Yes, I’m Still here…

I realize I haven’t published a post in some time! Sheesh! My life is really beginning to feel as though it’s taking on a sort of Rhythm. And it’s hard for me to discern when I should share what’s going on. I don’t want to bore you to death with the same ol’ same ol’! To be honest, what started out as a big adventure has somehow begun to just feel like a normal, everyday life! Nothing so special so share. Shrug! But I know my friends and family get a kick out of knowing what’s going on , so….

Here’s what’s going on in our life, not especially exciting or even very interesting, but here goes…Let’s see, well, I’ll begin with our construction project, since that’s what seems to dominate our lives these days. Our workers have been making good progress on the roof of the workshop. They’ve got the majority of it nearly framed with the cariolas. Which means the walls are all done as well. So, In about a week or so they will begin to put up the zinc part, which is the big metal sheets that go on top of the metal beams, (for those of you not so familiar with this type of roofing procedure!). Earlier in the week we went down to David to a place our friend Keith told us about, a place called Kame. This is THE place to find the commercial-type, roll up garage doors that we wanted to install in the workshop. We need three of them. We got a quotation which seemed fair and so Scott drove back today (Saturday) to order them. Check that big thing off our list! Just when I begin to wonder,”How are we gonna find that?”, someone here who’s in the ‘know’ shows up and saves the day! Now, the next big thing we need to find is an electrician who will actually follow through and get our power run up to our property! Ugh! This is proving to be a hard one.

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Living The Casual Life..

I do love my new casual lifestyle, this is a wonderful thing about Panama, or is it just me? It could be Me… I’ve spent most of my adult life as well as my childhood, around hairdressers and in Salons. The constant and never ending expectation from those who look to us (stylists) to always be on the cutting edge of fashion can be exhausting. I know the majority of my former colleagues in the beauty business thrive on and love this part of what it means to be a stylist, and I applaud you because that’s as it should be. But the novelty of this aspect of being a hairdresser wore off for me about…oh, I dont’ know…maybe 15 or so years ago? Maybe longer. The expectation to look a certain way and to care so much about that external persona lost it’s appeal for me as I matured and began to find meaning in things that just seemed more important to me. I spent many, many years caring incessantly about how I looked and what clothes I wore. What people thought of me and feeling as though in some important way that my external appearance defined me. I spent hours getting fills on my acrylic nails, panicking when I broke one and rushing into the manicurist to get it repaired, and I never left the house without my make up just right. I lived to shop and never had enough clothes in my closet. I just ‘had’ to have all the latest and most current clothes that were in style. I always had coordinated jewelry and just the right shoes to pull together my look and my hair was of the utmost concern to me each and every moment of every day. Oh man! I remember those days, and the time I spent looking in the mirror! Constantly aware of what others looked like and comparing myself, and putting a ton of energy into caring about what those around me thought of how I looked. It was exhausting when I think back on that period of my life. Of course, I was raised by a hairdresser so this was just the way of the world to me.

Oh My! We Have Certainly Been Through A Lot Of ‘Life’ Together!

I’ve been thinking about all the many life experiences we (me & my clients) have been through together. I was about twenty or so when many of us began our long relationship. Yep, we were so young! I was married to Brian( affectionately known as Dip-shit) 😅 well…. Maybe not exactly ‘affectionately! I was a young, inexperienced stylist. I was eager to succeed and you trusted me, and stuck with me as I gained experience and grew into a seasoned stylist ! Thanks for that! Your loyalty has been very, very appreciated! Many of you have followed me to three salons since we’ve known each other and others have been in my life since the beginning of my own salon in 1993! Yep 1993!!! Can you believe it’s been that many years! How does time slip by so fast?

“Will You Tell Us About What’s Not So Good?”

This week a good friend asked me a very good question, ” Will you be honest and write about things you don’t like when your living in Panama?”. My answer was,”Yes!”. I don’t expect to like ‘everything’ about living in another country. As a matter of fact I expect there will be many things I miss about living in the states and many things I don’t like about living in Panama. Truth be told, there are also many things I don’t like about living in the states. That being said, I’m not leaving the states to run away from anything in particular , that to me, would be foolish. I think no matter where you live there are aspects of life that are less than perfect. Who ever said life was meant to be perfect anyways? I don’t know, but I for one, am not in search of paradise.

Bittersweet Changes

A great Mothers Day with her two sons

When we set our sights on making this gigantic life change we knew it would not be easy. We did also consider that it my not be easy for our family members either. Although we had no doubt that everyone who loves us would always want us to pursue a life that made us happy. And to know me and Scott is to know that we are happiest when we are exploring opportunities on our terms. We rarely choose to follow the same path that everyone else is on, doing things in our own way is where we find the most joy!