As a participant in the Walmart to Go First program, I’ve received a personal invite and payment for my time and efforts in creating this post. Convenience and ice cream don't go together when you're allergic to cow's milk. If you want any flavor other than chocolate or vanilla, you're often left to your own devices to make it. So, you can imagine how excited I was when I discovered Walmart To Go had all of the base ingredients for gluten-free, vegan ice cream, in stock and ready to deliver to my door.     Have you thrown an ice cream social before?   In the past I've made gluten-free, vegan ice cream using my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. Sometimes it would come out rich and creamy, and other times with an odd texture and little flavor. This time I decided to abandon my ice cream maker and freeze my ice cream in a stainless steel bowl and taking it out of the freezer and blending with a hand mixer and refreezing for a few hours. And... it worked like a charm.  ...

SPONSORED POST: This is a paid post. The Road to The Good Life chose to work with La Crema Winery for their dedication to handcrafted wines at reasonable prices. All opinions presented are my own.   One of the first vegetables I remember eating fresh from the vine were tomatoes. My grandmother grew them in containers supporting the vines with cages. And, later when I had my own square foot garden, I grew them. How do you eat tomatoes?     When I planned my square foot garden, I had this idea that gophers and birds, as well as the weather, would get half the harvest. So to be sure I had tomatoes for tomato sauce, I planted six tomato plants in a 2 foot by 3 foot space. As luck would have it, all of my plants thrived and thrived and thrived. Because of California's mild weather and raised beds filled with homemade organic potting soil (a mix of compost, rock, and sugar), all of my plants began producing in late Spring and continued producing far into the Winter. I h...

What do you see when you check Facebook or Instagram? (Honest, this isn't a trick question.) The images see in someone's social media stream or on their blog are those they're comfortable sharing.   Whether intentional or not, we all have different boundaries or rules for how we protect our own and our family's privacy.   Do you consciously choose what you share online?   To jump start your thinking about how you share (or might want to share), consider the four rules Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess, has and the ten rules I have.

No one has ever said I wish I'd spent more time at work. Yet, when doing what you love or working for yourself, we're often doing just that to the detriment of relationships and our own mental health. Whether you have kids or not, it's important to make time for awe and wonder to spark your creative process and to spur innovation. Summer Bucket Lists can help with this.   It's been drilled into us that if something is not scheduled it won't happen. If you're not careful, you can easily end up with every waking moment accounted for. And, this is a bad thing. Not only have you left yourself no time for unexpected emergencies, you have left out opportunities for discovery, for recharging, for connecting.   Last summer, I put aside projects I thought I needed to do and prioritized family time (our Summer Bucket List helped with this), creating opportunities for us just to be a family. It was a struggle to do so at the time, but after the events of the Fall, a st...

Years ago, I contributed to the last We are the Contributors project: Alter Ego ( update 8/21/2015: the site is no longer live ). In the call for submissions, we were asked to explore inhabiting the mind, space, and life of another person, an adult version of "let's pretend," using the medium of our choice and to share a little about our process.     To say I didn’t struggle with the We Are The Contributors project would be lying.   Whose shoes would you step into? Would you trade places with them?   As the project wore on, I wondered what I had been thinking taking it on. Sure I had women I wanted to be like. But, none felt “right.”  

Every once in awhile a person will cross your path who will have you really thinking about what you're doing and why. Recently that person for me was Laura Gaskill of Lolalina. She asked a group of bloggers if anyone would be interested in participating in an blogger's chain letter of sorts talking about our writing process as part of the Writing Process Blog Tour .   What intrigued me about Laura wasn't that she asked us permission to include us in the tour. What intrigued me was her mission "to create a cozy, creative, positive corner of the Internet, and to connect with and inspire others who wish for the same thing." I believe there's too much negativity in the world, so was excited to find someone else who shared that belief. I wanted to know whether her positivity meant she saw herself having "The Good Life." To find out I asked her to participate in my A Good Life Snapshot series. I especially enjoyed her interview and hope you do as well. ...

Valencia street in San Francisco is quite the destination for foodies. Within a few short blocks, you can find restaurants galore, a bakery, a cheesemonger, and two chocolatiers. The chocolatiers are my favorite spots: Dandelion Chocolate in the winter for a hot cocoa warm up and Chocolatier Blue on a grey day for a color pick-me-up. Which do you love most: sweets or savories?     If donuts, cookies, creme brûlée, or ice cream are more to your liking than chocolate, check out my round up of our favorite sweet spots in The Mission .     Chocolatier Blue The flavors (and colors) you'll find when you step through the door of Chocolatier Blue vary by season. The raspberries, peaches, lemons, and other fruits used in their collections come directly from the local farmer’s markets in Berkeley. On my recent visit they had passion fruit, mango, lemon verbena to name a few. (You can see the full collection of chocolates on their website.)     If you'...

Recently I've started thinking about the media I take in based on the revelation by Karen of Chookooloonks that she follows a " curated media diet ." At the same time, to be original and to maintain an authentic voice, I strive to consume media different from other lifestyle bloggers. Yet I'm finding I don't like the amount of filtering and censoring I'm having to do with some magazines. Do you filter what your family reads?     One magazine that I decided to give a chance after being offered a Klout Perk was The Red Bulletin Magazine . I was initially skeptical, thinking it would be a magazine solely of interest to "bros." Each month I decided to keep an open mind and for the most part have been pleasantly surprised and found inspiration to pursue one's passions and to carve new paths. However, the consistent objectification of females has me deciding not to renew my subscription.   Review: The Red Bulletin Magazine The Good: I discovere...

Fourth of July has always been a special holiday for me. It marked the official start of summer (where alternately Labor Day marked its official end). Whatever this holiday means to you, please be safe firing off fireworks or lighting sparklers. The brush in California is very dry and no one wants to spend their holiday watching their house burn down.   How are you celebrating this Fourth of July?  

There's a rhyme oft repeated across playgrounds: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Alas, the pen (words) are indeed mightier than the sword (a somewhat more modern weapon). A few recent commercials and public service announcements have me considering and reconsidering the words and phrases I use.     Do you choose your words with intention?  

As an entrepreneur and a mother of a toddler, I'm frequently running out of clean clothes. Two weeks ago as I was heading out to Salt Lake City for Alt Summit (the premier business conference for pioneering bloggers and creatives) and rethinking my attire based on weather reports, Le Tote came to my rescue.   Le Tote (* referral link ) is a monthly subscription service where for either $19 a month you get unlimited pieces of jewelry (3 at a time) or $49 a month you get unlimited separates, dresses, and accessories (5 at a time) to wear. (Earlier this year, I wrote about why I first subscribed and who I thought Le Tote might be a good fit for.) After Alt Summit, I have a new reason to love Le Tote and to recommend it: clean clothes that easily fit into your existing style.   Got any dirty secrets?     For about a year now, I've been subscribing to The Boutique Box (when I first signed up there was only one type of subscription). If you follow me on Instagram, ...