A couple of weeks ago, I began tackling the unpacking of our bedroom. Now, I'm considering a throw rug to make the space cozier. This might be a space where typography would work. Today I round up some of the currently available script options.     When we moved into The Station (our name for our Railroad flat), I'd set a goal of a room a month. How'd I do? Well, we've been in our flat since early May and it's now almost November, so six rooms should be complete (the entire flat basically). The Kitchen is complete: one room. Gates' nursery is almost complete (all that remains to do is to hang black out curtains): two rooms. Bathroom is organized: three rooms. 50% there! Finally, I get to focus on decorating our bedroom!   I had an exercise this summer in my Do What You Love for Life ecourse that had us thinking about and sharing the spaces where we get inspired. One space for me is the kitchen table and another the desk in our front parlor (at least until...

Yesterday, I accidentally discovered the best non-dairy hot chocolate recipe. How you ask? Easy. While I was making chocolate mousse for my last Souvenir Foto School assignment.     Our class started with a chocolate mousse recipe made from cream, bittersweet chocolate chips, and honey. When I saw the recipe, I knew immediately I'd be reinterpreting it. With a baby in the house we don't have any honey in the pantry; swap light Agave. I'm allergic to dairy, so swap coconut milk (not the stuff that comes in boxes, but the thick coconut milk from Thailand that comes in cans) and baker's chocolate with a little maple syrup for the bittersweet chocolate chips.   Vegan Hot Chocolate or Chocolate Mousse 1 1/2 cups, Mae Ploy Coconut Milk 1 Scharffen Berger Unsweetened Dark Chocolate (99% Cacao) Baking Bar, finely grated 3 Tablespoon (Tbsp) Light Agave Nectar 1 Tablespoon (Tbsp) Maple Syrup 1 Tablespoon (Tbsp) Mandarin Orange juice, freshly squeezed Heat coconut milk ove...

It's said that money won't buy happiness. Yet, the US economy is fueled by consumer spending. More pointedly by ego -- the constant need to keep up with "The Joneses." Find out if you're immune.     In November, join me as I turn the focus inward as I make a conscious decision to be happy with what I have and challenge myself to be a mindful consumer. I was inspired to take the Mindful Consumption Challenge by Katie of Modern Eve , who in turn was inspired by Joselyn of Simply Lovely . I hope you'll be likewise moved.   Why November? A month where Black Friday and Cyber Monday signal incredible shopping? Amazing deals? Unheard of "savings"?   I'm choosing November because "I need" "I want" shouldn't overshadow giving thanks.   Can you be happy with what you have? Are you immune to ads, to blogs suggesting you need more?   Join me in being thankful for what we have today. Let's let go of expectations that maybe w...

Everyone says the best camera is the one you have with you. And, that camera is usually a phone. But, even though your go to camera is a phone, you still need to regularly back up your photos.   You do have a back up plan; don't you?   Apple makes it easy for us to become complacent. How? Syncing our photos across devices: our iPhone, our iPad, our MacBook Pro. With services like MobileMe and now iCloud, it's easy to assume those photos live in the cloud and are backed up by others. Wrong assumption. At least, in my case. For some photos, I have thumbnails in iPhoto, but, no image file. For others, nothing. Our mini-moon in Calistoga; gone. A super secret wedding in PDX at Voodoo Donuts; gone. All discovered MIA when I went searching yesterday for a photo of a cup of hot cocoa. (I *really* need Adobe Lightroom, but I'll save that discussion for another post.)   You'd think after experiencing a hard drive failure and near miss loss of all my photos that I'd be b...

On Thursday, Gates had her six month check up at the Pediatrician. It's now time for baby proofing (like yesterday it turns out) and for solid foods. Here's a snapshot of what Gates was up to leading up to her six month birthday and how our lives continue to change.     At the beginning of September, Gates and I had a mini- staycation while cubes went to Portland for XOXO, increasing my already high respect for single parents. I had my hands full, and I wasn't even dealing with commutes and work!   When people say babies change fast, they're not kidding. Here's what Gates was up to before she celebrated her six month birthday on October 2nd (basically it's how she spent September). Less than a week after turning five months, Gates began feeding herself. She now reaches the turtle on her rocker and pulls him to play music. Play covers almost the entire bedroom floor; the play gym is a distant memory (dismantled and removed from the nursery after Gates learned...

October's been a busy month with three and sometimes four concurrent classes. One of the classes, Souvenir Foto School , has me transforming our kitchen into a studio each Saturday, and cubes and I eating at least one homecooked meal a week.     Each week begins with the assignment. From Monday until Saturday, I scour the house for inspiration and gather props. Saturday morning before breakfast I set up my tripod and pull my gear out of the closet--a few camera bodies and a variety of prime and zoom lenses. After breakfast, I purchase the ingredients and make or plate the ingredients and the assigned dish. Early Saturday afternoon I shoot various set ups, creating a disaster in the kitchen. I clear off the table, and we sit down to eat the food. Then I clean and process the photos--an all day affair.     You can view the complete set of shots I took for my Souvenir Foto School assignments on Flickr . Sadly, we only have one more assignment and then the class is f...

I didn't post a scramble last week, but it wasn't because I was still solving the previous week's scramble . The reason the scramble was late? Finding the "right" mantra to start.     I've got one complete set of magnetic letters (a set of capital letters borrowed from Gates' Fisher Price School Days Play Desk ). I added magnetic letters from a few other sets so that I could create sentences. I'd thought that I had enough consonants -- or at least two of each consonant -- but I was wrong. At the moment, I only have one "H."   For me, each week's mantra needs to be positive. This means not only am I constrained by the available letters and the dimensions of the three magnetic message boards, but I'm also limited in the words I chose from.   Ever find yourself challenged by a "simple" game?     Numerous false starts later, I finally have a mantra for this week's challenge: " Do not fear mistakes; that is what ma...

After Saturday's photo shoot for Souvenir Foto School , I had lots of heirloom tomatoes and basil left over. What do you do with left over props from a food photography session? Eat them of course!     For dinner on Sunday, I decided to top our Salmon with a tomato salsa. While I processed photos for my homework, cubes popped the Salmon in the oven and whipped up the salsa. Not only did the salsa brighten up the plate, it tasted great too! Here's the recipe.   Pineapple Tomato Salsa Recipe 1 cup pineapple, diced 1 1/2 cup, tomatoes (3 large plum), diced 1 to 2 Serrano chiles, seeds & stem removed, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped 2-3 Tablespoon (Tbsp) fresh lime juice to taste 1 Tablespoon (Tbsp) olive oil 1/4 cup chopped basil, packed Salt & pepper to taste When picking your tomatoes, choose a variety of colors to contrast with the yellow of the pineapple, for example, a greenish red and an orange tomato. Also, select canned pineapple that's in natural j...

FeedBurner may or may not be going away. So, when do you move your subscribers off FeedBurner? Or, do you? If you do, how do you choose a new service? Today I share some tips.     In case you missed what started the hysteria, Google announced it was removing AdSense from RSS feeds by December 3rd, beginning October 2nd. At the same time, they quietly set a date of October 20, 2012 --two days from now--for the shutdown of the FeedBurner API. (They'd announced earlier that as of May 26, 2011 the API was deprecated but hadn't set a shutdown date at that time.)   What does this mean? Think of FeedBurner like a person. The API is FeedBurner's brain; it subscribes your readers, sends them daily updates, and presents that data to you. Last May, a doctor gave us bad news about FeedBurner; FeedBurner was in a coma and it didn't look like it was going to make it. FeedBurner still hasn't woken up; in two days, the doctor will be removing life support.   Earlier this month...

All my passions and endeavors can be captured by three words, and so can yours. In three words, you know what I'm about, and I know what you're about.     What I'm about: Simplify. Find the heart of what you love. Fancify. Take it to the next level. Intensify. Pursue passionately.   If you have ever been interviewed by me, you'll know "Describe yourself in three words or less" is a go to question for me. I may switch the focus a little, but each interview starts with it. Where I go from there depends on how well you answer.   The answer to this question is 100% correlated to whether you'll be a good hire. People who struggled to answer and were hired have averaged about eight months before they found another job. (I'm surprised by how many sales people are unable to sum up what they're about -- their value proposition -- into three words.)   Why do I believe three words are so powerful? Because I feel in a landscape of commoditized products ...

One of my favorite spots in The Mission is Farina. Last night we dined there for their Vincoloa Benanti: Unique Wines from Sicily wine dinner.     This month my husband and I have been spoiled -- not one, but three dinners out. October is a big month in our house: our wedding anniversary and cubes' birthday. cubes' birthday is tomorrow, so last night's dinner at Farina was an early celebration.   We've primarily been drinking red wine lately, so we considered the two offered reds: a 2005 Rovitello and a 2000 Serra Della Contessa. (We did the same at Farina's last winemaker's dinner.) Our waiter brought us tastes of each; we selected a bottle of the Serra Della Contessa. Both reds had a hint of spice, the one we chose had a more nuanced finish.   cubes and I opted to split two appetizers, a pasta course, and a main dish. We usually order way too much food, so this approach was a first for us at Farina. The meal started with Flori di zucca ripeni con carciofi...

Familiar with the adage "Walk a million miles in his shoes?" One of my October classes, Souvenir Foto School , has given me a new found respect for one of my favorite bloggers, Claire Gallam of The Realistic Nutritionist .     There's lots to love about Claire, even if you're not a cook. Claire is "a Southern soul born in the Midwest," and I think that's why I love her.   How do you find new blogs to follow? What are some of your favorite blogs?   I first discovered Claire via Twitter as she prepared for her wedding in March 2011. What piqued my interest was her deprecating self wit, humility, and generosity. I quickly added her blog to my RSS Reader and her page to my Facebook feed. When I got addicted to Instagram, I started following her there as well. Trust me, if you don't know Claire, once you feast your eyes on her recipe creations you will want to know her.   If you follow Claire on Instagram (@RealNutritionCG) , you'll see a steady ...

Ever really been alone with yourself? You can learn a lot when you travel cross country by yourself with no radio, no distractions. I did just that the Summer of 2003.     I promised to share the story behind why my blog is called "The Road to the Good Life," so here goes.   In the summer of 2003, I was offered an internship in San Diego. I packed up my stuff and started driving cross country from Michigan by way of Texas. When I hit the road, I didn't have a place to live. And after I left Houston, Texas, I was driving alone. I now had a potential apartment lined up, but no real plan other than showing up for work in less than five days.   From Texas to California, I picked places to stay based on when I was tired and needed to call it a night. I covered the distance between Texas and California in under two and a half days, arriving in La Jolla early. (My competitive streak in full force here after a couple of male friends stated it was a known fact guys could ...

Focus. At work. In life. Here on the blog. Five letters: simple to say or to write. Doesn't take up much space on the page. Yet, hard to put into practice. Enter Blogging Your Way Workshop .     It's easy to get caught up in the every day hustle and bustle. The flow of events unfolding just picks us up and moves us along. We get complacent; we drift. Sometimes, we drift so far we no longer recognize where we are.   I have many passions. Like most, I don't have unlimited time to pursue all of them. I can tread water, hopping from hobby to hobby, or I can focus and really hone a skill. This month, I'm trying focus.   The doors to Blogging Your Way Workshop opened on Monday, with Holly Becker kicking off the workshop talking about how to write blog posts that reach your audience. Her first two tips? Identify priorities and focus.   For the past six months, I've been struggling with how to clearly articulate the focus of my blog. I know, Marketing is my job, I s...

Come Friday there seem to be more people on BART. If I change trains at 24th Mission there's a high probability that I'll be standing until Daly City. What's a girl to do? Choose stylish comfortable shoes.   The Finds (top clockwise) : Jodell Pump, $94.95 ; Vermont Terrace, $140 ; and Jodell Oxford Pump, $79.99 . Paperdoll is wearing: Long-sleeved Cashmere Turtleneck, $103.99 ; Stella Regular Fit Slim Flare Leg Jean, $79.90 ; and Vermont Terrace Pumps, $140 .   Our office has a casual dress code every day, not just on Fridays. I like to dress up Monday through Thursday. Friday, the trains are more crowded so I go for comfort with either Mary Janes or oxfords. I've got two pairs in brown and two pairs in black with different heel heights to match regular and short jeans. I'm excited that the weather's getting a chill in the air; it's time to unpack my merino wool and cashmere sweaters.   Do you choose your shoes to match your pant length?   Ciao Bella! Ede...

Downtown San Francisco in the 1980s. Women in power suits. Pantyhose. Tube socks. Athletic shoes. Fashion disconnect. At least outside of the office. Once at work, athletic shoes were traded for stylish, impractical pumps. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I believe, like my grandmother did, shoes should be made for walking.     Go anywhere with my grandmother and she would cluck her tongue. Visiting my grandfather's office with her at lunch, I'd frequently see her shaking her head as women walked by. She frequently traveled to Europe with my grandfather, so she had a different view when it came to fashion. For her, athletic shoes or Tevas branded you as a dirty American. So when I visited Paris years ago I went to her for fashion guidance. Her advice was simple (and accurate -- Parisians didn't think I was with the group of American tourists).   How not to look like an American Never look like you don't care. Fix buttons, strings, holes, torn hems, and so on before you ...

For me, September conjures images of school desks and to do lists. This year was no different. Ok, maybe a little different. This September, I discovered Alt Channel and a perception mismatch.     A couple of years ago I signed up for Blogging Your Way , then co-taught by Holly Becker of Decor8 and Leslie Shewring of A Creative Mint . At the time, I was looking for inspiration that I could extrapolate for my company's network monitoring blog. (We'd hit a plateau with our readers and despite consistent content our repeat visitor statistics were trending down.) I left the class with lots of ideas, as well as confirmation of a few intuitions, and a reignited passion for learning.     Flash forward to September this year. In preparation for getting ready to go to Alt Summit SLC in January, I was scouring their site for tips and tricks. I discovered Alt Channel , an amazing bounty of people sharing their expertise on branding, SEO, and more. I signed up for every cla...

On every corner there's either a grocery or a liquor store. One doesn't have to walk very far to satisfy a gastronomic craving. Saturday a class sent me on a scavenger hunt to the Italian market a few blocks from home. On Saturday, I woke up excited to make fresh flatbread to photograph. After reading through the recipe -- and still not trusting our gas oven to maintain an even temperature -- I opted to shoot fresh-from-the-bakery items. Now if you know anything about bakeries in The Mission you'll know that they run out of ingredients around noon. What time did I head out? After 1 pm. Of course, Arizmendi Bakery did not have flatbread left. A light went on. Lucca Ravioli Co might have foccaccia. Now, you're probably wondering why there would be an Italian market in The Mission. The Mission is synonymous with Taquerias. It wasn't always that way. Italian immigrants lived in North Beach and in The Mission. As I was told growing up, Italians did business on a hand...

If you firmly believe in never using more than two fonts, avert your eyes. I have at least two different serif and san serif fonts. There's also some kerning issues as some of the magnets weren't very strong.     Last month I began playing with a set of magnetic letters. Starting with 4 vowels and 8 consonants , I wanted to see how many combinations I could make with no letters left over.   I'd initially thought I could exhaust all of the possibilities in seven days; I was wrong.     I'm adding a new rule. New letters every Sunday, even if there are still possible combinations that haven't been explored. (If you'd like to play along, you can check out the rest of the rules here .)   For this week's challenge, I decided to start with a motto. I thought " Take the mind; fill and repeat often " summed up the crazy class schedule I committed to for October.   Do you start your week with a mantra?   Ciao Bella! Eden   Credits: All layouts desig...

It's official. I love ruby red grapefruit (or any citrus for that matter) in my salad. Last night we again paired ruby red grapefruit with arugula.   When cubes' dad visited earlier in the year, I discovered I'd picked up arugula instead of spinach. Not one to panic, I simply reached for my trusty copy of The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs (* affiliate link ) and discovered I had ingredients in the fridge and pantry that would work with arugula. We enjoyed the salad so much, that I stopped by Sprouts yesterday and picked up more ruby red grapefruit. Here's the salad that we served cubes' dad and that we enjoyed last night.   4 cups Arugula 1/2 Ruby Red Grapefruit, peeled and divided 1 ripe Avocado, sliced 1 Tablespoon (Tbsp) capers, rinsed 4 ounces Roquefort cheese, crumbled Optional 1/4 cup walnut halves 3 Tablespoons (Tbsp) Annie's Naturals Shiitake and Sesame Dress...

Outfits with multiple colors give you more styling choices. Simply swap out accessories, black leather purse and boots with a brown leather purse and shoes, for lots of options. Here are two looks inspired by a dress I just added to my wardrobe.   The Finds: Long Sleeve Empire Waist Mid-Thigh Dress, $73 . Black accessories: Vintage Revival Flap, $198 , and RD4100 Boots, $124 . Brown accessories: Leather Messenger Bag, $150 , and Merino Wool Tights, $22 , and "Lyon 08" Pump, $144.95 .   With the exception of the tights (which I love -- easy to clean, long lasting, and super warm), I pulled my versions of these looks (check out Monday's In My Closet post) together by visits to thrift shops, from eBay sales, and at clothing swaps . When thrifting I try to find well known, quality brands. Both my commute bags are authentic Coach bags.   I started frequenting thrift shops when we began planning our wedding. The primary reason wasn't to save money, rather I was shocke...

It's easy to become fixated on numbers; FeedBurner's hiccup with subscriber counts was a wake up call. If you're obsessed with numbers you're doing it wrong. Instead, focus on why readers subscribe to your blog and the numbers will come -- whether you can see them or not.     A funny thing happened when Feedburner's subscriber counts dropped to 0 for everyone . Panic. For me? No, life went on. I just temporarily deleted the widget. The funny thing came after the counts were restored and I went to add back the widget.   Somehow I had two -- not one, but two Feedburner feeds -- for my blog. One feed had a steady base of two to three subscribers; this was the feed originally reported on my blog. The other feed -- the one I wasn't aware of -- had more subscribers.   Did the low number of subscribers influence me? Yes. Because people follow me, I want to deliver consistent, well-thought out, quality posts. Sometimes I don't, life happens, but it's not becaus...

A manager's greatest fear is making a bad hire. A student's worst fear is being part of a failing team. This recommended reading conquers these fears with practical tips for finding and building great teams.     Each month I choose a topic or theme I'd like to explore in greater depth. The following month, here on the blog, I then share key takeaways. In August, it was interior design, specifically spaces in which women create . (I raided my mom's library for my picks.) In September, I reached for business management books. If this month's reading wasn't to your liking, check back next month for a topic/theme on the lighter side: food styling. Let me know if you'd like to read along with me and I'll share the books ahead of time.   Six months ago, my team really hit its groove. To amplify our impact on the organization, we added a new position and started recruiting. The books I chose were all written in the late 1990s/early 2000s and have survived mult...