Happy Tofurky Day!

Today marked my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian. If I'd been with a lot of meat eaters, I may have been a little nervous, but being with my two other vegetarian roommates and Celia who only eats poultry anyway, it was the easiest vegetarian feast I've ever enjoyed!

Between the four of us we made food for roughly 86 people. We had green bean casserole, broccoli and cheese casserole, buttered asparagus, apple and cranberry dumplings, yams with marshmallows, vegetarian stuffing, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, poppy seed rolls, regular rolls, cranberries, and pomegranate flavored Sprite. We forgot to thaw the Tofurky so actually we'll be eating that either tonight or tomorrow. But seriously, I think we're going to end up eating all this for about three weeks. And we haven't even started on the pies. We've got like four pumpkin pies, a berry pie, an apple pie, some apple strudel, and pumpkin muffins. SO MUCH FOOD.

And here's the thing, I've got two more Thanksgivings to attend. One tonight at Ryan's (I'm bringing mashed potatoes and one of my homemade pumpkin pies) and one tomorrow with John-Ross's grandparents. Intense!

Tonight, at 1am, I'm going to Mode with the roommies for the 30% off sale. Then to Coal Umbrella for 35% off of everything there as well.

And tomorrow it will be time to get a Christmas tree. I'm staying in Utah for Christmas since I'm a grown up now with a real job and not much vacation time. I can't believe its so close. I've got my Christmas presents for everyone all picked out already. I will not be taken by surprise this year like I was last year. No way, Monet!

Well, it's about time to start warming the potatoes and gravy for Ryan's. I'm really excited for this installment of Big Kids Thanksgiving. I love my friends. And get together at Ryan and Cade's are always fun. Plus, Ryan's quite the cook from what I understand. Although I won't actually be able to eat the turkey... I'll probably bring some Tofurky along for the ride.

Other than a few snags, today has been and will continue to be a pretty good holiday. My roommates are like my family. I love them. They're what I'm thankful for the most today.

Of colons and crafts

Sewing: I bought a sewing machine and stocked up tools for a good sewing kit. And I've bought some cute fabric I'm going to make napkins out of. I've got to start somewhere! I'm using Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter as my guide into this wonderful world.

Crocheting: I also found that as cheesy as Vanna White is, her yarn colors by Lion Brand are actually tres tres chic. I bought a size Q crochet hook (i.e. a really huge one) and yarns in light purple and dark purple that I'm using simultaneously to make a small afghan (the blanket, not the person). It's really cute so far. I think I'll embroider some flowers or something on it when it's finished.

Knitting: I finally bought the belt buckle for my orange knit bag. So now I just have to finish sewing on the straps and the buckle, and that stretchy, completely impractical little novelty item will be finished! yay.

Cooking: I bought Veganomicon from the grocery store tonight and have started reading it. I am not a cook by any means. I know very very little about how to put recipes together or even what most ingredients are - I see the names and have no idea what kind of flavor they evoke or even what they look like. But this has a great intro into vegan cooking. The authors go into detail about what each ingredient is, where you're most likely to find it, and sometimes they even suggest specific brands they prefer. I'm not a vegan, but I wouldn't mind trying out vegan recipes at home. Especially since I'm a bit sick of all my regular vegetarian food.

Frenching: I've learned past and present tense. I feel much more complete.

Musicking: Laura Veirs and Bon Iver are my favorites at the moment. Particularly the latter. His minimalist recording is completely offset by lush arrangements of melodies and his almost orchestral use of vocals. Yummy. Honorable mentions for the week are Dosh, Bowerbirds, Tender Forever, Mariee Sioux, and Hanne Hukkelberg. All worth checking out.

Living: Life is good. I'm really tired lately but I'm hoping the vegetarian geared multivitamins I bought today will fix me up in that area. That and if I can just get off my duff and do some Yoga more than once a month, I think I'll be feeling much better.

Updating: That's it for now. Peace!

Opening your heart out to the front

In the past month I have happily taken meat out of my diet. In the past two weeks I've done without refined sugars. And this past week I've managed to implement a fairly successful workout routine, alternating cardio and light weight lifting Thursday through Tuesday and yoga on Wednesday if I'm free (I should technically be at Institute on Wednesdays, but I've just been such a recluse lately). I'm kind of loving all of this.

For starters, I've gotten a lot more creative with what I eat. I'm trying a lot more new things and liking most of them, and I'm forcing myself to eat more fruits and vegetables. Tonight I had a soy chick'n patty with avocado, tomato, lettuce and Nayonnaise (eggless Mayonnaise) on a whole wheat bun, and I made a fruit salad with fresh cut mango, strawberries and pineapple. Delicious! And Brocky loved the Mango!

I've been having trouble remembering which fruits are actually in season right now (what with science making it possible to have all kinds of fruit year round, whether it tastes great or not). So I did a little Googling and found this site that lists which fruits and vegetables are in season when. It's been really helpful.

So along with all the great food I'm eating now, I have so much energy I'm not really sure what to do with it. Generally in the late afternoon I get really drowsy and just want to go to bed. Not so anymore. In fact I seem to get a little antsy that time of day. Which is great because by the time I leave from work, I've got enough energy to put together something to eat that's actually worth eating, then workout later on.

And by the way, weight lost? 7lbs in the past week. Yippeeee :D

Funny moment tonight: I was doing yoga in my kitchen (that's the only hard floor available to me, and I don't use the dining nook so it's a great little space for yoga) and Jordan walked in to get a drink of water before bed. I was just finishing up my practice so I was lying on the floor with my palms facing up at my sides, eyes closed and breathing deeply. I could tell he was kind of tiptoeing around, so after about a minute of breathing and trying not to laugh at him (faces are supposed to be soft in yoga!), I finally said "Jordan, you should do yoga with me." I think he jumped a little bit, then we laughed and he asked if I knew he was there the whole time haha. I said, "well yeah, I'm not asleep!" He did a little one legged yoga pose then tramped off to bed.

I love my family! And the way they make fun of/tease/support me in all that I do. And I do some crazy weird stuff sometimes, I know.

Some active causes to consider

I've been considering today (thanks to all the headlines about the SF torch ceremony) whether to participate in this whole "boycott the Olympics" thing. On the one hand, I love the Olympics. Particularly the summer Olympics. On the other hand, there's that side note where China aided in the Darfur genocide and that little thing going on in Tibet... what's a girl to do? How does one boycott the Olympics anyway? Without actually going to China I mean. Someone answer me that.

Also on the topic of death and displacement, let's talk about Hurricane Katrina for a moment. Has anyone heard about The Pink Project? I'm highly confused about this thing. Brad Pitt and his cohorts have spent a TON of money putting together these pink solar powered lit up tent houses in the lower 9th ward with constellations around them that reflect the sky on the night Katrina hit (because obviously with all that hurricane weather the lower 9th ward could totally see the stars). My confusion is, wouldn't all that money be better spent on actual houses? Perhaps I'm missing the point, I don't know. I mean we all like a good monument to those who have died. Thousands of people travel to Pearl Harbor and Ground Zero every year, but... tent houses that are uninhabitable?

I don't get it. Someone explain. Please.

Alright, I am seriously ready to just sell everything I have and go to Africa to help all the little kids with AIDs (yes, I did watch Idol Gives Back, thank you very much). My heart just breaks for them. I can't imagine living without parents and having HIV. They're all so young and sweet and have nothing.

Sigh, new before-I-die checklist:
Provide clean water to someone who otherwise couldn't get any
Protect a child from Malaria
Work in an orphanage in India
Feed a hungry family
Decrease my contribution to global warming
Save a chunk of rain forest (will help previous by bucketloads)
Solve world poverty

P.S. Did you know becoming a vegetarian decreases global warming and contributes to ending poverty? Read about the environmental positives and the world hunger positive to becoming a vegetarian.

P.P.S. Did you know some biofuels, like ones made from corn, are actually increasing global warming because deforestation is taking place to make room for more corn crops? Yeah. I was surprised too. Read about it here.

Just some things to think about :)