Although I have known Nicole for a fairly long time now, there are still times when I learn something new about her and this time was no different. When I tried to find something of hers that I imagined could have some meaning to her I ran into some difficulty, but soon noticed the tattoo on her right ring finger. I had known it was there, but I realized that I've never really asked her about it, so it ended up being the perfect "artifact."

The tattoo is located on the outside ride side of her right ring finger, bewteen her knuckle and the middle of her finger. It is about the size of a dime and is in black ink, but it's also slightly faded. It is a peace sign symbol, which i recognized as something very fitting to Nicole's personality and style. I figured that the tattoo ranged between $20 and $50 and I was almost dead on as Nicole informed me that it cost her $45 total. She actually got it done back in May of 2008, which could explain some of the fading. It was done at a small hole-the-wall parlor during a beach trip she took to Outer Banks.

Most tattoos that people get are symbolic of a person or experience or even an emotion, so it was obvious to ask her if the tattoo had any meaning behind it and how important it was to her. Nicole explained to me that a huge reason why it is important to her is because her and 3 of her friends, Caitlin, Nikki, and Kat all got one together, in the same location. She cares about them each alot so this was a great way to forever embody those feelings. They originally all wanted the same thing in the same location, but soon discovered that deciding on one thing between all of them would be way too difficult. They settled on just getting different symbols in the same location, and Nicole ended up being the last to go. This was mostly due to the fact that she was still slightly nervous about her mother's reaction and also just a general worry of how painful it would be. Luckily, she claimed it wasn't painful at all and took very little time. In fact, all she had to do was sit in a normal chair, but she twisted her hand slightly backward to give the tattoo artist the best angle in which he could adequately tattoo her finger.

Nicole lastly clued me into the fact that it was actually the 3rd of her tattoos, following a star on her foot, and 2 more stars added at a second tattooing appointment. Nicole was also quick to mention that she definitely plans on getting a fourth or possibly more. "It's expressing yourself," she calmy explained.