I started this final post of 2013 with a hypothesis in mind when I first outlined it a couple of weeks ago. My hypothesis was that your top five most popular posts would line up pretty closely with my major life events from 2013. As I began pulling the most popular posts, I realized I'd missed the forest for the trees; I'd ignored 2012, looking at 2013 as a whole--a journey.     The top ten posts from 2013 showcase unscripted lives -- mine as well as two guest contributors: Michelle Wear and Jennifer Hurlburt. Lives with ups and downs. Lives made up of little details. Lives where we don't have enough time. Lives where we embrace the chaos and try our best each day. I'm incredibly touched by you and the posts you found most interesting. Beginning with the tenth most popular post, here we go!   10. Around Our Home: Our First Dining Table Growing up our family gather together each night around the dining table for dinner. There we'd share stories from our day.   ...

At any given moment, I have a pile of partially read and unread books and magazines sitting on my bedside nightstand. I typically choose a book or two around a theme that I want to explore more fully and eventually write about and to distill into a pithy 140 character or less soundbite for posting on my wall as motivational art. These quotes end up displayed on our kitchen counter for a week.     When cubes was in the hospital, I began posting weekly maxims for me to ponder with magnetic letters on a silver-platted serving tray in our kitchen. (An evolution of 2012's Sunday Scrambles for Gates Flickr series.) It started out as a way to express creatively how I was feeling: just add coffee and shaken not stirred to infuse a serious situation with a little humor.     cubes spent many a waking hour connecting to the world outside the hospital via social media; he began commenting on the maxims I was sharing on Instagram. Looking for subjects other than health or wo...

In last year's reader survey when you asked for more DIY projects, I was a little nervous. DIY made me anxious because I tended to think of it as something creatives did. (I didn't fully embrace the creative label for myself a year ago.) Thank you for challenging me to grow and for the enthusiastic response you showed to these projects. These were some of the most popular posts not just for DIY, but for the entire year.     When it comes to writing, I find it takes between two to four hours to conceive of, develop, edit, and publish a story. That estimate doesn't include styling a photo shoot, taking photos, selecting images, and editing. It doesn't include prototyping a DIY project, documenting the steps, and storyboarding how best to share those steps. The same goes for recipe posts.   As you might imagine a lot of DIY projects and recipes never make it to a blog or a publication. This is true not just for me, but for other creatives as well. The path from idea to ...

From now until the end of 2013, I'll be wrapping up the year with some of the most popular posts of the year. Today I kick off the Best of 2013 series with the top five most popular recipes.     Bringing everyone together at the dinner table to share a home-cooked meal proved more challenging in 2013 than I had originally thought. I ended up cooking and baking less in 2013 than I had wanted to. But, I'd like to think that the meals and sweets I did share with my family made up for the lack of desired quantity with quality.     Top Five Most Popular Recipes of 2013 The most popular recipes of 2013 according to you were: Non-Traditional Delicata Squash Holiday Sidedish Braised Boneless Short Ribs with Brussels Sprouts Chopped Apple Pear Cake Stroganoff Lamb Chops with Chickpeas and Cous Cous Are your favorites here? What recipes do you like making for your family?   From My Mom's Kitchen: The Beef Stroganoff Incident Until I started writing this post ...

To all of my family and my friends who celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas. I hope you have an amazing day.     We celebrated Chanukah earlier this month; Gates enjoying eight days of candle lighting and present unwrapping. Gates wasn't expecting to get any gifts for Christmas, so she was super excited when a gift arrived in the mail from Kait Kacy of Yuppie Love .     Gates was even good natured enough to wait patiently for me to grab my iPhone to capture her unwrapping her surprise for Kait.   How are you spending the day?   We'll be spending the day making a rocket ship from cardboard boxes so that Gates can explore outer space. Then later, according to true Jewish tradition, we'll be grabbing some Chinese food.   Ciao Bella! Eden!   P.S. Don't feel like commenting? Strike up a conversation with me elsewhere: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , or Pinterest .   Credits: All layouts designed by and images taken by Eden Hensley Sil...

Holidays typically mean family. Occasionally all you really want to do is sneak away for a quiet moment. Today's picks will have your favorite coffee lover rejuvenated in no time at all.     My picks from top clockwise are: The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee: Growing, Roasting, and Drinking, with Recipes ( *affiliate link ), $15.80; Primula Classic Glass 8-Cup Coffee Press with Black Handle ( *affiliate link ), $19.17; Hario Coffee Mill Slim Grinder, Mini ( *affiliate link ), $28.70; Thermo Lens Mug - Stainless Steel Insulated, For Coffee and Refreshments, (Modeling 24-70mm F2.8G Lens), 16oz ( *affiliate link ), $10.99; and Hario VDC-02W V60 Ceramic Coffee Dripper, White ( *affiliate link ), $23.66; and Copco 1 Quart Thermal Capacity Carafe ( *affiliate link ), $25.13.   These gifts are perfect for hostess gifts or for parents of newborns and toddlers. My criteria for choosing items were 1) whether they were available through Amazon Prime (free two-day shipping for...

Trying to figure out what to do with kids this holiday break? Why not try cooking or baking with them? Today's last minute gift guide has a few tools that will help you get started.     These gifts are perfect for creating lasting memories with your kids or your nieces and nephews. Besides whether Gates would approve of the items, my criteria for choosing items were 1) whether they were available through Amazon Prime (free two-day shipping for Amazon Prime and Amazon Mom members), 2) would they assist with creating a memorable experience, 3) are they BPA-free, if applicable, and 4) do they cost under $30.     My picks from top clockwise are: Preserve Dry Measuring Cups, Green, Set of 4 ( *affiliate link ), $9.47; Fanny at Chez Panisse: A Child's Restaurant Adventures with 46 Recipes ( *affiliate link ), $17.09; Architec Eco Smart Purelast Measuring Cups in Assorted Colors ( *affiliate link ), $16.51; and Red Extra Large Mixing Bowl 0078 5160 ( *affiliate li...

Inevitably just as you've checked the last name from your list you remember someone else you need to get a gift for. Luckily many of us nowadays have Amazon Prime with free two-day shipping. Over the next couple of days, I'll share gifts you can still get delivered in time for the holidays. Today I'll start with treats for the wine lovers in your life.     These gifts are perfect for hostess gifts or for livening up your typical get together. My criteria for choosing items were 1) whether they were available through Amazon Prime (free two-day shipping for Amazon Prime and Amazon Mom members), 2) would they assist with creating a memorable experience, and 3) cost under $30.   My picks from top clockwise are: The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert: Take a Whiff of That ( *affiliate link ), $17.99; The Wine Lover's Cookbook: Great Recipes for the Perfect Glass of Wine ( *affiliate link ), $19.34; Sideways (Widescreen Edition) ( *affiliate ...

Your mentors. Those who inspire you. Those you brainstorm with, bounce ideas off of. Those who support you. Are they co-located with you? Do they work and live in the same city as you? Depending on where you live and what industry you're in, your support network may be geolocated and consist of people you've never met in person. Finding them requires you go online.     Earlier this month I had the opportunity to take a few online engagements offline. The three interactions -- a tea with fellow Blogging Your Way classmates, a lunch with a fellow #Kloutchat participant at Klout, and a reading of Rene Redzepi's new book -- got me thinking about how we develop supportive networks.     Where do you start finding people with similar interests that you could meet offline? For me, I started by taking eCourses where students were able to (and encouraged to) interact, joining Facebook groups, and by participating in Twitter chats that focus on your passions. This is the fi...