A Great Event and a Sigh

Last night, I painted at a holiday party for The Valerie Fund, in Livingston, NJ.

It was a terrific event. There was another face painter there as well, Hug-a-Me the Clown, and it was so much fun to work with her! There were four more clowns doing balloons and playing with the kids and their parents, a DJ, and some games for the kids.

They had a small but tasty buffet, and I think I drank three bottles of apple juice - I had no idea I was so in need of hydration!

Everyone was wonderful, the volunteers, the kids, the parents, everyone. We did a ton of face painting, and I was having a great painting night - very on the mark, great designs, and everything came out exactly like I wanted it to. We painted a large family of kids who were then going to take photos for their Christmas cards! I did one girl with a really pretty holly princess design, her little brother with an adorable snowman, and some others.

There was one absolutely adorable little boy who wanted to be a lion. Not a tiger, mind you, most definitively a lion. He was sure of it. Now... my lions... are varied. I've yet to pinpoint exactly the lion design I want and love, so every time I do them, they're a little different. This one was so cute that he was making people giggle, including me. He took some offense, telling me, "they're laughing at me!" I explained to him, "No, they're laughing because you're too cute! You know how sometimes you see a puppy that's so incredibly cute it makes you laugh, you can't help it?" He nodded yes. I said, "It's the same thing. You're so cute they can't help it!" He understood.

Why the sigh, then? I couldn't take photos because of HIPAA regulations. It makes complete sense, and I'm not railing against the regulations by any means, but it just figures that the best painting I've done in months is at the one event where I can't get a record of it. So... sigh. And a chuckle, too.