This is the most delicious black bean dip I have ever made. We make it constantly, almost as much as hummus, and it's just as easy!
Black bean hummus:
1 can black beans, drained
3 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 to 2 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon olive oil
splash of garlic powder, or a little bit of a garlic clove
Place all ingredients in food processor and blend. I blend mine for a long, long time because I like it extra creamy.
We like to dip black corn tortilla chips in our dip, as well as carrot/cucumber/celery/zucchini sticks!
Sometimes on the way home from work in the morning I listen to radio stations where the DJ's just talk. I'd prefer to listen to music, but on occasion they can be really, really funny. The things people say when they call in make me feel better about my own life.
A few mornings ago there was a particularly funny show on about the weird things that people do, including OCD behavior and just downright funny/stupid things. That combined with a similar blog post about the same thing got me thinking about the "crazy" things I do. It's time for a little confession session, my dear bloggys. If I called into the station, I would say:
I confess that when I drive through a yellow light, I have to kiss my fingers and then touch the ceiling of the car. If I don't, I will get in a car accident. It's something I've done my whole life...I thought everyone did that? Guess not. Does that make me crazy??
I confess that each time I leave the apartment, I have to kiss my cat and tell him I will be back. Then I have to kiss my dog and tell her I promise I'll be back soon. If I don't do this, they might get their feelings hurt or think I'm never coming back. No matter how big of a hurry I'm in or how late I'm running, I will find the cat and dog and speak to them.
I confess that I am so paranoid of getting bed bugs from a hotel/motel/holiday inn that I keep my bags and clothes elevated and off the floor at all times (either on the desk or bed). Does this make me super paranoid, or just plain crazy??
I confess that I have a ritualistic order to my shower routine. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face wash. Any interruption or change in this makes me have to start all over again and complete it in the right order. Does this mean I have OCD or does it just make me crazy??
I confess that when I see or hear an ambulance, I have to say this huge prayer to myself in my head. If I don't, the person in the ambulance might die.
Okay...so you knew this question was coming... What do you do that makes you crazy?? Don't be shy now....
Hello, happy Friday! Are you ready for the weekend??
I am so happy to have a few days off work. After working every night from Sunday through Wednesday, I came home Thursday morning and crashed! I slept from 8 am to 5 pm, then fell back asleep at 9 pm and slept until 9 am this morning! Oh em gee...Night shift is so exhausting! However, I woke up this morning feeling like a new person and am so happy to be on *day shift* for a few days!
After posting this post about a great movie you can watch on the internet called Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead I received a lot of positive comments and emails! I loved hearing about everyone's favorite juice recipe and most importantly I was thrilled that people are juicing at all!
After I watched the movie, I was so motivated to juice more. I broke out the juicer again and have vowed to juice at least three times a day. Each day since Sunday, I've been waking up and making a glass of juice. I sip on for about half an hour, then juice another glass. I pack my lunch and get a shower before I go into work and then juice and drink another glass. I have "lunch" around midnight or 1 am at work, which has been a salad and piece of fruit, and then I go home in the morning and go to sleep. Rinse and repeat each day. I've felt great (although tired from working four night shifts in a row) and have decided to continue as long as I can.
This morning I juiced the following vegetables:
That's beet, kale, celery, cucumber, carrot, and apple.
If you watched the movie I posted above, you'll remember that he held a large bowl of fruit and vegetables up and asked, "How long would it take you to eat and chew all these?" The answer is, a long time! If I physically chewed the beet, kale, carrots, celery, cucumber and apple, I'd still be chewing into lunch time! Throw it all into the juicer, however, and you get all the micro & macronutrients you wouldn't get by masticating alone (which means chewing). Juicing breaks down the components and brings out the best you need! People have cured cancer by juicing! Vegetables are good for you!
My beautiful glass of vegetable & apple juice:
The vegetables actually produced two large glasses, (the beets gave almost an entire glass by themselves) so I made two glasses: one all beet, one the rest, and did half and half in each glass. The apple and beet were so sweet that it tasted like fruit juice, but I knew there were lots of vitamin A, C, K and everything else laced into the sweetness! Remember kale alone is a superfood!
Have you been juicing at all? Like I said, I've been doing it every day, making juice at least 50% of my intake each day.
Any plans for the weekend? This weekend is my friend's cambodian wedding. It will be my first non-american wedding i've ever attended. It is a two-day event, each day different and unique in its own way. I'll post pics after the weekend!
I watched a great movie the other night called Sick, Fat & Nearly Dead. This is the trailer:
I streamed it from Netflix, but you might be able to watch the whole thing on youtube as well. I'm not a big fan of The Biggest Loser or I-used-to-be-fat-and-then-I-started-eating-right-and-working-out and look at me now videos, but for some reason this one struck a different chord in me.
Joe, an overweight australian who was over 300 pounds and on numerous medications, came to America to get healthy (ironic, right?) and he did it by living off vegetable juice for 60 days. The movie chronicles his good days, bad days, and entire weight loss, complete with doctors visits, test results and the like. It's no surprise to me, a green-smoothie-drinking, vegetable-juicing raw-food-eating vegan that his health turned around and he was able to lose 200 pounds and get off all his medications, but I think it's a good message to send into the world for non-believers, or even skeptics.
The best part of the movie, for me, was a trucker he met at a truck stop while interviewing random people. I can't tell you what happens or it would be a huge spoiler. You'll have to watch it yourself! :)
Another thing I liked about the movie was how he kept on juicing even when people put him down, discouraged him, or thought he was crazy. He carried a little juicer in the back of his car and he let numerous people try the green juice, wherever he was. He was so enthusiastic and excited about it. Most of the time, that's how I feel about green smoothies, juicing, and veganism, yet the general population is such a downer about it.
After watching the movie I was so incredibly motivated to start juicing more.
I've already done two juice fasts in my life, one which I blogged about here (and each day of the fast is chronicled) and I own a juicer, but after it's put under the cupboard and it's out of sight, out of mind, it's hard to remember to bring it out and juice things.
Perhaps the biggest, and best thing I learned from watching the movie is that it's okay to combine all my vegetables! I used to juice only one thing at a time. A cup of carrot juice in the morning, a cup of celery and apple in the afternoon. This was, of course, boring and lead to me only juicing for one isolated day and going back to my old way of eating. After watching the movie, I did as they instructed and I went to the farmers market and bought everything I laid eyes on:
parsley, romaine, spinach, celery, cucumbers, carrots, kale, apples, peaches, lemons.
Then I put it all into the juicer together! My first juice (and first meal of the day) was parsley, a whole head of romaine, one stalk of celery, one large cucumber, one large carrot, and water. It looked like this but much more:
I thought it would taste like grass and be so awful with all the lettuce and parsley, but it wasn't much different from the other times I've juiced. The carrots did a fine job of sweetening everything up and I didn't even need to add stevia or an apple. It was quite good and I drank it without any problems. I had enough energy to go to the gym and complete a crossfit workout x2. When I got home from the gym, I juiced another batch, same ingredients. For dinner, I had some solid food with more vegetables.
Vegetables contain so many nutrients, minerals and vitamins that can't be released unless you chew, and chew, and chew. It would take you hours to chew all the vegetables that you can drink if you juice them into one cup. Some tips on juicing:
Warm your juice up to room temperature. Either let your vegetables sit out of the fridge for about an hour, or let your juice sit for a little while until it is room temperature. It is better absorbed into your system if it is room temperature and not cold.
"Chew" your juice. Your saliva is meant to integrate digestive enzymes into the food we eat, so drink slowly, allowing this to happen. It will let your body digest and absorb it better.
Drink it slow. Don't drink it all down at once. This could result in a stomach ache. I usually drink a glass in about 15 to 20 minutes, sometimes longer. Imagine if you were chewing all those vegetables, it would certainly take longer than that, so give your stomach time.
Vegetable juice is alkaline. If you have problems with your body or health, there is a chance it is due to to an offset in the acid-base balance. My body needs a lot of alkaline food to balance out the natural acidity of it. When I eat acid-producing food, my body gets way out of balance and I experience skin breakouts, rashes, indigestion, etc. I have noticed the more alkaline foods I eat (carrots, celery, cucumber, spinach) and juice, the better I feel. As hard as it was to quit drinking coffee, I have to admit it was the probably the best thing I've ever done, especially for my skin. Coffee is very acidic and ever since I stopped drinking it, I haven't had to have any prescriptions from my dermatologist.
My goal is to increase my fruit and vegetable juice intake per day, and so far so good. Today I am on day #2, but hopefully soon I won't have to count days because it will just be incorporated into my lifestyle. They say it takes 30 days to form a habit, so here we go!
Do you juice vegetables and/or fruit? What is your favorite combo? Have you seen the movie Sick,Fat & Nearly Dead?
I tried out this recipe from the brilliant Kelli and it came out wonderful! If you have an extra zucchini or two laying around, or you used to like crab cakes before you became vegan (wink wink) I highly recommend this recipe!
Zucchini Better-than-Crab Cakes
4 cups grated zucchini (i used a cheese grater and left the skin on)
2 egg replacers (or two eggs if you aren't vegan)
3 Tablespoons Earth Balance vegan butter, melted
2.5 cups breadcrumbs
1/2 cup flour (I only had garbanzo bean flour and it worked fine)
3-4 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
few teaspoons oil for frying
Grate your zucchini and sprinkle with a little salt to sweat the excess water off. Blot with towel or paper towel. This step is important because if you don't get all the water out, the cakes will be too mushy. I actually put all my grated zucchini into a towel and squeezed as much water as I could out.
Mix zucchini in with egg replacer and butter. Add breadcrumbs and seasoning. Mix well and form into patties. I was able to make five good sized patties with my batch. Put oil in frying pan on medium to high heat until hot. Dredge patties in flour before putting on frying pan. Sizzle until each side is golden brown.
These little cakes were the fastest "burgers" we have ever made. Much, much faster than homemade black bean burgers, and faster than homemade falafel. It was literally one, two, and they were done. Bazinga!
The Boyfriend and I made these into sandwiches and enjoyed them for two meals. They were simply wonderful. Thank you Kelli!
Some friends and I have signed up to do a half marathon in South Carolina on Oct 23, 2011!
Initially I had asked my friend Melissa if she wanted to run it with me, and then a few other girls overheard and we asked them too, and then a few others, and now there's quite the group of us ICU nurses running! I am so excited because I've never ran with more than myself or just The Boyfriend. Speaking of boyfriends, mine and a few other of the girls boyfriends/husbands are running it with us, too!
The good thing about running with co-workers is that we can hold each other accountable, check in with one another, and train together!
The run description is that it is an easy, flat road on the boardwalk
And we get little surfboard metals at the end!
The best part, (besides the run, of course) is that there is a beach party afterward, complete with music and beer! My co-worker has rented out a beach house for us that holds 20 people and we can stay the whole weekend. Can you say weekend getaway??
We had a carry-in (potluck) at work the other day, and my friend Kemry brought all the ingredients for do-it-yourself spring rolls. After a quick lesson we were all huddled around the table, stuffing and wrapping our own spring rolls and hungrily eating them. They were so easy and delicious I knew it would be my next meal for an at-home-date-night with The Boyfriend. We decided that night would be last night, since he has a swim meet this weekend and I work until Wednesday.
We ran to the store to pick up hoison sauce, spring roll wraps, and soba noodles. You can use any kind of noodles, these were on sale so I bought them.
Then I cut up some lettuce, cucumbers, and celery. Traditionally, mint leaves and parsley leaves are used, but I was fresh out of these, so I went without. At work, my friend brought grilled chicken to put in the rolls too, but for obvious reasons we did without that as well.
Then you fill a wide-brim bowl with some tap water and dip the spring roll shells into the water. They will not turn soft immediately. Simply dip them in the water until the whole side is wet, then place back on cutting board/table/plate.
Place the noodles and veggies on the wrap near the bottom of the wrap.
At this time, the wrap will be soft and pliable, like magic! You should be able to pick it up and roll it without problems. Roll it from the bottom up, and tuck the sides in.
My finished roll:
And after a few more times I got pretty good!
Dont forget the dipping sauce! I mixed some peanut butter in with the hoison sauce and sweet begeezus it was a peanut buttery goodness that melted in my mouth.
I have fallen in love with a new smoothie creation. The vanilla/peanut butter /banana smoothie:
(Strategically placed on my balcony next to our "seeds of love", which have finally decided to bloom after five months of lying dormant...)
Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
3 ice cubes
1 cup almond milk
1 banana
2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
1 cup spinach
The rich, dessert-like flavor of this drink makes you feel like you are drinking a real ice cream smoothie, yet almond milk has only 90 calories in 1 cup and no animal fat. It also has Vitamin D and Calcium without hurting anything! Spinach is high in iron, vitamin K, vitamin C, and vitamin E. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, is high in fiber, and aids in digestion, eye, skin, and brain function. So grab a handful (or four) of spinach, some almond milk, and whatever fruit you fancy, and blend away!
I don't know about you, but I've always loved potato skins. Fortunately for me, I found a way to veganize them, so I can still have them if I find myself craving them, (which I may or may not do after a night of adult beverages...)
Potato Boats:
Two potatoes
one tablespoon oil
two tablespoons nutritional yeast
one teaspoon frank's red hot/ sriracha sauce/ other hot sauce
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon vegan sour cream
daiya cheese
Puncture your potatoes with a fork, wrap in plastic baggie or damp paper towel, and put into microwave for about five minutes.
Slice them longways and scoop out all of insides except about 1/4 of an inch around on all sides.
Mix the insides in a bowl with oil, nutritional yeast, hot sauce, and vegan sour cream. You can add more or less nutritional yeast and hot sauce depending on hot cheesy and spicy you want it. Re-pack the insides of the boats with this stuffing mixture. Top with daiya cheese and put boats back into the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until you can tell the cheese is melted.
Dip in additional sour cream/other dressing as desired!
Veggie burgers have long been a favorite of mine, whether store bought or from the restaurant. Yet it seems like such a crime to pay so much for them when you could be making them at home! With determination in my cooking veins to make the perfect veggie burger, I've struggled over the past two years with homemade burgers. I remember the first time I ever made them two years ago (with a black bean and corn base) they were too dry and wouldn't stay together. And again, the last time I attempted, just weeks ago, I made them with a chickpea base and they were too moist. Even after frying in a bit of oil they came out kind of mushy.
Years ago I was in Columbus, Ohio visiting my dear friend Amy, and because she is always-accommodating to my vegan lifestyle, she suggested we visit northstar cafe at dinnertime for a veggie burger. Now, my opinion on veggie burgers: You've had one, you've pretty much had them all, so I wasn't too quick to jump on this idea, so I asked what else there was to eat around there. She insisted that this particular veggie burger would be the best I have ever had. Still skeptical to taste the "best ever veggie burger" from a non-vegan, I wanted to keep my options open. She continued to talk about them all day; while we watched old DVDs of our fave show, while she cut and colored my hair, and while we drove to her parents house. It wasn't until she mentioned the idea to her parents and pretty much sent them into orbit over the sound of having northstar veggie burgers that I thought: Wow, there might be something to these things if non-vegetarians are getting all googly-moogly over them. So off we trotted to this magical cafe to pick up our two bags that held the mysterious veggie burgers. I have to admit, as I stared down at this massive burger on my plate that was complete with tomato, lettuce, onion, and the largest bun known to mankind, I knew it was going to be an epic experience.
The rest is history. I fell in love that day, and have since been trying to recreate this majestic veggie burger. My dreams are made of brown rice, black beans, and the infamous "secret" ingredient: beets. Okay, not really, my dreams are rarely of food, but if I dreamed in food, these northstar veggie burgers would be dancing around on pink clouds. The beets, the secret ingredient, give this burger a meaty texture and a warm color, which is kind of odd for a vegan to see after not seeing cow-beefy burgers in a while, but all is forgotten as soon as the burger hits your tastebuds.
I googled Northstar cafe burgers and came across the following recipe on "the kitchn" site, although I did tweak it massively. The following are the ingredients according to the way I made the burger:
1 cup brown rice, cooked
2 small onions, diced
2 beets, cooked and diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
squeeze of lemon juice
oil (I use safflower because it is for high heat. Be warned: olive oil is NOT supposed to be heated. Why no one knows this is a mystery to me.)
1 tablespoon parsley, minced
Coriander
Cumin
Chili powder
Salt and pepper
Any other seasonings. Keep in mind I tweaked
this recipe, so add as much or as little of these spices and any other spices you like
Flour.
The "meat" of the burger is the rice, beans, and beets. The seasonings, onion and garlic can be adjusted as much as you want.
Cook rice and set aside.
Cook beets and shred them in food processer.
Mash beans in a large bowl.
Cook onions and garlic, then add beets to them. Add this to the rice mixture. Add the beans. You now have the "meat" of the burger. Add spices and seasonings. I also added bragg's liquid aminos (which is vegan soy sauce). You can add bbq sauce, liquid smoke, whatever. At this point, my mixture was kind of wet. I had to add some flour, one tablespoon at a time, to get it to thicken up. After adding flour make sure you taste the mixture. I hate the taste of too much flour, so I then had to add more seasonsings/sauce to get it just right again. It's a delicate balance, but well worth the time invested.
Here is a picture of the mixture before I cooked the patties. This is how much mixture was left AFTER making 5 burgers. Be warned: this makes a ton! We will be eating them for days. But that's okay because they are so good!
Heat a skillet over medium heat and put some oil in it. Flour your hands up and make patties, adding more flour if needed to keep the mixture from sticking to your hands. Place in pan, it should sizzle immediately. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, flipping to make sure it doesn't stick to bottom of pan. I added cheese on top about 2 minutes before taking off.
The Boyfriend's reaction to the burger was much like mine when I first tasted it. I got a closed-eyes, big-exhale "mmmmm" and then he said it was a 10 on a scale of 1-10 and he couldn't imagine tasting anything better.
As my 27th birthday approaches, I can’t help but think how much I’ve grown, changed and learned in the past ten years. Ten years ago I had just graduated high school and was about to embark on the next chapter of my life: college. If I could write a letter to the little girl I was 10 years ago today, this is what I would say:
Dear Little Michele,
You have high school under your belt and are almost off to college! I know you are nervous about meeting your dorm roomates, your new class schedule, and the life that lies ahead of you.Here are a few gems I would like to lay upon you and inform you about:
Worry has always been a big part of your life, and it’s about to get much worse.But everything does end up turning out for the better, so don’t waste time crying yourself to sleep and getting so nervous you can’t eat. Turns out all that worrying was just a waste of your time.
Try to enjoy your time in the School of Nursing with a relaxation and sense of humor. You will get good grades, you will graduate with high honors, and you will prove to yourself you are “smart”. You can ditch all those late night study sessions and stop biting your nails through the tests. Live a little!
You are going to get your heart broken, and it is going to hurt. But he’s not worth the years and tears you put into him, so move on! You do heal, you do love again, and you do end up with your soul mate in the end, so remember that when you feel like your life is over!
People will remember the hurtful words you say. You can apologize (and you will) but some of them never forget. Sometimes it is best to hold your tongue before spouting off.
Two girlfriends will hurt you like no boy ever could. These experiences only make you stronger and force you to realize that true, honest, and good friends are hard to come by.
Joining a sorority proves to be the best thing that you will ever do. Cherish every minute you are “forced” to spend with these girls at sleepovers, retreats, camps and workshops. What you don’t know yet is that you are creating lifelong, truly lifelong, friendships
Forget all the years you and your sister spent fighting like cats and dogs. You two are about to become closer than you can imagine, and the best years are yet to come!
If something just feels wrong, trust your intuition and don’t do it. A move, a job, a relationship. Get out of the situation and move on!
All those months you will spend crying over money are simply not worth your time, either. Real living and loving is done without spending a penny, although it will take you the better part of 10 years to figure this out.
Student Loans: Forget about them already! Everyone has them. Don’t ever lose sleep over them again, or wake up in the middle of the night to frantically sort through your file cabinet looking for student loan paperwork, only to go back to bed more upset than before. You never miss a payment, you don't ruin your credit, and you still get to live the life you want.
You don’t marry by 26 and you don’t start having a family by 27. I know this is hard to read. Breathe in…breathe out…Let go of that ideal image and enjoy living without kids while you can!
And finally, my dear, please remember you are a genuine, true, sympathetic and emotional person. Embrace these aspects of yourself instead of trying to run from them. Your ability to cry at the drop of a hat doesn’t dissapear, but it does make you a more caring nurse, someone who others can relate to and feel comforted by. These past ten years have been good to you; really, exceptionally good. Hopefully I will be back in another 10 to write you again.
The Boyfriend has been asking me to make him Navy Bean soup for awhile now. I kept saying "sure" but never made it. He finally took matters into his own hands, and I woke up from my 'nap' to smell delicious soup simmering and corn bread in the oven.
Cornbread:
1 and 1/4 cup water
1/4 cup oil
1 egg substitute. He used ener-G egg replacer
2 and 1/2 cups cornbread mix. We used Bob Redmill's cornbread mix from the health food store.
Mix all ingredients together and pour into pour into baking pan or cupcake tin. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Navy Bean Soup:
2 cans navy beans
4 cups vegetable broth
parsley
pepper
basil
chili powder (optional)
celery
carrots
onions (optional)
1/2 cup dry noodles
Put celery, carrots, and onions in pan and sautee until soft. Pour vegetable broth and all spices in (to taste) and then the noodles and beans. Simmer until noodles are soft. The Boyfriend admitted he didn't measure any of the spices, and he just threw in what he wanted. The result was delicious. We ate it for two days and had enough for me to take to work. It was better than the minestrone soup I made in the winter. You can add any vegetables you want. The key is the navy beans, and I love dipping my cornbread into the soup. The Boyfriend prefers his cornbread to be crispy while I like mine a little softer.
I know when it's hot it's hard to imagine eating anything warm, but it's light and full of liquid so it was very satisfying.
I'm off to work for the next few nights. Take care!
With all the running around I've been doing this spring and summer it's been hard to run and work out as much as I'd like to. Ever since the spring time arrived and I stopped training for my half-marathon that never happened, I've gained some weight. Seeing as how I am in a wedding in less than two months and my bridesmaid dress is hanging in my closet, I can't gain any weight or it won't fit. Thus starts my 8 week weight loss plan.
This morning I started my day with a green smoothie and green pills:
Frozen strawberries, one banana, and a bag of spinach greens.
If you're new to the blog, you can check out my post on green tablets here. I am still taking between 3 and 6 tablets a day. When i'm not working, I usually just take three when I wake up. When I'm working, I'll take 3 when I wake up and 3 in the middle of the night when I am struggling to stay awake.
Then The Boyfriend and I headed to the gym, where we had a great lifting session. I've been looking up some routines on other girls blogs and pulled some different exercises from blogs and came up with the following for today:
Bicep curls with straight bar (30 lbs, 3 sets of 12)
Shoulder lifts with straight bar (30 lbs, 3 sets of 12)
Lat pull-downs (3 sets of 12)
Tricep extensions (3 sets of 12)
Dips on bench (3 sets of 12)
Shoulders (did three exercises, 3 sets of 10 each) For these, we use the machine that has pulleys, and we pulled across and up our body, then pulled up and across. Hard to describe...
Chest press (20 lbs, 3 sets of 12)
My intention was to focus on triceps and biceps, but The Boyfriend wanted to focus on shoulders and chest, so what we got was a mix of all four muscle groups. It was a good workout, and now my arms feel like jell-o!
When we got home we made a big salad and shared it
It had bean sprouts, carrots, tomatoes, greens, mushrooms, radishes, etc. Very refreshing!
When the sun goes down and the temp drops a few degrees we are going to run 6 miles outside. It's so hot here in the South it's almost unthinkable to run in the middle of the day.
What do you do when you are trying to lose weight? I mostly focus on weight lifting and cardio routines. For some, changing their diet alone helps them lose weight, but when you are already existing on mainly fruits and vegetables, you need to amp up your metabolism in order to lose weight.
This weekend I returned home for the bachelorette party of one of my best friends, Kristin. The night before her big night, another friend who recently got engaged had us over to her place.
When we walked in, we saw this. Bottles of wine with "always and forever" ribbon tied to them, and a card with each of our names on it.
Inside the card was a poem she wrote, different for each of us
I screamed when I read the "will you be my maid of honor" part, and I looked up to see Kristin reading her card and starting to cry. We each had a special, different poem written for us asking different things: maid of honor, matron of honor, and bridesmaid. It was such a special, sweet moment that we all shared together and I felt so incredibly lucky to have made such good friends in college and remained so close with all of them.
We drank sangria, munched on veggies, hummus, salsas and guacamole, and talked and laughed until late. When everyone went home/went to bed, Kristin and I (accidentally) stayed up until well after 3, whispering to each other in the dark like we were in high school again. I can't remember a time I had been this excited.
The next day, we had a bridal shower for Kristin during the day
Nicole & I, Bridesmaids for Kristin's wedding
We played games, drank margaritas, and Kristin opened up her presents. She really liked the toaster oven I got her!
That evening we headed to Newport, an area right on the border of Ohio and Kentucky. My sorority has somewhat of a tradition of going there for bachelorette parties. We got ready in the hotel and snapped some photos of the bride and her entourage:
We had a great night, dancing and drinking and just being "us", together again.
The rest of the photos are not internet appropriate, so I will leave them up to your imagination. I drove all the way home today and head back into work tomorrow. It's going to be go-go-go with weddings, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and traveling from now until the end of October, so Im going to grab some sleep while I can!
Have you ever been a bridesmaid in a wedding? If so, how did the bride ask you to be a part of her special day? I may or may not be collecting cute ideas for future reference ; )
I was browsing through some of my favorite blogs on my bookmark tab this afternoon when I read something really disturbing.
It was from a girl's blog who I have peeked in on from time to time. She originally caught my eye when she decided to do a 21-day vegan "cleanse", so I thought I would follow along and occasionally leave encouraging comments. She documented each day with pictures of green smoothies, salads, and, well, basically those two things. On day 6 she gave up and literally could not wait to put chicken and dairy into her mouth. Her words were: "I couldn't handle it anymore. I could feel my body yerning for something. Something more than vegetables... I needed substance, meat, and happiness. I first felt so guilty, but after receiving a few comments from you guys, I realized that my happiness is all that matters."
I'm not one to pick fights. I usually don't like to confront people unless I am really, truly fired up about something that has bothered me to the core. I'm not trying to single this girl out, but rather using this as an example of how people in our country and generation tend to think, and exactly what I am trying to raise awareness about! Reading those words was like a literal knife to my side, and I absolutely cannot sit silent about it.
We are in the midst of a global crisis caused by insatiable human greed. Real needs are not wrong; wants, on the other hand, can be problematic. The more we have, the more we want. Many of us have become so out of touch with ourselves that we can't tell the difference between a need or a want. We say things like "I need a new car" and "I need to buy some clothes" and "I need a drink", as if we would die without these things. Vegans, (and I mostly speak for myself and the vegans I know, since we know there are always exceptions to the rule), attempt to take only what they truly need and not jeopardize other living things lives for our own selfish desires.
For example, no one "needs" to eat meat, they just prefer to. . . Life is sustainable on a plant-based diet, we all know that. It is by choice that we eat the flesh of others. As an example of how we confuse wants with needs, look at the quote from the girl's blog above. She confused her needs with wants when she said "I need substance", sure we all need substance, but eating meat becomes a want when you decide to get your substance through dead animals. So "I need to eat meat" should be spoken as "I want to eat meat" since your life does not depend on it.
The whole heart and soul of veganism is that the world does not revolve around ourself. The world does not equate to if we are happy today and who we can hurt to make ourselves temporarily happy. There is suffering going on all around us, and we don't even realize that we are the ones causing it! We do things to alleviate this suffering in our hearts such as volunteering at a soup kitchen or donating to the Goodwill, hoping for some temporary satisfaction that makes us feel as if we are a "good person" and then the next morning we wake up and realize we are still unhappy, miserable, and suffering. The choice to eat a vegan diet will do more to revolutionize our bodies and minds and bring about world peace than any single other act, because it powerfully effects change in the outside world through the change that is happening within our own bodies. It raises awareness that what you do to others is a direct reflection of yourself; it raises awareness that there is more to life than just our own happiness. There are things such as the happiness of others, the love that you can extend to all living creatures, and the compassion that you choose to show them.
In her book Yoga and Vegetarianism, Sharon Gannon writes "The relationship of humans to the Earth is mostly exploitative, opportunisitic, and violent. We see the results of this all around us: slavery, sexism, speciesism, and extinction. There is an alternative: live so that your live enhances, rather than destroys, the lives of others. This is not a new message. It is an ancient message with a new-found meaning for the crisis we face today."
In our society today we are taught and told since we are little that "as long as you are happy" and to "do whatever makes you happy" and in the words of the girl above, "I realized that my happiness is all that matters." So if her happiness is all that matters to her, and my happiness is all that matters to me, and your happiness is all that matters to you, who cares about each other and anything other than themselves? No one. Who breaks this vicious cycle of selfishness and gluttony?
Veganism, to me, means thinking about something other than myself, because I have realized that what I do to others is a direct reflection of my own self esteem and self worth. Thinking about something other than myself means saying, "Yes, that chicken might taste good. It might smell good. But there is more to living than pleasing just myself". There is more to life than jumping from one task or opportunity to the next, satisfying my palate and feeling temporarily satisfied.
That being said, I don't "give up" these things and walk around semi-sad, wishing I could eat meat but priding myself on doing the "right thing". I do not feel restricted, I do not feel like I am missing out, and I have never felt like something was missing in my vegan choices or in my diet. If, by chance, someone tries a "vegan cleanse" and feels like they are "restricting themselves", I only have to say open your mind and heart to new opportunities! There is enough delicious, healthy food to feed the whole world round, yet we choose to single-mindedly focus on eating animals who have been killed out of violence and greed? Why is this?
This is such a broad, passionate and emotional topic for me as well as many others. Rational arguments could go on forever about this. I'm not trying to start an argument, and I don't have anything personally against the girl in the above blog; rather, I am trying use this as an example of how destructive and incomplete our lives have become. I'm trying to appeal to the hearts of my readers, to challenge you to step outside of yourself for a day, an hour, even a minute. To realize that that piece of meat on your plate had a life, and the kindness you extend to that animal is more than just saying "I'm not eating meat today", it's a step towards compassion for all living things and a step outside of our selfish, lonely world and into one where you actually feel connected to other people and other beings. For some, eating a vegan diet is only about feeling sexy, losing weight, or being healthy. In essence, this kind of veganism is still for selfish motives. I think real and true veganism has little to do with diet and all to do with the matters of the heart. Once you realize you don't want to steal, hurt, kill, or harm others, you will end up not eating them, and thus a vegan diet is born. But like I said, the core of veganism isn't really about the food, it's first and foremost about extending others the simple treatment you would want for yourself. It's about living simple so others may simply live.
"Whatever joy there is in this world all comes from desiring others to be happy, and whatever suffering there is in this world all comes from desiring myself to be happy" - Shantideva
It's been a sad few days in the ICU. This song spoke to me from another's blog and I wanted to repost it in memory of all the new, young angels smiling down on us from heaven.
Starting the summer that I graduated college, I attended about 2 or 3 weddings per "wedding season". Needless to say, I thought all my friends were married by now.
Then came... Wedding Season 2011.
Hands down The Biggest wedding season I could have ever imagined. That's 7 invitations up there, not counting the two that I already tossed and the two that I haven't received yet. So far I will be attending 6 weddings, 2 rehearsal dinners, 2 bridal showers and 2 bachelorette parties- all between June 15th and Aug 21st! They are all out of town, too: St Louis, Kentucky, Ohio, New York. Eeeeeek! These days, my time is spent running around like a chicken with my head cut off! I feel like I have so much to do, and my to-do lists are composed of, but not limited to, big errands such as "get bridesmaid dress tailored" and "book hotel reservations for St Louis" and "buy plane tickets to New York".
This weekend, after working three in a row and not sleeping, I am headed to Kentucky for this crazy girl's bachelorette party!
I know it will all be worth it, though...As soon as I see my girls.
