Vegan update and other things

Well, I was successfully vegan shy of three days, for two weeks. Is that grammatically correct? I dunno, I only got a 75% in grammar for journalists. And what was my impression? FANTASTIC! I love it. My new favorite thing? Veganaise! YES! I've always liked the tangy taste of mayo, but my tummy did not. And now, NOW? I can eat veganaise with no problem! Even my mayo connoisseur roommate said she didn't smell the difference. Wow, that impressive! And what else? Um, I totally love vegan ice cream, either coconut milk or soy milk, both equally delicious! I had no idea how much I loved ice cream until I had those two things.

Why did I not complete the two weeks (and more)? Two reasons. The weekend I didn't stay vegan I had a bachelorette party to attend so I had alcohol, cheese and some non-vegan voodoo donuts (I can't resist!) and a wedding and I'm sorry, but I could NOT say no to cake...I had two slices...But I easily could have stayed vegan minus the cake because the wedding food was a fantastic variety of vegetarian, vegan and meat, but heck, I had chicken and salmon. I indulged. I did avoid cheese though.

Then this week I went to a naturopath because I'm really wanting to know exactly what I'm allergic to and to what degree so she told me to go ahead and eat as I'd normally do, dairy, meat and all and my blood will be drawn in a week. So far, I've had cheese, half and half, pizza, etc... And what has been the result? Every morning I wake up congested. Interesting...I wonder what else I'll be allergic to? But come next Wednesday, I'm back to my beloved use of veganaise and all things non dairy. It's actually been quite interesting and I'm learning a lot. What I like the most, the way my body reacts, so that's great!

And in other news...I was laid off from work due to budgeting issues. I won't get into the details but I'll just say everything happens for a reason and one door closes and others open. I'm really excited to see where I'm going to end up after all of it. So far, during my unemployment, I'm wrapping up some admimistrative things, but also doing my Bar, and hanging out with some friends and learnign new skills that I just kept telling myself "I have no time." Now, I have AAAAALLLL day.

Last week I finally finished reading Kristin's manuscript and wrote out all her notes for her. Next, I'll research some issues for her that are pertinent to the novel.

Yesterday, Kristin took me on a bike ride along the Spring Water trail from Hawthorne to Waterfront and back over and down to my area of Sellwood. I'm really excited to start exploring Portland on my new (her old) bike! And yeah, a little nervous, but I've got good friends to turn to!

Today, I went over to Liz's house so she could help me bake my first loaf of wheat bread. Success! You see, I'm a pastry baker. Give me a cake, a pie, a tart or a cupcake. I'll bake it without a second thought, but bread? With yeast? Let it rise and punch it, and wait for....hours?! No way. The only bready thing with yeast I've ever made were Pioneer Woman's dinner rolls for Christmas (that was fun!) But no bread. And I'm totally inspired by Liz's homemakering ways (see her blog here) and I want to learn to make my tortillas, bread and english muffins from scratch and so far, I now know how to make a loaf of bread. I'd love to have a little garden like her, but well, we're renting and I think we don't get any sun in the area where we could have one. I might think of doing a winter garden... but we'll see. I actually do have time now... =)

So that's my update.

So although I don't have a job per say, I'm quite busy learning all these new things, helping my parents around the house and spending time with my friends and just enjoying this time right now, especially before Europe!