Little Things We Love
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Learning How to Self-Parent
For a couple years in my mid thirties, I thought I had it all – everything that I understood to mean success, accomplishment, and external happiness. Lots of things looked good on the outside: I was a junior partner at a growing engineering firm and we had a nice house in a great neighborhood. I […]
Family Travel Gift Ideas
Last month, we sold our Dallas ranch house and ventured off to live as Americans in Freiburg, Germany, taking the long way with two dogs and the majority of our lives’ belongings in six suitcases. It all seems more like a dream to me as, before this big adventure, air travel was hardly our thing. […]
Welcome to our place to chronicle our adventures in learning to live more open-heartedly with each other, our daughter, a menagerie of pets and the world as we create a home that’s an oasis for our family’s authenticity and creativity.
Posts That Mean A lot To Us
OPEN HEARTED HOME BLOG
Q&A: Moving to Freiburg, Germany
What a chapter of life! A few weeks ago, we shared on Instagram that we were selling our family home (the same one that inspired the beginning of this blog!) and moving to Freiburg, Germany. We’ve had so many questions about our move, and it’s been unfolding more and more ever since we put the […]
Creative Family Activities for The Artist’s Way Parents
“Parenting is a great adventure. Awakening your child’s sense of curiosity and wonder helps you awaken your own. Reawakening your own sense of curiosity and wonder helps awaken your child’s.” Julia Cameron Almost five years ago now, I was in need of some redirecting out of busyness and (my hope was) onto a more fulfilling, […]
Gatlinburg with Kids: Dollywood, Hiking Trail Guides and More!
There’s so many places I can’t wait to see in the world, yet the top of my travel bucket list these days are the spots I went to when I was my daughter’s current age. My ancestry is from the Tennessee Valley, and I love how Tennessee tourism has created amazing ways for families to […]
Pick-Your-Own Farms to Visit Near Dallas
Summer reminds me of my Kentucky upbringing, when we played outside from sun up to chasing lightning bugs after sun down, where I walked the big hill behind my grandmother’s house to her garden where her vegetables grew until they were ready for canning. It’s that spirit that makes me eager each year to use […]
The Best Ethnic Grocery Stores in Dallas
My family tree’s roots go deep through Irish and Welsh bloodlines, and the dinner tables of my childhood often reflected it with delicious nightly meals of meat, potatoes, bread and butter. It’s soul food to me, and so good that I have rarely branched out into other flavors in food and, with that, ethnic grocery […]
The Best Mother’s Day Gifts on Etsy
Y’all, the day is almost here. It’s not close but it’s not far off either, and I vote that we begin talking about it. Parents, like all humans on Earth, have had it rough for the past year. Moms have lost their jobs at the highest numbers in our economy during the pandemic while they’ve […]
How to Naturally Dye Easter Eggs
Did you know you can naturally dye Easter eggs? It’s crazy to think last Easter I was trying to find items curbside and hoping the stores had enough food to pull off any type of special breakfast for the three of us at home. Traditions seemed to halt in an instant. Just taking one year […]
The Best Handmade Gifts for Kids on Etsy
One thing I really enjoy is being around children. Whether I’m getting to enjoy the company of children at one of my art parties in Dallas, getting to spend precious time with my nieces and nephew and, of course, being with my daughter, I find getting really present with a child reminds me that there […]
The 10 Best Craft Supplies for Kids (& 33 Crafts to Try!)
At my daughter’s fifth birthday party, I was delighted to see that a friend of mine had gifted the birthday girl a craft kit. The kit included all of the art supplies for kids to make a “yarn llama,” which felt like a delightful intersection of our interests in art and animals. I threw it […]
Our Family Chore Chart Template and How to Encourage Family Chores
A few years ago, I was facing burn out and took a much-needed sabbatical, leaving full-time work for a more rewarding part-time job and, with that, more open time to consider my legacy and the type of work I felt called to do. Quickly, the concept of open time became a fantasy. Like Cinderella being […]
How to Dye Fabric with Avocados
I’m so excited to introduce you to one of my favorite artists today. Almost a year and a half ago, I was chomping at the bit to try traditional Shibori dyeing. I had tried some various Shibori binding methods with traditional dyes and wanted to know more. I never expected on my search that I […]
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