Is that a peacock on your hand or are you happy to see me?

Dique's sister, my fabulous sister-in-law KEH, hosted an amazing gathering yesterday. KEH is engaged and in order for all of us bridal party people to meet and greet each other, she organized a fun afternoon filled with Mediterranean eats, wedding talk and henna. The shindig was at Dique's parents' home and MamaB whipped up a delicious spread of Eggplant Mélange, homemade hummus, lemony shrimp, nann, tahini and other treats. I made sure to get the recipe for the eggplant dish because it was incredible, and I definitely want to make that sometime.

I have only gotten "henna’d" one other time, and it was during college days at Cal Berkeley. There are many henna artists always scattered along Telegraph Avenue and I randomly got some done during a street festival. It didn’t last very long, and I barely remember it happening, so suffice to say I was excited to get properly henna’d this time around.

KEH hired a wonderfully sweet and talented artist – the hardest part was deciding what to have done! After lots of contemplating and looking at the portfolio, I decided to get a peacock design on the inside of my left hand, and a bracelet design around my right wrist. The peacock symbolizes fertility, so I asked her to put a time-delay blessing on it, too. Hah.

She did each design in under ten minutes, which I thought was incredibly fast. I don’t have a particularly still hand, so I’m always amazed by people who can paint nails efficiently, color within the lines, etc. We had to let the henna dry and absorb into the skin for at least an hour, at which point the dried henna will fleck (or be picked) off. It’s advised not to get it wet for the first 4-6 hours, either. I followed the rules to a T and mine looks great today. The henna on my left hand (the bird) is more orange than that on my right wrist. I wonder if she changed her materials, or if the color change is due to different make-up of the body parts. Either way, I think it looks fantastic!

See for yourself…

Thanks to MamaB for the feast (and the recipe) and to KEH for having such a great party! It was really fun to meet and visit with her bridal party – she has great friends! I’m really honored to be part of the bridal posse and can’t wait for the next bridal party party.

Hooray for good friends, good food, good times, and hooray for henna!