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Vegan Living :: 1 week in the books

Posted by Amber on July 16, 2010 – 10:00 am

[my yummy cherry tomatoes on my patio]

Thursday marked my first week of being completely vegan. No meat, no dairy, no animal byproducts at all. I can’t say the transition was hard. I barely ate meat at all to begin with. I only had one day when I really craved dairy. It was pizza that I really wanted! But I didn’t sccumb to the temptation!

I was lucky that Jason visited his Grandparents the weekend after I started this vegan-ism journey and they loaded us up with lots of delicious home grown veggies! Squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans and green peppers!

I’ve been eating a lot of fruit (which I loved before) and trying to add more veggies to my diet. I also went shopping and picked up some yummy Indian rice, tofu (which by the way, isn’t as terrible as people make it sound!) and other vegan goodies. I even found some pretty darn good tasting vegan butter substitute so I could still enjoy my homemade french bread with butter!

I’m planing on picking up some vegan cookbooks today. Anybody have any sugestions?

As of today, I’m not feeling incredibly better than I was before, but I am surely not feeling worse! I have a feeling that I could make this a permanent thing!

Adventures in Veganism

Posted by Amber on July 8, 2010 – 6:34 pm

Today I purchased this book. It’s 6:07 PM and I have almost completed my first day of being a vegan. The first day of at least 30 days. Ok, maybe I should back track.

Until yesterday I was a a slightly normal American. I ate hamburgers, ice cream (yum) and chicken fingers. I rarely ate those things, in fact, I was basically a 80% vegetarian to begin with. I’m not a big meat eater, but enjoy chicken and fish occasionally. I also LOVE cheese. Let me repeat that. I LOVE CHEESE. So what made me want to STOP eating all the yummy, cheesy, crispy food things I enjoy. Well, it’s simple really. Yoga.

Over 4th of July weekend Jason and I took a local yoga class that we really enjoyed. He enjoyed it, I LOVED it. I’m the kind of person, that when I start something new, I get immersed into it, head on. That lead me to a great book that I starting reading a few days ago, while I was at the beach. Happy Yoga by Steve Ross.

Steve talks about the Yogi’s desire to not harm any living being and eating foods that are full of life. He recommends a Raw Food diet. He also recommends not eating meat or animals of any shape or size (nothing with a face), as well as cutting out all dairy from one’s diet. He made some good points about not including those things in your diet. The non-meat one’s were easy for me to adhere to, as I was in the past a vegetarian, but giving up all dairy? That’s butter, cheese (CHEESE!), cream based sauces, etc. I.E. everything I love. Why did I want to subjugate myself to this torture (of not eating my beloved dairy)? Simple. I want a healthier more conscious life. I want to be aware of what goes into my body and be able to feel how it affects me.

So today I start chronicling my month long journey into Veganism. I plan on eating 100% vegan during this month. I’m not sure what the outcome at the end of the month will be, but I’m sure it will be a tough and inspiring journey. Wanna join me?

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FACTS

Start Date: July 8, 2010

BMI: 21.1 (roughly)

Activity: Running 4 times a week. Anywhere from 15-25 miles a week (this will go up as the month goes along because I am training for a marathon). Yoga 1/2 times a week for an 1-1.5 hours.

Craiglist Victory!

Posted by Amber on July 6, 2010 – 7:00 am

After weeks (going on months) of scouring Craigslist for a dresser to replace the one in our room, I finally found one!

This one came from a little old lady’s house in South Charlotte. She was moving to Atlanta with her Daughters so she was selling a lot of her furniture out of her house. I made Jason meet up with them on a Saturday afternoon while I was at work. The dresser came as a set with another matching taller bureau. I don’t have a photo of that one yet, but it’s just like the longer version but skinny and tall. Not bad for $80.

Oh, yeah, BTW we pulled up the carpet in out bedroom and painted the floor white. I guess I should post about that…

Firecracker 5k

Posted by Amber on July 5, 2010 – 11:00 am

Happy 4th of July!

I celebrated by running my first 5k in Huntersville! It was a beautiful morning and a great run. Almost 500 people signed up! It’s crazy running with that many people at one time. The course was nice and level with a downhill at the start and a mini downhill to the finish line.

I finished in 29:27 minutes. Not too shabby. Finished 9th in my age division. I’m certainly looking forward to running another one very soon! Can’t wait to better my time.

P.S. I’m the one in the pink.

dreaming of concrete

Posted by Amber on June 4, 2010 – 7:00 am

Concrete kitchen counter tops to be exact. After visiting a restaurant that had them at the bar, I am now in LOVE with them. I’ve seen some DIY’s out there, but not sure if it’s something I would want to tackle. Anyone DIY’d their own concrete counter tops? Anyone LOVE or HATE their concrete counters? Wondering how much upkeep they would need. I hear sealing them well is a really big key to keeping them looking their best. Meanwhile, please drool over the following counters.

Newest Addition!

Posted by Amber on June 3, 2010 – 9:00 am

While enjoying ourselves in Uptown Charlotte over our anniversary weekend, we happened upon a great little junk shop called Clark’s Antiques & Stuff (not making that up). It’s run by a funny man named Clark who has owned and run the shop for the last 30 years. He had two of these little beauties. Though not in the best of shape, the pink has faded an awful lot, it was the perfect size and shape to fit into our smaller downstairs living room.

I have plans on re-upholstering it in some kind of yellow fabric, preferably one that does not attract pet hair easily. I really love the velvet, but finding that in a bright yellow might prove to be kinda hard.

Getting back into the decorating mood. Dropped off there for a while. Starting to want the house to feel more like a home than a house.

2.0

Posted by Amber on May 24, 2010 – 7:00 am

Today we celebrate two years together. Two very fast but wonderful years.

a week in the life :: monday

Posted by Amber on April 22, 2010 – 11:00 am

This project feels very different from the last time I did it in 2008. I find myself wishing we had two digital cameras so Jason could take one to work with him and I can take one with me. I feel like I’m only getting part of the story with me carrying around the camera all day.

Here are some of my favorites from Monday ::

I always have someone ahead and behind me going up and down the stairs.

12: 00PM Putting on my boots for work.

12:30 Bringing in the horses for lunch.

2:00 Getting ready to ride.

8PM Wine + Monday night sitcoms.

2nd Chance Prom

Posted by Amber on April 21, 2010 – 12:30 pm

On Saturday April 17 Jason and I attended a local radio show’s charity event called 2nd Chance Prom. It helps fund their charity called Grin Kids which sends handicap kids to Disney World with their family.

It was was a great excuse to buy a formal dress (ahem read: a prom dress) and dress up for a night on the town. It was a real blast. There were over a 1000 people there, all dancing and having a great time.

We will defiantly be back again next year. Maybe next year we will get a little more adventurous in our outfits, because the hit of the party was this guy.

Yeah. Like, FOREVER

Posted by Amber on April 16, 2010 – 9:00 am

The decorating in the house is going slower than a snails pace. Winter was hard on us and now tax season has hit home hard. But I did get a chance to buy a frame for one of my favorite Christmas presents this year. It’s huge and awesome. Not sure it will live permanently on the mantle, as it makes the low ceilings in the downstairs living room seem lower, but it’s nice to have some artwork up.

BTW, I will be again participating in Ali Edwards, a week in the life project starting on Monday. Join me?

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