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Jennifer Harris Owens

@jlhusc1994

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“If we were meant to stay in one place, we would have roots instead of feet"

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by @jlhusc1994

Today’s passion project: my Tree of Life. 🌳❤️

I felt compelled to share the story behind it, because this wooden tree carries more than a century of Harris family history.

In the late 1800s, my great-grandmother saw a similar wooden Christmas tree in Ladies’ Home Journal and asked my great-grandfather, a wonderful carpenter, to make one for her. He did—and eventually made one for each of their five daughters.

A generation later, my grandmother asked my grandfather to make one for her. After several attempts, he figured it out, and eventually a family tradition was born: when you got married, Grandpa made you a tree.

As a teenager, apparently not optimistic about my marriage prospects 😂, I begged him to make mine early. His answer was always, “Nope. You have to be married.”

What I didn’t know was that years later, he had quietly started making one for me as a surprise for my college graduation.

He passed away just weeks before I walked across the stage.

Unbeknownst to me, my unfinished tree was sitting in his workshop.

My dad knew about it and took it upon himself to finish what Grandpa had started. There was no pattern or set of instructions, and Dad had never been shown how it went together. He simply studied what was there and figured it out.

My first year out of college, in my first apartment in Dallas, Dad drove it from Los Angeles to Dallas and surprised me with it just in time for Christmas.

I’ve treasured it ever since.

I love it too much to only see it in December. It carries the hands of my great-grandfather, my grandfather and my dad—generations of family, tradition and love. And maybe most meaningful of all, the reminder that sometimes one generation finishes what another began.

For years, I’ve searched for a way to make it part of my everyday life.

I think I finally hit the mark.

The Harris Family Tree of Life. 🌳 by @jlhusc1994

Mint Chip is my love language!!

Y’all, I spent 25 years in Dallas before moving to the Twin Cities in 2018, and I made the most beautiful, lasting friendships along the way. I flew back into Dallas for business right around my birthday, so I extended my trip and arranged a few visits with old friends.

When I arrived at my girlfriend Jen’s home, she had the most gorgeous table set for a little celebration brunch. Jen and I are cut from the same cloth…we’re both in the hospitality business and we serve from the bottom of our hearts. We get our joy from creating surprise and delight for clients and the people we love.

Jen took her turn on me. She reached out to my daughter and found out that I LOVE Mint Chip (aka Peppermint Bon Bon) ice cream and made the most incredible ice cream pie for dessert, topped with a Dolly Parton candle. It was memorable. It was special. It was so her.

Going the extra mile is easier than you think. Find out someone’s favorite dessert. Their go-to drink. What makes them feel celebrated. Jen doesn’t even know my daughter well, but that didn’t stop her, she found her on social media to inquire about my favorite dessert.

That’s hospitality. That’s what it means to host from the heart. 💚 🥧 by @jlhusc1994

Vacation loading 🫶🏼 by @jlhusc1994

by @jlhusc1994

One of the most extraordinary landscapes in Texas is at risk — and most people don’t even know it. For those of you who don’t know, I lived along the Rio Grande in Lajitas, tucked between Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park, from spring 2020 through January 2023 — aka the COVID years.

It’s one of the most remote places I’ve ever lived. The closest I’ve come to truly off-grid living.

If it could sting, bite, or prick you, I assure you… it thrived there.

Grocery store? 100 miles one way.
Cell service? Spotty at best.
Airport? About 9 hours round trip.

And yet the Big Bend region is unbelievably peaceful, with a rugged beauty that can stop you in your tracks.
The sky feels endless — deeper blues, brighter stars, and sunsets that seem to last forever.

It’s the kind of place that strips life down to the essentials and reminds you how small you are in the best possible way.

Which is why it’s heartbreaking to see this region once again facing the possibility of a border wall being built through this fragile landscape.

A wall here would disrupt wildlife migration, alter the natural course of the Rio Grande, and significantly impact the small local economy that depends on tourism and conservation.

If this place means something to you — or if you simply believe some landscapes are too special to lose — please consider calling or writing your state and U.S. representatives and asking them to protect the Big Bend region from border wall construction. Some places change you.
Big Bend did that for me.

#BigBend #RioGrande #ProtectBigBend #WestTexas #TexasSkies by @jlhusc1994

Celebrating our lovely big red FLOOF Abigail Rose’s 8th birthday. Shes brought us so much love and heartache and laughter. by @jlhusc1994

by @jlhusc1994

by @jlhusc1994

by @jlhusc1994

Chicken selfie. When you accidentally leave your phone “on” #backyardchickens by @jlhusc1994

My brother in law serenaded his new husband moments after taking tgeir vows. This, his first time ever singing Nessun dorma by #puccini. We’d never heard him sing opera, EVER! Needless to say there wasnt a dry eye in the house. Such an incredible gift @matthewliamofficial
#wedding #ranchwedding #opera #pucciniopera #texaswedding #backyardwedding #sunsetserenade #sunset by @jlhusc1994