Yolanda's Up For a Challenge

Hi all and welcome to my blog!

I'm very excited for you guys to be a part of my first foray into the Real Housewives world. Joining this group of women is going to be quite an adventure but I'm always up for a challenge. Besides, I’m a Capricorn and as such, I’m supposedly well suited to finding my true place within pre-existing social orders. How convenient. . .

I think my background is a little bit different than most of the ladies'; I was born in Papendrecht, Holland, which when I was growing up, was a tiny Dutch farm town with a population of 5,000. Milking cows and riding horses was my life and still today, I love going to the barn with my daughters. I grow flowers, fruits, and vegetables and love to be outdoors working in my gardens. I might live in Malibu but I still maintain a strong connection to my rural roots in Holland.

My opening scene, which features some early morning lemon picking, is so telling of this. I have this need to always be active. Evidently, I entered the workforce at age 13, scrubbing dishes in a Chinese restaurant to help pay for my horse passion. And when modeling started (a completely accidental career change), I knew if I gave it my all I would be able to provide for my family and maybe one day come back and own the horses I dreamed of having my whole life. I had limitless opportunities to become financially independent, experience new things like traveling the world and meet amazing new people along the way. I consider myself blessed to have had so much good fortune in life. I try and live each day taking nothing for granted.

I love that in this season; I will be able to share a little part of my incredible family life with you. Gigi, Bella, and Anwar are a little bit shy about this new adventure but of course you will be seeing a glimpse of them here and there.

Most of you probably know my incredible husband, he is the pro in the family and I am so lucky that he supports me in this new venture. We've been together 6 years and married since 11-11-11. I am the ultimate romantic so between all the incredible music he has made and my motto "Get Wise, Keep your Romance alive" we will hopefully inspire you.

Partying with the ladies at Villa Blanca for the first time was an interesting experience. As a new housewife, I've definitely got a lot to learn. I am clearly out-of-the-loop in terms of everyone's pre-existing drama.

I am just getting my feet wet and trying to get to know all the players without any preconceived judgment, as I never even watched the show before joining it. Everyone seems unnaturally uptight but I am sure I will get the hang of it soon.

For instance, I think it was easy for Brandi's "sleeping with everybody in Beverly Hills" comment to get a little distorted in the transmission. Looking back, I think it was Brandi being Brandi; it was a little display of humility; not a dig at me or a form of bragging. Regardless of how it was interpreted, I think Brandi is an amazing woman and I think our friendship will certainly develop.

Nervous Brandi

It was also great to connect with Kim (my water buddy!) while she confronts some prior sources of tension. We got along so well despite me having the same birthday as her beloved sister, Kyle, who is clearly not always her biggest ally in life. So much to learn!

Well there you have it. Thanks to Doug and Alex at Evolution! Here is my first episode wrapped and the drama appears to be well underway. I look forward to hearing from you all! Be sure to follow me on Twitter! 

Yolanda