Here we go into the world of Blogs...

I am new to this, and actually vowed I would never do it, but, decided after being a loyal follower of several other blogs that I needed to start giving back -- so here I am.

Ground Rules

1. I can't spell worth a darn, so please forgive me for any spelling mistakes. I will run spell check (my best Friend) but it does not always catch everything
2. The object of this blog is to give good information. I am not always going to talk about furniture as that would be rather boring....but I may drop a few sales pitches in every once and awhile. I also want to talk about my experiences in Mexico that relate to owning.
3. This is strictly for fun, please keep nasty emails to a minimum

Here I go again...Hello Merida

Just to give a little background about my entry into Mexico. Back in 2001 my husband and I purchased our first home in Playa del Secreto on the Mayan Riviera, it was a ready built condo. Furnishing it was a flipping nightmare, this was pre-costco days. When I think back to setting that house up the only solace was that I was 34 years old and had far more energy than I do now. We enjoyed that condo for about 4 years and then sold it in 2005 and purchased a lot in Puerto Morelos. We took the plunge this time and built a home from the ground up.

I got a little smarter with that house, but not much. First off, I scheduled the completion of it 3 days before Wilma hit. Everything got into the house; furniture , appliances, new linens, etc. a measly 24 hours before she blew ashore as a Cat 4 direct hit on our town. As luck would have it, I took my Mom (71 yrs) with me to help with the set up of the house, so she got to meet Wilma also.

Wilma devastated our town and my house. We hunkered down in Cancun for the storm and then went back to Puerto Morelos to salvage what we could. My husband worked on getting us out of there from Canada (between going to Hockey and golf games....still a sore spot with me) which took about 7 days.

To my surprise, the town and my house was back up and running in just 4 weeks -- it was incredible to see how Mexico handles disasters such as this -- totally amazing!

So that is a brief history. I still own my house in Puerto Morelos and love it!

Obviously, Gringo Furniture was born out of my own frustrations...somehow the word "frustrations" can not capture the entire feeling you get when you have to furnish a home from afar.

Living in Canada and trying to set up a house in Mexico is to say the least a challenge. Don't get me wrong, this is a challenge that the benefits absolutely out weigh the negatives...BUT, it is difficult to see those benefits when the task is at your door step, you are driving around in circles, you can't speak Spanish (other than knowing how to order a beer), unable to find a parking spot, getting lost, getting more lost, crying, going over budget, waiting on deliveries that never come, crying again, sweating in the heat, nobody is taking your credit card, hating everything you see and everything you like it out of stock AND all you really want is to get to the beach and actually enjoy all the money you just spent on this dream.

You'd think with a mind set like that I would be through setting up houses in Mexico and instead sitting back laughing at all those who still have to do it..... think again.....we just bought another home in Merida.

So, here I go again.

The cool thing this time around is that I have this great "IN" on a service/store that helps furnish homes in Mexico....Gringo Furniture -- How cool is that?

So, like all of you I am now faced yet again with furnishing from afar. I will use my own company to accomplish this task and keep it pretty honest as to how it goes via this blog. I am going to make myself the Guinea pig for a new accessories line that I hope to offer thru my store.

Our new home is in the Historic Zone of Merida in the Santiago neighbourhood. We bought it from an American who used Henry Ponce to remodel it about 3 years ago. It comes with all appliances and ZERO furniture. I have my work cut out, but this time I am excited about the job . I now have an opportunity to show everyone else just what we do and actually use my own company. Stay tuned as I go thru this process once again.