So, what's with the artichoke?

In lieu of wedding bands, Rodrigo and I decided a while ago to get tattoos. I'll pause here for a collective shudder from those who:

a) like my mom, consider tattoos to be inappropriate in any occasion (even as an expression of love or pride)
b) are picturing tattooed portraits of each other on body parts that don't normally see the sunshine

Okay, have we recollected ourselves? Good.

Walking down the street one day, we settled on identical artichokes. It went something like this:

R: So I was thinking some more about tattoo ideas.
C: Yeah? What are you thinkin', Palma?
R: Artichokes.
C: Yes!

We discussed the idea further, made our appointment, and the rest is (permanently applied) history. Here is some photo-documentation:

Baby's first tattoo. Awe...

Rodrigo smiling through the pain. Actually, it barely phased him. I was the one wincing and clutching his hand like a lifeline.

His

Hers

Thanks to Zach Stuka at Deluxe Tattoo here in Chicago for his rendition of a very complex vegetable.

We've gotten the question "Why artichokes?" a lot since then, and the answer is... there really is no firm answer. We like the way they look. We find them delicious. We wanted something that we would each get and wear (a la a wedding band, except there's no losing these babies down the drain when we wash our hands) and enjoy looking at every day.

We heart artichoke (hearts)!

xoxo
C