I had the good fortune of growing up in a dream of a small country town at the base of what many call the mini-Swiss Alps in Wallowa County, Oregon. And while this beautiful, community-focused approach to living played an integral and positive role in my appreciation for living well without excess, for as long as I can remember, I have been asking questions and seeing life as a treasure hunt as I sought to reach my full potential.

Much more of how I came to love and appreciate simplicity paired with everyday luxuries is shared in the introduction and first chapter of my first book Choosing The Simply Luxurious Life: A Modern Woman’s Guide. And I will let you know in advance, my life and much of my inspiration has indirectly or directly come from the dogs in my life. My two sweet gentlemen and one lady, Oscar, Norman and Nelle, respectively – a black English Cocker Spaniel, a Blenheim Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a ruby Cavalier, are seen in the photos on this page. Oscar lived a long 16+ year life, and Norman, four years younger than his brother, lived a full and thankfully very healthy and active 15 1/2 years. I feel so fortunate to have been their mum and miss the companionship of both my sweet gentlemen immensely (get to know each of them here – Oscar, Norman). Nelle, while never having known Oscar, misses her brother Norman terribly, as did Norman Oscar; however, my heart is bigger and more capable of loving well because of the pivotal and powerful role both of them had in my life journey to contentment. My first book, previously mentioned, which sold 10,000 copies in its first year of publication purely by word-of-mouth and genuine interest from readers of TSLL blog, lays the groundwork in great detail and in an easy-to-follow manner revealing how you too can create a fulfilling simply luxurious life of your very own.

As you begin living simply luxuriously, TSLL’s third book The Road to Le Papillon: Daily Meditations on True Contentment offers inspiration for each day of the year while including never-before-shared intimate peeks into my life and my road to living each day with true contentment.

While attending Western Oregon University and then University of Oregon for graduate school, I had the fortunate opportunity to study abroad in Angers, France, which whetted my appetite for all things French and has instilled in me a passion for curating a more refined, stylish, simple, and pleasure-filled way of living that I regularly try to incorporate wherever I may be living. Since my first experience, I have returned a handful of times. You can take a look at my trips here, here, here, and here. (And for all of my posts inspired by my fascination with the French culture, click here.) I have also continued to humble myself by continually trying to improve my French language skills. Take a look at what I learned so far in my French classes in these three posts: here, here and here.

As is often the case with travel, so long as we remain open to what the universe would like to reveal to us, we discover awesome insights about ourselves and instructions about the direction of our life moving forward. It was a spontaneous trip to Devon, England, during the week of Thanksgiving 2017, staying in a hilltop cottage with a beckoning soaking tub overlooking the Bristol Channel where I recognized my unconsciously long-led affinity for the British countryside and culture. From the oft-common rainy days that I deeply savor, the predilection to enjoy a cup of tea (aka a Cuppa) for comfort and conversation, and the opportunity to stroll on the terra firma of the country I had studied so much about in undergrad as I attained my literature and history major and minor, I found a sanctuary unexpected (and I must not neglect to mention the deep affection for dogs in Britain spoke to me quite immediately as well). In fact, I was so inspired that I taped the pilot episode of my vodcast The Simply Luxurious Kitchen while staying in my vacation rental.