this is how tonic became a thing
Have you ever asked yourself what comes next? We did.
This is our Story
We left a picture perfect life in Vancouver to begin a new, messy, unknown life in Italy.
It’s not the future we thought we’d have. We honestly thought we’d live out our days in our perfect suburban house in Canada. But then something shifted. After several trips to Europe over the past decade, we found ourselves longing for what we had left behind. Every time we returned home, a voice would whisper, “what if there’s more?”
When too many circumstances aligned, we could no longer ignore that voice. We decided to take the chance, slowly unraveling our established life, one small step at a time (pausing only for a mental breakdown once a week), then taking a deep breath and moving forward with one more shaky step. Selling our home, our vehicles, all our belongings, and heading for a life in Italy, two cats in tow.
Instead of letting life just happen, we are intentionally crafting something new. We’re asking ourselves what we truly want, what we’re passionate about, and what we’d do if nothing stood in our way.
This is our perfectly imperfect, wild and beautiful story.
Ciao, we’re Brent and Sherry. You’re probably going to meet us one day.
Just a couple of 50-somethings who decided to do something completely off script. To take a chance on us, and rewrite our story. We took our love of food, wine, and a good adventure, and turned it into a kind of late-ish midlife crisis umm….pivot.
We had the manicured suburban lawn, the Porsche in the driveway, great careers. And yet we were always counting down to something. The next weekend getaway, the next vacation, the next trip already half planned before the last one had even ended.
So one perfectly ordinary Saturday morning I turned to Brent and asked, “do you want to move to Italy?” Before I could slap my hand over my mouth, he’d already said yes.
That’s Brent. Always ready for an adventure. The first 20 years of his career were in hospitality, and his second 20 in sales management. He has spent his life making people feel taken care of, and cooking some unbelievable food along the way.
I’ve spent my life building a successful agency, creating brands, designing spaces, writing and leading teams. Both of us have one thing in common. Retirement was never on our bucket list.
So now here we are in Italy, figuring out what comes next. We know it will combine all of our lifelong passions and involve amazing food, interesting people, and a table where stories are told over a great (or not so great) bottle of wine. We hope you’l be at it.
Things we care about.
Live extraordinary
We choose to live with intention, curiosity, and a deep appreciation for life (and wine).
Find beauty in the imperfect
This life isn’t perfect, but we believe in the beauty of the moments that are messy, just like us.
create marks on our soul
We believe Bourdain said it best. Travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape you.
SET THE table
We always have a place at our table for people to share stories, food, wine, connection, and this precious. wild life.
Choose people with depth
We are choosing people who value conversations, laughter, imperfection and friendship.
show the real Italy
We believe in supporting the craft, the people, culture, language, food, history, and beauty of Italy.
As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life, and travel, leaves marks on you.
Anthony Bourdain