Wow! This is my 500th Post!

How did that happen? I started writing this blog March of 2012. This realization prompted me to reminisce about how I got started with this ‘blogging’ thing… I remember when we were in the research process of our big relocation, Scott was our main researcher. He is sooooooo good at searching online and finding all sorts of information. He found reading forums to be one of his favorite means of finding interesting and relevant information. He found many such expat forums online, including “Panama Laws for expats” “Panama expats” “Expats in David” and lots of other forums in other countries we were also, at that time, researching. I was never especially fond of forums because they have a tendency to , at times, be a little argumentative and petty. to put it nicely…Yuck! So I discovered Blogs! And I fell in love with reading these peoples personal stories of expatriating to countless different places around the world. Reading blogs just felt so much more personal which is right up my isle! I just love reading stories about peoples lives and that’s exactly what blogs are. I remember when this online “blogging “ thing first started. I never really understood what it meant to ‘blog’…kinda like public journaling? Huh? Why would anyone want to put all that personal information out there for the whole world to read? Who cares anyways? Hah!

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I LOVE Living In Panama!

I just wanted clarify, The last post that I published had a title that I’m sure attracted a lot of attention. I wanted to clarify, I did not write that post. I “re-blogged” that post from another blogger who has been living in Panama City with their two young children for about a year now. They have really enjoyed their time here and have had the best experience ever! But I just thought it was really good to share what they thought were some of the not so great things about living in the city. I’ve been following their blog for a long time and enjoyed witnessing a family with small children having such an amazing adventure together. They have made it very clear during the course of their year here that they have really LOVED their experience. After I posted it, I began to worry that some may be confused and think that I Hate living here. I think the author of that post wrote it with kindness and it didn’t seem like they were being really negative, just honest about some of the things that bug them. No place in the world is perfect, this is true. I’m also sure that as time goes by there will be certain things about living here that will drive me crazy. But I must say, I didn’t move from the states to “run away” from anything particular, although there’s plenty to hate about living there and plenty I could complain about. There are plenty of expats who move to Panama and end up becoming negative and complain about how different it is is from the states. To me, the differences (for the most part) are a breath of fresh air. This being said, I’m certain that after living here for awhile some aspects of living here will begin to wear on me. My point is, yes I have a point, I don’t hate living in Panama. It really bugs me when some people bitch and moan about some of the differences here and I often find myself saying,”why are they here?” . The way that Panamablu wrote that post was honest without sounding like they “really” hated it here. Of course I have the advantage of having followed their blog and I know how much they really have “loved” being here.

I occasionally “re-blog” posts written from other bloggers because I like to offer my followers other perspectives. I follow quite a few bloggers who, like me, are pursuing a very different lifestyle in other countries. Everyone has their different reasons for doing it as well as different perspectives on their new life in a different country. I think it’s a lot of fun and very interesting to hear their stories so from time to time I will share them with you. This last ‘re-blog’ seemed to get a lot of attention and I think the title was pretty bold. If I enjoy hearing from various bloggers who are kind enough to share their life with us, I hope those of you who follow my story also enjoy a bit of variety. I happened to be a big fan of hearing peoples stories. After all, we all have one and our ‘stories’ are what make us all uniquely who we are. Every time I read a post published by a fellow blogger I find myself feeling grateful to them for their willingness to share their life and I also enjoy the talent they have of writing such vivid descriptions of their life. As a fan of all things ‘literature’, I’ve found great pleasure in reading the blogs of so many different amazing people. Cheers!

Always Learning 😁, Usually By Trial and Often By Errors!

Back in June I had the bright idea to start blogging as a way to chronicle our plans and preparations to expatriate ,with the hopes to continue sharing our life as expats after we move. I thought it would be a fun way for our friends and family to keep track of us after we are gone. I also thought it might shine some light on our crazy plans for those who were just shaking their heads and saying,” HUH?”. “WHY?”😱😱 In the course of researching and reading everything I could find about expatriating I had discovered reading other blogs written by people who had already made the leap into a life that Scott and I longed to experience ourselves someday. Somehow I realized,” Hey, I could do this blogging thing!” I love writing and as an avid reader I knew that good writing comes from having a passion for your subject! I most defenitly had a newfound passion! Although the jury’s still out as to how good the writing is! (sigh!). You gotta give me an ‘A’ for effort though! (Big Smile!)

I’m Searching For My Blogging ‘Mojo’!

I’m a beginner in this blogging game! I decided to start blogging as an experiment at first but as I’ve gotten such amazing support from so many people I’ve begun to “Really” enjoy it! Another unexpected development that has happened as a result of blogging is connecting with other blogging expats around the world. I have learned so much about the community of expats as well as bloggers, they are all incredibly welcoming and so generous with encouragement ,and information. So since I seem to enjoy it so much and I’m building up a little following, I figure I should try my best to do a good job!

In order to improve my blogging skills, which are very few, I have begun reading books about blogging. Surprisingly, to me, anyways, there are a lot of books written by very successful bloggers about being a better blogger! I’m starting with “Finding Your Blogging Mojo!”, and,” Bloggers Bootcamp”. Right off the bat I learned that I’ve been writing posts that are much too long! Oops! Silly me! I just have so much to say! The advise I have gleamed is that I should try to post shorter posts but more frequently . Ok…… Hmmmmm! I’ll give that a try. Then I just edited my home page on my Blog and I figured out how to create that little feature where you can read a short tag line at the beginning of each post and then click on,” read more of this post”. This apparently creates a much more usable home page. Who knew??? There really is so much to learn and I’m enjoying the process and hopefully improving my blogging mojo or at least I’ll eventually ‘Have’ a blogging mojo! Lol!

Life is Good!🌴

Life is good! Now it’s time for a change. A BIG one! (change, that is ). We have spent the past five years researching our dream of moving to a different country and now we are getting closer to actually making that dream a reality. As our adventure is fast approaching I have been thinking that I would love to share our process with all our friends and family.

I have recently discovered Blogging! I know, I’m very late to the game! But I have been very busy making people beautiful, and it’s a lot of work! Lol! So, turns out, reading blogs is REALLY fun. I have learned so much from reading blogs written by other people who have already made the leap and moved from the US.

My hope is that my friends and family will appreciate following my blog as an entertaining way to stay connected. I hope you will forgive my spelling errors and grammatical faux paise ! A writer I am not nor do I claim to be😁. But I do love to write and to share my experiences . Hopefully you will find my ramblings entertaining !