Current mood:

lazy

Good Things Come in Henna Bottles
What a great month for henna! I sold off most of my stock and won't be getting any more until after we move. I still have a lot of geranium and tea tree essential oil if anyone needs some. I have also decided to pare down my henna kits and cut the prices. Who really needs cotton balls and toothpicks and popcicle sticks disguised as "mixing sticks"? No one. Powder, paste, bottles, tips, cones, instructions, essential oil. The end.

I came to this determination while teaching two women how to do henna last month. Ironically, both were named Cindy and they scheduled lessons on a Sunday and Monday. As I was outlining a lesson plan and getting together materials, I pared things down to the essentials and that was the list. Ta da!

Teaching henna was a lot of fun. Cindy came to my home and I had prepared beforehand 25g of henna to the mashed potato stage so she could see what that looked like and how it changed after adding sugar and EOs to the yogurt stage. We spent a couple hours talking about recipes and designs and business and I felt very satisfied with how it went. My Monday lesson was at the other Cindy's house (a woman I met at Dexter Daze) and we got through the mixing stage, but plan to have a second lesson to talk shop about applying and the business end of things. Another very satisfying experience.

Then my friend Jess decided to jump into the henna world. I'd taught her how to mix henna while I was out there in October and she did her first batch on her own. It didn't turn out so well, we consulted and her second batch was much better. She got nice compliments on her designs and wanted to do henna on her cousins over Thanksgiving weekend, so I doodled out some autumn-themed sangeet style designs. Leaves and acorns with paisleys doesn't look half bad, really.

The Monday before Thanksgiving, I was invited to a college house that was having its Thanksgiving feast before everyone split for the weekend. I felt super old and at the same time, so young surrounded by all those college students and their energy and accomplishments. I met some very fun people and ate some very good food and did some beautiful henna. After dinner, we were treated to some incredibly guitar playing and Isabelle and her friends sang together. It really was a very peaceful evening.

I missed CW the Saturday after Thanksgiving because I was babysitting a nephew, but I was back November 30th and it was very quiet. Sarah came to visit and Liz made life better by being there, too. I've decided not to do henna at CW anymore, though. I figure that parking my name in 6 months of CW advertising and then moving would be rude to the person who took over my spot. Bill has an iridology reader lined up to take Saturday evenings, so it's good to know the slot won't sit empty. I'll miss my Saturday nights out, though. As soon as we get settled somewhere in Washington, one of my first priorities will be to set up something similar.

Tonight, I did henna at a bat mitzvah. I got the booking from the bat mitzvah I did during the summer. We had been worried I might be moved by now, but.. ta da! I'm still here. The evening was a lot of fun. They hired me for 2 hours and I had a line for all 4 hours. I came prepared to do lots of henna, but by 9 pm, I was all out of paste. And there were still people lined up, but the party ended at 9 anyway. The whole evening was great. I was under the heat lamps by the indoor pool so I was cozy and warm and felt like a reptile on a rock, ready to just bask and snooze. Tempting! People brought me good food and mango smoothies and girls kept coming back for more henna. A success all around. And then I left my wonderful heat lamps and went out into the snowy night.

Coming up... my last month at CW, a couple more lessons, packing and using up materials like powder, paste, etc.