This green juice business was weird to me when I first saw someone happily sipping away on the glowing elixer. The drink was the color of fresh, green spring grass. Juice to me was of the orange, apple and cranberry variety at that time. Green was not a shade of juice. But you can’t deny how happy Jack LaLanne looked bouncing around with his power juicer on late night infomercials. Nor how the craze of green juicing has been sweeping the country. When I finally jumped on the green juice train in 2010 I was hooked. The crisp, earthy, clean taste that is undeniably energizing. Not to mention you can be smugly proud that you got your veggies in for the day. I drink 3-4 green juices over the course of a week and definitely notice a difference when they’re not a part of my weekly routine.

So why & how does juicing work once it hits your lips? A cardiologist explains the “why” of green juices via MindBodyGreen:

Cells in the body require nutrients (i.e. vitamins and minerals) to function optimally. Many of these are referred to asmicronutrients, to distinguish them from the macronutrient classes of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. When cells receive adequate micronutrients, you feel energized and full. On the other hand, many foods provide calories from macronutrients, but are devoid of the essential micronutrients cells crave. These are calorie-dense, nutrition-poor foods and this characterizes most processed foods.

Maybe you want to wander outside the borders of green juices. Awesome. Me too. Elevate your juice experience by turning your favorite smoothie into a juice or vice versa. PLAY! Healthy food is like any other food – you have to keep it interesting! Here’s a link to 10 super smoothies + my summertime favorite, watermelon lemonade (literally juicing a watermelon + lemons – make this, make this, make this!!).

Green juices, green smoothies – anything you can do to add more plants to your daily diet – will up your healthy quotient. With my new decade of life in front of me I’m becoming better behaved about taking supplements, which I’ve generally been pretty bad about adhering to and taking routinely. I’m keeping it super-simple and only taking these two supplements. Both are supremely important for your brain, body & your guts (LOVE your guts – literally!).

What’s been your experience with juices, smoothies or supplements? I’d love to hear about what’s giving you a healthy boost and makin’ you feel good! Don’t have any of these habits in your rotation yet? Give ‘em a whirl for a week or two and see how you feel. It’s the little things, the added greens and plants that leads to a big payoff over a lifetime. Not to mention you’ll be totally cool and trendy sporting your “haute” new shade of green!

When I think about process, I think about journeying. Where will a project, a day, or an idea take you? How much does it matter that you know the answer before you begin?

On an intimate scale, watercolor for me is a little leap into the journey. I use it as my primary medium in painting because it is so versatile and sensitive to the hand, and gives me a constant opportunity to improvise.

- Artist Malissa Ryder

Grab a cuppah coffee or tea. Settle in.
Time to get real up IN HERRRRRRRRE. 

Launching your passion into a business is brain melting work. It should come with a combustion – explosives – ‘hazardous for your health’ kind of warning label. When I bought my blog domain in January of 2010 I had no idea that this journey of starting to share my life online would lead me away from an office job – where I was miserable – to having a blog and business that I love. I wake up in the morning excited to start the day. Can you say that? Do you want to say that? Dreading “Mondays” is a thing of the past. Without my calendar I wouldn’t know the day of the week, for that matter. Work begins at 10:00am or a little later some days (I’m up around 7:00, but mornings are for reading/thinking/moving/writing/walking my dog… slow and quiet). After three years of hacking away I am finally pointed in the direction I want in life. I’m also taking stock of how much I’ve had to learn to get here. How much I’ve taught myself along the way. Understanding the investment I’ve made in myself building to this point.

This post is a love letter. Or at least I tried my best to make it one. 

Caution: I’m more pragmatic than romantic.

For me this place started with two questions: (1) What do you want out of life? (2) How are you going to get there? Easy questions to answer? No. Are you going to struggle? Yes. But you’re asking the questions because you want something more out of life than a paycheck and a routine. Most of us building a presence online are not out in search of money, fame or being the next ‘big thing’ (although I do love this picture that states the contrary). We want community and connection. There is an obsession or passion that underlines everything and the desire to intentionally cultivate a life on our terms. The individual vision of what that life looks like varies, of course. Achieving a lifestyle on your terms is more accessible than ever before because of the internet. The tools and platforms exist, but it’s up to you to invest time into learning which tools, how your going to package them and the execution. The internet has leveled the playing field for so many areas of life, including creating a life on your terms. Business, freelance, coaching – whatever it is that lights your fire and gets you excited about life.

When people tell me they want their business to be online and follow up that statement with statements like “I just don’t understand _______” (“websites”, “social media”, “Mailchimp” – any online tool) I hear excuses. You really don’t want it. Not bad enough. Not bad enough to block off time in your day or invest in learning or finding the right people to help you get the skills and tools needed. Another excuse that doesn’t fly: “… but I didn’t go to school for this”.

This – this was not taught in school. Everything changes too fast to keep pace with traditional education.

School teaches us how to learn. And to be excited about learning. Life is here, begging you to learn, implement, create and build beyond the walls of your formal education. Still not sold? Excuses are fine. After all there are plenty of cubes that need to be filled. Every day I am reminded how swiftly the world online changes, how important it is to continue learning and how being in this position is through working to be here. Daily.

I didn’t go to school for design or development. I studied public health. And behavioral psychology. That means I know how to listen and I can crunch spreadsheet data like no one’s business. Grad school and my first few jobs helped me eliminate what I didn’t want to do in the “9 to 5″ part of my day. Grad school and my first few jobs also taught me how to get my shit together, the value of being organized and skills for analyzing and creating systems. Talent will get you 50% of the way there; if you don’t know how to execute your strategy you will fail. Do you know what will happen?

Someone with lesser talent but more savvy, grit and determination will slide in and corner your piece of the market.

Or maybe like me, you will try, get scared, fail, get another “9 to 5” job, realize you hate working for someone else and leap again when you finally find the necessary blend of drive, hustle and courage. If I could bottle it up and sell it to you I would. And I would sell it at a premium because I know the value (finding your value is another blog post in itself but you would be smart to download this resource found here as a start).

Maybe you are genuinely too busy (if that’s the case then you probably have already achieved some degree of success and can hire help or delegate web-based projects to your employees). When you’re a one-person army starting out, it’s all you, the internet and a whole lotta hustle. It starts with researching, trying and making mistakes. I spent countless week and weekend nights holed up at home reading blogs, watching videos, testing, breaking and trying again. Publicly failing and publicly learning. I’m still not sure if that’s bold or foolish; likely it’s a little of both. My evolution online has been visible at every stage. I wince when code breaks or a color doesn’t work on my websites, but having people see my mistakes and the subsequent growth makes me human. Real. Approachable.

It also helps to be a little crazy AND in pursuit of something bigger than a bank account. I started my blog while working full-time, fresh out of grad school with $50k debt for my two masters degrees. The idea of “leaping” into freelance wasn’t even an option. I live in an expensive city (Los Angeles). I have at least $3000 a month in bills between rent, life and student loans. So I came home after my workday, after my workout, after making dinner and I hunched over my desk. I wanted so badly to connect with people who had made the leap to working for themselves, pursuing their creative ventures full-time. I read their blogs, awed at their journey and “stalked them” online. I did what I do best: I analyzed, tracked patterns and made sense of the “data” I was observing. I wanted to be a part of the movement that valued happiness and quality life over a paycheck and needed to understand how to get there. And I wanted to create and write every damn day.

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
- Joseph Campbell

So where does this blog go next? The answer is ‘anywhere’. Everywhere. In the literal sense I am headed to Australia for an entire month and I want MORE of that travel in my life. The ‘rules’ are being created, broken and re-written as I go. This blog is me sharing how I get ‘there’ and all the people and pieces of life supporting me. It is my journey and my evolution. It is my space for sharing what inspires, drives, fascinates, motivates, encourages, delights and supports me on my journey to live life well. To living a life on my terms more fully and completely every day. I love color, good design, clean lines, simplicity, personality, good-clean-food, passionate people and community. That’s what I’m cultivating on the blog and what I’m moving toward in my everyday life. More authenticity, sharing more lessons learned and more opinions (yes, I have plenty and probably too many of those).

You in for the ride? Subscribe. Get the love-notes from me and exclusive giveaways from companies I love sharing this vision and view of life. Thank you for reading. Thank you believing in the value of a life and living more fully with each day. Let me know what questions you have and how I can support you via blogging and sharing my experiences.

A few big design projects have been keeping me awake later than usual this month. It happens… it happens. The blog post I had in mind for today – it didn’t get written. I was ready to write off posting and then I fell into an ‘internet rabbit hole’ (which isn’t always a bad thing so these people say). You know the rabbit holes: when you start with the good intention of being ‘in and out’ on a site and then five hours later you have no idea where your morning went? Nope? Never happened to you??? Liar…

At 11:34pm one of those links I was checking led me to Facebook. Trouble. Did I choose to stay focused and ignore the little red flag tempting me to read updates? Absolutely not – it’s way past working hours at this stage of the day! I not-so-casually sauntered to the Facebook home page only to find one of the Aussie-based blogs I’m following, Frankie, had the above picture in their “like” feed. I clicked and clicked. And clicked through until I ended up stateside again, at the website of Austin-based photographer Emily Blincoe - a.k.a. @thuglifeforevs on Instagram.

I loooooove the whimsy, color and organization of these photos. Random knick-knacks artfully organized by color. Swoon. The photos pretty much make my heart sing. So go on. Follow. Love her photos and thank me later when you come up for air from your wanderings online. I’ll be back tomorrow with today’s regularly scheduled post.

I’m a sucker for the details. Textures, layers, fonts, colors paired artfully and with intention. While my canvas is in the digital realm I love the tactile experience of paper goods. With my mom’s birthday, Father’s Day and the need for new photo backgrounds making their way onto my shopping list it was time to go play. I mean, shop. In addition to finding the perfect cards for the my parents I purchased new papers, to be featured in upcoming recipe posts. After a few too many encounters with food it was time to retire one of my favorite backdrops from Rifle Paper Co. which was featured in this post last fall and this post from last week.

Enter Urbanic Paper boutique, one of the mainstays on Abbot Kinney in Venice. One of my favorite places to shop and find original gifts. It’s more like a modern-day sundries shop with all the fun details they stock and supply. From candles and paper clips to chocolates and journals. And of course, paper, cards and invitations. Urbanic is launching an online store soon for those of you who do not happen to live in the neighborhood like yours truly. There is a “pop-up shop” in the interim with plenty of goodies to choose from. Below is a tour in photos from my Sunday shopping trip. To share and to showcase a little of what you’ll experience when shopping Urbanic online in the near future.

Oh and if you’re like “Erin – why should I care about design???” upon reading this post then you’re probably right. After all, who cares about design? (please read on if you’d like the very tongue-in-cheek answer to the question of “who should care about design?”!)

Last week on Move Lifestyle I spilled the details of my “modern love triangle”. I’ve been with my partner for almost 8 years now and there’s something about turning 30, chasing our career dreams and being engaged that brought up LOTS of questions for both of us. The questions and being in this space are tough. Lots of tears, honesty in therapy sessions and oddly enough, an overseas venture, have been our saving graces. I shared a little bit about our circumstances on the blog around the time of his departure, but I took the dive and got deeply personal about calling off our wedding and “what’s next” in this piece featured on Move.

I’d love for you to hop over to Move Lifestyle and read the piece in its entirety – below are a few excerpts to entice you! One quick update: I wrote this piece in April; we’re now going to see each other in less than a month. I’m spending the month of July in Melbourne, Australia with him (a whole month without seeing this guy makes my a little sad). In our 3 months apart our communication has improved. Less is taken for granted and every word, every minute matters. There’s a sense of raw vulnerability that neither of us have experienced in our relationship before. I’m equal parts excited and nervous to see him. Spending a month together on “neutral territory” gives us time to answer questions and figure out next steps: Australia… here I come!    

excerpts from “modern love”

I used to be THE advocate for balance. That was before I launched out on my own. I get it now. I completely understand how people can let their health, their balance and their free time slip away in pursuit of one singular dream. I worked far too many 14+ hour days last year …this level of intense dedication to your work impacts the rest of your life, your relationships and especially those closest to you.

I was also supposed to be planning a wedding with him in my seemingly nonexistent spare time. Our spring wedding date was drawing nearer and our plans for the wedding were not taking shape between our work schedules. We made the decision to postpone our wedding. Not an easy decision. Lots of tears. Lots of glasses of wine. And yes, therapy. Real therapy.

When things swing this wildly out of balance, it takes time to get back to “good”. Slowly, steadily and with intention and purpose. Respecting my time and my needs as an individual and as part of a couple. Supporting each other instead of leading parallel lives and taking one another for granted.

When he called me this past March sharing the news of a job offer in Melbourne, Australia, my heart sank. My head knew it was the right direction. I encouraged him to take the position and see the world.

so how do you get through THIS? 

Read more at Move Lifestyle. I’m not alone in feeling this way or experiencing the same pull between love and getting what I want out of life. More on this topic? Read my friend Nicole’s post on her relationship experience, too. Knowing we’re not alone makes the tough parts of life sting a little less and moves the needle in the direction of everyone being more real. Got a story to share about your modern love? Share. Connect. Be real.

A few days ago I was in the middle of making lunch and catching up with my mom. My mom could ever-so-clearly hear me chopping, shuffling and making a mess in the background of our call (how do moms always know when you’re making a mess? even when you’re 30?). Naturally she asked “what are you doing?” and I shared my lunch-in-progress kitchen mess. When I got to the kale part of my salad-in-progress she remarked “Why would you ruin a perfectly good salad with kale, dear daughter?”. I explained that you gotta give kale a little love before you serve it up (literally breaking it down – which is broken down in this “how-to” post). Or find its baby version!

This pre-summer season offers the perfect time to get the tender baby versions of otherwise more bitter-flavored greens. A mix of baby kale, baby chard, baby spinach and arugula (ohhh baby-baby!) was the base for heirloom grape tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados and eggs. And sun-dried tomatoes! I love to have a variety of flavors, textures and healthy fats in my salads. Healthy fats = salads that sustain, salads that are a meal. My other salad secret? Keeping the bites uniform, which makes for a happy-fork-to-mouth-food-ratio. That’s a technical term. Scientific. Look it up.

Because summer salads are so fresh and full of flavor I err on the side of keeping the dressing light. A little oil (nab this vegan bacon olive oil already, okay?), a squeeze of citrus, fresh or dried herbs and a dash of vinegar. Use what you have  on hand – play in the kitchen! – it is the summer season after all!

Today’s video post is a reminder to enjoy the life more. Do something nice for you. Just because. Like … buy yourself flowers! Okay – maybe that’s just me, but since I live and work in the same location flowers add an extra layer of interest and cheeriness to what could otherwise feel like a redundant space. Lucky for me one of the local farmers markets has an unbeatable deal on flowers – $6.00 for a bundle I can barely wrap my arms around (I’ll snap a pic this week to prove it!). Even Trader Joe’s can’t touch that price! I buy one bunch from the vendor in Venice on Fridays and make 2-3 bouquets around my house most weeks. Just because flowers make me happy. Who doesn’t deserve an extra dose of happy?

Video posts… warming up to them slowly… and researching tripod stands in lieu of no cameraman! My only “problem” with videos is that my other half works on feature productions for a living. Like Iron Man and Avengers and Spider-Man! Having a pro in your life kinda makes your novice video seem even more rough-around-the-edges! (where is my $10k video budget?? Or even $1000 for that matter!? ha!).

What do you guys think of video posts? Content? Topics? More little artsy-music videos showing something simple & sweet? Would love-love-love your feedback if I’m going to play in the space of video more frequently!

Two weeks ago I spent an absurd sum of money on strawberries. $18 for 3 pints of strawberries. So worth it and I would LOVE to hear your food splurges if you care to share in comments! Three magical pints of the best strawberries I have ever tasted. So good I called my mom and asked her to book a flight out to help me eat the pints (she laughed, but I almost had her convinced to come out for a weekend visit!). I could have gorged out on all 3 pints by myself but opted to share them on a sunny afternoon with my friends MB, Rachel, Kate, Jacki and new friends Caley & Lindsay. And this guy, of course got a sample because he’s well-known around these parts as a strawberry thief.

Thank you California farmers markets. I am now incapable of eating lesser varieties of strawberry.

Being dramatic, of course… but before moving to California strawberries fell into three categories for me: good, mediocre and bad. Vintages? Notes? Finishes? Varieties? The farmers market stand lined the strawberries up like prized wines. I knew I was  in trouble after the first bite. The name of all the berry I brought home has since escaped me (I’m headed back this Friday to buy a more reasonable 1 pint) and I tried to search for it via Google. I didn’t come up with the name of my beloved berry – it starts with a “G” – but I did find these cute vintage strawberry prints to reinforce my newfound strawberry snobbery!

I adore when fruits and veggies are so delectable that you can’t even think about making a dish or recipe with them – you simply eat. Enjoy. Indulge. If you do need ideas of what to do with an excess of almost-summer strawberries I would recommend having friends over to help you eat them. Impromptu summer party! Or … Dip ‘em in dark chocolate. Toss them in a spinach salad with an avocado. Make a fennel & strawberry juice for an extra dose of vitamin C. And if all else fails, follow these steps to freeze them to keep that summer-lovin’ with you all through the winter months.

Image source

I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Julia of Lemon Stripes in person yet but I love seeing her cheery, bright photos pop up in my social media feed each day (follow her Instagram – you’ll know what I mean immediately!). I’ve been following her blog since May of 2011 (when I was enrolled in the Integrative Nutrition program) and its been so much fun seeing her personal style evolve and merge with her online world. After I finished ‘ooooohhhhing‘ and ‘aaahhhhhing’ over her carefully curated and newly launched online shop last week I sent her an email congratulating her on the latest venture. After a quick exchange she agreed to share her scoop & blogging know-how! Needless to say in 3+ years of blogging she’s become a resident expert in the field of fashion, photography, food, health and blogging!

Meet Julia of Lemon Stripes

Keep up with Julia via her blog // the Lemon Stripes shop // Facebook // Twitter // Pinterest

Blogucation Tips – In Detail:

1. It sounds cheesy but be yourself! Seriously, people want to read your blog because they like you and what you have to say. As a fashion blogger, it’s easy to want to emulate the style of other (more fashionable) bloggers but when I post an outfit that isn’t 100% me, the response is noticeably lower. There are so many blogs out there these days, you have to make sure that you have your own style, your own voice, and your own aesthetic. You want followers who love that about you!

2. Be consistent. If your followers see that you post daily, they’ll most likely come to your blog every day to see what’s new. If you post every few days or weeks and it’s more sporadic, people will most likely forget to visit until they see a notification on social media. I realize that daily blog posts aren’t possible for many people given their busy schedules, but consistency is key whether it’s every Monday at 7am, every day, or twice/week. You want to make it easy for people to remember to visit you.

3. Make blogger buds. I started seeing a big increase in my following when I started hanging out with and partnering with other bloggers. The blogging community is a great resource for networking and building your brand. Start connecting with your favorite blogs on social media and comment on their sites. You never know what could turn into a fabulous partnership or great friendship!

4. Invest in good design. When people come to Lemon Stripes, the first thing that they usually notice is the fabulous design of the site. It’s intriguing, cheery, and totally professional. A great blog design will set you apart from your competition. When brands reach out to me, they almost always mention how my site design sparked their interest.

5. Stay organized! Keep an editorial calendar with all of your posts as far out as possible. This will keep you on track so that you’re not scrambling last minute for a blog post that is poorly written and not well thought out. I use Google Docs and color-code everything!

Keep up with the ‘Blogucation’ posts by subscribing to the weekly RSS email or clicking the ‘blogucation’ category on the right!