There are lots of conferences; not all of them will help you closer to your goals. Earlier this month, I attended Alt for Everyone, a three-day virtual conference. As with any conference I consider, before I registered, I identified which of my goals I am currently working towards and how that particular conference advances them. My recap, which I'm breaking into a three-part series which will appear here over the next three Fridays, touches on what I learned at Alt for Everyone and whether my goals for attending were met.     My goals for Alt for Everyone were the same as those I had for Alt Summit SLC : learning ways to more efficiently deliver quality content and connect with other bloggers for future collaborations.   For me, Joy Cho's keynote, "The Art of Being a Goal Getter," and two sessions led by Sara Urquhart, "How to Get Paid What You're Worth" and "Working with Brands," addressed my goal of delivering quality content and reiterat...

How do two foodies celebrate Mother's Day? By getting the night before Mother's Day off from being parents and celebrating by eating on a farm.     Three weekends ago, cubes and I finally attended an Outstanding in The Field event. (The events sell out very quickly.) We headed south to Ben Lomond to Lindencroft Farm to sample the culinary wizardry of Sean Baker of Gather .     Before we arrived we were advised that there was no parking at the farm. We'd park in the neighborhood and then be shuttled up to the farm. Jeff Emery of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard and Emily Thomas of Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing had set up tables for the guests to have a glass of wine or sample beers. I'm not much of a beer drinker, and I don't do well switching between beer and wine, so we skipped the beers.     Unlike some of the other dinners, this event didn't sell out until a few days prior. I wanted this particular dinner because of the chef, Sean Baker . (When I liv...

Until this year I'd never attempted an indoor edible garden. At first thought you'd think it would be relatively challenge free. Find a sunny spot, water, nourish, and wait for the bounty. The reality of an indoor edible garden is anything but challenge free.     Last month I shared with you how Gates and I are going to tend an indoor garden this summer, starting with three Marshall Strawberry plants . Since then the plants have arrived and have been successfully transplanted.     What I had envisioned as a window sill or counter top garden was a misguided fantasy. Turns out each strawberry plant needs its own 5-gallon containers; that's roughly three feet of counter space. (We don't have enough counter space that gets more than an hour or two of direct sunlight.)     Our project moved out to the living room (a sneak peek of the almost finished space I'd just revealed) and the one corner that gets at least four hours of sunlight a day.   How f...

When I found out we were having a girl I never imagined I'd be able to dress her in vintage children's clothes. Thanks to my mom, I was able to dress Gates exclusively in dresses and jumpers from the 1970s for our trip earlier this month to New York (tune in next Monday for highlights from our trip).     Shortly after cubes and I told my mom and my dad that we were pregnant, my mom surprised me with bags of clothes that my six year old self and my three year old sister had the wisdom to label as special and worth keeping. (After college, both my sister and I repeatedly told my mom to discard the clothes. Boy am I now glad she didn't listen. I mean, how cute is Gates in these dresses?)     For our New York trip, I first packed casual clothes that if they got soiled I wouldn't care about. But, as we were ready to go out the door, I realized that if the weather was hot none of the cotton knit onesies would be light enough. I quickly rummaged through a bag of our sav...

It's said your life will change with a child. What no one says is that it's not one change, it's a constant stream of daily changes. No day is the same.     When you're tired, it's easy to look around and just see what remains to be done. Toys scattered across the floor. Files that have been toppled from the table. Supplies that have been upended. It's easy to forget the hours of smiles. Of creativity. Of love.     As Gates gets older, she'll be fourteen months next weekend, she engages her environment and us much more. This engagement requires our full attention. She's fast and curious. In the time it takes to compose a 140 character tweet and push publish, she'll have scaled the back of the couch and be casually tossing a leg over the back to imitate what her cousin Elijah did.     In parallel with her increased activity, Gates is napping less. This means there's fewer quiet moments during the day to pause and catch one's breath. When...

Work/Life balance. A term bandied about as if by saying it enough times, one can attain it. Do we hope that like Dorothy, if we click our heels together and say Work/Life balance three times we'll return to Kansas?   I don't know about you, but conferences always bring Work/Life balance front and center for me. I leave them energized and filled with ideas. And then. Reality hits. The list of ideas looks like an anchor. I'm overwhelmed; zapped of any inertia I left the conference with.   So this time I'm doing it differently! I'm going to let go of what I'm not doing (or getting to) and enjoy the moment. I'm going to live the pretty.     How do you find balance? Do you occasionally focus on the pretty?  

This summer we're spending quality time together as a family and participating in the 2013 Summer Bucket List Challenge to ensure we do. Often people think summer means expensive trips. It doesn't have to be that. Join me and others tonight, Wednesday, May 22 2013 at 6:00PM Pacific/8:00PM Central/9:00PM Eastern on Pinterest for a dose of inspiration.     Want to spend quality time together and have the chance to win amazing prizes? Oh... and participate for FREE? There's still time to join us. So far, over 3,100 families have taken the Summer Bucket List Challenge . Simply register and you'll get tips for creating your list and staying motivated while having the chance to get prizes.   How are you spending your summer? Join our Pin Party tonight and show us!   Along with me, Jenny of The Happy Family Movement ; Ellie of Creative Geekery Blog ; Jennifer of Jennifer Witt | The Blog ; Anna-Leigh of My Lens is Ruby Red ; Casey of Phreckle Face Photography ; Megan ...

One of the first people I met in person at Alt Summit SLC was Amy Christie of This Heart of Mine . We first chatted at the Hello Social and then I saw her everywhere throughout the conference. I'm a big believer in coincidences not just randomly happening. And when she started #NowHereThis I knew you would want to meet her too.     Amy's personality fills any room she's in. Her blog, "the place where all the things [she] love[s] come together," captures this and often brightens my day. If you haven't met her yet, after reading her interview, head over to her welcome page and settle in for awhile. Be cautioned that your face might hurt a little from smiling so much. -Eden!   1. How do you define The Good Life? The Good Life is a mix of it all - the good, the bad, work, play, joy, pain, learning, teaching, crying, laughing. The Good Life is being fulfilled by who and what you fill your life with. The Good Life is figuring out what makes you happy and makin...

It's easy to critique. To armchair quarterback. To reflect. It's harder to start. To go for it. To push through. This week's mantra is for those times when the start is rocky and we don't yet see the summit.     One of my favorite movies is Hope Floats (*affiliate link) with Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick Jr. I don't know why exactly I love it and its soundtrack (*affiliate link), but I do. Maybe I love it so much because it was filmed in Texas when I lived there, and because I saw Sandra Bullock once in the produce aisle at my local Randall's. Or, maybe it's stayed in my DVD collection across multiple states because when I first watched it I was in need of a second chance of hope. That might explain why one of three quotes (you'll have to wait until another day for the others) that's always stuck with me is about chances:   " You think life goes on forever? You think behind every chance there's another chance and another one and anot...

In college, I always had a freezer bursting at the seams with homemade bean soups and sauces. And, for awhile, cubes and I had a fully stocked freezer. Then, pregnancy happened and I had no energy after a full day to cook. Now, a year after Gates was born, I feel like we're getting the hang of things. How do I know? Our freezer is almost full.     Little did my husband or I know how last month's theme, Local Eating, would impact our lives. Now, in all fairness, my mindful eating kick started last month when I challenged myself to a Spring HaveNotWant Challenge and realized the majority of our unnecessary expenditures were from ordering delivery multiple times a week.   Once we ran the numbers of a CSA box, we realized we'd be getting higher quality produce for less than we were spending at our local Safeway. We immediately decided it made sense both for the Local Eating theme and our budget cutting to sign up through Farmigo at cubes' office. At the same time, I me...

When you get stressed, what do you reach for? Me? I go for comfort food, specifically those meals my mom made when I was growing up and was studying for and worrying about an upcoming test. For a few years now, I've been on a mission to recreate some of her dishes. Today I share one of the dishes I've finally perfected.     Recently I was craving my mom's Beef Stroganoff. She used to make it a couple of nights after she served the family roast for dinner. I have yet to be able to get a roast moist enough that it doesn't get tough when used as leftovers in stroganoff, so I was excited to come across a recipe that I can make successfully. How does this recipe do? It gets a 3 out of 3 according to my three criteria: budget friendly, super easy to make, and flavorful. Cost: $14.50 for four servings, or $3.63 a person. Effort: Medium. The only trick with this recipe is not burning the flour or curdling the sour cream. Taste: Great, very close to the original dairy mea...

I've been searching for curtains for the dining room for awhile now. I'd love for them to have handwritten text, but I'm having a hard time finding what's in my head. Maybe that's why I was drawn in by Paprika's curtains last week.     What do you think of curtains with poetry or love letters?   With Paprika's curtains, I like the color contrast of the words with the main fabric. I also like the spacing of the text, enough that the text is a focal point. They're similar to what I've been dreaming of, although I was hoping to find a set with the curtain in orange, purple, or blue and the text in white.   So far, I've found sheers in neutrals. I'm wondering if I can hang the neutral sheers over a color curtain or if the text would get lost. What do you think?   The Finds ( left clockwise ) : Drapes with love letters (*affiliate link) from Amazon and French-style script curtains (*affiliate link) in Ivory with Grey Text or Natural wi...

This month while we introduce Gates to her paternal great grandmother and hang with family a couple of my friends are joining me on the blog. My last guest blogger is Mindy from Budget Fairy Tale . Mindy and I met during an Alt Channel class. Alt Summit SLC isn't crazy big, but we almost missed an in-person connection. As luck would have it, we ran into each other at the Friday night parties, Mindy coming to my rescue for ideas for dairy-free food options. Mindy is one of the sweetest people I know, please give her a warm welcome. -Eden!     Hi, my name is Mindy and I blog at Budget Fairy Tale , where I tell the story of my life as an ordinary girl, trying to live the princess lifestyle the best I can! I'm so happy Eden has invited me to guest post on The Road to the Good Life to tell you all about my hometown - Los Angeles. Everyone thinks of Los Angeles as all beaches and movie stars, but it's so much more than that. Here are some of my favorite low-key and budget-fr...

It's important to us that Gates values experiences over things, that she's happy with what she has and not mindlessly chasing wants. So, to start a tradition of choosing summer activities that involve the whole family, we're participating in The Happy Family Movement's 2013 Summer Bucket List Challenge .     By "we" I don't mean just our immediate family. I'm also including my parents who live nearby and my sister.   Why a summer bucket list with a toddler? Because good habits start young. Also, unless you list out the things you want to experience, the time to do those things may have come and gone.   Some context before I get to our bucket list. My parents live nearby and care for Gates four days a week. With this arrangement, it's easy to overlook quality family time. When I quit my job in December, cubes and I opted not to go away to Monterrey over the winter holidays. It wasn't until I was looking to include my parents in our family ou...

Gates has taken over The Station; it's no longer cubes' and my flat, but our family's flat. Her toys and books are in every space. Most of Wednesdays are spent cruising back and forth between in the front room and her room chasing SpriteKat or retrieving toys or books. I still can't believe I ever thought I could make our one bedroom Edwardian apartment work.     While never one to sit still, motoring at a very early age, Gates is now constantly on the go. Some mornings we're barely able to keep up with her as she's up and chanting "Go Go" before we've had our first sips of coffee. (My parents probably appreciate on those early mornings that we try to keep Gates occupied before heading out the door at a more reasonable hour.) Wondering how I got her to sit still for this month's portrait? I used her love of cameras, giving her one of my vintage cameras that I use occasionally as a prop.     One of the highlights of April was Gates' firs...