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Shannon Ables has lived in Bend, Oregon, since 2015, and shares her life with her four-legged companions. She founded the blog The Simply Luxurious Life in 2009 and debuted the podcast The Simple Sophisticate in 2014, followed in 2018 by the cooking show, now available as the Intro to French Cooking online class.
She writes and teaches about true contentment and how shifting the focus to quality rather than quantity in every area of our lives elevates the everyday, regardless of one’s age, income, gender, or relationship status. Visit The Simply Luxurious Life blog to enjoy regular weekly content for inspiration for living the life you love that brings your true self alive, curating your own style for wardrobe and décor as well as gardening, and stop by each Friday for the most popular post of the week since 2011 – This & That.
Her first book, Choosing the Simply Luxurious Life: A Modern Woman’s Guide (2014), describes the foundation of the simply luxurious life – one that prioritizes quality over quantity in each of our endeavors: curating our passions and talents; building healthy, strong relationships; being sensible about our finances; curating a signature personal style; maintaining fitness in mind and body; traveling well; creating an inviting sanctuary; and entertaining with ease. An entire chapter explains how to indulge your inner Francophile.
Shannon’s second book, Living the Simply Luxurious Life: Making Your Everydays Extraordinary and Discovering Your Best Self (2018), offers the tools to tailor your everydays so that you can live your best life, utilizing your strengths to reach your full potential – a truly singular and individual journey.
In 2022, the third book, The Road to Le Papillon: Daily Meditations on True Contentment, daily entries for each day of the year are shared to inspire mindful living as you cultivate true contentment in your everydays. And in August 2026 her new book, Savoring the Sojourn: Contentment Through the Seasons as You Unearth Your Masterpiece will be released.
Beginning in 2024, online video classes premiered on TSLL with the Contentment Masterclass. A self-paced, detailed 16 1/2-hour course that leads students through how to familiarize or refamiliarize themselves with their true self, discover their dharma, and experience living a life of true contentment every day.
Shannon taught secondary language arts for 20 years before retiring in 2021. After earning a Master’s in Education degree in Language Arts Secondary Education from the University of Oregon, she taught AP Language and Composition for the final ten years of her teaching tenure. During her undergraduate studies to earn a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in history, she pursued courses in British literature and history and studied for a time in Angers, France. The French and British cultures inspire much of the content on The Simply Luxurious Life blog and continue to pique her curiosity.
Traveling regularly to Britain and France, the countryside of both countries is often where you will find her when venturing away from Bend, cozying in, strolling on the coast of Brittany, or rambling along the rolling hills in the Lake District. Still, she always makes sure to soak up the culture of Paris and London with each visit.
When the croissants of France and the tea and rain of Britain aren’t at her fingertips, you will find her at her cottage home, fondly named Le Papillon, either pottering in the garden, walking along the many trails with her pups leading the way, or simply savoring the natural beauty of Bend, Oregon.
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