I have a confession. I have an addiction. Maybe addiction is to strong a word. Maybe habit is better. It started harmlessly enough. How? With a bouquet I got to hide an electrical outlet in our kitchen when videotaping a cooking session. The habit? A weekly delivery of locally grown flowers from Farmgirl Flowers.     I first learned of the Slow Flowers Movement last year when Debra Prinzing contacted me about the Monterey Bay Greenhouse Growers Open House , typically held the second Saturday in June. Last year was the growers' fourth year opening their greenhouses and fields to the public. I sincerely hope they do so again this year as I love seeing how food and the products I buy are made. I've been lucky enough to tour artichoke farms at the Castroville Artichoke Festival , coffee plantations in Costa Rica when I vacationed there, and the Achadinha Cheese Factory for a People Behind The Food feature last year.     To be honest, I didn't jump on the Slow Flower...

Clothes can be a signature, a conscious choice as part of one's brand. Clothes can also be armor, a shield against unwanted attention or criticism. For women, fashion can be a touchy subject, one emotionally charged, as fashion -- a subject often scoffed at -- is inseparable from body image and society's defined gender roles.     I've written and rewritten this post a dozen times since believing a version of it needed to be told in October. It's not another post about the outfits a blogger selected to wear at Alt. And yet, it is, based on its timing, finally published the week after my trip out to Salt Lake City. While about clothes, this post is about becoming comfortable in one's own skin and having (regaining) the confidence to forgo trends and trying to match others' ideas of beauty.   What's your relationship with clothes?  

Every January for the past five years, hundreds of creatives have descended upon Salt Lake City for Alt Summit for three action packed days. Last year, as well this year, I joined them. A theme common to last year's Alt, Alt SF, and this year's Alt, was blogging as a business.     One of three sessions that I found extremely valuable was Erica Domesek's "Emotional Analytics: Well-Branded is the New Well-Rounded." Advice she'd been given along the way especially struck me.   She'd been asked, "What do you have: a lifestyle or a business?" At the time she'd answered, "A lifestyle business." She was told no. A lifestyle is where you have a blog, attend events, and maybe work with sponsors. You chose when you want to engage. A business is something that makes money when you go to sleep. You don't have both.     Erica believed " we are passionate about what we do and we want others to be excited about our passions ." B...

I've been reading blogs for over six years. As many of my favorite blogs are design and lifestyle blogs, I've read about many milestones in the lives of my favorite bloggers: first child, first house, death of a fur baby, and more. Through their words I've formed an idea of who I think they are. And my impression -- as well as yours -- may or may not be realistic.     Whether we'll admit it or not, we form an opinion of what our favorite blogger is like from their blog posts, their Tweets, their Instagram photos, and so on. What we forget is most bloggers, myself included, don't share/post every challenge we encounter.   Have you met bloggers who matched the impression you had of them? Have you met bloggers who were completely different?  

Whether we come right out and say it, we all want more traffic to our blog. Come on admit it, you get a lift when Google Analytics sends you an alert that you just broke your all time high unique visitor in a day record. So let's look at ways to optimize what we're doing and get more visitors. In the first of a new series, Up Your Game, I take a look at Pinterest.     One channel that I have not taken advantage of personally is Pinterest. I love Pinterest, but I haven't leveraged it as a way to get my content out there. Sure I've made half-hearted attempts, but nothing with a concrete action plan. That changes in 2014!     Susan Petersen's Tips for Maximizing Your Exposure on Pinterest Occasionally Susan Petersen of Freshly Picked teaches classes on Alt Channel (I've taken both her Pinterest and Instagram classes). In her Pinterest 101 class, she shared the following tips on how to use Pinterest: Link to your Pinterest feed on your website. Add a Pin It...

In a few weeks, I'll be turning 45. I'm approaching that age when women become invisible. When our voices no longer are heard. When we no longer matter. And for someone who's mostly stood in the shadows or firmly planted behind a camera that's scary. Scary because I want to matter. I want to do something now (not something I did ten years ago, eleven years ago, twelve years ago, or twenty years ago) that I'm amazed by. So I'm starting now.     “Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.” -Eleanor Roosevelt   Last week I dove out of my comfort zone. I did something totally uncharacteristic for me. I stepped IN FRONT OF the camera.     First for We Are the Contributors ' Self-Portrait (aka Selfie) Mini-Project . (If you follow me on Instagram you saw the seven self-portraits I selected.)   My theme for the project wa...

If I'm not creating, I get stabby. I'll jump down your throat. I'll sulk. If as an adult I could get away with it, I'd stamp my feet and scream until I got my way. But, I no longer have time for any of that.   Rather than focus on what I couldn't do, I decided to look at what I could do. I could commit to 20 minutes three days a week to create: a 20-minute practice in seeing.     How do you fit a creativity practice into your routine?  

Growing up we'd gather around our dining room or occasionally set up folding trays to watch a favorite TV show. Most meals were prepared by mom. How she found time to grocery shop, menu plan, chauffeur us, help with homework, develop and teach lessons to support our education, cook, clean, and more is a mystery to me. When I got married and had Gates, I wanted to gather our family nightly like my mom. I can, but, I need help.     Enter Plated . Plated's pitch is gourmet recipes, made with the freshest, ready-to-cook ingredients delivered to your door. And, unlike other similar services, Plated accommodates allergies. But, Plated feels a little like cheating. Sure we pick out the two meals we're going to make together (I have a family goal of 52 weeks of one home cooked meal a week), and cubes and I cook the meal together. But, it's not the same as getting a seasonal CSA and flipping through cookbooks for inspiration on what to do with the bounty.   What tasks have yo...

One of the biggest problem with New Year's Resolutions is that we set them and forget them for roughly 345 days. (Some of us -- not typically me -- make it through to the middle or end of January.)   In the past, I've been known to have completely forgotten my goals, a few days after New Year's has come and gone. If you struggle with your resolutions or objectives and goals as I like to call them, here's an action plan (a tried and true plan that I use with all of my clients).     If you ask anyone who knows me, they'll tell you I'm crazy organized. Give me a date and a goal and I'll come up with a plan for making it happen. Now when it comes to my own life outside of my clients, I'm not so organized. So, when I started thinking about this year's objectives and goals I was surprised to find I'd actually jotted down my 2013 goals (I often don't). More startling was the fact I'd achieved some of them! Immediately, I decided this year is ...

When done right, employee evaluations can be a positive experience. They're an opportunity to review your skills and set objectives and goals based on your strengths. They're a chance to craft a roadmap that leverages your strengths to do something that interests you and benefits others as well as you. That's why I don't make resolutions, I set objectives and goals.     How do you make resolutions?  

Whether you're a blogger or not, you're an influencer. We all are. Think about it. Every time we Tweet, post a photo to Instagram, or share an update on Facebook, we're influencing someone. And whether or not we'd like to admit it, we're all biased. This is the first in a four-part series about influence.     With influence comes responsibility, especially when it comes to bias. Bias isn't a bad thing. Bias is our personal taste, our design aesthetic, our consumption philosophy.     We're selective in what we share. This selection reflects our bias. What we choose to buy or not buy. What we choose to eat or not eat. Each decision we make defines us. How we make those decisions and whether someone else shaped those decisions (influenced us) is important -- especially if a decision appears to be counter to our image.   How do you make decisions about what to buy? Where to travel? What to believe?     Whether intentional or not, we're not always...

A year ending is a time for reflection; a time to look back at goals set 365 days prior. For me, 2013 was a year of highs and lows.     It started off with so much promise. By mid-year, I'd accomplished a lot. It looked like it was going to finish well. Then... unplanned health issues and the death of a couple of friends.   When a year ends on a sour note, it's hard to see positives. In total 2013 wasn't a bad year -- not the worst or even in the top five worst years of my life. In 2013 I set five goals and of the five, I accomplished three: Take time to be thankful for what I have. Continue to publish a blog that you enjoy reading. Work with focused creatives. Did you achieve your goals for 2013? Are you setting goals for 2014? What are they?   Later this week, I'll be sharing my objectives for 2014 and followed next week with my action plan for achieving my goals.   My Wish to You for 2014 It's easy to get greedy. To want more. More highs. More h...