It’s been a minute! Here’s a life update – A LOT has changed within the past few months!
2024 seems like it’s been 3 years combined into one! With that said, I wanted to do a little life update because I’ve experienced some of the biggest shifts in my adult life within the past few months. All of them were completely unexpected too, so if I was telling my January self this, I’d probably never believe it haha!
2024 Life Update
Let’s start in April, because everything up to April was pretty normal. I started the year riding the excitement of my business growth in 2023 & got to attend an incentive trip to Oahu, Hawaii with Beautycounter which was just incredible. Then in February I headed off to Japan to spend time with my husband Devin. Devin has been playing 3×3 basketball in Japan for over a year at this point. I was in Japan for about 6 weeks & it was a much better experience than my last in Japan, we were able to do some fun things (see some pics here), I finished earning my 7th Beautycounter incentive trip to Washington, DC, which I was SO thrilled about & things were good! We headed back to New Hampshire about three weeks into March, I hosted a local Beautycounter event, we launched fragrance, & the excitement was high!
We flew down to Florida for Easter, my in laws have a home in Port Charlotte, & we stayed with them for about a week. While we were there, Devin & I casually decided that we wanted to look at some homes nearby! Truthfully, buying a home was not on our radar for 2024, but we were blown away with how much further our money went down here vs in New England. We ended up going to look at 8 or so homes. We really liked one but then we randomly happened to show up to look at that specific house a second time & the health inspector happened to also be there. He informed us that the house wasn’t up to code. The timing of him being there was almost funny but I was disappointed because I had really liked that property.
We bought a house!!
That same day, it was a Friday, & our realtor suggested us taking a look at a nearby community of new build homes. Originally, Devin & I thought we didn’t want to live in a community with an HOA but the more we thought about it, the more it made sense for us. Plus Devin loves the fact that he doesn’t have to cut grass lol. As soon as we pulled into the community, we were blown away. We ended up looking at two homes, one of which we bought!!!
So yeah! We are now home owners in sunny Florida & it still doesn’t feel real! We truly knew as soon as we walked in that this is the house we wanted. And surprisingly, it checked off all of my boxes for what I was looking for – new build, no carpet, lots of beautiful natural light, walk in closet, all white kitchen, side walks, laundry room, etc! The best part is that there’s a basketball court right around the corner too, which of course, is Devin’s favorite part! Like I said, it really doesn’t feel real. We are just so grateful & we’ve officially been in Florida since the end of July!
We signed the papers on April 9th & the process was slightly a nightmare, I’ll spare you the theatrics but yeah it was not a seamless process. We were originally supposed to close at the end of May, but I was told last minute that they didn’t have everything they needed in order to proceed so our closing was extended into June. At the sake of my sanity, we of course got the deal done at the very last minute on a Friday afternoon & I closed on Monday! I say I because Devin was still in Japan, so this was slightly a one woman job lol. Don’t recommend haha.
Beautycounter Closed
To really spice things up during this home buying process, on April 17th, I experienced some feelings that I really don’t know how to put into words, even months out. I was visiting my family in Fort Lauderdale, when I get word that essentially my Beautycounter business was “closing” for two weeks. To say this was a tumultuous shock would be a vast understatement. I got the news around 7pm & was wired for hours just spiraling over the news I had just heard. Little did I know that would be just the beginning.
To make a very long story short, Beautycounter, was purchased by a private investment firm back in 2021 & unfortunately, they caused irreversible damage to the brand, completely mismanaged our funds, & sold the brand to the bank to try to recoup their losses. Beautycounter’s Founder, Gregg Renfrew, had just come back as CEO in January while we all were in Hawaii, & I truly believe she didn’t know what she was walking into. When Beautycounter was turned over to the banks, she acted quickly & alongside her team of new investors, purchased back elements of the Beautycounter brand.
Myself & thousands of other Beautycounter Brand Advocates were told that Wednesday night (April 17th), that in less than 24 hours, our websites would be shut off & the brand would go dark to allow the transition to occur between the old LLC that Beautycounter was operating under to the new LLC owned by Gregg Renfrew. This news was severely challenging to hear but at the time, there was a light at the end of the tunnel because we were told that the brand & our websites would be back up by May 1st.
Navigating this was really tough. Managing hundreds of conversations, calming down team members, showing up online, & working my business as if I still had one wasn’t for the faint of heart. We were all trusting the process but it’s not enjoyable not knowing where your next paycheck is going to come from, amidst buying your first home. Thankfully, I had submitted all of my financial information prior to this happen & funny enough, my mortgage lender did not ask me ONE question about any of my work, income, paychecks, etc, throughout the entire home buying process. But she definitely made up for that by being difficult in other aspects haha.
I also mentioned, I had earned my 7th incentive trip back in February, which was an opportunity to head back to Washington, DC to advocate for safer health protective laws. This was coincidentally the first Beautycounter trip I went on & earned back in 2022 & it really changed the trajectory of my business. Earning DC twice in a row was an incredible honor because they take the top earner from every state. Anyways. Our DC trip was supposed to be on May 6th, which was just a few short weeks away from when we originally heard the news. We were told the trip was still going to be on & again, that was another light at the end of the tunnel during our business pause.
However, that light quickly faded because on April 30th, we were told that our advocacy trip was cancelled. And bless my heart lol, I thought that was going to be the worst of it. Instead, it was only the beginning of a series of heartbreaking updates. On May 1st, there was no website. We were promised updates every two business days. And on Monday, May 6th, truthfully my world came crashing down with the news that Beautycounter would not return until Q4 of this year (this has now been pushed back to sometime in 2025).
Beautycounter was something that I saw being a part of my life forever. It was a part of me, a huge part of my daily life, it was my full time job, yet so much more than a job, it was my community, it was my passion, it was a daily source of joy & creativity & it was all gone in a second. Grieving Beautycounter felt like grieving a loved one & this is no exaggeration. I’ll never forget the feelings I felt on May 6th & the worst part about it, but also blessing in disguise, was the fact that I need to recoup my income ASAP because a lot of money was about to leave my bank account.
My Pivot to Arbonne
That night, I couldn’t sleep because truthfully, I was in shock about what had happened & also thinking through what I was going to do next. That next morning, with a swollen face & hurt heart, I decided that I was going to partner & pivot to Arbonne, which is another network marketing company that shares similar values to Beautycounter. I had calls that entire day & by the end of it, I was Arbonne’s newest Independent Consultant.
I’ll do an entire post on why I made the decision to partner with Arbonne but truthfully, the pieces fell together so beautifully, I couldn’t be more grateful for how it all played out. I was off to the races as soon as I signed up, I promoted to the top 2% of the company 86 days after starting my business with my incredible team (to see what’s typical you can visit earnings.arbonne.com), went to Arbonne’s annual conference in June, earned an all-exclusive incentive trip to Costa Rica, & am working with women I deeply admire. My team & I are now working towards the top 1% of the company & I couldn’t be more thrilled, energized, & grateful.
Anytime I decide to do something, I’m all in. I needed to recoup my income, I wanted to stay in this industry I’ve grown to love, I didn’t want to abandon my dreams for what I knew & know I’m capable of achieving, & I wanted to continue to help women grow businesses they are deeply proud of. And I wanted to continue to help the women who trust me be able to feel good from the inside out. So I quickly picked up the pieces & got to work. Arbonne has been the biggest blessing to come out of a lot of heartbreak.
Costa Rica
I went on my first yoga retreat to Costa Rica at the end of May, which was honestly perfect timing. What better timing than the month I have my life/identity flipped upside down to go into the jungle to do yoga & meditate lol. We stayed at the Bodhi Tree Resort. The retreat was hosted by the Collective Studios, which is where I did my YTT back in 2022 & took hundreds & hundreds of hours of classes. I was one of their first clients when they opened their doors in New Hampshire & this was their first retreat. It was another end of a chapter for me, because with the move, obviously I wouldn’t be able to take class anymore, so going on the retreat was a beautiful way to end a chapter that has brought me an immense amount of joy over the past 3 years.
I went on the retreat with one of my dearest friends & we had such a wonderful time (see a quick recap here), minus some high moments of stress because I was still knee deep in the mortgage approval process. My intention for the trip was to simply trust the process of the new life journey I had embarked on & all of the “whys” behind it. It feels almost surreal going back to Costa Rica with Arbonne in about a week. Definitely a full circle moment since May.
Our First Home
On Monday, June 24th, we finally closed on our first home & gosh this was such a happy day. I sent the rest of the money that morning through wire transfer & it was a done deal! Was fully sweating making sure the wire went through properly haha. Devin was still in Japan at this point, so it was just me at the closing. I had flown into Fort Lauderdale, so I drove over with my parents & brothers to the closing & then announced the news on social media later that day! I still can’t believe we live in Florida! It’s so wild! Our home & neighborhood couldn’t be more perfect, I’m SO grateful! Still a few months in, Devin & I look at each other & say “I can’t believe we live here” haha.
We officially packed up & headed down to Florida a month later. We hired some sketchy movers haha & left on July 24th. Devin drove the entire way, it took us 2 days but we made it! For the first two weeks, we stayed at my in-laws home which is about 20 minutes away from ours while we got situated, waiting for our stuff, & made our first purchases – a mattress & a couch haha!
That’s All!
I think that pretty much covers everything! Devin & I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on August 8th. Devin headed back to Japan early September to play in a few big tournaments – he just won the Japanese Championship + MVP & has one more tournament in China before heading back home! I’m SO proud of him! As I mentioned, I’m heading on my first Arbonne incentive trip in about a week & I’m so excited! It’s a trip for 2, so I get to bring my mom! Also, I turn 30 next month, eek!!
If you aren’t following along on IG, you can find me there daily sharing ALL the things! And if you’re not on my email list, go ahead & get on the list here!
Thank you for reading this short novel, thank you for supporting me, & thank you for being apart of this journey with me, I am so so grateful. Sending so much love always!
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