This Saturday, June 18, is my birthday, and I am using it as an excuse to sit down and write to you, our readers. I have been meaning to write this article for some time, and there always seems to be something standing in the way.

One of the things I love most about my career is that I get to be friends with so many amazing women, and I have learned so much from their stories. We often share our ups and downs, but most of the time, I do the listening. We talk about them, and we talk about the salon, and I love it! I wouldn't trade that for anything! But now, I want our clients - and our Stylebook readers - to know more about me away from the salon, about my family.

June always is a special month for me, especially this year. On June 15, I celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary! I am married to the most wonderful man, Tri Huynh. And while we have been married for 20 years, we have been together for 26. It was pure love from the start, young love grew into old love (those of you who have been married a long time know what I mean), and we continue to grow together. He supports me and is my biggest cheerleader and the most decent man I've ever known.

I first met him in 1995, when I joined the Church choir. I was born and raised Catholic - and yes, I do sing, or used to - now I only sing when I'm tipsy enough 😉! Our love was very simple; we came up with the dating term '3 Months.' Let's date for three months, and if one of us wants to end it, the other will respect the decision, no questions asked. Before we knew it, three months became six months became nine months… and then four years later, we were engaged! Two years later, we were married.

Twenty-six years later, I'm not saying that we are always happy, just most of the time, but we're grateful that we still have each other. We know there are still hurdles to jump, but now we jump together, hand in hand.

He is also the best dad. We have a daughter in college and a son who is officially a rising senior. So pretty soon, we will be empty nesters, except for our four dogs and one cat! Tri has rescued all of our animals, and you can imagine the chaos of two active teens and five animals, but I love everything about it.

That's my family. They are the most important to me. But something that I always hear in the salon is my clients want to get to know me better. So, here are a few fun facts about me. I wonder if any will surprise you?

• I am not as organized at home as I am at the salon. When I get home, I don't cook. I don't clean. I relax. But my amazing family takes care of me. Because of them, I can grow Salon Meraki, and I am grateful.

• I discovered that I had a green thumb during the pandemic, so I started to plant, and now I have a beautiful backyard garden, again, thanks to my lovely husband. He built me a deck and a gazebo so I can do my gardening from there. What I mean by that is: I do the talking, and he does whatever I ask. As I said, true love.

• I used to think that I was a dog lover and not a fan of cats, but oh boy, I was so wrong! I love our cat, Chomp. I even share my bed with her.

• I love to ski in the winter. My family goes as many times as we can all winter long. And it's not just the four of us. We always go with a big group of extended family and friends - the more, the merrier! We stay for two days, ski, laugh, and laugh while skiing! Ask me about 'ski flying' the next time I see you!

The next time you are at Salon Meraki, tell me more about you!