Hi, I’m Alana. Welcome and come wander with us.
Over the years, my husband (Nenad) and I have been getting back to basics and our roots. Growing up as first-generation Americans, we were always a little different. My family is from Ukraine, and Nenad is from Serbia.
I spent a lot of time in the kitchen when I was younger. I learned a lot about cooking traditional Russian food and canning and fermenting vegetables.
Nenad spent most of his childhood in Serbia and the Balkan region. His most cherished memories were the times spent living in the mountains with his family. In Serbia, he helped on the farm, garden, and tend to the animals. He always had plans to live permanently in Serbia, but he met me.
Throughout our 14 years together, we always agreed that visiting Europe would be a priority, as we had grown up traveling all over with our family. In 2017, we took a trip to Serbia and were reminded of all the things we could bring back into our daily lives from our childhood, plus a little more.
Fast-forward to 2019, plagued by the daily grind and longing for an adventure in Europe. With our son being one, we decided this was the perfect time to travel. I quit my full-time job as a market researcher, and Nenad parked his semi-truck. I organized our trip, and we packed up to travel around the Balkan region for six months.
This trip changed our lives.
It not only brought us closer but awakened us to reevaluate what we want out of our lives and how we want to raise our children. It taught us to be patient and flexible, especially traveling with a toddler. Most importantly, it solidified our need to get back to basics and make sure we set up our children to be more self-sufficient and less reliant on the comforts of the 21st century.
Since this adventure, we returned to the states and dove deeper into a new lifestyle. We decided to relocate from Chicago to North Texas and focus our days on being positive and living every day with intention.
We concentrate on living a cleaner and more holistic lifestyle. My market research background has helped, as I spend hours researching holistic remedies, herbal medicines, clean water, clean home swaps, evaluating our food, and limiting our chemical exposure. Realizing we can’t control everything, we can at least control what we expose ourselves to in our household and what we put in our bodies.
Not only are we setting our children up for success as future adults, but in writing this blog, I can share our daily lives and hopefully inspire a few people along the way.
