I'm excited to announce that I'm once again participating in the coLAB project ! This round Dawn Smith of Not Just a Mommy and I will be taking our shared love of entertaining and bringing a party sure to please all ages to you. You'll have to wait just a little longer for the details, but the photos in today's post give a few hints.     Before Dawn shares more details about our collaboration on her site, Not Just a Mommy , I wanted to take a moment to introduce her to you.

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. ...

From an early age I've been obsessed with paper goods and letter writing. I love the thrill of going into a card store or a paper store and being surrounded by color and by cheer. So I'm especially excited to talk with Clarissa Nicole of Five12Studio about what The Good Life means to her. Clarissa and I met a couple of months ago online over a weekly Twitter chat that Alt Summit hosts every Wednesday at 9AM Pacific. I immediately fell in love with her work--her designs and her photography. I especially loved that she was from Texas; her portraits made me homesick for Austin. (She's a contributor for The State of Awesome .) I hope you'll give her a warm welcome! 1. How do you define The Good Life? Being happy and content with the every day simple things in life. It’s easy to get caught up in fancy materialistic things, but if you remove those things, you need to be able to have peace and happiness without them.   2. Do you think it's possible to pursue The Goo...

Have you been following along or participating in the Elevate the Ordinary Instagram Challenge ? We're just over half way through 30 prompts inspiring us to examine the ordinary--those little things in our lives we often take for granted. The challenge is about looking at own lives from another perspective. That introspection is why I ask others to share their definitions of The Good Life; I want to apply a different lens to my life. This month Conni Jespersen of Art in the Find talks about her view of The Good Life.   Conni and I met virtually through #AltChat, a weekly Twitter chat hosted every Wednesday at 9:00AM by Alt Summit . Like me, Conni is a California native. Her blog "was created out of a love of sharing what [she finds] with others. [She believes] there’s an art in the find. Art in the Find is a place where you can find style inspiration, the occasional DIY idea, features on small businesses & my recommendations for fun places to eat, stay, and shop! Pleas...

It's that time again! Time for another Good Life story. Today I have Jennifer Hurlburt with us, visiting from Minnesota where like here summer weather has been elusive. I met Jennifer through the Summer Bucket List Challenge and have been following her family's SBLC adventures since on her blog Jennifer Witt Photography . Jennifer is a wife and a mom to two boys and is expecting their third child. Today, Jennifer paused from their summer adventures to share a snapshot of her Good Life with us. Please join me in welcoming Michelle! -Eden     1. How do you define The Good Life? The Good Life is when the most important areas of my life are aligned and balanced. I don’t need things to be perfect, life is beautifully chaotic after all, but I do need to know that I’m giving attention to the areas that matter most to me. My husband and my children are my first priorities and tending to those relationships come before all else. When I know I’m being the best wife and mother I ca...

The middle of the month is becoming my favorite time here on the blog. I'm really enjoying all of the Good Life stories that everyone is sharing. Today Michelle Wear joins us from Denver, CO. Michelle blogs at Table for Five , and is a wife and a mom to three boys, Coda, Holden, and Oliver.     Michelle and I met virtually through The Summer Bucket List Challenge . If you're participating in this summer's Find Your Voice Workshop, a free 8-week storytelling workshop led by Kristin Tweedale of Rukristin Papercrafts , you'll know that we're both contributors there.   I love how down to earth and real Michelle is, and hope to get to meet her in person in real life one day. The story she told for Find Your Voice: Week Two made my heart melt, and I totally get, how she like me has a hard time stepping out in front of the camera (read her story about a surprise love shoot her husband got her!).   Today, Michelle takes time out of her busy life to share a snapshot o...

Today I'd like to introduce you to Nate Bagley, "a 20-something single guy ... [who is] on a mission to find out if true love really exists... and if it does, exactly how to obtain it." Nate is the force behind The Loveumentary , a project that focuses "on the couples who are doing it right," those "dynamic duos who make [you] salivate for a relationship."     I met Nate virtually through The Summer Bucket List Challenge , and I felt you should get to know him because we all need positive role models when it comes to relationships. So, if like Nate and me, you have questions about healthy relationships, follow his blog and tune in to his podcast. In the meantime, Nate shares a snapshot of his Good Life with us. -Eden     1. How do you define The Good Life? The Good Life is living in a way that enables you to experience the most of what makes you happy. For me, that means minimising possessions and maximising experiences. It means working on projec...

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...

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...

Spring is either here (or soon to be here) in most parts of the country. And that means it's time to start thinking about your summer harvests!   Whether you have a large patch of soil or a small space where you need to get creative with containers and vertical space, you can garden with your kids.     What's in your garden?  

I met so many amazing women at Alt Summit SLC in January. In addition to all having blogs, we had more in common. We all needed more hours in the day. We all were learning to focus on what was most important and to let go of the other things. It was incredible getting to met the women behind the blogs and hear their stories. What struck me most was how real everyone was/is, and I wanted to introduce you to some of the women I met there and share snapshots of their good lives.   Each month I'll be featuring one of my friends, in A Good Life Snapshot. I decided to kick off this series with Haeley of Design Improvised .     Haeley and I first met online in a Facebook group for Alt Summit attendees, and then in person at The Hello Social held before the official kick off to Alt. In a sea of people, it was nice to see a friendly face. I chose Haeley to kick off this new monthly series, because on her blog she focuses on creating memories for and with her girls. She shares s...