I LAVA checking in: Hey little vegan, how's the eatin?

It's been 3 months, give or take a few 144 hours since I dove in and went vegan with my diet.

It's been a big deal, game changer sort of decision.

My first week freaked me out.  Even though I'd been eating Pesca/Lacto/Ova/Vegetarian for a year already it was scary imagining a life of reeeeaaaaaaly reading labels, being obnoxious at restaurants and standing on my cruelty-free soapbox to tell eaters of flesh the error of their ways.  I lived on Malt-O-Meal for a few days because I knew that at least was safe.

I was still unsure of whether I wanted to be full time vegan or if I wanted to just do a day a week, I was really really into chile relleno burritos at the time and it just seemed an insurmountable challenge. 

I started my first vegan day and after that I decided to see if I could o two in a row.  And then three.  After about 6 days I flubbed up and went on a deep fried cheese bender during the Opening Day game for the Giants.  And I felt like barfing.

See, being vegan just feels good.  Like really fucking good.  When I have a little cheese on something my tummy does flip flops, and not in that fun "in love" way.  Think more in that "Oh my god this is gonna be public and embarrassing and stinky" sort of way.

My body and I are really synced up, the food I put in processes well (and I'll leave it at that) and when I slip up (which happens a few times a week, I'm not perfect) I really notice it.  

I'm finding that I don't even miss cheese at all anymore.  I don't like the way I feel after I eat it- and what's ridiculous is how long I just put up with that feeling because I assumed it was just how eating was supposed to be.  Admittedly it got waaaaay easier to live cheese free once I tried Daiya.  I had a mouthgasm when I first tried a grilled cheese sandwich made with the stuff.  My "friend" was with me as I was eating it for the first time and I am pretty sure he was a little jealous of the sandwich as I moaned in ecstasy over the melty vegan goodness.

So what, if not cheese, do I miss now that I'm vegan?

I miss easy ordering at restaurants- some places are awesome and have tons of vegan options, others are just pure hell.  

I miss not being judged every meal- even if I don't bring it up, when I'm in a group of people as I'm ordering someone always calls attention to my order in one way or another and I'm asked a bazillion questions that usually all boil down to "How do you live without Bacon?!"

Amazingly well.

 The questioning thing has been the real challenge though.  Having to define my diet for other people.  People always want to know why I do it- and it's no one reason.  I love animals, but I'm not some uber sensitive wimp who can't deal with death.  I just don't like unnecessary suffering.  And I'm totally creeped out by eating anything that thinks and poops.  That's no different from my vegetarian days except people just ignored it and asked zero questions back then.*

I love the health benefits of going animal-free.  My skin is fantastic.  

I think I look better without makeup now than I ever have.  My stomach is calmer than it has been since I started procreating.  It's dumb but I actually feel like I'm less stressed out because I'm not eating some product of a stressed milk cow.  And I have had noticeably fewer days of self loathing directed at my body- which is badass since I haven't had to count any calories or hold back since I started this.  Face facts- when eating vegan there really aren't a ton of splurge items that I can OD on without effort. 

Another aspect of defining my veganism has been to which degree I am taking it.  I don't *always* count honey because truth be told, I fucking love that shit, but I did cut way back and now only have it in things once every few weeks.

I will no longer be purchasing anything made with leather, I never buy fur, but... and this is the big but- I will not stop using animal fiber yarn.

Day old cria!  <3

I love yarn.  I work for a yarn company.  Am I gonna stop lovin' up on cashmere?  Hell no.  

I just visited the alpaca-pals that the company I work for gets our 100% alpaca lines from.  They were so cared for and loved- she totally even knew every one of them by name. 

It's not the most vegan thing to do, but dang it, as long as I'm conscientious about the mills the yarn comes from I'll let this one slide.

And if that bugs some other vegans, whatevs.

Because ultimately, even though the animals and the environment benefit from my choice not to eat animals or their products, this is an act of loving myself and doing something that makes me feel good.

Isn't it nice to know that the LAVA we put into ourselves goes out into the world has a way of coming round full circle like that?

* I totally don't mind answering real questions. It's just the "How do you not eat ribs?!" stuff that kills me.  I'm always down to share my tips and favorite things with anyone who might want to try a vegan diet.

A LAVA letter.

Dear Oliver/Oliwa,

Tonight I saw your show.  I've loved He's My Brother She's My Sister for a whopping 3 weeks- well, maybe a little longer.  But I only was able to make iTunes my bitch and get your album on payday of this month, so my true love began then.

 Quite frankly, I think you're magnificent.  A glittering ray of OMG LAVA.

I know, I know.  I totally uncomfortably talked to you while you were showing spring rolls the inside of your mouth and that's not nice of me, but dang. You gotta understand, I'm a lady raised on fangirling out to Hanson on TRL.  Playing it cool is not part of my skillz set. 

You probably have a girlfriend or boyfriend or are sworn to celibacy or something totally rock-blocking me from you, but in case you aren't just know I think you're the bee's knees.

If you would like more information I can send you my resume of fabulousness or perhaps create a powerpoint presentation for you about why I am just such a great girl to know.  Complete with clip art!!!

In the meanwhile, thanks for being colorful and wonderful and having the best smile I've ever seen.  And you know, that whole talented musician in a fun band thing. 

Guerrilla lovefare,

Burly

PS why the heck aren't you Oliver me already?  Yeesh!

Photographs courtesy of my boyfriend Yvonne.

 (And if you aren't a man with glitter-eyed glory but just reading this blog because that's what you do... do yourself a favor, treat yourself to HMBSMS.  They even have a free track for you to try before you commit.  You know how I feel about commitment.)

I Lava Revolutions

Tomorrow is June 1st, marking the middle of the year.  For the last few years I've used this as a time to re-evaluate how I'm doing and where I stand.  You know, the whole "What am I doing to reach my goals- omigod, can I even identify my goals?" kind of thing. 

If at the new year we make resolutions, I try make these mid year check-ins revolutions- something I unwittingly wrote one new years eve in junior high in my diary.  

From where I'm sitting right now things look pretty incredible. I have dealt with depression for the last several months but as I'm searching for the reason I'm having a hard time articulating it.  I'm just so happy these days that all of the shit that I've put up with is not even computing.  Thank God.  Bury that crap.

In January I listed a bunch of frivolity that was making me happy and I was using that as a good jumping off point for what I had hoped would lead to happiness.  But really, all the fancy makeup in the world can't cover up the real problems.  Since January I've ended my marriage, had an intense and impossible roommate, made new and beautiful friends and learned the importance of the old standby BFF's who put up with everything and still dole out the love.  I've moved back into the house I love, started working at a job that is everything I've ever wanted from a workplace and started learning to separate the people from my life who are polluting the rest of the things around me.  I've taken control of my diet and am eating things that make me feel good, and not in just an in-the-moment-in-mah-mouf sort of way.  The way i'm eating is giving me a clear conscience.  Going vegan is atoning for my sins in a way.  

I'm still a big slob and a mess but I'm doing better about it, I'm taking more time to read with my kids and play dress up.  

I am feeling so creative and so full of love for everything and everyone around me that I can't help but believe that the second half of this year is going to more than make up for the pain and sadness of the first half. 

I have a few projects that combine my love for Fresno and my hobby of crochet dancing around in my brain- hopefully I can get those going this summer.  I'm ready to start skating again.  

I've been trying to include meditation in my day to find my center.

Things are good and they're only getting better.  

Viva Lava Revolution!

I Lava LavLem

What the heck?!  

Two favorites in one.  This is what happens when worlds collide.  No, not Powerman 5000.

Rather a major major Yumgasm.

When I was in LA a few weeks ago Aurora took me to Native Foods, this fantastic vegan spot that has burgers that are totally burgery and amazing but more importantly, they have lavender lemonade.  Right?  I think my words were "Shut up!"

Well, as everyone on Earth knows I am one broke-ass-bitch.  So craving a treat I was racking my brain to figure out what I could make with a can of beans, some sweet n low packets, frozen okra and peanut butter.  As I was starting to get mopey about my major sweet tooth failure I remembered the lemonade and thought "HOLY CRAP!  I have lemons!  I have lavender! MAGIC!"

A Google search led me to this recipe and I was ready to roll.

I managed to scrape up enough sugar between two open sugar bags in the wayyyy back of my pantry and several sugar packets obtained from a Starbucks (shhh!) and set to work on my lavender simple syrup. 

Simple is right.   I am so making this all the time to use with everything.  You know, once I legitimately obtain sugar after payday.

Lemons picked, I realized I have exactly 3 ice cubes.  I called my grandma because she's always prepared and asked if I could snag some ice.  As the lavender steeped in the syrup I walked down the street to fetch the things that make lemonade truly a summer treat. (How gross would it be lukewarm? Yuck!)

Simple syrup tasted a bit like honey- a treat I haven't had in a few months since the big ol vegan switch.  Already stoked. Mmmm.

So I whipped everything else together- added extra lemon though because I like my lemonade to set my teeth on edge, and took a sip.

Beverage game changer.  

If anyone has a pool party, BBQ, orgy... whatever this summer just expect this to be my contribution. 

Enough bloggin', I'm gonna kick back and listen to my new dream-BFF Lindi Ortega and freakin' love the way life looks from my front porch.

I Lava Lav

Lavender, that is.

Today I've picked some to dry, plucked some for oil and popped some in a vase by my bed.

I never really gave a crap about lavender before I was pregnant with Mollie but during that time I craved the scent like crazy.  It was way worse than my iceberg lettuce fascination with Cary.  Even more intense than than first trimester need for double-fistin'-alternate-bites of buffalo wings and blackberry cobbler.  It's been with me ever since.  I have 3 gigantic lavender bushes now, and I'll probably be putting more in before too long.  

Its just so good.  Clean. Fresh.

Way fresher than buffalo wings, anyway.

Anyway, what am I doing indoors?  I have lavender to love up on!

I Lava Making My BFF's My Spirit Animals.

This came from Aurora's blog.  She's fantastic.  Read.

I typed out this loooong tell-all blog about the man who refuses to date me and how hard he is to shake even though he's totally never ever ever gonna like me enough to actually want me as a *gasp* girlfriend no matter how amazingly hot and smart and funny I am but decided against it.  Even this run on sentence is crossing the whiny line.

Instead I changed my Facebook photo to one of myself with my Aurora.  Talk about a spirit animal. This lady is ridiculously strong . She sees what she wants and goes for it, identifies the things that are holding her back and cuts them out and sets boundaries and keeps them.  Plus she's gorgeous.  Its nice to see her shining face when I look at my Facebook.  (Or in this case, ferocious!  Fierce!)

Thinking about it, all of my girlfriends are my spirit animals.  For a while I thought it was Isaac Hanson or Tim Lincecum (who doesn't want Timmy as their spirit animal?!  Freak!) and they worked to get me through most things, but damn.  The women in my life are all so strong and amazing, I could do well to draw from their strengths and channel them when I start to lose track of my own strengths.

Which happens- Aurora asked me last week to list 5 things I was good at and all I could come up with was Making an Ass of Myself at Karaoke.

That was it.

So here's to my best friends and their strengths that I can learn from. I love you ladies.

<3jenn <3criswell <3steph  <3nicole <3cho <3yvonne <3jennilam <3sylvia  <3sabrina  <3aurora <3katie

I Lava Beets and Other Roots.

This week I had the absolute pleasure of taking four foreign exchange high school students on a trip to Sacramento to go check out the state capitol and learn a bit more about democracy in action.  As always happens in these situations I ended up taking away more from the experience that I thought I would.

This particular cluster of kids happened to be all Russian-speaking, hailing from Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.  They had heard that Sac has a huge Russian community, so we made part of our trip a search for a taste of home.  This search led us to Stolichniy in North Highlands where we shared a Russian meal.  I went in thinking I'd have no clue what to eat, but as I looked over the menu I recognized several foods that come straight out of my family's cookbook.  I even know how to make Vareniki.  See, we're Volga German and I had always just assumed all of these delicious foods that we have at family gatherings were from the German side of things.  Of course, I never factored in the Russian influence on our plate. So I enjoyed the familiar- Piroshki, Vareniki and Blini- but tried Borscht for the first time as well as Vinaigrette salad.

Oh my flipping goodness.  I never knew how much I love beets.  Seriously.  Majorly.  Madly.

Of course, the things at this restaurant weren't all vegan and I just kinda ignored that to enjoy the experience, but I decided that I'd do what I could to vegan-up a few of the things when I got home.

Enter magenta-stained hands, a purple-splattered kitchen and a delightfully filled belly.

I found this great blog- Natasha's Kitchen, a treasure trove of Russian and Ukrainian yummies.  For the Vinaigrette salad I didn't have to do any work to make it vegan- it's all veggies.  But for the Borscht I switched out the chicken bouillon with veggie bouillon and plopped a dollop of Tofutti cream cheese on top instead of the tradition sour cream.


I love that everything is pink.  This fits in with my cute manifesto well. 

Here are the recipes for Vinaigrette and Borscht, Make them, LAVA them.

Some photos of my finished product:

Vinaigrette. Beets, Potato, Pickles, Sauerkraut, Carrots, Onion.

Borscht. Beets, Potato, Carrots, Onion, Cabbage, White Beans, LAVA.

NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM

Purple fingers!  LOVE IT!

The most important part of making soup- sharing it with others.  I'll be making a few deliveries tonight!

My amazing students Kristina- Russia, Daulet- Kazakhstan, Julia- Ukraine, Anastasia-Russia.  They're silly and smart and I love them to pieces.