A Treasure in Trouble

Until yesterday, I never really thought about the current bad economy. Other than tuition going up %5 I was not effected by it really. I heard about jobs being lost at the local factory and price cuts but it was never personal…like I said, until yesterday.
Happy Belated St. Paddys
It is also my boyo DC’s birthday (such a Irish baby).
I took him out for food at the local German restaurant (there aren’t any Irish pubs here sadly) and we stopped in on our friends Brandy and June at Unique Treasures which is just down the street form the restaurant.
We found June and her daughter and sat down to talk.
The place is in trouble. With the bad economy, Brandy has pulled out and she wants to close.
I didn’t understand. I thought June meant close that day. She meant permanently.
Unique Treasures is a treasure in itself. The place is beautiful; an old jewelry store that has turned café/boutique. Great coffee, lovely tea, beautiful antiques and charms and trinkets. Everything is for sale, including the seat you’re sitting on.
June reads tarot cards in the front room that looks like it came out of a beautiful gypsy caravan with tapestries and comfortable chairs and dim lighting. (So far I’ve found her readings to be correct)
Brandy wanted June to pull out as well but Unique Treausrures is not just June’s place of business but her home and her daughter’s home.
Determined not to loose this treasure in downtown Johnson City, I’m doing what I can to stir them up some business (getting an ad in the school paper where I work, having my Jane Austen class an hour earlier there, and encouraging others to do the same).
DC and I will be helping June out this Sunday, doing some heavy lifting.

If any of the readers here are local to the Tri-cities area I would love to encourage you to visit Unique Treasures. It really is a beautiful place.

Henna Job!

Had my first job at Unique Treasures Saturday. Did henna on a teenage girl, and sadly it was not my best. She kind of surprised me with a custom piece (a claddagh with a clover instead of a heart, which sort of defeats the point of the symbol in my opinion). I did the piece as a bracelet, explaining the symbol to the girl and giving advice on how to take care of her tattoo. I asked that she not move her wrist around much until it dries and let her be. She ruined it within minutes and asked me to fix it. I said I would if she let me take a picture of the piece. She did but I don’t think I’ll be using the picture due to the piece’s ruin…the clover looked more and more like a glob no matter how I messed with it.
I did three free pieces for the owners of Unique Treasures and will put up the pictures in a new photobucket account when I can.
My jac bottle clogged up and I had no mylar cones with me, a mistake I will not repeat that is for sure.
For my first time doing henna there I think it went rather well. In all I made 8 dollars and some change (the girl’s mother had to pay with debit card which has a fee at the shop).
If you’re ever in Johnson City, TN on a Saturday stop by downtown at Unique Treasures for some excellent coffee and a henna tat.