Amayzines launch lunch
“May, I'm fifteen minutes late, sorry!!” Rachel, my hair-hope in anxious days, calls me while I'm on my way to her salon (The Building Green Dutch) on Haarlemmerdijk. I'm late too. As is customary on days like these. First, I have to write a personal thank-you card for all the guests at home (I started this once and now I'm stuck with it), think about what I want to say, turn back and forth in front of the mirror and suddenly find that the dress I bought especially for this is too formal and then realize that I sent one of my daughters to school without a snack. I sprint to the square, bring that banana and talk to the teacher who is surprised by my casual outfit and flat shoes. In an hour, I assure her, I will be in the scaffolding, and I sprint towards the car.
Unfortunately, not all of us are equipped with Kate Middleton's hairdresser who comes to blow-dry her hair for a measly 300 pounds a few mornings a week…
Daniëlle, my right hand and co-chair of the club we-do-everything-at-the-last-minute, comes to the hair salon to discuss everything one last time. While Rachel is styling my hair towards Caroline de Maigret , Daan makes a few phone calls. “I’m sending an Uber NOW to pick up those DVDs. Then I can just slip them into the goodie bag before the guests arrive.” The goodie bag was already overflowing with Bloom from Gucci, a sweater from Denham, nail polish from OPI, Diptyque body lotion via Skins Cosmetics, a gift from Babassu, and a miracle product from SOAP (my friend Anouk Smulders just called asking where she could order a pallet of this product), but Daan wanted more. So another DVD of Nocturnal Animals by Tom Ford was added. And that’s why I love this woman so much.
“It’s really two minutes to twelve now, May.” Daan doesn’t mean it symbolically. We expect our guests at half past twelve. Alright. We leave the car and jump in a taxi to &Samhoud Places, the two-star restaurant where we are holding our launch lunch. When the taxi stops, we indeed see the first guest coming in and then I really start to feel a bit of stress. Those cards still need to be placed in the right spot and what was I going to say again.
But then, it’s just cozy. Harriet Calo, my magazine mother strokes my arm, Lucy Woesthoff shows her tattoo to Simone (who immediately wants the number of the tattoo artist) and Daphne Deckers naturally wants to take a photo with our magazine and the series with her daughter Emma. Micha from Micha Models has a bouquet so large you could camp in it (while I owe her so much, because the production with her five top models and their mothers was an organizational master plan), our Carolien walks in with a like-nothing-happened belly, Jetteke van Lexmond is here… Unfortunately without Lieke, because she texted me that morning that she was sick. And bummed.
After the non-alcoholic cocktail (yes, we can do it) we sit down at the table. Chef Moshik talks about his philosophy around cooking and eating and we start with his perfect egg. I look at the company. Freek Koster from Touché Models, Steven Dahlberg (our best-dressed man of the year), Bert Visser (also knighted by us as hairstylist of the year), Merel Westrik and her agent Kristien van Dillen, Sander Emmering, CEO of Warners TV, Marc Verschoor, CEO of ZenithOptimedia, my dear friends Daphne and Jenny from Coty, Rosanne from OU. Boutique, Lilian from UPR. All editors, my beloved, our super-Annick and super-interns. There is laughter, toasting, and drinking and it’s already way too early to be late. But now I don’t have to go anywhere anymore. I’ll stay a little longer. Until I get swept out of the tent.
Are you also curious about our magazine? You can now buy it at AKO, Bruna, and the larger Albert Heijn. If you want to be sure, you can order it from us via info@amayzine.com. Heating on, blanket on, and never go outside again. At least not until Monday morning.
