Celebrating a DECADE of New Leaf!
July 5th, 2011
Last week, New Leaf Hair Studio celebrated it’s tenth, yes, TENTH anniversary! In June 2001, New Leaf opened it’s doors on Willett Avenue in Riverside, Rhode Island and we are all lucky enough now to work in such a fantastic, beautiful space here on the waterfront in Bristol. A big congratulations goes out to Amy… (since she’s not controlling the keyboard right now, we can sing her praises:)! A wild ride it’s been, one that would not have been possible without fearless leadership of a savvy business woman, the help of her amazing family (happy 10th anniversary shout out to her mom, Jennifer, too!), the most loyal clients, a.k.a New Leaf-ers, and her hardworking and supportive staff.
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Amy decided to celebrate with the New Leaf family… The day started off gray and rainy and because the sun always shines here in Bristol, the clouds cleared and we welcomed the sunshine at Agave Restaurant. We felt like we were hanging out at a waterside cafe in Cannes the afternoon was so stellar…perfection!
Here is the woman of honor, Amy Silva, looking so happy and simply stunning;-)
Pam, Danielle Robin, Courtney, Amanda, Jamie, Julie, Danielle Crugnale and Nicole Crugnale
(you aren’t seeing double, Danielle and Nicole are identical twins:)
Courtney and Amy
Stacy sipping her martini after she exited her yacht…kidding, but see what we mean about feeling quite glam at our locale?!
Michelle and her hubby Shaun…and a tasty margarita!
Danielle Crugnale and Yadira of Skincare by Yadira
Our silly Stephanie…trying to get a serious picture of her is rough but always hysterical when looking through the camera later…
Nicole Valenzuela and her adorable bf
Michelle and Danielle Crugnale
See what we mean about Steph’s expressions? Always one in every crowd;-)
Jamie and Julie
Stacy and Nicole Cabral
Amanda, Jamie, Nicole Crugnale and Julie
Danielle and Courtney
Amy’s adorable boys, Kaden and Max, came out to celebrate too…really, how cute??
This is what they REALLY came for…CAKE! Courtesy of Vienna Bakery
This is our favorite photo….Max eyeing the cake while a gleaming knife tempts his sugary senses (the knife was plastic, FYI). An emotion caught perfectly, we’d say.
Disclaimer: No children were injured in the cutting of this cake:)
Okay, so if you know Amy, you know she H-A-T-E-S being the center of attention and has been known to shed a tear or two when things get sentimental. That being said, we put together a little, okay, long poem called “Ode to New Leaf” that we thought was funny.
We got through the reading of it with a few tissues and scolding from Amy for making her cry…sorry about that;-)
For those who couldn’t make it….
Ode to New Leaf
There once was a little girl who loved to play ‘store’,
she stocked her room full of retail, receipts and much more.
Her mom wondered how this game could be played for such long hours,
but her daughter didn’t dream of living in a castle with a prince but inside of Trump Towers.
This little girl would line the shelves with inventory just right,
trying to sell off her headless barbies to her big sister Kim with all of her might.
Little did her mom know that she had an entrepreneur in the making,
and her shy, sweet Amy would one day have East Bay’s beauty business for the taking!
Fast forward 20 years to when Amy met Liz,
a friendship bloomed and decided it was time to open their ‘biz.
Ten years ago, as they turned a new leaf,
completely unaware a tiny salon was about to cause such grief!
Riverside was the first salon or the ‘original’ place,
where robberies, short-lived employees, and wardrobe wars threatened to take over the space.
Then came the kids, oh such a joy
life became much more interesting with a bouncing baby boy.
To shorten the drive, New Leaf Bristol was born,
Riverside became Barrington so clients never felt torn.
The Hide-a-way was quite hidden and little Thames street liked to flood,
even with a freezing cold water ‘heater’ New Leaf continued to bud.
With a single phone call, opportunity came a-knocking,
a space on State Street was available, boy that was shocking!
Amy jumped on the chance, as she always does,
because she never wants to regret or think back on what was.
Mario went to work, Amy picked up her paint brush,
New Leaf doubled in size and trust us, in quite a rush!
So exciting it was, the salon all fresh and new,
new staff was hired… some quickly walked on through!
Because one thing about Amy is that she is ever forgiving,
people left and came back to her famous laugh and some teasing.
The salon is always changing, the pace can be fast,
sometimes we leave for the weekend and come back aghast.
The beauty bar, the bridal lounge, and therapy boutique,
all Amy’s brainchild, all very cool and unique.
Clients always say, “my gosh, it’s always different in here…”
we laugh and smile as mario hangs his head and sheds another tear.
Some wonder how Amy does it, and we aren’t exactly sure,
but she never settles for average and always strives for much more.
She might be last minute, and may plan big events in a rush,
but walk in with snow cones and a popcorn machine and all the clients gush.
Bigger is always better, less is never more,
because NOT being seen in gold lame costumes for a spelling bee would be such a bore!
That’s what makes New Leaf special, really it is true,
Amy’s love of her team and need for everything to be new.
Our staff is like family, sometimes we smile and then pout,
but at the end of the day there isn’t a doubt.
We all love what we do, we love to create,
as long as we’re not hungry, hungover, or running a bit late.
So thank you Amy for being everything you are,
the boss, the mom, and the business extraordinaire.
No matter where or when people might roam,
we are all so proud to call New Leaf OUR HOME.
Amy opening her card (which she chose to read at home since we had just about all the emotion we could handle for one day)!
“Celebrating a decade of New Leaf 2001-2011″
Amy and her husband (and our favorite Mr. Fix-It) Mario. Do you recognize him? You probably have seen him at the salon…hammering something, painting a wall, replacing a bulb, etc., etc. He’s part of the New Leaf staff, or at least we’d like to think so:)
The group shot…apparently, taking a photo where everyone is looking at ONE, specifically OUR camera proved to be tougher than taking a family Christmas card photo for a family of five. Seriously.
Take 1: two people are hiding…
Take 2: Mary escaped…
And Take 3: Aaaaaaand…..no one is looking at the camera and Jamie is hiding again, but you get the idea….
Thanks again to Nicole Crugnale for snapping all the pictures…without her, we’d have 2 pictures, one of which would most likely be of our feet. Ha!
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Also, a big, huge, GINORMOUS thank you to our faithful New Leaf-ers….our clients.
Cliche? Maybe, but without you, this salon would not be what it is today. Some of you have been with Amy and the salon for all ten years so happy anniversary to you as well! We always say we have the best clientele…Your loyalty, your happiness, your need to look and feel great make driving into work each day a joy. Oh, and you keep us all employed, which a nice, added bonus;-) Few people can say they love their jobs and ask any one of us, and the answer is the same…yes, we DO!
We’ve said it before but it deserves to be said again, a HUGE thanks to Amy for creating the New Leaf ‘family’…we love you xo
