted to obtain my licensure as a registered dietitian, I then attended an accredited graduate dietetic program at Simmons College in Boston making me eligible to complete a dietetic internship (completed 2014). During the end of my time at Simmons I decided to get my personal training certification to be able to start working in the health and fitness field before my internship. I decided to apply to the Y because it was close by and it was the same place I myself attended preschool and learned to swim. I was hired in the summer of 2013 as a nutrition specialist and personal trainer. Throughout my time there I have only grown, becoming involved with more programs such as the YMCA's Diabetes Prevention Program, Smallest Winner and Kid's Exercise Education Program (KEEP). I have become even more passionate about fitness and health than I was even when I was an athlete playing AAU softball. I love my job and even when I complete my internship and obtain my RD I would love to continue to build a career here in the community. Part of me has a soft spot for the acute care setting as well. Over my six years of education I learned so much in how disease state effects our ability to utilize nutrients and I spent some hours at a pediatric burn hospital learning how to care for this population nutritionally. Ideally I would work part time in the clinical setting of dietetics while still delivering nutrition services to the Y. I find my job so rewarding and the relationships I build with the community make me believe in what I do.

Tattoo Stories:

I got my first tattoo (a tiny star, now covered by a blue rose) when I was 18 and finishing my senior year of high school. It was rather impulsive, like many of my tattoos, and I hadn't really thought much about getting any up until that time. 

I guess you could say they are addictive because a few months after my first tiny spot of ink I decided that the flowers from the inside of an Alkaline Trio album would look really cool on my neck. Tattooing your neck when you’re 18-years-old isn't usually an impulse decision your parents totally support, and this was no exception. They have never been upset or angry about my tattoos, but more so just hoping I won't get any more. Thankfully, I still love my neck tattoo six years later. 

I had never loved my star tattoo like I loved the lilies on my neck and this caught up with me once I graduated from college. The star was fading, the people who did it were rude, and one of the lines was crooked. I always loved floral, especially vintage looking floral such as roses, which is why I decided this would make the perfect cover-up.

The need for more ink continued to grow as I reached my 24th birthday. I had long thought about getting a tattoo with a Blink 182 theme, as this had been my favorite band since I was ten. I could never make up my mind on exactly what I wanted though, so like many of my tattoos the result was impulsive. I wouldn't say I had a poor experience in high school, but with my favorite band being of a genre different from most, in combination with my awkward social skills, I was not the coolest kid in school. It was strange, because when I went to college I had anticipated my interests would not be the thing that would make friends, but it was quite the opposite. Some of my best nights included sing-alongs with my new friends (now best friends) to the songs that no one from my hometown knew the lyrics to. It also included just weird sorts of fun with parties celebrating Betty White's birthday, blow up flamingos, and whatever various props and instruments we could find to entertain ourselves. That's why when I got my latest tattoo it seemed fitting to get the lyrics "I think I'm different ... This is where I belong" from Blink 182's song "Pathetic." 

I am proud of my tattoos, and against my mother's wishes, hope for more. I don't mind when people inquire about them; I suppose it's more so the manner in which they do. There is always the occasional person who is against tattoos and feels the need to go out of their way to ask about them only to express their negativity. 

I always laugh at those who tell me my tattoos are going to look ugly when I get older and my skin starts to wrinkle. I personally think I will look like a bad ass, and if my wrinkled tattoos are my biggest problem, I'll be doing just fine.