I texted the below picture to my parents (who knew what tattoo I was getting) and they wrote back, "Wow." I figured that wasn't a good wow, and sure enough they called a minute later. My mom said something to the effect, "you can actually see it." Well, duh. If I'm going to get a tattoo, I want to be able to see it. Needless to say, I'm super stoked and can't wait for the redness to go down and be completely healed in a week and a half.
BONUS: A few hours into my tattoo recovery, I ate at A Dong for the first time. It's a Vietnamese restaurant in Des Moines that I'd heard good things about. I got the #20 which includes egg noodles, beef, shrimp, and chicken. The broth/sauce was amazing. In fact, after I finished the food, I drank a couple spoonfuls of it. I'm sure it looked a little weird, but it was that good, plus I was still hungry. Mental note: order an appetizer next time because there will be a next time.