Last night, the Independent Spirit Awards were held, and Black Swan was the biggest awards-getter. Black Swan took Best Feature, Best Director (Darren Aronofsky), Best Female Lead (Natalie Portman) and Best Cinematography. Another big winner: James Franco for Best Male Lead (for 127 Hours). In his speech, he even dropped “I went to film school” which should make Lainey happy. Franco’s words were: “I just went through film school at NYU and finished my thesis film, so independent film means a lot to me.” Oh, Franco. You toolbox. Other winners: Exit Through the Gift Shop for Best Documentary, Get Low won Best First Feature, The Kids Are All Right won Best Screenplay, The King’s Speech for Best Foreign Film, John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone) for Best Supporting Actor, and Dale Dickey (Winter’s Bone) for Best Supporting Actress.
As far as fashion went… well… ugh. I usually like the Spirit Awards for their laid-back fashion moments. In years past, most women are in laid back sundresses or comfortable pants. This year… not so much. Natalie Portman’s maternity style is just horrible, Nicole Kidman needs help coordinating colors, and Melissa Leo is just tacky. Who wears a bright satin ball gown to the Spirit Awards, Melissa? Here are some photos from the Spirit Awards, including The Hamm and his girl, Franco, Jeremy Renner, Ewan McGregor (looking gorgeous), and Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts:
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Edited to fix my comment on Nicole Kidman after having a sip of coffee to read the article correctly…..the dress is BEAUTIFUL the shoes are FUGLY. 😉
@Schnauzers
Big co-sign. My thoughts exactly. Nicole rocks the fit and color in that dress but the shoes are….well you said it.
Aww, I think Natalie looks cute. Nicole looks great but that color red – on anyone – is just too much. It hurts my eyes. And that green gown…ugh. Looks like something from the clearance rack at Ye Olde Bridal & Bridemaid Shoppe.
Oh, Natalie, no. A belted, melted chocolate-banana bomb-pop is never a look to aspire to, pregnant or no.
I think Naomi’s look (minus the jacket and that dreadful bag) is perfect for the Independent Spirit awards.
So glad Dale Dickey won, she shoulda been nominated for an Oscar.Thanks for including the pics of Ewan! He’s soooo dreamy…..sigh.
I thought Nicole looked absolutely beautiful… Until I scrolled down and saw her shoes. What in the name of my grandmother’s favorite table cloth does she have on her feet?!?
*sigh*
As for Natalie Portman, she kind of looks like a box of peeps threw up on her. Side note, has anyone else noticed that whatever company makes peeps has been trying to get them to happen on holidays besides Easter for the last couple years? Last year, my boyfriend got me a box of brown Teddy bear peeps as a part of my valentines day gifts. I also saw green tree shaped peeps at Christmas this year. What I want to know is, why is it the grossest of all Easter candy that’s trying to be a year round thing? Why aren’t I seeing year round cadbury eggs instead? If the candy industry is reading this, please stop your roll out of shamrock shaped marshmallow turds and start production on green cadbury eggs!
Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. Moving on to Melissa Leo. She looks like she had to real quick raid her closet to find her old prom dress after finishing a shift at the Waffle House off the third exit on the interstate in order to make this event on time. Thank God it still fits! In other words, pure class.
ML looks pregnant. That dress SUCKS.
Natalie Portman looks like a cupcake.
Natalie Portman looks like she bitch stomped her way into the maternity section at Sears and said, “Gimme everything you got”. Can’t wait to see what she turns up in tonight.
Natalie is so uncapable of finding a decent dress, bless her heart.
Melissa Leo’s tacky tattoo… Jeez! Awful, and those shoes with that gown? Wrong.
I like Nicole’s dress, but not on her.
And my dear Ewan looks like an Irish rebellious, so 1900!
I’m giving Natalie a pass since she is pregnant.
LOVE Nicole’s dress, she looks nice except the shoes..
James Franco, looks crazy with that sweater over his suit…more like a absent-minded professor.
Nicole Kidman looks drop-dead gorgeous from the ankles up.
Is that mess Portman has on even a maternity dress? Most maternity dresses are cut with extra material in the front to compensate for the baby bump so when you put it on, the front isn’t riding six inches higher than the back.
Natalie looks like a little bell from that side view. She could have found something cute to wear, there are plenty of cute maternity clothes out there.
I am in LOVE with Naomi’s shoes, just LOVE!
Nicoles reminds me of christmas with that festive red dress and candy cane shoes
No comment for that thing in the green dress :/
I have a friend on facebook who worked this event and said Jeremy Renner was a GIANT douchebag. Ignoring people and being generally unpleasant. Sad.
i have the flu so it’s probably the reason why i like Melissa Leo’s dress
Portman made a comment about her dress at the golden globes (I think) not being maternity because she can fit into regular size clothing. I have a feeling she’s intentionally not wearing maternity clothes as some sort of an “I’m so thin I don’t have to wear maternity clothes even though I’m very pregnant” ego boost
the original bellaluna: “A belted, melted chocolate-banana bomb-pop”
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ROTFL!!! Thanks for making my morning.
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@ol cranky (Love the name BTW): I’m beginning to think Portman either doesn’t own a full-length mirror or she gets dressed in the pitch dark.
Natalie looks hideous… her legs are a different colour to the rest of her body, and that dress makes her look fat, not pregnant.
Melissa Leo, dear, you DO look old enough to play THE MOTHER to Bale and Marky Mark, so get over yourself already.
And I like Nicole’s shoes, but not the dress. The dress looks like it was made with Frederick’s of Hollywood lace leftovers. I still like Nicole, though.
Natalie looks extremely beautiful. That is a real pregnancy and not like some… .
Hmm, it would have been interesting meeting between McGregor and Nicole 🙂
Jeremy R rocks a shiny suit. I’ll take a side of Ewan to go, though. He looks wonderful.
@DetRiotgirl: Peeps are the bomb.
God, what in the name of confectionary hell is Natalie Portman wearing?
And I think my fave Italian restaurant is missing a tablecloth… and Nicole Kidman is wearing it on her feet.
I usually go to the Spirits. Not this year. 🙁
I heard it was very cold in that tent, which may explain “I WENT TO FILM SCHOOL’s” stealing my mom’s sweater.
Too bad Melissa Leo didn’t steal my mom’s quilt to cover up her dress.
I agree that Nicole looked great except for the shoes. Natalie looks like she went shopping at Walmart in a power outage.
@brin
“Walmart in a power outage”, LOL, my head snapped back. Hurt neck. I’ll be fine.
Geez, Natalie Portman looks ridiculous! Pregnant women can be hot but I don’t think I need to see that much leg from her, or such bare arms either. She’s got it all wrong. Before, she used to dress so classy and now that she’s pregnant she’s getting trashy. I don’t understand her style choices at all.
they do make mini eggs year round.
barring that, I buy at the 50% off sales and freeze it, easter cream eggs and such.
And the winner is…: Ewan Mc Gregor; Nicole Kidman also looks lovely, except for the shoes, and after that I’m just wondering what’s wrong the rest of these people? Jon Hamm looks terrible, Liev Schreiber looks “not good”, James Franco looks like some eccentric, rumpled, musty-smelling professor, Natalie P. looks ridiculous in that dress, Melissa Leo looks like she wants to start sharing Helena Bonham Carter’s fashion spotlight and the others just aren’t worth mentioning.
Somebody please tell me what in tarnation is going on with Melissa Leo’s FEET? Is she wearing textured hose, or dear God are those VEINS?!
Natalie’s dress isn’t so bad but the colors are awful. I don’t know why Melissa were an evening gown considering she’s been to the awards before. If not mistaken the reason the awards are so casual dressed is that they happen in the afternoon. I hate John Hamm’s beard. It looks weird.
@Rita…girl, I have the same reaction to your comments, you are hilarious!
a box of peeps threw up over her! ha ha, thats kinda funny. I think she did ok outfit wise, makes her look a bit more friendly and less ice queen ballerina than she has in recent weeks, bravo!
Oh and loving JF and his man-cardi
I am more surprise by the spray on tan of Nicole’s. (Her legs are done.) Which actually makes sense. Because I am tired of seeing ghastly pale, no hose, legs. 🙂
But I do love her dress. And I am going to give her a pass on the shoes.
Mostly cause I am sick of seeing chunky platform shoes. Or even worse the extreme chunky platforms. (Kim K.)
And if there is ever a reason to skip getting a big ass tattoo on your boob. Just look above at Melissa Leo.
Nat looks terrible, hope she’s saving her fashion mojo for tonight.
Wow, Melissa Leo, a bit over dressed? Plus it’s yucky, looks like a bad bridesmaid or prom dress, and the tattoo is distracting and odd.
Natalie looks like a little girl playing pregnant in that dress. Does she not have a stylist? Her material style is horrendous and she does not get a pass while pregnant. Celebrities on the red carpet never get a pass.
Nicole’s dress looked great on her, the shoes sucked. Plus her legs are a different colour than the rest of her body. Same with Natalie…maybe it’s a trick of the lighting.
Naomi looked amazing but that purse needs to go. Should have gone with an oversized clutch.
Melissa Leo…what can I say? She looks like HELL. It’s the spirit awards, so go business casual. That dress, with that TRASHY tattoo is disgusting. I think all breast tattoos are nasty. I’m so over her at the moment. Those tacky ass promo shots she took just go to show that her head is so far up her own ass.
Jeremy, Ewan & John, I’ve been waiting all night and all three of you did not show. While I don’t condone standing people up, I’ll give you three another chance…who am I kidding? I’d wait forever for those three!
I think Natalie’s maternity style is cute. However, I still say girl is lyin’ about her due date for some reason.
Nicole’s shoes– kitten heels are not flattering on anybody’s legs, go high or go home. Tho I guess they’re a godsend for women with shorter dates.
@Hautie: The problem with Nicole’s spray-tan legs is they don’t match the rest of her.
Nicole looks gorgeous! Those shoes shes wearing are not cute though.
Jeremy Renner looks hot, but what is going on with his shoes?
Kidman should have gone with black patent Louboutins. the red underside would have been beautifully picked up by the dress.
i like how she spray-tanned the legs but left the rest of her ghostly pale.
also, dunno if this has been discussed before but she has clearly had a boob job.
When is she due? She looks like she is having triplets.
Natalie may be able to fit into regular sized clothes, but that doesn’t mean they look good on her. Yikes.
I’m most bothered by Natalie’s dress and the fact that it is riding up in the front. We don’t need to be threatened with her pregnant crotch. And now, it seems, we are being assaulted thusly because she wants to feel ‘too petite’ to wear maternity cut clothing. 🙄
And Melissa is bothersome because yes, she certainly DOES look old enough to play the mother of Bale and Whalberg. But now we have to be subjected to the vision of her walzing on the red carpet (with a swallow tattooed on her boob no less) as she relives her prom queen glory days and tries to convince us that indeed, she was miscast, and it was only her excellent acting skills that made her look that old.
Goodness, I’m snarky this morning.
Nicole’s shoes really clash.
It does look like Natalie’s dress is NOT a maternity just to make sure there is no doubt everyone knows she is pregnant. Wait till she gives birth, she will probably have that kid plastered on every magazine that will print it. The advice and knowledge she will have on being the perfect parent will likely rival Goop.
Natalie Portman’s “maternity wear” is really ticking me off — she keeps insisting on wearing clothes that are NOT “maternity” so she gets those ridiculous hems (shorter in front, longer in back). And actually, THIS dress isn’t as bad as others she’s worn (See that nightmare dress she wore to the Oscar’s lunch). I understand she wants to look “stylish” but she looks freaking ridiculous. Can’t she get a designer to you know –design something that fits her belly?
I think Nicole looks so gorgeous — that body! — I didn’t even notice her shoes until others mentioned them. Therefore, I’m giving her a pass on them.
I agree Peeps at other holidays are NOT happening. Bad enough at Easter. But I disagree with having the Cadbury Cream Eggs year round – having them only at Easter is better because if I could get them year-round I think I wouldn’t eat anything else.
Oh and Jon Hamm needs to tell his gf to lay off the Botox.
Nicole looks breathtakingly beautiful in that dress.
Ewan is always hot!
@DetRiotGirl – “If the candy industry is reading this, please stop your roll out of shamrock shaped marshmallow turds and start production on green cadbury eggs!”
That just killed me, for some reason xD
I don’t understand why Natalie refuses to wear anything actually made to accommodate the way a woman’s body changes during pregnancy. She’s sure as hell not doing herself any favors with this sort of style.
Yes, a woman late in pregnancy can be quite large… But there are ways to avoid looking like the Goodyear blimp.
Melissa Leo looks great! It would appear that the commenters on these pictures, with a few exceptions, did not seem to like anything anybody wore. Perhaps, next year the nominees and the audience should be required to appear naked. It would shut the fashion critics up, and the ratings would go through the roof.
@Liana I just have a grudge against peeps because I got suckered into a peeps eating contest once when I was little. I ate four of five packs in about three minutes and the result… Well, that’s how I know what Natalie Portman’s dress looks like! Lol, I haven’t been able to stomach them since then.
@Venus lol, a girl after my own heart!
Ewan is trying the 1900s look there. He can do no wrong in my eyes…I love love love this guy.
I actually think it’s incredibly hard to find decent maternity clothing, but if I had Natalie’s money & connections, I’d sure as hell have some made if nothing else. It’s supposed to be the time when a woman is most beautiful, imo, but she keeps trying to look fug. It’s sad.
I can’t even look at that last chick without seeing her tacky glamour shots self-pimpage. I think she’s also trying to actively screw herself. And, while I’m a HUGE tat fan, what she’s sporting is pretty tacky as well. I’m almost surprised, but not really.
I would approve of a naked awards show.
@Sparkly: What’s sad is she isn’t trying to look fug; she can’t even tell she looks fug.
I love Nicole Kidman’s dress! And it looks fabulous on her svelt figure!
I love her shoes, too! Worn with white cotton crops pants or skinny jeans, or a short straight denim skirt, they would look so adorable! I want to find a pair for myself!
What I do NOT love is the pairing of these two great looks. Who made THAT unfortunate decision?! Lace and picnic plaid! What were they thinking!
I agree with the comments about Natalie’s dress. @DetRiotgirl – your comment is the best about the upchucking peeps! LOL!
@Sparkly – “And, while I’m a HUGE tat fan, what she’s sporting is pretty tacky as well.”
Agreed. Personally, I don’t care for *any* chest tattoos on women… Not only because I dislike how it looks, but because one needs to consider ‘potential droopage’ when choosing a location for a tattoo.
A woman’s chest is one of the most likely areas to experience skin changes while aging, so it often distorts the tattoo. >.<
K, so I’m not really a big fan of NP but I’am going to stand up for her as a fellow “petite” prego. When I was carrying my son it was super difficult to fit “properly” into maternity wear. Yes, the dress is pretty bad but give her a break. She is only like 5’1″ and normally weighs 110-115 lbs. What I noticed more was her overall unkempt look. Her hair was messy and the makeup was a little off. Gotta agree about Nicole Kidman. Flawless except the shoes lol.
Hakura: one needs to consider ‘potential droopage’ when choosing a location for a tattoo.
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This is why I would never get a tattoo anywhere. People don’t seem to realize that skin loses elasticity as it ages. Imagine someone 75 years old covered with old wrinkly tattoos that you have to stretch out the skin to read. Yuck!
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@DetRiotGirl: You live in NYC, right? Go down to Dylan’s Candy Bar on the corner of 59th Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan. They have every kind of candy you can think of.
@ Cheyenne – Thank you! Is it not true? I can’t think of a more apt mental picture of a melted chocolate-banana bomb-pop. Maybe something’s lost in translation?…
Also, Cheyenne, your comment reminds me something in Robin Williams’ “Weapons of Self Destruction”: “Ladies, when you’re 20, that tattoo of a sunset and stars over the water is beautiful; when you’re 50, it’s an octopus chasing a starfish. Just something to keep in mind.”
Yeah, her tat is… not good. I’m not anti tat by any stretch of the imagination (I have several and so does hubby), but the chest, ass, and stomach are the worst places to get them due to gravity and skin changes. Mine are around one wrist, the inside of the other wrist, my ankle, and the back of my shoulder.
The only “tattoo” (if you can call it that) I would ever get is those stick-on ones by Swarovski Crystals. They’re fun and pretty and you can peel them off when you’re tired of them.
*DetRiotGirl ponders Cheyenne’s comment, wonders why she never thought to check there before, furiously searches her coat pockets for her metrocard and runs out the door towards the 1 train, knocking aside random stragers while mumbling “apologies, candy, gotta go!” to everyone in her wake*
I don’t know, Cheyenne. Everyone keeps talking about how fug she’s always looking. You think she or her people would catch on!
That said, though, I’ve seen tons of old folks with perfectly good (for their time) tattoos. Old soldiers especially. They don’t usually change all that much, unless, I suppose, you have a belly tat and get pregnant or gain/lose a lot of weight.
Leo’s seems to have held up fairly well. I just don’t like the actual tat or the placement, or her obvious wish to show it off in a fancy gown.
Hakura – I’m the same way! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a titty tat that I like. Although I have one on a certain other lady part, so it’s not the potentially sexual aspect of it. I don’t know why it turns me off so much, when I’m usually all about tattoos.
Natalie looks like a cupcake. A giant banana-cocoa cupcake. Not a good look.
@Cheyenne – “This is why I would never get a tattoo anywhere. People don’t seem to realize that skin loses elasticity as it ages.”
@Liana – “…but the chest, ass, and stomach are the worst places to get them due to gravity and skin changes.”
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The main problem is that people have become entirely too casual about getting tattoos. They make impulsive decisions, not taking into account the fact that they’re permanent, & not an accessory that can be removed. It’s become a fad, which I just hate. I’m totally against the idea of getting a tattoo *just* as a ‘right of passage’ when you turn 18. People tend to get impulsive, stupid, meaningless little designs like butterflies, fairies, hearts & stars… It’s a peeve of mine for some reason. A good example is Vanessa Hudgens, who just got a butterfly on the back of her neck/shoulder.)
Tattoos that are just ‘pretty pictures’ (without a personal meaning/connection) or ‘fads’ usually end up being the ones that people most regret. Kelly Osbourne has been especially open about the fact that she regrets most of her tattoos (which she admitted most of which were acquired while drunk.). She’s even going to the extreme of having some removed.
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@Sparkly – “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a titty tat that I like…I don’t know why it turns me off so much, when I’m usually all about tattoos.”
I hesitate to express my opinion on this, as I don’t want to offend anyone. But personally… most of the chest/breast tattoos I’ve seen on women have come across very… trashy. (Not ALL, but most). The only one I’ve ever liked was one on a breast cancer survivor who’d had a mastectomy. It was really beautiful, & had such deep personal meaning.
But the locations for tattoos that I dislike MOST are anything on the face, or the hands, especially the fingers, like Miley Cyrus currently has). I just HATE it, & I KNOW I would end up so regretting doing that.
I currently have one tattoo, which is large & on my upper back. I think as far as aging skin goes, the upper back is more forgiving than most places, & is more likely to remain intact. I agree that seeing someone who’s made a bad decision for location is … unpleasant.
I’m so with you! The mastectomy tattoos I have seen have all been so very powerful and beautiful. I hadn’t meant to lump those in with the tackier versions I call “titty tats”.
My tattoos are meaningful to me, even the “flash” tattoo I picked for my very first one. It may be a random or generic looking flower, but it had deep meaning in reclaiming adult self and my sexuality.
I see a lot of hand/wrist tats, and I personally could never do that. I do like the ones you can hide for professional purposes (just speaking for myself here), but I also have a background in ASL, where visible hand area tattoos just don’t work.
I have a wrist tat. it’s a bracelet and it has extremely personal meaning (all my tats do). The wrist bracelet is a memorial to my best friend who passed away last year. It’s comprised of some symbols that represents parts of our friendship. In my line of work, visible tats are no biggie, but I can easily hide the wrist tat (and the one on my other inner wrist) with a chunky bracelet.
I’m sorry for the loss of your friend! It sounds like a lovely memorial.
I have friends who had matching wedding-ring tattoos. I love the idea, and I especially like henna-type designs I’ve seen on hands & wrists, but it’s just considered a no-no for someone who signs a lot &/or provides interpreting services. Ah, well. I’ll settle for my eventual dream of a gorgeous backpiece. Hopefully one day.
Sparkly – My brother and sister-in-law got wedding ring tattoos, which are worn beneath their rings. It’s kinda neat. Except when people divorce. Then, not so much. And that would be the problem with tattoos that are not well thought out in advance.
Agreed! Although I might argue that that’s more a problem of the marriage not being well-thought out in advance rather than the tat. I think it’s a neat idea if you’re wholly committed to the marriage. That’s a whole different soap box though…
Yikes. But I really love Kidman in that dress. Her shoes are a hotmess, though. They belong on smucker’s jars. But the DRESS! And I love me some Naomi Watts.
I’m going to get schooled for this one, I can tell: I have nothing against tattoos. I don’t have any, mostly because I can never make up my mind about what it is I really want, and/or that I worry that in a few years it (whatever I choose) will seem really trivial to me. But here’s the problem most of you might have with my outlook-I just wonder if, maybe, you might get older and change in such a dramatic way you wish you never got any. I don’t know. I’ve had crazy life experiences and learned to love and dislike things I didn’t previously. At some point, don’t you worry that as you change and evolve as a person, you’ll be stuck with the art that defined you when you were someone else? Just a question. If anyone has an answer they’d like to share, I’d love to hear another person’s take.
Re: Franco: “You toolbox.” lol
Thanks for adding to my putdown vocabulary, Kaiser!
@Newbie: With the exception of one tat (a small Greek cross on the back of my shoulder), I got all of mine after the age of thirty. And since they commorate different “happenings” in my life, I won’t regret them. Besides, except for the bracelet, they’re all fairly small and not readily visible.
Sparkly – “I hadn’t meant to lump those in with the tackier versions I call “titty tats”.”
I understood that you didn’t mean anything negative about the mastectomy tattoos. =) They’re in a completely different league.
I so hope I didn’t offend you with my comment, if so, I truly apologize. Those sorts of tattoos (butterflies/fairies/hearts/ect) only seem pointless/stupid to me if they have no meaning to the person getting them. It’s something you’ll be carrying with you for the rest of your life, so I just can’t fathom getting something just for the hell of it.
“I do like the ones you can hide for professional purposes …”
ITA. So many people don’t even think about that, & can really lose out on job opportunities as a result… I guess that’s why Kat Von D put out her ‘tattoo cover-up’ makeup line. x_x
As to the wedding ring tattoos, I think that’s one of those ‘jinx’ situations (like when a couple goes to get their significant other’s name tattooed on them, & the relationship falls apart completely afterward). You’re just tempting fate sealing your commitment with ink.
@Liana – I’m so sorry about your friend’s passing. Memorial/tribute tattoos are something I would never criticize, no matter what the image is, or where it’s located. It could be the ugliest thing on the worst area of the body, & I’d still respect the reasons behind it. Which is why I don’t bring up Miley Cyrus’ ‘Just Breathe’ tattoo (meant to be a memorial for a friend who died of Cystic Fibrosis. My younger brother (18) has CF as well, so I can completely understand where that sort of tattoo comes from, emotionally.
I’ve actually not seen too many ‘bracelet’ style tattoos. (I’ve seen one ‘anklet’ style). That really does sound like a beautiful way to remember your friend. =)
@Newbie – We wouldn’t jump on you for having a different opinion or asking a question. =) As for my tattoo (as Liana said in her answer), it represents a major event in my life, that caused everything to change in a very short amount of time. (In this case, it was the experience of our home being completely destroyed by a house fire.) I knew I wanted a tattoo for years, but didn’t have any great idea what or where I wanted it… Until I totally randomly had a dream that gave me a big part of the tattoo. I’m 24, & just finally got the tattoo last year. =)
But you do have a valid point, in that people do change, sometimes significantly, throughout their lives, which can result in regret. I think the longer you give yourself to consider your decision, & the more it reflects some aspect of yourself or someone you care about, the better your odds are going to be that you won’t regret it later. But I know they aren’t for everyone, just like anything else. It’s a very big commitment. =)
Hakura, I wasn’t offended at all! I was just really enjoying the discourse, although I just hope Kaiser doesn’t mind that we’ve turned the post towards tattoo talk.
Newbie – My tattoos have meaning to me, and I would never regret them. I’ve also always pretty much been really sure & secure in who I am. We all change a bit as we age, but I’ve mostly stayed the same being at the core for as long as I can remember. My first tat was a flash, and while I’d never get another flash piece, I had that one modified slightly and the experience of getting it with my very best friend at the time was a real healing ceremony for me.
My second tat is one that I drew myself, although it’s an image I drew from the cover of one of my favorite albums. I’ve never been a skilled artist, either, so the fact that it came out well and was done by my own hand really meant a lot to me. It has meaning to me for many, many reasons, and I had put a lot of thought into what I wanted. I can’t imagine ever regretting it. While it represented a specific part of my life at that time, I really feel I’ve only grown into it even more over the years.