The Joshua Tree House with Sara & Rich Combs

Monday // August 31 // 2020

“Looking back, we began our current path by being open to change and allowed ourselves to naturally gravitate towards what excited us, or what we felt passionately about.”

Imagine going on a road trip and discovering that you were not only about to embark on a new adventure, but a completely new lifestyle. Sara and Rich Combs are the creators of The Joshua Tree House – incredible spaces and lifestyle brand made from a labor of love, creativity, and the connection with the Mojave desert.

A few months ago, we were searching for ways to come back to the rituals of life. To slow down, be present, and connect with our internal and external worlds in a new way. In a world where scrolling and connecting digitally is ever-so present, we wanted a tangible way to connect to inspiration. One of our rituals became purchasing hard-cover books from folks who inspire us. We saw that Sara and Rich wrote a book about the design and lifestyle of The Joshua Tree House. We never expected the impact the book would have on us.

For a month straight, our morning ritual was waking up, slowly brewing a fresh pot of coffee or turmeric latte, and sitting down with At Home in Joshua Tree. We loved the stories of the design and intention that went behind blending indoor and outdoor spaces; the internal and the external. We wanted to learn more about Sara and Rich’s story and so we reached out to do a Q&A interview with them.

Meet Sara and Rich…

It all started with a road trip… in your book ‘At Home in Joshua Tree’ you mentioned the story of a road trip. Can you tell us a bit about that adventure and how it led you to Joshua Tree?

Back in early 2014 we went on a road trip that changed our lives. One of our first stops on that trip was Joshua Tree, CA—a place that stuck with us as we continued to travel, and ultimately became a place we call home. One of the next stops on that same road trip was Tucson, AZ to visit Saguaro National Park. With a similar energy to JT, and what feels like a cactus jungle of wise Saguaros and Prickly Pears, we fell in love.

When did the idea for The Joshua Tree House first come about?

After living and working on the road while we searched for a place to call home, we’ve spent the past five years living in Joshua Tree while working on creative projects and growing The JTH.

As we’ve done so, we’ve fallen in love with creating spaces for people to reflect, reset, and create in. It began with individual homes in Joshua Tree, California and has now grown to also include our five suite inn in Tucson, Arizona. Our goal is to provide well designed spaces for people to stay that are immersed in nature and nearby national parks.

Did you have experience in renovation and interior design before the Joshua Tree House?

We both went to art school and have always loved interior design, though formally before creating The JTH we worked as web designers. So much of what we were designing digitally has translated to what we now do with tangible spaces. We love thinking about the ways in which we can guide people through an experience, and now playing with all of the senses has been so much fun.

As for the renovation portion, we both got our first taste of renovation in high school. We started dating sophomore year, and Rich’s family was fixing up an old home from the early 1900’s. I still remember one of our first dates, I helped carry sheetrock, haha! We both learned so much from that project, and still to this day use Rich’s dad as an endless resource for renovation knowledge.

Did you take a risk to move to Joshua Tree and start The Joshua Tree House? If so, tell us about it!

Yes, this was a huge and terrifying change for us. We had been living in San Francisco with rent control and great jobs, but we continuously felt the pull to create something of our own. We asked ourselves if what we had been doing was what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives. When the answer was no, we decided to just move forward and give it a try.

It was of course a transition, and we didn’t even know what we were leaving our jobs to create. We left without a fully formed plan because we knew that it would give us the push and urgency needed to make something happen. The risk was in not waiting, and jumping right in not knowing what was next for us.

We love how intentional you are. How have you created a lifestyle that is aligned with who you are and what you’re passionate about?

As we began our freelance careers, we started a cross-country road trip. Movement always gets our minds racing with ideas, and opens up new possibilities. It was on that road trip that we first discovered Joshua Tree National Park, and completely fell in love. As we continued to travel we couldn’t stop thinking about how magnetizing Joshua Tree was to us. The open landscape, the connection to nature, and the creative community all drew us in quickly.

Looking back, we began our current path by being open to change and allowed ourselves to naturally gravitate towards what excited us, or what we felt passionately about. Naturally from there our passions became both our business and our lifestyle.

Morning Coffee Playlist

Wednesday // June 24 // 2020

One of the things that has helped us to stay grounded during quarantine is music. We’ve started many mornings over the last few months to our ‘Morning Coffee Playlist’, even if we drink tea or turmeric lattes from time to time ;). If you’ve been struggling during these times, that is completely understandable. We hope this playlist adds feelings of hope, positivity, and peace to your day.

Cheers Legends x

Sacred Just For You: Building Trust with Yourself and Your Dreams

Tuesday // April 28 // 2020

What’s Sacred Just For You?

When we were little, we had forts, coloring books, and imaginative ideas that were sacred just for us. Not because we were trying to hide anything, we just didn’t live in a world yet where we openly shared our every move with others. We had sacred ideas, moments, and experiences, allowing us to be an entrusted friend to ourselves and our imaginative ideas.

As an adult, I kept part of that child-like sacredness with me. I would have a lot of experiences and rituals that would build my relationship and feelings of trust towards myself. The more comfortable I became with owning and sharing my truth, the more I realized that I no longer had as many moments that I kept just for me.

As we’ve been in isolation, I’ve begun integrating stronger, sacred space between my experiences and what I share with others. This has been the foundation for building a more nurturing, trusting, and celebratory relationship with myself.

The space between you, you, and others.

You’re having a moment where you make a warm cup of tea, sit and watch the trees outside your window, thinking of dreams and things you want to do. What if rather than taking a photo of it, or reaching for the phone to tell your friend about the epiphany you had, you kept that moment to yourself; a special experience between you and you. Savoring a moment and holding a sacred space allows you to take that experience deeper and discover more that your heart wants to tell you if you give it time to be.

A way to to do that is by feeling what it feels like to be present in that experience; to be with you. What it feels like to watch nature outside or connect with the ideas that are swirling in your head. Writing ideas down, or closing your eyes and connecting with them as if you’re already living them.

Making time to experience your life, ideas, and experiences just being with you will help you gain a stronger relationship with yourself.

When I travel, I journal a lot. Journaling while I’m traveling is different than when I’m at home surrounded by friends and family, on the same time zone, and just a quick phone call away. I turn to my journal as a confidant and space for my ideas, having a conversation just as I would with a friend.

I distinctly remember a time when I had about a week before my friends arrived in Greece, and I decided to go to an island by myself. I spent the days relaxing, visiting the town, and writing in my journal. These moments felt sacred. I felt like I was truly on an adventure and my relationship with myself was growing stronger every day. I was making memories with myself and felt free to express, do, or simply be.

Looking back, I cherish that time and often find that when I need to connect to myself deeper, I think back to that time in Greece. I only have a few photos from that adventure and never told a soul about the full experience. It’s something that I keep close to my heart as a fond memory with myself. I can sometimes hear my inner voice say, ‘Remember when you did that? When you were on the other side of the world walking through old streets and smelling the sweet fragrance of the blooming flowers?’ There’s a sense of peace that washes over me.

When you savor and keep a moment or experience with yourself, there’s a part in you that goes, ‘Thank you for not sharing our sacred time together, I’m glad that’s staying between us.’ The continued repetition of showing up for yourself in that way helps you to grow trust with yourself; that your dreams, ideas, and experiences are special and kept safe; sometimes our dreams are calling us back to our heart. They aren’t ready for the world to know them yet.

The space between you, your dreams, and the world.

I’ve learned over the years the importance of listening to whether our dreams and ideas are ready to be shared. There’s times when they want you to continue to grow and nurture it, perhaps grow into alignment with it, before sharing it with the world (or even with your closest friends and family). It isn’t about who you’re sharing it with at times, it’s that something sacred to the heart is now out in the world, rather than where it wants to be for the time being. Your dream wants to be seen, have room to grow, and be entrusted just with you.

You can distinguish if you aren’t ready to share your dream because you’re afraid, or if it isn’t ready to be shared yet. The main way to do this is by feeling into your body. One will feel like you are contracting, the other will feel like your dream or an energy separate to you is contracting when you think about sharing it. Our ideas and creations are separate entities to us that have an energy. The more you connect with it as a separate part of you, the more you’ll be able to listen to it.

A practice I use to have better discernment with sharing ideas, experiences, or sacred moments:

The thought to share comes in. Whether it’s before you’re on the phone with a friend, on instagram, or while you’re already in conversation.
Lean into your body and feel into your stomach or heart area. It could be any area on your body, often the part that feels connected to your intuition. Whatever it is for you is right.
While you put your hand on your stomach or heart area ask yourself the question, ‘Do you want to share this, or keep this between us right now?’
If the answer is no, honor that. If the answer is yes, proceed and share.

With anything you’re first starting to implement, there have been times when my body has gone, ‘I want to keep this between you and I,’ and I have still shared. Especially with the people in your life where you feel open and vulnerable with, this will be a good exercise in honoring the feeling of wanting to keep something sacred.

Other times when I I would feel a ‘no’, I decided to keep that thought or experience sacred and didn’t share. Instead of sharing, I breathed and allowed the thought to pass. Feelings of trust washed over me and I felt closer and connected to myself. I felt like I had my own back.

The reason I’m sharing this isn’t so that you don’t share thoughts, experiences, and ideas with your friends, family, significant other, or social media community. I am a big believer in authentic and open sharing. It’s more for those times when you have an experience that feels special and sacred to you, and your heart would like to keep that between you and you.

With that said, just because it doesn’t feel right to share right now, doesn’t mean it won’t in the future.

It’s also important to note that sometimes you may feel to share later on. Often if I have a unique experience on a retreat or during a meditation, I savor and keep that close to my heart. Then after time passes and I feel like I have integrated it, I share.

There’s no right or wrong way of doing things, it’s about growing a more connected, sacred relationship with yourself and trusting that you have your back (and your dream’s too).

Do you feel like you want to carve out more space for special, sacred experiences for yourself and your dreams? Give this a go, and tell me what you think… unless you don’t want to share. Then keep that for you 😉

Love and The Adventures In Between

Thursday // April 16 // 2020

Coming up to my 30th birthday, I always imagined I would be with my Person; the love of my life.

Every adventure felt like a game where in the back of my mind I thought, ‘Maybe this is the place I’ll meet him.’ Maybe on the deck of this ferry on my way to a Greek island, in a corner store in Vanuatu, at this retreat, or late night in a bar in Australia when the final song is playing.

My heart felt called to different places, experiences, people, and adventures. It lit up at the sound of them, and I would always have the thought bubble come in and think, I wonder if this is it. If this where we’ll cross paths.

There’s been times in my life where I felt it. It was in the times when I felt completely aligned with my soul. Planning a trip or arriving somewhere I thought, he’s here. My soul felt this excitement that I would only feel when I was about to align up with something that was meant for me.

Every adventure brought me closer to myself and the love within.

The pull of my heart to go to an island in Greece led not to my person, but to people who would quickly change my life.

The tug of an inkling that turned into a full blown leap took me to the experiences that gave me confidence in myself.

The pit in my stomach before I got on the flight to move across the world led to a journey of undiscovered purpose, people, and a place that felt like home.

The building of a festival that required every ounce of love, passion, and attention showed me the devotion I have for things that I love and that I am capable of creating something bigger than myself.

The places and cities that led me to other love and showed me the shadows and wounds that were ready to be healed; allowing me to quietly say thank you that my person hadn’t come quite yet. I had work to do.

Each time I had that pull from my heart to do something, it was meant for me. Each adventure brought me closer to myself and opened the door to something new.

While I haven’t met my person yet, I can only hope that the adventures we have are as incredible as the journey in between. I sometimes like to think that he’s out having his own adventures and life experiences, and I get a smile on my face thinking of him on his own path, wondering when mine will line up with his too.

Good Energy Playlist

Tuesday // April 14 // 2020

Music is such a powerful tool for shifting your energy.

We know this can be a hard time for a lot of you and so we wanted to bring you a playlist of some of our favorite good energy songs.

Something that has been helping us a lot lately while at home is to practice being present. In staying present and finding peace in where you are, it helps bring to light new creative ideas and a more positive mindset.

Have tools for being present or a good feels song? Pop them in the comments below.