I’ve had some busy days last week and it’s nice to be busy

Last Saturday, I had a Leah whom I did her bridal henna a year and a half ago.  She Loved my work and wanted to celebrate her birthday with henna this year so she came back bringing her friend with her.  I think her friend is “hooked” on my henna :)  Leah is very organized and takes care of henna very well, I wish all my clients are like her.  She came with her friend who got her feet done (so she can still drive back) and she told me she already had chicken marinated and salad ready for lunch since she knew she won’t be able to do anything after henna, very well thought out!

Then, I had a little girls birthday party later in the same afternoon for Isabelle.  This was her 10th birthday and she wanted to have henna artist for her birthday.  I offered henna and Luxe Glow for this party.  Quite a hit and even some boys got copper Luxe Glow

Yesterday was such a beautiful day out and there was a one lucky girl who had her 11th birthday party outside in the beautiful home in Chatham, NJ.  I had a really pretty train ride from Pen Station to Chatham.  She had a Arabian theme party and everyone was dressed up in the costumes with some sparkles.  I had the honer to be at this party  to henna all the girls and some adults there.  As always, some of them went nuts over Luxe Glow but this was for a Henna service I didn’t have Luxe Glow with me but they were happy with the henna designs they got.

As a birthday girl She had a bigger design then other girls :)  then, the belly dancer started her performance and all the kids were mesmerized by her dance..  Then she started to dance with everyone.  Many girls were dancing pretty well, they were just a cute bunch :)  I love doing henna for little girls birthdays..  made me smile for rest of the evening.

This past week was an exciting week I have to say,  I feel like things are coming together slowly and meeting a right kind of people ( getting hired.. even better!! ).  I had a client who just sold her novel on Monday and the casual conversation came up about my photo book project with my photographer Timothi( few images so far ) and she was very eager to share the information about publishing a book!  I wasn’t even thinking to look into publisher but she mentioned that if it’s a non fiction book you can sell the idea!

here is Rebecca’s celebration henna

Then I got a call from Julie who is a wedding/event photographer.  she has a love of henna and just came back from India shooting a wedding.  She was having her birthday on Sunday and she loves my work and very excited to have me for her birthday party where she is inviting many of her friends who work in wedding/event industry!   Julie was warm and lovely person (who was taking cake of everyone at her own birthday :)) and all her friends were just pleasure to be around.  they all were happy with my work and I was able to connect with some people.  I couldn’t ask more.. it was just an amazing afternoon.  To top it off, I came home of more than 2 dozens roses Julie had at her party (as well as yummy leftovers.)!  One of her lovely friend sent over at least 15-20 dozens of roses for her birthday and she was generously sharing with all the guests.

Julie’s birthday henna

These roses will keep me smiling for another couples of more days :))) thank you so much Julie!

I got a call from a client the other day while I was on the phone talking to a real person after holding for about 10-15 minutes.  so she left a message and I called her right back when I was done.  She was really excited to hear from me and told me that I was the first henna artist to call her back after she called a few people in the past few days. Since it was for her birthday outing I suggested to Luxe Glow and she was even more excited and made an appointment to come by later that day.  When she came by, she told me that as soon as she hung up the phone everyone else started to calling her back..  well people, don’t wait too long…  it’s too late now.  After we talked about her outfit and her inspiration ( which was Alicia Key’s Video “try sleeping with a broken heart” ) I did a butterfly with other motifs to compliment around it.  She also asked me if I could do it both with gold and silver, I’ve never really mixed colors before and I always feel like it could get messy but, if I draw designs separately it comes out fine (it takes a bit longer since I had to let the gold part dry first then do the silver.)  but the result is this.. Ta Da!!

Akiyo did my 17th birthday party with guys and girls. She was really friendly with the teens, talked and was VERY talented…every stroke came really easy and she was really flexible with requests. Guys were into the tattoos too!

I was at Simrin’s birthday party who just turned 11 years old.  She remembered me from her friend’s birthday party 2 years ago, and really liked my work.  she is Indian and has had many henna in the past,  so even though she is very young, she recognize the quality of my work :).  Her Dad was telling me when she had henna done in Dehli, she said ” I still like the woman from Tasha’s birthday (me :)) “  amazing!  she remembers my work from 2 years ago..  so, she had 10 of her friend at the party and it’s an Indian theme sleep over party.  they have all the activities planned and her Dad put up about 2 dozens of colorful saris covering the ceiling to make it look like a tent.  the place just looked so beautiful, he also showed me the henna cake they had made to go this the Indian henna theme..   All the girls had pretty Indian outfits on, they looked so cute together and all the girls are so sweet, it was such a pleasure being there.  Simrin was so pleased and said ” thank you for coming to my party and make my party so much better. ” awe.. how sweet of her!! :))  so I said ” thank you for remembering me from Tasha’s party,  you made it all happen. “  and you know it’s true,  if she didn’t remember me I wouldn’t have been there.  when her mom called me to book me for this party I thought it was so sweet.  very sweet family.  I couldn’t stop smiling on the way home and felt so blessed until  I got home to find a big party outside of my house when I just wantee to go to sleep..!    but that’s another story..

Dear Akiyo,

I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that everyone you henna-ed at my wife’s birthday party had such nice things to say about you – and your work. I wanted to thank you too – for taking special requests, like my uncle’s “Jameson” tattoo – and for being such a pro. It was so easy to talk to you to make arrangements by phone, and I really appreciated that you followed up beforehand about all the details. Your rate was reasonable, you showed up ready to go, and you made everything easy. Not only were you an asset as the party’s henna girl, you were also a really nice guest.

Thanks!
Mr. Jean Miele