I’m gay and I don’t eat chicken

I have known for some time now the stance that Chick-fil-a took on my sexuality.  Any oppression or ill will toward anyone because of ANYTHING tugs at my heart.  I spent most of last evening thinking of a response to the outpouring of both support and disgust for Chick-fil-a and those who did or did not eat at the establishment yesterday.

As a child into my pre-teens I went to church religiously, only listened to Christian music, and followed what I was taught as far what Jesus wanted for my life.  And, as of today, I don’t agree with organized religion but I do remember what the basis of the bible taught me.  LOVE. 

How do I love?  I will not defriend you on Facebook for eating at Chick-fil-a.  Why?  Because I’m your friend due to a connection we have made.  Sure, some of my Facebook friends maybe are old, new, acquaintances, yet you are still in my life.  I value your friendship, even if it means I don’t agree with you and for my own personal sanity I may hide some of your posts.  That is my decision.  This is not meant to be mean or malicious; it simply is to keep my own spirit lifted.

And I don’t eat chicken.  I don’t eat any animal products.  As a vegan I wouldn’t eat at Chick-fil-a anyway.   Throughout this ongoing saga I couldn’t decide what it was that really upset me.   The large number of chickens who are slaughtered daily or that people want to have a say in who I love and who I marry.  At the end of the day, I’m still alive and the chickens are dead. 

I don't want to come at this from a place of anger or hatred.  If I can speak my truth with love maybe you can  hear me more clearly.  I am gay, I want to marry the woman I love (or will love one day ;)).  I am vegan, I don't think any animal should be used for his or her body.

I ask you to think about what will you do now?  Will you choose to donate to an LGBTQ group in honor of this event?  Will you sit idly by and continue to bitch?  Will you stand up and make the change happen? 

What did I do?  I donated to GLADD

For the Animals

I spent last weekend at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York. It was their annual Hoe Down. It shaped up to be a weekend of camping, vegan based workshops animal time and of course, a barn dance.

I left wondering if its possible to be even more committed to veganism. I have left with a sense of calm. knowing that I am making a deference in my daily choices and actions. One of the presenters talked about our daily interactions. One of my goals this year has been to be a peaceful joyful vegan. Not the finger pointing you are wrong because you eat meat and animal products vegan.

Rae said, "one moment before I was vegetarian, I wasn't. One moment before I was vegan, I wasn't." How simple and true. One moment before I knew, I didn't know.

I am committed to veganism and I am committed to meeting people on their path, where ever they might be with open arms and acceptance. Besides we'll all be vegan eventually - I figure we are all vegan when we're dead.

I love you all, vegan, non vegan, and whatever else you bring to my life!

And so it is

The house hunt is over. I think my realtor was not so fond of my true nature as a bargain hunter. It showed it's face during the house hunt. I love the house I put the offer in on, but I had to be so sure. If there was something cheaper out there that looked good I had to see it, even though i was still in love with the house I inevitably am purchasing. I wanted a sign or something to know that I should spend the money. All I had to do was look inside myself. I was in the house four times, I feel the house and I have a connection. And on Friday I made it final. So, I'll have the inspection on Wednesday, and then closing to follow!

Now the hunt for a vegan roommate!

Change...

I feel very fortunate in life to find myself in places of inspiration. Lately the universe has brought me the things I need without me asking....
I have amazing friends the have lifted me up and continue to do so as I take this new journey. Sunday, I went to Earthsave Cincinnati's potluck and the speakers engaged us on activism. http://www.veganvideo.org. Monday night was another vegan potluck centering on world peace and veganism. Tonight I was at a fundraiser for our local women's choir MUSE and a musician by the name of Holly Near was there. Everyone there was at least 20 years older than me and together we all say "I ain't gonna study war no more" and tears came to my eyes. I have been blessed to be surrounded with beautiful souls who are active in making change in the world. It's all helping me find my peace and activate my soul.

When I can't say it better...

I am posting the link to the veganjoy blogspot. I can't say it better.


http://www.veganjoy.blogspot.com/

God's Followers

Last night, on my night off from camp I went to a lecture. A fundamentalist minister was talking about his diet. The Hallelujah diet, which is a vegan diet. I was intrigued. I do think Veganism is the wave of the future and that i will do what it takes to encourage others to take the road less traveled and stop animal cruelty. So far I use the cruelty and the health route. Never before did I think there would be a "God Route". And so there is.

I have to admit we left the lecture early as it was truly a sales pitch. Pitching to us to buy this guys product. After her preached his view on creationism. He really has one verse that justifies his diet.

Here is what I do agree with:

1. Doctors only have 2 hours or less of nutritional education, they almost always go the way of medication versus lifestyle change.
2. We are the only species who actually cooks their food, even other animal carnivores eat their meat raw... btw we are not supposed to be carnivorous, hence it makes us sick to do this. - I'm not sure I advocate a raw diet but anyway
3. Veganism can heal

As I said I did leave the seminar early - here is this guy's site, I am not endorsing him in anyway shape or form.

http://www.hacres.com

My greatest disgust

One of the things I hate most about my job is that I sometimes have to be a hypocrite. I love camp! I love having kids at camp! I hate buying food for camp. I hate that I am vegan and have to feed these children rotting flesh. I hate that the meat and dairy industry subsidizes meat, dairy and eggs so much that I could never afford to feed the girls vegan chicken nuggets on the camp budget. It's cheaper to poison the children than to feed them a plant based healthy diet. GROSS.

Try as it might I have not been able to find bulk vegan chicken nuggets or bulk veggie crumbles. Will there ever be a day that costco or GFS or Sam's Club carries such things?

It's true, I hate that I use Girl Scout money to feed the meat and dairy industry.

Eggs

It's true, I wrote a blog.

I have not blogged in a while. I have thought about it, it just hasn't happened. I feel like I've been chasing my tail lately. Not in a bad way, just been busy.
G and I celebrated our meetaversary.... A year ago Friday we met each other. Neither one of us had any idea we'd be where we are now, and we are eternally grateful to have met and fallen in love, well I am, I can't speak for her, haha.
What else? We just started the Engine 2 Diet. I'm pretty excited. I have been reading quite a few books on health and our diet. I feel like it's the one thing we can control... our diet and our exercise. I can't change my genetics. G and I decided that one thing we wanted to do for each other is be healthy. We want to be around for each other as long as humanly possible. So, today is day two on the Engine 2. So far so good. (other books that lead to this are The World Peace Diet, Skinny Bitch and The China Study) Yesterday we had a vegan meatloaf that was amazing! Don't' be a doubter - it really was good! If you are reading this, and I don't know who does, I'm challenging you to really evaluate your diet. Don't go on some fad diet, but think about it... I cut out diet coke and coffee and turned to water - did you know to coffee - if I can't pronounce the ingredients I have to think long and hard before I'm going to eat it. I know! That means no more Oreos, but you know.... I want to live my life as long as I can live it, and it's in my hands.

That's all for now, stay tuned I plan on sharing more!

Vegan Potluck

I love the Monday nights that I join my study group of "The World Peace Diet". I leave this group feeling refreshed and ready to share tasty vegan foods with everyone. Last night was one of those nights. We start each meeting enjoying the food we've all prepared for the occasion. The main theme of last night was Mexican food. I had a burrito that I swear was as big as my head! Hmmm Tasty! I brought a delicious vanilla cake with chocolate peanut butter frosting all from my favorite cookbook: "The Joy of Vegan Baking".

Last night we talked about our Journey to where we are in our veganism. It was great to hear the stories of everyone around the table. There is a woman who attends who has been vegan for over 30 years. She is in her 70's. She doesn't look a day over 50 and takes absolutely no medication. I also love her because she comes to these gatherings with her partner who makes the most incredible dishes. I think this shows how powerful a plant based diet can be.

"The China Study" tells us; Change your diet and dramatically reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. A deeper look into this research will connect many diseases in our world to a diet filled with animal products. After reading some of this research, I wonder why people continue to eat animal products knowing that I could kill them.

There will be more on this in later blogs.

Simply Funny

I found this cartoon on the Gratitude in Motion website, they are sponsoring a class called "The World Peace Diet" based on Will Tuttle's book, and the first class is tonight!

the Whirlwind

Getting married certainly puts a new spin on a relationship, in the short amount of time that G was in town we experience quite a few emotions...

First, I'm angry at Delta right now and their rules. G's mother's surgery was rescheduled and I now won't be leaving town to see her, because she'll be here. I want to change my flight. My flight cost me $200, and the change fee is $150. Who wins here? Not me. And, they won't do anything on domestic flights for family emergencies....

Next... Appointments. Yes, we filled allot of our time together with meeting with potential vendors for our wedding. Is vendor the right word? I don't even know.

Let's start with the cake. Like I said in a previous blog I want it to be vegan. I want to be able to eat my wedding cake. So we met with one person how makes amazingly beautiful cakes. She was a sculpture in a previous life and, she makes great stuff. The taste is not great at all! This was discouraging. G was not happy. We searched and found another person... and bam... we had success. The Sweet Water Bakehouse makes amazing vegan cakes and a good price, nearly half the cost of the other woman. Her husband is vegan and when she makes non vegan cakes she at least uses a local farm with completely free range chickens. I like that she does not fuel factory farming.

Caterers - this is bad. G and I have exactly what we want in our mind. And I believe we have conveyed our wants and needs to the potential caters. I said EVERYTHING will be vegan. The only non vegan item will be chicken that will be free range and grilled separately. The salads, pasta, etc will be vegan. I got the first quote back from a potential caterer and it was full of cheese and some pepperoni, maybe there is something I don't know here, but I'm sure that these items are not vegan, pepperoni doesn't even fit for a vegetarian. But success is possible here, we had dinner at VegHead in Loveland on Saturday night and talked to the Chef, he might be able to be the answer to our catering dreams at a reasonable price. He buys locally, we'd support small business, and he knows what vegan means! I'm crossing my fingers to hear back from him with a proposal.

Photography - I will only pay $4,000 for photography if this individual will take pictures of me for the rest of my life. It's true, that is crazy to me. We met with some people and weren't terribly impressed and then, a camp friend offered to do it for free as a gift. Her work is better than some of the professional wedding photographers have been. The question is, do we want a second photographer?

Invitations - yes we can spend almost $1,500 on invitations. This is about 70 total invitations. And these invitations will be amazing, and organic, and recycled, but the person receiving it in the mail will most likely throw it out. I'm willing to pay under $100 on invitations, so we will continue the hunt. I hear Costco is reasonable.

Dress - Dresses are crazy to me. Paying hundreds of dollars for 6 hours of my life. Alas, I found a bargain through research and sales and have spent $53 total on my dress and it looks good. I just need to have it a bit shorter.

So where are we? We are on our way to planning a wedding that reflects us and is at a reasonable cost. Our fingers remained crossed, mine a bit tighter than G's. She'll be back in town in a few weeks and we will continue the search for perfect wedding items at a reasonable cost!

Babble

I feel like yesterday I babbled on my blog... maybe it was rambling... am I a rambling woman? HA! Anyway, I have to say that the bag of information from the bridal expo is still sitting on my living room floor. I'm getting ready to make appointments to meet with various vendors. I would like to be at the point that I just sign contracts and have things nailed down.
So here is the plan:
Look at new potential location
Taste Vegan Cakes (so far one baker can do this)
Meet with and get bids from Caterer
Figure out if I think I really can grow my own flowers
Photographer, in my future life this is what I should do for a living... $3,000 in one day seems like quite the business.

Ok I know there is more... I have to decide on attendants... ask them...
I have to figure out the dress thing and hope for no back fat! ACK!

Overload

Me, like many people I'm sure feel the time crunch. This isn't just the wedding time crunch, it's the life time crunch. I have made a rather large "to do" list for work and life. And, I'm going to have to start saying no when asked to add things to my plate:
So this weekend.... It started out by doing something for work on Saturday, then I was on the phone for three hours trying to figure out getting Internet to my house, and then it was out to see a show at the Southgate House. I woke up on Sunday, went to a bridal expo then took my little sister out. I got home around 6:30 and was too tired to do anything productive. I got some things done around the house like loading the dishwasher, laundry, moving some stuff to the massive garage sale pile... but I felt pretty brain dead.
I went through the pile of information and fliers I received at the bridal expo and was unable to process any of it last night. Poor G, I was on the phone with her last night and she could hear the exhaustion in my voice. It's times like that which make the distance worse. Ugh!
But let's talk a little more about this expo... there was a lot going on there. I knew photography was expensive.... but geez, it can get pricey! I looked at some people and thought to myself, hmmm, how would they feel if I told them this was a gay wedding. I mean, I was in a heterosexual mecca! When I would tell vendors that it was a same sex ceremony they instantly thought J.C. was my partner. This made me giggle a little on the inside. (J.C. you know I love you!)
My favorite response was:
Me "have you ever shot a same sex wedding"
Photography guy "Is that what you are doing?"
My thought "Yes sir, just made up my mind yesterday, I'm going to marry a woman instead of a man" Ha, what a funny comment. I'm sure it was just the shock of it, he had photographed a same sex ceremony before, so no bid deal, although it was a funny comment.
Last night I received a call from some travel agent at the expo telling me if I sat in on this thing I'd get a two night three day stay somewhere - wow, they work fast. Unfortunately my fiance has to join me and she is on the other side of the country. Oh well... it really was too good to be true.
I'm expecting a boatload of emails today from all the people I gave my email to. So wait and see... Oh wait there is more...
How could I forget....
Vegan...yes, Vegan... I love talking to people and seeing their face when I tell them I want no animal products in anything. I even asked the Pure Romance people, ha! So the cheesecake lady was definitely baffled by this... how does one make a cheesecake with out cream cheese... well you use vegan cream cheese... So the same sex vegan wedding is still on the hunt for the perfect group of vendors.....

The Food

For some reason I've been thinking about the food at the wedding. I don't know why. I'm not even sure how important it is. I don't remember what I ate at the last wedding I went to. I remember I drank a lot - not really what I want people to remember at my wedding - but I guess some weddings are like that.

So I did a preliminary search for vegan weddings and this is the best I got:

http://www.caringconsumer.com/feat/veganwedding/
http://blog.vegcooking.com/2008/11/vegan_wedding_feast_1.php