We are so proud to announce that New Leaf won TWO awards at the Rhode Island Monthly's Best of RI party Wednesday night....

-Readers' Poll Best Salon East Bay (THREE years and counting...Thank you faithful New-Leafers...You rock!)

AND

-Best Salon for Brides

We were all so excited to attend the party. Here's how it went down... Amy received a letter saying that New Leaf has won something. RI Monthly keeps everything else a big secret. Working in a salon, we are very good secret keepers. We hold the key to lots of 'stuff', if you know what I mean. But we still hate secrets, especially when we are on the other end of things. So we closed the salon early, dressed to impress,  and all headed in to the Providence Performing Arts Center (Rhode Islanders...PPAC:)

After some cocktails and apps, we headed in for the presentation of the magazine and for some special awards...

Stacy & Ashley...

Pam & Danielle

Allie, Michelle, Nicole & Amy G

The unveiling of the 2010 cover...

They announce a few featured winners like Frank Coletta (Best TV News Anchor), Siena (Best Restaurant and Best Italian Restaurant) and good ol' Buddy Cianci (toupee-less & winner of Best Radio Personality, emphasis on personality).

Then they send everyone off  for some dancing, drinking and eating and hand out the magazines as we leave the theater.

Here are the girls rifling through the magazine to see what we've won...

Imagine Amy's delight to see the photo and the Bridal Lounge feature on the Best Salon for Brides category. Woo Hoo!

A sneak peek until the magazine hits the shelves...

Readers' Poll....

New Leaf's Bridal Lounge feature...

The stage was packed...the complimentary martinis were luring everyone up on stage. The Love Machine was a New Leaf fav!

The girls...

Courtney & Nicole

Danielle & Allie

Pam and Courtney Anderson, from RI Monthly Magazine who helped with the photo shoot in the issue...

Filming for the Fox's The Rhode Show...to see the full video of the night, click HERE

Pretty neat view from the stage...can you imagine performing in front of all these seats?!? Nerve wraking stuff!

Courtney, New Leaf's Bridal Coordinator & Amy, the proud owner and the brain behind the business;-)

The girls...from left: Michelle, Jennifer, Stacy, Courtney, Amy Silva, Nicole, Amy Gonyea, Ashley, Nikki, Jamie, Jenn, Allie

A few were missing (tear drop sound effect)...Melanie, Stephanie, Mary, Yadira and Cynthia were at the party in spirit. Danielle and Pam were present, but we think were hiding in the martini line;)

A BIG HUGE THANKS to our amazing clients for their loyalty, their support and  for just being the best clientele a salon could ask for. We always say it so special to win the Readers' Poll category (it's the 4th year:) because it means the 'people have spoken' and we love that. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We literally could not do it without you.

Now for the sappy part ...A big thanks to Amy Silva, our fabulous owner and truly, the brains behind the business. We love working for you, you provide us with a fantastic clientele, a great space, a fun environment, and you are always keeping things fresh. It's a great thing to walk into work feeling so proud. We know it's not easy but you take it all in stride and we thank you because you can't ever hear that you are appreciated enough. If she were blogging right now, she'd  be thanking us but we have the keyboard now:o)

If you've been to New Leaf recently, you know of all the exciting visual changes/renovations that are taking place...New Leaf is turning over a New Leaf so stop in anytime to say hello!

Rhode Island Monthly Magazine's 2010 "Best of RI'" coming to newstands soon...Check it out to see even more East Bay favorite spots!

It's that time of year for our annual LOCKS OF LOVE DAY at New Leaf!  Kelley Richardson, a faithful New Leaf-er and Martin MIddle School teacher in East Providence, helped to round up 10, yes 10, brave ladies to donate their long locks for  wigs for kids and women battling cancer.  

 Here are the 10 brave souls who went for the 'cut'...even Kelley and her daughter Maeve went for it (far right).

 The before...whoa! Some of these girls had some H-A-I-R...It takes an average of 6 donated ponytails to make just 1 wig. These 10 ladies probably made at least 2:o)

Another great reason for this particular group of ladies to donate their ponytails? Most of the girls have been 'untouched' by haircolor. Both organizations will accept hair that has been colored, but not bleached. These days, it's very hard to find women who DON'T color their hair!

The reason? The donated hair has to go through so much processing to make each wig, so bleached hair sometimes disintegrates. Don't fret, you can still donate the hair!  Locks of Love can still sell the 'unusable' hair to help offset the nonprofit organizations overhead costs.

A few of the makeovers from the day...

Before:

After:

Before:

After...Look how LONG it still is!

This was an amazing transformation...Cheryl, a math teacher at Martin Middle School for 25 years, was not planning on joining the girls for Locks of Love Day. Then, a few teachers were going through old yearbooks and she quietly noticed that SHE was the only person whose look had not changed one bit. It was time for a change.

Before:

After:

We wish we could have seen the kids' reactions the next day at school!!

This is little Miss Maeve, Kelley's 3 year old daughter. She wanted in on the fun too.

The before:

After:

Nothing says 'summer' than a beautiful little girl with an adorable bob.

Maeve's practicing her modeling moves...Don't we all love to swing our hair after a great cut?

Before:

After:

Three ponytails were donated from this cut! What a change...we couldn't bump Kelley out of the way to get our paparazzi shot:-)

To recap, the group before...

And AFTER!!!!!!

Kelley says the girls were feeling pretty fine walking into school the next day. We are proud to say, there were some very nervous girls but absolutely NO tears after cutting!

Thanks Kelley for rounding up the ladies to donate their locks. The girls didn't need too much coaxing...once they heard their Martin Middle School classmate was diagnosed with cancer, donating their long hair was the best way to show their support.

To find out how YOU can donate (it's time for your summer cut, right?), click on Locks of Love and Beautiful Lengths. See you soon!

We are still in the spirit of Valentine's Day at New Leaf. Maybe that's because during the month of February a portion of every Chocolate Sensation Pedicure (HUGE hit, by the way) and lipstick purchased will be donated to the American Heart Association. OF COURSE we still feel the love!

Maybe you have walked by the salon lately and noticed our February window display promoting our 'Love Cures' campaign. Those fabulous images were taken by our friends at Snap! Photography. Pam envisioned the Mad Men inspired look for the shoot and made the hair HAPPEN! The flawless make up you see was done by none other than our very own make up wizard, Amy G.

Here's a peek at the 'process' of getting a model camera ready...

Amy G scoping out her canvas...

And action...

Our model, Courtney, PRE-sexy red lips...

Okay, so check out those waves...

Back in the day, women would wash their hair, find the hardest holding gel, and set their hair in finger waves. It's a tedious process, one every hairstylist had to master in hairdressing school before getting his or her cosmetology license. When we would complain, they promised us the finger wave would come back, as most trends do. Boy, were they right, we see the waveson almost every celebrity.

Dilemma. Back in the 1920's, blow dryers and curling irons were being tinkered on in some inventor's old garage. The handheld hair dryer was not seen in a woman's bathroom for decades. Women sat for HOURS while their hair dried into the wave set. Fast forward to 2010 and there is now such a thing as a TRIPLE-BARREL curling iron to create the look in minutes...

Pam pins the "roll"...

Susan from Linden Place in Bristol was nice enough to let us take over the house. Trish and Mariah from Snap! said there was an amazing vintage bathroom upstairs. Boy, were they right!

Here is our view point of Mariah in action...

And Snap!'s...

Isn't the antique finish amazing?!?

Courtney (Pam's model) really knew how to work it. She should, she happens to be the fashion editor at RI Monthly!

Her make up is just flawless...who doesn't want to feel like this in February?

Love everything about this photo--the hair 'roll', the lipstick, the pearls...The SNap!pers did it again!

What!?! A hat too?I love her expression here, like she is thinking about a secret she is keeping...

Our thanks to Snap! and kudos to Amy G and Pam for making the photo shoot a smashing success!

There is still time for YOU to indulge in our Chocolate Sensation Pedicure...call 401.254.9333 or book 'HEART' online! You have until Saturday, February 27th...