Henna Lounge

flaky

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:49:22 GMT

jewelry style henna, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

sorry i've been flaky about posting. things suddenly got very busy, which is good. anyway, here is a recent piece on my hand. the color got sooo rich! and the background is one of my new skirts, just got a fresh shipment in, but sold 13 of them today to a girl who is using them for her school bollywood/jazz performance. fun colors!

embroidered henna bags

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:43:51 GMT

embroidered henna bags, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

I'm so excited, I had these bags custom made in Gujarat to put my henna kits in. They turned out even cuter and more colorful than I had hoped. They even have a zipper and shoulder strap, and no two are alike. They are about 6" x 7.5", just big enough to fit the essentials for a henna gig, or night out? anyway, i thought they were adorable.

Family henna

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:40:57 GMT

henna for my sister's foot, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

Last weekend my sister was in town because she teaches a class at Academy of Art and she finally asked me to henna her! We were hoping it would look fresh a full week for her trip to Coachella music festival.

henna for cyrise's leg

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:39:37 GMT

henna for cyrise's leg, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

quick share...

last year i worked with Cyrise, a wonderful lady, who was hosting a creative writing workshop for teenagers, and i did henna for some of her sessions. it was great fun. and last week she came to visit me for some henna for herself before a trip to the Mojave. we had such a nice time, and it's always nice to have customers that turn out to be friends. thanks Cyrise!

happy sales

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:38:36 GMT

One of my goals for this year was to increase my product sales so I could spend somewhat less time doing henna. Not that I don't love doing henna, but it's hard on my body (neck/back) and requires sooo much concentration it's a little exhausting. Anyway, so I haven't really done anything to increase my sales, no advertising or anything, but they are increasing, and I've had some great orders lately including a $800 order for henna paste. It literally took me a whole day to mix all that henna and bottle it up, but hey, it beats a day at the office. But if things continue the way they have been I am going to need an assistant to help me out. Aside from that, the other thing that was a goal for last year that didn't materialize, is to do more "destination" henna. I think if I have some time in the next week or two, I will build a website page for "destinations" and suggest it as a special addition to weddings, yoga/spa retreats, etc. etc.. of course I'd like to focus on Mexico and Central America, my favorite places in the world, but would certainly consider other locales as well! I mean, with all the money someone would save throwing a wedding in Latin America, they could easily afford to "import" a henna artist (or two?). Well that is it for now. Just throwing the vibes out there again.

Today's bride

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:41:02 GMT

sri's mehndi hands, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

just a little eye candy for ya'll. i'm tired though because i got up at 6:30am to prepare some henna for an urgent order, and then henna'd all afternoon, then rushed to the post office to mail the express order, and then rushed to my spanish tutor. wheh! thank goodness i don't have to work tomorrow though.

hi

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:10:00 GMT

not much to report. work is starting to get busy again. we had a couple warm days and now it's cold and windy. tonight in salsa class, someone's chihuahua was walking around the dance floor and then it just sat and watched. it was so hilarious, reminded me of mexico, where the dogs are very independent like that.

Picture from Emily

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:04:20 GMT

henna stain on emily the bellydancer, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

That gorgeous bellydancer Emily sent me this photo of her with the henna I did on her. Doesn't she look stunning?

Daily henna

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:02:49 GMT

kiran's bridal henna, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

Today I had the loveliest client, Kiran. She was just such a cheerful and calm person and I had such a relaxing time working with her. Also, her fiance's aunt was visiting from Sweden, her name is Kathinka, isn't that the coolest name? And she was super cool too. :) It was a great way to start the bridal "season".

Disaster strikes

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:59:24 GMT

Well, it was my fault, and it was stupid. I accidentally deleted my entire website the other day. I was working on the new files and accidentally uploaded them, which replaced the current ones. And because I recently "lost" a computer, I had no idea where to look for the original files, although in theory, they reside somewhere on my external hard-drive. Anyway, in some ways, it's nice to start from scratch and just have things be simple. I no longer have every piece of software ever made by Adobe, so I had to use iWeb to redo my site. iWeb is not ideal, and I'm actually still having some issues with it, but at least my site is back up, and I have a new, improved web-shop, so that is happy. I think I still need to get some good web editing software soon though, just have to decide which one...

so, that is the drama. it came at a very inopportune time too, since the henna season, after a slow march, is really starting to pick up.

well, that's the scoop for now. you can see my new, not so exciting, design here: http://www.hennalounge.com

Update on my "life"

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:15:31 GMT

emily's henna hands, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

Things have been slow in March. For some reason, I had a shortage of clients, although product sales have been great. I have mainly been occupying my time with, well, not much. It seems that the slower things are, the less I do, and the busier they are, the more motivated and inspired I become. That being said, I have been going to salsa class regularly, which is always fun, and mildly social. On Saturday Jules was here and we went to Cafe Cocomo for some real nightclub salsa. Jules has always been a good dancer, and at the very least, she is not afraid to try. I, on the other hand, am so thankful that I have a few lessons under my belt so that I have some clue as to what to do out there. The only real disaster of the evening was when J refused to check her enormous avocado green pleather satchel into Coat Check. We had to take turns guarding it (which was so embarrassing "no, sorry i can't dance because i have to guard my sister's enormous avocado green pleather satchel"). And then when I decided I had had enough of that, the only worse possibility arose, and that was when J decided to just take it with her on the dance floor. Unfortunately, there was an, um, incident, in which a short Puerto Rican got hit in the face with aforementioned avocado-green pleather satchel. At this point, we decided we better make a break for it because even a $20 cover charge can't protect you in a situation like that. Anyway, nonetheless, we had a great time and I saw some friends too, who seemed to be amused by our situations.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Here is the henna I did for Emily, a local bellydancer. She dances Thursday nights at Marrakesh in the "Trendyloin". Check her out if you get the chance!

hola

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:08:29 GMT

So last night Lynn's friends from Mexico arrived. Anand and I had pizza at GoldenBoy pizza, a North Beach institution, which serves up slices of greasy goodness. The place is a real hole, but it's been there such a long time there are all sorts of funny things in the decor. Basically, anything which anyone might find offensive, it's there. Signs on the menu board say things like "we don't turn the music down, we turn it UP", and "if you don't see it, don't ask for it" and this is the place that found a vision of elvis in a dirty dishtowel or greasy napkin, i forget which, I think they even framed it, but I didn't see it last night. Anyway, after that, we headed to 850 CigarBar to meet Lynn and Susan and their boyfriends. CigarBar has great live latin jazz and cuban music on the weekends and last night was no exception. The band was great, they were a Cuban style band and the unique element they had was a violin, very cool. It was pretty crowded so we didn't dance much, but had fun people watching and catching up with the boys. Lynn and Salado seemed to pick up where they left off, and Susan and Carlos seemed to like each other too.

Now, Anand and I are headed off to the South Bay to watch Karen's play. I heard that tomorrow is Easter, and tomorrow we are going to Livermore for more Vasudev Family Fun. I don't think there will be an easter egg hunt, but there better damn well be chocolate, because I am forgoing a trip with Lynn and gang to go wine-tasting in Sonomapa.

Well, that's pretty much it.

happy friday!

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:51:15 GMT

henna stain with tulips, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

beautiful spring day here, although the breeze is picking up now. nothing much to report this week. same old same old. tonight maybe will go out with lynn and company... not sure yet. or maybe dinner with anand if he's not too tired. then saturday is karen's play and sunday lunch with the inlaws. sunday night anand leaves for singapore, so i'll be alone for the week again. also he accepted a new position at work, so he may be traveling a lot more also. i guess that means maybe more frequent flier miles, but after all the traveling i did last year, i have had my fill of airports and will be happy to stay home for a bit.

Beware the Ides of March

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:06:47 GMT

henna for a customer's foot, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

Well, not much to report this week. Just catching up on all my work stuff...
Yesterday had a repeat customer who wanted some henna for a romantic weekend, here is her foot.

It's raining tonight, so we decided to just chill at home with some Papalote. I had some beans and guacamole and salsa.

Speaking of salsa, Lynn and I have been regularly salsa dancing on Fridays, but we figured we should take a night off so people don't think we're "regulars". Ha ha. Although it is cool we are starting to get to recognize people, so we always have friends to chat with. Lynn had an, um, suitor, and she was not interested in him even though he was very nice, just a little overbearing. But nonetheless, he's a nice guy and fun to dance with and hang out with. We also met a really nice girl from Santa Rosa, who is a great dancer, and she gave us some good tips on how to dance with bad dancers! As annoying as it is to have to dance with bad dancers, it is a reality, and it's really only fair (at least in my case) because I have like 10 left feet, so I'm sure there are some people who are annoyed with me too.

My cuban salsa classes are of course coming along, and making some friends there too. It's nice to know people in the city, since most of my friends have moved off to the suburbs and whatnot. The class is really diverse, and it's hilarious how Ramon teaches in Spanglish. I am fluent in Spanglish so this works out well for me, ha ha.

I am also still working on my proper Spanish, and although I haven't done my homework in a couple weeks, my sessions with Claudia are going well, and stuff is really sinking in.

Well, tomorrow I go to work my monthly gig at the yoga studio. It's supposed to rain, but I already have my customers signed up, so it should be fine. Plus, I always go a few minutes early to have a hot chocolate with a homemade marshmallow at Bittersweet. Yum!!!

HennaTribe Board Meeting

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:22:06 GMT

My henna on Nick, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

So this weekend all the lovely HennaTribe board members came and we took care of some serious business, and of course henna'd each other. This is henna I did on Nick, and you can see the other pictures here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hennalounge/sets/72157604081743707/

I'm pretty exhausted though, so no major stories from me. Maybe later...

xoxo

umm

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:12:45 GMT

Today I had my Spanish tutor class. It was good except I didn't do my homework. Normally, being the procrastinator that I am, I write my paper right before class. This is actually good, because it gets me in the Spanish mood, so the words are flowing, and there is some topic already at hand... But today, I didn't do that for some reason. Oops. Anyway, it was still a good class. Claudia is the best and I would recommend her to anyone. She is even better than the teachers I had in Mexico.

Aside from that, I did some more of my mad organizing. This time I focused on my office. Anand got me a new iMac (what a good husband!) after the PC of sh*t died, and things are SOOO much cleaner in there now. The screen is HUGE and there is no massive box under my desk, so there is actually room for my feet! I actually WANT to hang out in my office now. So I did some cleaning and organizing, and it's coming together. Also, since this weekend some HT folks will be in town, a couple people are staying in there, so I had to clean it anyway. I just feel better in a clean environment, knowing I could get up in the middle of the night and not stub my toes or trip on anything. I've also networked my laptop, the iMac and the external harddrive so now I can work from either location. Things are good.

Yesterday I made Sopa Azteca and I was so proud of myself, it tastes like Mexico, yay! Sopa Azteca is a tomato based broth (garlic, onions, chilies too) and then you add stale tortillas, cheese, crema, lime, and avocado. It's sooo delicious, and is one soup that is really satisfying on its own, at least for me... Anand likes "solid food". But it was yummy and I froze 5 extra portions so on a night when we aren't cooking, we can just thaw and eat.

Hmmm, what else, my salsa is coming along. It's great exercise, and I love the music. The people are really nice and everyone is curious about my "finger painting" (that's what one guy called it!!). There is a really nice girl in the class named Dakota, and she wants me to henna her. She is super exotic looking, so I'm going to ask her if I can take some pictures and just call it a trade. Anyway, I decided to invest in a pair of dancing shoes, although I normally wear sneakers in class, I have a pair of dance shoes for going out. They look like normal cute shoes, but they are suede inside, so my feet don't slip around inside the shoes when I get sweaty (which happened to me last week and was a disaster - wardrobe malfunction!) and also a suede sole which allows for slick turns. Only problem is that they are indoor only shoes, so I'll have to wear something else to walk to Roccapulco, but that's not that big of a deal. I practiced wearing the shoes around the house (it does take some getting used to the slippery soles) so I think I'm ready to test them on the dance floor tomorrow night. Lynn and I are becoming regulars at that place, haha. I'm still trying to convince Anand to come... I guess he likes his tennis, well, whatever, we are both just trying to keep ourselves happy.

okay, folks, that's all for tonight!

Caliente!

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 08:11:35 GMT

Tonight Lynn and Susan came up and we made another Roccapulco attempt. The first time Lynn and I went to Roccapulco it rocked! But then we tried a second time and missed the lesson and it was a bust. Then last week we tried to take Susan, but missed the lesson again and so no one was asking us to dance. It really helps to become familiar with the faces in the room in the beginning.

Anyway, tonight we though we'd make one more attempt and it was sooo worth it. We took the lesson, and although I'm taking classes with Ramon, it really helps to have someone explain why things are the way they are. The style at the club is more "club" style, so it's a little different than the Cuban style, but close enough.

So, tonight I did Lynn and Susan's makeup, and so we pranced ourselves in there and the staff was all over us, got us an awesome "VIP" booth instead of us seating ourselves in the usual tables and chairs. From now on, I am going to tart up those girls before we go anywhere!

The lesson was useful, as I mentioned, and we really did have the best seats in the house, and we danced our little bottoms off. I'm slowly but surely starting to get it, and there are some great dancers there, so it really helps me a lot to dance with them because in Ramon's class, they're all beginners, so I don't learn through "osmosis". A lot of girls would be grossed out when little old men come ask them to dance, but it's perfect for me, since I'm married, I'm not looking for hot young boys, and the old men know how to dance better than anyone!

By 11pm, Susan was feeling "nauseous". She's having a hard time allowing herself to enjoy herself. I think she might have had a teeny bit of fun. Maybe we need to work her into it slowly, or maybe Redwood City has gotten the best of her? For me, I work so I can afford do these things (not that it's expensive). I could stay out til 4am! It is about *living*! I would never let my tiredness from work prevent me from having FUN. Especially now.... I've spent sooooo much of my life being afraid to dance, and I still struggle with it, but these classes help sooo much. It's like any art or music. You CAN teach yourself some things, but when you have the right "tools" the quality improves, and it's so much easier and less frustrating. Of course you still have to practice... Gosh I wish Anand would come to these classes with me so we could enjoy this together, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen...

well that's it for now!

buenas noches!

Leaping Feet

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:09:13 GMT

sara's feet, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

Well, it's February 29th, Leap Year! Thrilling isn't it? My day was productive. Did some work, sending invoices and whatnot, packed and shipped all my orders, so no stress this weekend! Then I continued my cleaning spree. Don't think this is obsessive or anything, but I scrubbed the walls! There were just too many skid marks from furniture movings, and grubby paw prints from who knows what. Anyway, just a little soap, water, and elbow grease improved things a lot. It was a good workout, I had to stop once my arms got tired, so there are still some areas left, but it made a huge difference. Now it's time to go clean the fish tank! Ugh. I've been putting it off for a long time, but it needs to be done. Should only take a few minutes really...

Oh, and here are Sara's feet from yesterday. She was awesome and let me do whatever I wanted. This was inspired by a Rohini Ruparel design....

Happy LeapYear and Merry Christmas (if you are in my family, you know Christmas is tomorrow this year). I even "decorated" my dracaena marginata with all 4 of my ornaments and put presents underneath!

hola!

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:50:14 GMT

hey hey, not much going on. today i went to kabuki spa with molly. it's a japanese bath place and was sooo relaxing. there is a hot pool, steam room, and sauna (there is also a cold plunge pool but i stay away from that), and the facilities are all zenned out with stone fountains, teak furniture, lanterns, and orchids. so first you have to bathe before the baths, haha. there are the traditional low stools to sit on while you shower. next i like the hot pool. there are also icy towels, cucumber slices, and water with lemon floating in it to keep you cool. then i go to the steam room, and do a salt scrub; it's soooo invigorating! then sit out for a while and cool off before the dry cedar sauna. after the sauna, there is yet another shower and the rosemary shampoo smells amazing. there is a code of silence in the spa, but if people get loud you can ring a gong to get them to be quiet again. but today was very peaceful. after the spa, is the prize, and that is udon and tempura in japantown. YUM. everything is perfect, the broth is savory but not salty, the udon is tender, and the tempura is perfectly crisped. mmmm. and just when you think things can't be any better, we topped it off with some gelato! mmmhmmm.

then i can home and took a nice walk in bernal hill, and then had my salsa class tonight. it was sooo hard tonight that i started to panic and asked if i was in the right class. luckily i was, and just knowing that made me feel better. we learned some super funky moves (funky in a good way) and although i'm still one of the worst dancers on the planet, at least i'm having fun and it's good exercise too.

well, that's all for now. mom, hope you're feeling better in time for "christmas"!

hola

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 05:01:15 GMT

Finally finished my henna marathon. Sunday Jules was still visiting and we did *nothing* all day, which is exactly what I needed. Today I spent several hours hennaing and then indigoing my hair. It's super dark! Originally, I was just going to henna it, but I left the henna on for 2 hours and when I rinsed it out it was super coppery, and I feel like the reddish tones aren't the best compliment to my skin tone. So I followed with indigo and now it's sooo dark. I missed a few spots where you can still see some red, but overall it's fine.

Anyway, other than that, Anand headed to Japan for the week, so I'm mostly going to be chilling out and eating Mexican food all week. :)

Tonight I went to my salsa dance class. It's a lot of fun, but I wish the guys were in better shape so they wouldn't sweat so much. Gross. But it's still a super fun class, and the teacher is awesome. I think I'm going to try doing the Saturday workshops also.

Hm, other than that, nothing much to report. I think I'll go make a big pot of hot chocolate now, since I had salad for dinner....

The feet

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:05:16 GMT

cindee's bridal henna feet, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

And here are Cindee's feet. I really liked how they turned out.

Super Busy Week

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:04:06 GMT

cindee's bridal mehndi, originally uploaded by darcitananda.

Sorry I'm not posting much this week. Things are crazy, but I only have 2 gigs left this weekend. In the meantime here is the henna I did for the super sweet and totally un-bridezilla Cindee. :)

Salsa Rueda

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:46:27 GMT

Tonight I had my salsa class. It is awesome. And I am not. But that's okay. The style we were working on tonight is called Salsa Rueda, and this involves dancing in a circle and there are many partner changes that are choreographed into it. A bit confusing, but most of the work is done by the men, so it's their fault if it's messed up (isn't this always the truth!). Anyway, this is a traditional Cuban style salsa, and it's a lot of fun. The teacher is an amazing dancer, but a little impatient with us. I can understand his frustration for sure, and I think he comes from a rather strict background, since he got his Masters in dance/movement or some such in Havana, Cuba (and he's a native Cubano). Anyway, disapproving glances not withstanding, I enjoy the class immensely, and am going to continue to attend. It's worth it for the great music alone, and it's good exercise in a fun environment. Although I think I'm overdue for a trip to Roccapulco again soon, for some good club-style salsa.

Aside from my body mobility endeavors, today I had a customer, a really nice girl named Tanveer who is learning mehndi from me. She's really motivated and learns really fast, and she is super fun to talk to, plus she brought me chocolate, which we all know is essential to life. Worked on the fish tank a bit, had to take apart the sump pump, which had stalled out during the last power outage, for some reason it doesn't want to come back on unless I take it apart and put it back together. Makes no sense whatsoever, but maybe it has to do with some circuit getting messed up by the magnetic impeller. I have no idea. But it's a PITA to take apart.

Well, other than that, my crazy week starts tomorrow. I have a customer in the afternoon, and then Anand is taking me to Quince for a belated Valentine's dinner. Hopefully it's yummy!

The Band's Visit

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:50:42 GMT

Today Anand and I watched the movie The Band's Visit. It was touching and funny story of a Police band from Egypt that gets lost in a funky, sleepy town in Israel. If you get the chance, it is worth watching. http://www.thebandsvisit.com/

Testimonials

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 05:36:20 GMT

Today I did my monthly gig at the yoga studio. I started the morning at Bittersweet Cafe with a hot chocolate complete with homemade marshmallow. Soooo decadent. Yes, perhaps I should have taken the early morning yoga class instead...

Anyway, the weather was nice, had a full roster of my favorite customers and we had the window open which is always entertaining for the snippets of conversation we overhear. Today, one of those comments was about my henna art and we were cracking up: "That's some f*cking amazing sh*t". Too bad I can't put that "testimonial" on my website! Ha ha.

I guess that's about it for now. Anand has been feeling a bit under the weather, so we haven't been doing much going out... but come Monday, Lynn and I are back to our salsa classes, which I am very excited about as you all know... we have been (unsuccessfully) trying to get Anand to come with us to pick up a few Rico Suave moves.

Okay, buenas noches amigos, enmigos, y familia!