From There To Here

Hi, my name is Shannon. I am new at this so please bear with me while I find my way around.

For the last 30 years I have been in and out of the beauty industry. Mostly in. I have worked for the manufacturer, the distributor and in retail. All of these aspects of the business include high stress, high pressure, low self esteem and abominable pay. Not surprisingly this has left me with a somewhat jaded view of the industry as a whole.

 However, if nothing else, the beauty industry educates their minions VERY well.
I have worked for Estee Lauder, Lancome and Shiseido and have sold Elizabeth Arden, Orlane and numerous other prestige lines. I have also sold a number of dermatological lines such as  Roc, Vichy, Evian and La Roche Posey. Over the years what I failed to receive monetarily was certainly given to me in knowledge. I hope to share some of that knowledge in this blog.

I would also like to share some of our experiences and adventures in our new life here in Mexico.

 My life in Vancouver had narrowed to the vantage point of a rat on a wheel. I worked ridiculously long hours and rarely saw my husband Todd. My social life had become almost non-existent because if I ever did have some time to myself I was too tired to do anything about it. Much to my amazement, and gratitude, my husband was incredibly understanding when I told him that in order to protect my sanity I wanted to sell everything we owned and run away from home. To Mexico to be precise.

Unfortunately Todd did not share my infatuation with Mexico. So, in order to rectify that, I coerced him into taking a vacation with me to Cancun. Not really the Mexico I had in mind but a good place to begin. Seeing as we are scuba divers I thought this would be a good way to ease Todd into the idea that Mexico was not such a bad place. As it turned out the beauty of  Mexico and the warmth and charm the the people caught Todd off guard and by the end of the vacation he was as smitten as I have always been.

When we got home Todd began researching Mexico and finding interesting places for us to visit. We found that the mountains of central Mexico held the most fascination for us and for the next few years we visited several different cities each year until we'd chosen the place we wanted to live. This is how our new life in Mexico began, 6 years ago in the city of Patzcuaro, Michoacan.