I had a wonderful time at the International Salon & Spa Expo (ISSE) this weekend in Long Beach. It served as a mini-family reunion for us at the salon; Nadine (salon M.O.M.) and I were reunited with Rob|b co-owner Dan Schilleci, my business partner and fraternity brother from college. Dan has been in Iraq for the past seven months. He was on his two weeks of “R & R” from his military deployment. In addition to a few days in England and being in the States in time for the Superbowl, he attended ISSE with us. Even a tradeshow, Dan said, was a welcome change of pace from Iraq. He should be back here permanently this summer.

Together, Dan and I had several meetings on Saturday at the show. We met with manufacturers about salon furniture, computer software (for managing appointments), and potential product lines we might want to use in the salon. I don’t want to jump the gun by naming names, but as soon as we confirm that what we’re definitely using, I’ll let you know the names of more of our vendors.

It’s also great that Dan is here because he’ll get to go to the design meeting we’re having this week — so, he’ll be able to give his input on colors, motifs, etc., in person. As wonderful as e-mail and phone access is, it really isn’t the same thing as getting his input face-to-face. Oh yeah, and hopefully he’ll get to check out the salon site this week. He hasn’t seen it yet.

Dan commented it’s so great to see “the dream is still alive” here with the salon. And, who knows, maybe we’ll even have business cards soon. I know business cards sound so petty, but, as Nadine said, you never realize until you try to design them that you need so much information — the salon address, phone number, website, and general color scheme. We’re still missing pieces of information, but we think we’ll have it finalized shortly.