Inked in Glasgow

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My mom has arrived! And she only had to travel 8.5 hours by plane...lucky girl.  She's here for the week and we've got all of our days planned out, some with official tour guides, and some where I'm the guide!  For today, we figured we would just relax.  She would be getting in early, after being up all night, so a simple day seemed like the best plan. Oh, and tattoos. Because why not?  

After she got to our flat, we caught up and walked to the pub for lunch.  Pedro wouldn't be able to come with us on a lot of adventures, due to school, but he was able to eat with us before class. Then it was off to the tattoo shop! Pedro's friend had suggested the artist, and she was just on the main street. We already had our design worked out, getting matching pieces, mine on the inside of my arm and hers on her wrist.  My mom had cute idea in mind, so I drew it for the artist to stencil directly on our skin.  It's a simple black and white outline- a stack of books with the top one open, with smoke and stars shooting out like magic.  The inspiration was that reading is magical, "I have lived a thousand lives" vibes, which is something that has always bonded my mom and me.  Some of my earliest memories for the love of books and reading is when my mom was reading the final Harry Potter book, and I was pestering her about what was going on and if she was almost done so I could read it. 

We signed our waivers and got in the hot seat, me first.  

Mom: What? You afraid I'm going to chicken out?

Me: No, but either way, I get a tattoo!

It really wasn't bad. But then again, I chose some of the most painful spots for my firsts, so this one was a relative breeze.  Almost too easy...like a smooth whiskey, you're tempted to have more. 

While we were getting ours, we were alone with our artist and one other artist in the shop, so we all had a good chat.  The other artist was tattooing herself in the bed next to us and seemed to get a kick out of the stories my mom was telling.  

After we were inked and wrapped, we made our way to Morrisons to grab some quick food for dinner. Of course, that quickly turned into 'oo you should try this!' and 'oo those look good!"  and our arms were full of Scottish snacks. Luckily, I've learned my lesson living here- never leave the house without a bag! We went home with our treasures and quickly splayed out on the couch to watch a movie. 

*ten minutes later*

Mom: I'm gonna fall asleep. 

(It's ok mum, you've had a looooong day)

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