Creative Nourishment

2025 was a transformative year for me! How about you?

Life Hack Alert!

Something that I’ve been doing for years is changing my passwords to reflect my current goals. Things like “Hyrdratedaily” or “MakeArtToday” or “HealthyWealthyWise2025.” I like this practice because it helps me remember what my focus is, every single day.

This past year, it was AbiRose20251 a quiet reminder to choose myself, to care for myself, and to courageously build a business from this name2 I have been given. This tiny act of daily subconscious planning has set the tone for everything that followed. AbiRoseLLC was born.

Poetic Endings That Begin Again

This year began with an ending. I made the difficult decision to leave my role at Honolulu Coffee, a deeply respected chapter of my life and a big part of my identity, to honor my inner child. A girl that I loving refer to as “Little Abby.” Some people were shocked to hear this news, saying they thought I’d surely retire with Honolulu Coffee. But,“You are the culture.” Others congratulated me on being courageous and forging my own path.

I made a choice and I leapt. I made myself a promise to honor little Abby and as it turns out, she really wanted to publish a book of poems! It’s hard to listen to advice from a little kid, but I heard her loud and clear.

I am usually surrounded by what feels like a million ideas competing for my attention. A blessing that must be tamed. I have learned that focused determination is what holds everything together. At the start of the 2025 year, I decided to create a fun method to choose my focused direction.

2024, New Year’s Eve… I wrote every goal I could think of on tiny slips of paper, folded them up and tossed them into a hat. One by one, I pulled them out until only one slip remained. I decided this would be my way of “picking a lane” and whatever the slip said, that would be my main goal for the year.

Exciting right? Like Russian roulette for life.

As if there could be any other outcome, the final slip read “Write every day, Publish your book in 6 months.”

And there it was. Challenge Accepted! I was so excited

I thought - “YES! I get to do the book!”

Waves of Thought

So that’s what I did. 52 poems. 52 watercolor paintings. The final copy arrived in my hand on May 31st. 6 months, precisely to the day. Poetic.

Reminder! You “get” to do whatever it is that you truly want, as it turns out. Give yourself a goal and you just might achieve it.

I wanted to share one of my favorite reviews of “Waves of Thought” that I received this past year from my great aunt Joy.

August 19, 2025

Dear Abigail! Loving thanks to my precious niece Chanda, who has arranged for you to sign and send me my own copy of your “opus” a work of reflective, art and charm! Dear Abigail, it’s a delight to meet you in your maturity and to share your outlook on life, free and playful. Deep and instructive. Quirky too! The sweet little watercolors of Hawaii Nei. Happy life blessings. Surf in the morning.

Your great Aunt Joy.

Nothing brings me more JOY than being seen so deeply.

Tokyo, Again

I was grateful to return to Tokyo in February to hand off the project I’d been working on. Japan has held me through so many life lessons and personal evolutions. This place, that I adore, has taught me the beauty of simplicity and power of restraint, two things that do not come naturally to my operating system. A constant reminder to gently hold back and embodied proof that I don’t always have to say, know or do it all.

On this recent trip, I retraced my steps from my first journey to Tokyo a decade earlier, when I first came to Japan with Magnolia Bakery. I am so grateful to have been able to walk the same streets in silence recognizing how far I’ve grown and how much I have accomplished in the last 10 years. This moment was a gift I’ll treasure forever.

Sometimes every step feels like poetry. Do you ever feel that way?

What’s in a Name?

• Abigail Rose Joslyn at your service.

• Abby if you knew me before 2014.

• Abi if you met me after my first trip to Japan, where the simplified spelling sorta stuck.

• Ab or Abs if you’re a real one.

• Abby-girl if you’re my mom or Aunt Beth.

• Auntie Abs if you’re under 5

• Abi Rose, a logo, a pen name, a brand name.

Names evolve, just like we do. If you call me, I promise I’ll answer!

Hiring Myself

2025 Goals. Publish Waves of Thought in the first 6 months. Launch private consulting business second 6 months. Check. Check!

Abi Rose LLC was born from a desire to channel my creativity and professional experience into two streams of revenue. AbiRose Goods & Services. Goods being anything handcrafted ( Surf Ponchos, Pottery, Art, Local baked goods) that reflects the joy it brings me to create lovingly with my own hands. Professional services being the skills that I joyfully share to help elevate brands and organizations through my background in hospitality operations.

This year, I quite literally hired myself as a writer and a creative. I gave myself space to explore sewing, painting, cooking and writing while embracing my current “all-the-things” phase.

Fast brain. Big ideas. Full permission.

I spent the first few months writing, surfing, painting & repeating. I launched this Substack to house my musings. I officially registered AbiRose LLC.

I tried to outsource the building of my website for months… only to finally sit down, grin and bear it, and build it myself. Proudly, AbiRose.co went live in July. E-commerce platform included ready to share my self-published and handcrafted creations with the world.

I was invited to read my poetry with The Surf Poets Society at the Honolulu Museum of Art. I began selling handmade goods. I started a podcast to record storytelling and guided breath-work experiments.

I signed my first private client and stepping into private chef opportunities with one of my longtime friends from culinary school. I also signed my first contracted client, Magnolia Bakery.

How to achieve goals- Set Goals. Be Devoted. Trust.

A Year of Big LOVE

If I hugged you this year, know that it brought me such deep love. Through the course of the last year I was able to hug a lot of you! I spent time with my mom and two of my brothers (minus Sam who is currently changing the world in the Peace Corps). I held my nephew and all of his perfection. I spent precious family time in Colorado with the whole Joslyn Clan. I watched two of my best friends marry their loves. Proudly watch my best friends become mothers – twice over allowing space for Auntie Abs to be a crowd favorite, obviously. I spent eleven days alone in a forest cabin in Maine. I swam the oceans in Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, and California. I rode a train from Colorado to California under the full moon.

I am blessed to be able to return home to Hawaii. A place that has held me so deeply for the last 10 years of my life.

This year, I’ve loved. I’ve surfed. I’ve created. I’ve felt it … all!

This year asked a lot of me, and I gave it everything right back.

Make it Stick 2026

As I sit here at my desk looking toward a new year, I am grateful for everything that has brought me to this moment. I will not share any spoiler alerts or password hints, but I am devoted to growing, sharing, and nourishing those around me.

Thank you for your love and support. It fills me up more than you know.

May this New Year bring you love, joy, and purpose.

I love you endlessly.

You know where to find me.

-Abigail Rose

2

The name Abigail has Hebrew origins and is most understood to mean “ father of joy” or it can also be interpreted as

“source of joy. The name comes from the Hebrew words ab (father) and g-y-l (to rejoice or be joyful)

The secret to happiness is freedom… And the secret to freedom is courage — Thucyclides