I can’t believe I’m writing to you mid-June! Honestly, I know we all say that time flies, but it never ceases to amaze me how truly fast this wild life passes by. If I pause and really think about it, it scares me. It makes me nervous wondering if I have enough time to achieve everything I want to achieve, and of course do I have enough time to spend with those I love? Even writing those sentences, makes me so uncomfortable.
Anyway, I was just looking at my blog and realizing that in the blink of an eye it’s been 3+ months since I’ve written to you (besides my quick summer reads suggestions that I posted earlier this week). I think we can all agree that that’s unacceptable. So, hi, hello, thank you for welcoming me back into your inbox. We have a lot of new things to chat about. (I’m actually bursting at the seams wanting to share some things with you, that will have to wait for now).
So what has been happening? WOW – a lot. So much in fact, I think that’s the problem. It wasn’t a time issue (well maybe a little bit) it was mostly a feeling of so much is happening, and yet which part is really all that interesting to you?
Obviously, most of you come to my blog to have a few moments of reading something fun, whimsical, pleasurable, and perhaps to ignite the memories of when you fell in love. Some of you may pop in for beauty tips or see if there’s new house update that isn’t posted on Instagram. Trust me, house updates will be coming. We had to take a bit of a hiatus due to client demand (Guapo is in high demand and as an important rule of thumb, clients always come first) but slowly but surely, our renovation is still moving and I promise when something is worth showing you, I share it. I think today, we will have guys here pressure washing the house (goodbye old dingy, peeling off yellow stucco, get ready for your best beauty makeover yet). We will be re-stuccoing the house a clean, crisp white…ahhhh. This will definitely be picture worthy and you know I love a good Before and After, so stay tuned. 😊
Some other orders of business:
Yes, the love story, although not in written form, is flourishing and it’s going beautifully. Perhaps even better than I expected. I’m glad I didn’t overthink what it would be like to live with Guapo, because if I had I might have chickened out being that I’d lived alone for so many years. Thankfully, however, living together feels like a vacation. It’s so fun having a built-in best friend available at the drop of a hat. I am excited about this next chapter (pun intended) and I do plan to continue writing about our love story, but of course from the new perspective of finally being in the same location.
So the short answer to all of you who wrote me asking if we are still in love…YES! We are…very much in love, and living together, working together, and getting to spend most of our time together, has deepened not only our love for one another but also our friendship. And thank goodness, right? Because if we’re being brutally honest, you really don’t know someone until you live with someone. More to come on this.
Beauty Industry Update- so much going on here and a lot of fun updates to come. The juiciest updates will be coming early next year, so I ask you to hang on and get excited with me, but I’ll have to wait a bit before I can offer any big reveals (how’s that for a tease, lol) In the more immediate future, some summertime beauty tutorials will be coming down the pipeline. I love summer beauty – so light, so fresh, so clean. It really is a great time to focus on protecting and nourishing/hydrating your skin. Makeup seems easier to me in the summer, it’s light and fresh-faced. Simple makeup which highlights your natural skin is perfect makeup in my opinion.
So, what specifically has been occupying my time? SO MUCH. The irony of leaving an all-encompassing job is that I thought there was no way I would ever be as busy as I was while working all those crazy hours, but guess what, I’m busier now. The difference…it’s on my terms. I choose to be busy, and I choose where to put my energy and attention.
So where is all of that attention going? Well, several places, but a big chunk of it is going into my own business. A business that I opened and share with my older brother, Brian.
Brian, an attorney by trade and I…um, a jill of many trades, have known for years that we wanted to work with each other. In what capacity…we didn’t know. What we did know for sure is that we are and always have been polar opposites with a deep respect for the skillset the other possesses. Brian is very analytical, numbers and spreadsheet driven. I am more of a human connector and marketer. Brian may not say many words, but the ones he says are very important. I say a lot of words, maybe only a few are important - LOL Kidding, sort of.
Anyway, all I’m getting at is that we have a deep trust for one another and very differing skill sets, so we thought we would be a great team in business.
My natural path was to create something of my own in the beauty industry. This would make sense, right? 2.5 years on a dedicated beauty channel, my own beauty show on QVC, hours upon hours of beauty tutorials, a deep love for all things hair, skin, makeup, fragrance, etc. A strong awareness of the current products on the market and a deep understanding of the white space available for something new. This. Just. Makes. Sense.
So, one would assume that that would be my first venture. Well, to your surprise and mine, it’s not. It’s in the works and more will be announced next year. Why…because there’s no need to rush anything in beauty. The industry is growing, the advancements are ever-changing and to do something right in beauty it takes time, patience, and a differentiating factor. So that’s what I’m doing…I’m working on some cool things for you, behind the scenes and will launch when the time is right.
For those of you who follow my Instagram and Facebook page this won’t come as too much of a surprise to you as I do post about it occasionally but in what might seem completely random (although I assure you it is not) instead of starting my entrepreneurial debut in beauty, I instead started in PICKLEBALL. What?! Huh? Who? I know, I know. Crazy, right?
I feel like I can hear you as I type this…(what is she talking about?).
It’s true. Brian and I both started playing pickleball during the deep dark days of the pandemic. We found that we needed this outlet to in order to get active and stay socially distant while being social at the same time. We both noticed the positive effect it had on ourselves, our families and even more so on our communities. After a phone call one afternoon about how much fun we both had on the courts I went in search of the perfect pickleball paddle. To my surprise, the options were, um how do I say this gently…not to my aesthetic liking. I mentioned this to Brian, and he agreed with me that we might have just found our whitespace in the market. Could we match or even beat the technology that was out there for Pickleball Paddles and could we ‘reinvent court aesthetic?’ In true, Brian form, he created a ridiculously robust spreadsheet of every paddle on the market, their specs, tech features and price point and voila – we found a bright shiny white space just waiting for us. Thus, ROKNE Pickleball was born.
Let me tell you, this has been FUN! For starters we love working with each other. I think when you’re a brother/sister team a lot of times there are just unspoken knowns. We find that nine times out of ten when we finish a meeting, we both know our action items without even having to discuss them. I know my strengths; he knows his and we both have an insane work ethic, so it just seems to flow really nicely.
Along with this being a fun venture, it’s brought us many blessings, and for me personally, it’s brought me the blessing of being able to have an instant community in a new city. I had built-in friends from the minute I set foot in Florida because I showed up to our local courts ready to play. That’s one of the most unique qualities about pickleball (which happens to be the fastest growing sport in America, by the way), you can simply show up to your local court and 99% of the time people will welcome you by asking you if you’d like to rotate in. This is called round robin play and it’s a ton of fun because you get paired with anyone and everyone. This also gives you a chance to see who you love playing with, incase you’d like to find a partner for a tournament in the future and it also gives you a chance to improve because you will most likely have an opportunity to play with people who are more experienced than you.
Guapo and I play together 2 to 3 times a week which is also an unexpected blessing. Every time we find an activity that we both enjoy as individuals and want to do together; we feel grateful because it gives us another way to connect. Pre covid, Guapo and I would go to bootcamp classes together, but since I’m just now starting to go back to indoor workouts, pickleball turned into our main source of endorphin pumping exercise.
So where can you shop ROKNE Pickleball? Our website of course, Amazon, a ton of online retailers, country clubs and pro shops around the country and soon, very very soon I will have a special announcement to share with you about an exclusive ROKNE launch. Stay tuned.
I’ll be adding more to my blog about pickleball. Don’t worry, it won’t be boring stuff like rules, etc…you can find that on YouTube. It’ll be more about the personal and emotional lessons I’ve learned through pickleball, the positive impact it’s made on me and what I see happening in our community, and of course the adventures of running a small family business.
I’ve linked our ROKNE PICKLEBALL website and also our Amazon page here in case you want to check it out. Obviously, we have every social media channel up and running @roknepickleball. You know I wouldn’t miss that opportunity!! And…if you ever want to get started on a pickleball journey for yourself, just lmk, I can help! If you end up purchasing a paddle be sure to tag us as I’d love to feature you on our social channels if that’s something you’re ok with.
OK, on another note, the power washers are officially here. Thank goodness – the sound of progress. I have to run out and get my cameras in place so I can update you on the house progress. (I promised this after all) Thanks for reading and remember to comment or email me any time. I read every single note. 😊