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It didn't matter to the Budapest native that the boy's home was half-way around the world in New York City. With nothing but $50 and the clothes on her back, Sztupka left her family in Hungary and moved with a friend to Pittsburgh.

"On a map, what did I know? Pittsburgh and New York look so close," she laughed.

For the first four months, Sztupka didn't even speak English.

"I thought, 'I'm a tough cookie. I can learn this,'" she said, through English that's a bit broken but completely self-taught. "Now I know there's such a school you don't have to pay to learn it."

When her love affair failed, Sztupka didn't pack her bags. She decided to make a go at American life, which seems to have paid off. After managing a North Hills-based spa for seven years, Sztupka opened her own site, ESSpa Kozmetika, at the Fox Chapel Yacht Club.

The Lower Valley seems to be a perfect fit with Sztupka's modest aspirations.

"I just want a teeny, weeny cute shop. That's all," said the vibrant Sztupka, who is expecting her first child soon.

"I never would have been able to have my own shop in my country. The bank doesn't give loan to just anybody.

"There's not much private business, it's all large American corporations like the Gap and (TGI) Fridays, which by the way, they're fascinated by."

Now married, Sztupka has chosen to plant her own roots in Blawnox, just minutes from her spa that overlooks the Allegheny River. She finds the simple ways of the tiny town alluring.

It's the kind of place where she can sit on her deck amid the serenity of the river or stroll the sidewalks, peeking into the hub of antique shops.

"It's quiet and family-oriented," she said. "I like that, in Giant Eagle, they ask 'How are you?' That's good enough for me."

For Sztupka, who was raised under a communist regime, owning a business is the ultimate irony.

"I was used to people telling me what to do," she said. "In America, there's so much more opportunities. It was very hard to leave my family, but I could help them more here."

Sztupka's spot, nestled in the Fox Chapel Yacht Club, invites guests for an afternoon of tranquility. Trimmed with neutral hues and hand-painted beach murals, each room makes a cozy home for facials, massages or body wraps. Amid the sound of rolling waves, Sztupka slathers herbs on a client's face and places volcano rocks between their toes.

The European native still finds it surprising that clients find her services a luxury. Back home, a facial costs $5 and lasts twice as long. In her country, it is a matter of personal grooming.

"We were so poor in my country, but I always got a facial. I would go with my brother every week," she said. "I cannot believe women here spend incredible money on purses, shoes and hair, but on their skin, they go twice a year."

Sztupka said that in her first year of business, she has come to realize the value of hard work.

As a child in Hungary, America seemed like a land of ease and excess.

Now, with 11 employees under her wing, Sztupka takes her hat off to fellow entrepreneurs.

"I had no idea how hard it is," she said. "Anyone who can make it last more than a year is talented."

After forging life in a new world nine years ago, Sztupka finds herself becoming ever more "Americanized." She misses her family and the romantic architecture of her city, but has come to find "a magical quality" about life in the Lower Valley.

Still, Sztupka can't shake her roots altogether. There still are subtle reminders of how different her life has become, things about life in this country that she finds amusingly convenient.

"You have drive-through pharmacies," she said, laughing. "You don't even have to get out of the car for medications."

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