The Two of Us...
Paul and I met 13 years ago on a blind date. Instant chemistry and mutual interests took over, traveling being a major one. Since then, our most fun times have been spent traveling. On our first trip, we journeyed to Santa Fe for my birthday. Our second trip, we stayed in our first vacation rental together in San Miguel de Allende. Eventually, we got engaged on a trip to Nicaragua. When we married in Dallas on 9/11/10, we were living in separate cities, Paul in Phoenix, me in Dallas. It was 2013 before I finally gave in to the Phoenix thing…moving into a 700 square foot bachelor apartment. In 2015, we came back to Dallas together and moved back into my San Miguel styled home.
Now we have retired and are continuing another great adventure, inspired by Lynne and Tim Martin and their book HOME SWEET ANYWHERE, When I suggested this idea of selling our home, our stuff and hitting the road, Paul immediately said yes! No coercion involved! Eight months later, we had downsized and planned. Please join us as we live, explore, cook and adventure abroad in our new vagabond life!
Meet Karen
Growing up in Texas and Oklahoma, Karen has always longed for the Vagabond Life. While obtaining her MA in Spanish, she lived for two months in Guadalajara, Mexico. After college, she taught for a couple of years and then went non-traditional, recruiting and co-owning a high tech recruiting and consulting company for almost 20 years. After selling the company, she worked for a non-profit domestic violence agency.
Her children Chelsea and Katrina were active in Children’s International Summer Villages (CISV), AFS and Girl Scouts. Karen also has three daughters from 10 month AFS stays in her home--Mari from Norway, Ilaria from Italy and Sofie from Germany. Active as a Girl Scout leader, her troops fundraised and paid their way to 10 day trips in England, Scotland and France. After retiring as an active troop leader, Karen was co-leader for an 18 girl group to Peru and Machu Pichu, another twisted adventure story. Needless to say, wanderlust inhabits her body and soul.
Meet Paul
Paul was born and grew up in Massachusetts until his final years of high school. In Alabama for junior and senior year, where his MA accent charmed the ladies. Paul served in the Air Force and always thinks duty first. His son is in the army, following his dad’s path, and has just returned from his second tour of duty in South Korea. He has two wonderful daughters, living in Arizona and Texas. Our younger four children are close in age and have a great time when we all get together.
Paul’s pedigree is an engineering degree. I mention this because he takes an engineering approach to almost everything. Yet, most of his career he has served as a leader and a manager of people. He’s a guy who can’t sit still and always has a project. From the beginning, we have enjoyed cooking for each other, for family and friends, and taking cooking classes together, playing golf and tennis, learning and playing bridge.