Hey!  First of all, I got kind of overwhelmed with all of the stuff I wanted to blog about, so I decided to break them up into categories and i’m going to set up entries to auto-publish over the next few days so I don’t go nuts and you guys don’t have to read one long, disjointed post.

The first thing I wanted to go on about is all of the positive things that are happening in our vegan community.  Sure, the shit-talking and infighting is fun to gawk at, and it’s great that veganism has been represented on Oprah, but sometimes I get tired of hearing about people just trying to make a buck and stepping on whoever they can in the name of doing so.  And I am not alone!  There is an awesome new blog called Vegans on the Move, which celebrates any sort of activism or goodwill, no matter how small.

Next up, it’s that time of year for the Ride to the Light benefit bike ride!  This is that thing where a group of crazy vegan kids bike all up the west coast in the name of raising money for farm sanctuaries.  I try to save my donation dollars for the summer so I can support my friends who do these rides, or any of the Farm Sanctuary walks.  They have a pretty steep goal to reach, so give them a few bucks and please post about it on your own blog!

Vegansaurus has been doing a feature called ‘Happy Veggie Kids‘, which I love because so many people are caught up in the myth that kids cannot grow without meat and/or dairy.  The kids featured are all ages, so the answers to the survey range from adorable to really thought out and mature.

Speaking of vegansaurus, they recently interviewed Lindy and I was floored that she named me as her favorite vegan food blogger!  Not just because I forget that people remember that I exist, but because I love her foul-mouthed ass.  Cutting through that uptight vegan stereotype, one expletive at a time.

Also worth mentioning, is that Isa is adding a bunch of recipes from her books to the PPK database.  Isa is very generous with her free recipes, her time, and her money.  Just don’t disagree with her about True Blood.

A few weeks ago, I went and saw Forks Over Knives.  I ended up being alone in the theater, but that wasn’t a surprise since I went at 2:30 in the afternoon, on a weekday, after it had been open for a week, in the middle of Illinois.  I’m amazed it played here at all!  If you don’t know, it’s a documentary all about using a plant-based diet to treat things like diabetes and heart disease.  I was a little wary about seeing it since I am not and never will be jumping on the anti-oil trend that seems to be taking a hold of a lot of vegans, but I think oil was only mentioned in passing.  I actually learned a few things and it gave me a kick in the pants that I should eat healthier.  I also found some of the patients very inspiring, especially the woman who began a plant-based diet while battling breast cancer, and even managed to run a marathon while going through treatment.  What you eat DOES matter, and what you’re not eating matters too.  A cruelty-free diet doesn’t do much for you if you’re not eating beans, grains, and vegetables.

I think that this is truly the best thing to happen to veganism as far as mainstream press goes. Not Kathy Freston, not Oprah, not any vegan celebrity who might just turn around and start talking about meatloaf a year later. I think it’s so awesome that a movie like this was popular enough to make it to my town.

Random things I am currently in love with:

I saw these nesting bowls in a catalog at work last week and nearly died.  So colorful and so orderly!  Sadly, they are too expensive for me to justify since I have measuring cups and bowls, but if I needed to rebuild my kitchen supplies I would totally plop down the money.  I also think it’s neat that two of the bowls are a sieve and a colander.

I recently went on a mini-cookbook splurge after doing some freelance work (stuffing thousands of cards into hundreds of tins), and one of the books I got was Joni and Celine‘s The Complete Guide To Vegan Substitutions.  I’m not much of a recipe follower, so I generally buy cookbooks that have pictures, a nice layout, and if I enjoy reading them and learn something, I consider it a worthy buy.  Half of the cookbooks I own, i’ve made five recipes or less from.  It’s just how I roll (lazy and bad at meal planning).  So when I bought this book, I thought i’d learn some stuff from reading through, but I didn’t expect to see the picture above and read the recipe for the Macadamia Brie (stage bottom right) and nearly pee myself with anticipation.  I haven’t made it yet, but it’s definitely on my to-do list.  Also this book is super cute and you should buy it immediately.

I found out about this band (Agent Ribbons) by internet stalking Girl In A Coma, found this video on youtube, and instantly fell in love. I dare you to not play that video a minimum of five times.

And a last minute addition, I just saw these on Whedonesque and I almost died:

I have never wanted to crossstitch so badly in my LIFE. The rest can be seen here.

Here is my 2010 recap post.

It sucked.

The end!

Okay, not really the end.  Although I really don’t have much positive to say.  I got a dead dog for Christmas and the stomach flu for New Years Eve, and it kind of clouds my ability to remember anything about this year fondly.  But I was able to come up with a short list!

• Gaining and keeping a job that suits my needs.  Does my boss make me mental?  Absolutely, but I love having a job that is low stress and allows me plenty of free time to do things at home.
• Making lots and lots of hula hoops, and practicing a lot and getting from Suck to Average on the skills front.
• I had a lovely summer, riding my bike and gardening and going to the Farmer’s Market.
• Taking pictures of kitties at the shelter!  Um, we haven’t been called back on that in awhile and we’re not sure why, but since my partner is a professional photographer I don’t think quality was an issue.  It’s a shame because I will take photos of cats and play with them all day long.
• My stomach flu was very short lived, and it saved me the trouble of making any silly resolutions to lose five pounds, because I already did.  Ta da!

I usually make an end of the year mix on 8tracks, but I was too sick/tired/sad to upload songs, so I cheated and got what I could off of youtube and made a playlist there.  Here it is if you want to listen to it, I put all of the real videos first and the ‘someone uploaded the song and threw a picture up’ videos at the end.