( updated 02/24/2022 ) Welcome! Nice to meet you!   I’m Eden, a fourth-generation Californian. Together my husband, 9.75 year old daughter, and Maine Coon/Ragamuffin rescue cat are in the process of unpacking and nesting in our new 100+ year old Craftsman in Berkeley, CA (until this past December we called a 100-year old, a 847 sq ft Edwardian flat in San Francisco home). We define The Good Life with haves not wants and experiences not things.     What's your story?  

Since November I've started and stopped many drafts about how I feel about the current state of American politics.   I'm mad. I'm angry. I'm pissed off. And I've been mad, angry, and pissed off since I was 7 and told God had made a mistake giving such a brain to a girl as it would be wasted.   And as the weeks have gone by, I've gotten madder. Angrier. More pissed off than I have ever been before.     I've battled against conventions whispering then screaming in my head: Never discuss Money, Politics, or Religion in public or polite conversation.   And I'm tired. Tired of being quiet. Tired of waiting politely for my turn. Tired of being frustrated that a world where all humans have the same rights to life (health, food, and shelter), liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is nothing more than a pipe dream or a hope.   So I'm going to stop skirting around the subject--the elephant in the room.   I'm going to talk politics. Today and in the...

Is it the journey or the destination that drives you?   Chris Sharma, an American rock climber, believes: " If you're only happy at the summit. You're not going to be very happy often. "     Lately, I've started thinking more about enjoying the journey--the process--over rushing to complete a project. Which creates somewhat of a dilemma. Do I want to share starts and stops? Recipes that didn't quite turn out the way I'd anticipated. Sewing projects that can't easily be recreated by others.   What do you share: work in progress, just the final project, or a mix? Why?  

When it comes to celebrating Valentine's Day, you don't have to break the budget. If you're willing to get crafty, you can create an arrangement that will last longer than a couple of days and create a life long memory with your little ones.     How are you celebrating Valentine's Day?  

Growing up every Saturday either my sister or I helped my mom make buttermilk pancakes. Weekends, for me, mean pancake breakfasts. However, when you can't have cow's milk, pancakes often fall short of one's expectations. That is until Gates discovered the perfect non-dairy banana pancake recipe.     How do you like your pancakes?  

Coming up with activities that keep little ones engaged can be challenging. Sometimes you just want an activity that someone else has tested and gathered all of the components together for you. If you want a culinary experience that encourages experimentation and applauds fun while developing skills like math, Foodstirs' Baker's Club is an option you'll want to consider.     Do you bake or cook with your little one? Do you subscribe to Foodstirs?    

I love cooking. This love came from my mom who had us helping in the kitchen as soon as we were able to stand. And that was deepened with my first cooking class when I was six.     My challenge as a parent is how to offer this same experience to my daughter without getting stressed out. By talking with my mom and cooking with Gates for almost two years, I've come up with these tips to ensure we have fun when we're in the kitchen together.   What tips do you have for cooking with kids? What are your favorite recipes to make with kids?  

In California, you can get lemons almost year round. The variety of lemon changes as does the sweetness of the lemon. This variation makes lemonade the perfect vehicle for teaching young cooks about using a recipe as a guide and letting ingredients speak for themselves.     How do you like your lemonade? Sweet? Or Sour?  

Everyone jokes about kids being germ factories. But with cold and flu season upon us, getting sick is no laughing matter.   To reduce our risk as parents of getting sick and alternating who in the house is sick for the season, I've gathered ten tips that will help us and others stay healthy.     What are your tips for staying healthy?  

Cooking and baking are two sure fire ways I can relieve stress. Growing up my mom let me experiment starting avocados and apples from seeds. My paternal grandmother let me harvest ripe cherry tomatoes from the planters on her deck. And my maternal grandmother let me pick strawberries from her yard.   Growing food is in my blood. So it was only natural that I'd want Gates to experience it for herself this Fall before the San Francisco growing season ended.     Will you be starting (or maintaining) a Fall garden this year?  

SPONSORED POST: This is a paid post. The Road to The Good Life chose to work with Farm Fresh to You because of their commitment to encouraging strong roots for a better food and agriculture system for all. All opinions presented are my own.   My great grandparents were farmers. They churned their own butter. My mom and her siblings and cousins played in their apple orchard. Before Alice Waters pioneered California cuisine, my great grandmother, my grandmother, and my mother all used local, seasonal produce with Mediterranean and asian cooking techniques to nourish their families.   Carrying on their tradition is important to me. But living in an urban environment doesn't make it easy. If I want Gates to grow up with an appreciation for fresh, seasonal ingredients, I need to know what's in season when and I need to plan ahead. If I get too busy, we can miss out for the year (for example, Gaia melon this year). Luckily, Farm Fresh to You makes planning and eating right easy. ...

Social media is today’s media. It’s where the masses turn for entertainment.   Radio had serials. Television had sitcoms and then reality shows. The Internet has social media.     Social media isn’t meant to reflect reality. It’s never been “real.” And it never will be. We’d get bored.   Our attention span demands highlights. We gravitate towards soundbytes. We want our problems to neatly resolve themselves in 30 minutes or 140 characters.   Too much detail. The routine is boring. We tune it out.   And here’s the problem. We’re raising a generation with unrealistic expectations.   So, this is and isn’t a post about pancakes. About images that are styled and well lit. About what we do and don’t share. And about how we share real life.     How do you decide what to share publicly?  

Gates loves to help in the kitchen. When she was putting everything into her mouth this could be somewhat challenging. Now it's less of a challenge, but with these vegan chocolate chip cookies, you don't have to worry about your little one ingesting raw egg.     Refined-sugar free. Dairy-free. Vegan. Three words that will have a little one turning up their nose before they ever take a taste. But these cookies are sure to be a crowd pleaser. Gates wanted to eat the batter instead of shape and bake a batch of cookies.  

When Gates was born, it became important to me that she believe anything was possible. I wanted her to be able to do whatever she dreamed. At that moment, I realized I needed to follow my dreams so that she would have a role model.     Because actions speak louder than words, my actions needed to support my words. I wanted to tell her I believed in what I was doing, that I had dreamed big and hustled. So, I changed my career path .  

Education has always been important to my family. Sadly, the education system in California (as well as in the United States) has not always been up to the task.   New math. The subsequent "back to basics." Phonics instruction. "Look-say" approach to reading. "Whole language" approach to reading. No Child Left Behind. Growing reliance on standardized testing. Every Student Succeeds Act.   Everything in education is controversial: it's enough to make one go crazy! And now, children's use of technology seems to be on this out and then in, then possibly out rollercoaster.     How do you separate politically driven standards from learning practices that engage your kids?   I can't even begin to imagine how educators manage to keep up with all the changes, but the truly amazing ones continue to engage and to inspire their charges.  

Everywhere you turn as a parent you are warned about too much device time for your kids. Yet despite all the warnings, there are few realistic alternatives offered, leaving parents to figure it out as they go. So, I'm constantly researching and preparing activities for Gates, and was excited to try out Kiwi Crate , a themed monthly subscription for 3-8 year olds that includes all the materials and inspiration for two to three activities - art, science, games, imaginative play, and more.   How do you keep your kids away from the screen?  

Innovating. Creating. Making. They all fascinate me. Whenever I'm stressed, suffering from writer's block, or feeling overwhelmed, I make something with my hands. The problem solving and frustrations of imagining something and bringing it to life are addictive. So of course I jumped at the chance to participate in Cricut's Design Space Star Contest and put a Cricut Explore Electronic Cutting Machine with Cricut Design Space Free Online Software (* affiliate link ), a personal electronic cutting machine, through its paces (and am excited to be giving one away!).   There's inherent joy in creating something from nothing. As the daughter of a mixed media fiber artist and third-generation civil engineer, making is in my soul, and I'm hoping in my daughter's as well.  

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. Everywhere you look communities and stores are gearing up for back to school. Whether your little one is ready to head off to school or not, they may be excited about everyone else going back to school and want to go to school too. Portable activity kits allow you to take supplies and a snack with you wherever go to.   Gates loves to learn something new and her quest for knowledge seems unquenchable at times. I want to encourage her inquisitiveness, but sometimes it's hard to come up with an educational activity on the spur of the moment. To satisfy her curiosity and relieve the pressure on me, I created activity kits that I can pull out when needed. Our current modules are Colors, Counting, and The Alphabet.     Making Your Activity Kit I'm a big believer in reusing materials that would otherwise be headed for the garba...

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.

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?