high fructose corn syrup is from hell

High Fructose Corn Syrup. Are you KIDDING ME!?

Are you effing kidding me?!?!?! I just about fell off my bed last night when I heard this crazy flipping commercial that was attempting to dispel the fact that high fructose corn syrup is bad for you... using terms such as "in moderation" "no artificial ingredients" and "made from corn" to try to plead its case. Folks... take a close look at who is funding these insane $30 million + ad campaign and you will realize it is the corn refiners association. Well duh. What do you think pads their bank accounts and makes the rich richer? HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.

What gets me is that the idiots portrayed in the commercial have nothing to say in their rebuttal to why HFCS is bad... only a blank look on their face. They make the people against HFCS out to look like total assholes who are uninformed. You can label me an asshole any day if it means that my son will never have another drop of that satan liquid in his life. I am sorry America. Can we really stand by and let the corn refiners association tell us that we are too dumbed down to even have a response for why HFCS is bad for us? Puuuuulease! Let's start off with the FACT that it is a genetically modified food. Unless corn is organic you can pretty much bet that it is genetically altered. You may say who cares but let me tell you that feeding myself or the people I love genetically altered food scares the crazy out of me. There are absolutely no long term studies showing the effects of genetically altered food.... therefore, we don't know if we will all be dropping like flies in 20 years from the over consumption of CHEAP, nasty genetically altered food. Second, not only is the corn that is grown for this hell food altered, the chemicals that are used in the process of converting the stale corn into HFCS are also genetically altered... thus allowing products containing HFCS to sit on the shelf for years on end and not go "bad" although they are considered bad in any way you can look at it anyhow. Third, look at what foods contain this junk... soda, candy, chips, sweets, sauces, overly-processed junk food. Is this crap you should be putting into your body anyway? No. Absolutely not! More importantly, should America be allowing our children to consume this shit in incredible amounts. HECK NO.

I always say that I will not judge you... but I take it back. I will not tell you what I think of how you are feeding yourself or your children. Not unless you ask, that is. But if you ask, be prepared for the answer. Please know that if you ever want an honest opinion that is backed up with lots of research and learning it the hard way evidence, I would be more than pleased to tell you what I think. In the mean time, I am ready for the haters to not read my blog unless they are going to come to it with an open mind. If you don't like what I have to say I have a solution for you... DO NOT COME TO MY PAGE AND READ WHAT I HAVE TO SAY. Brilliant, I know. (I know, I know. I have to do the shout out to the haters every 2 or 3 months. They just start to really get annoying.) Anyhow, I have posted these insulting commercials for your viewing pleasure as well as a 9 minute interview with a dietician who outlines how/why HFCS is bad for you. I will say I agree with the corn refiner's commercial on ONE single aspect and that would be that we really should know what we are putting into our bodies. However, we don't need to learn it from a biased website that is funded by multi-billionares (and their secret societies - that was for my regular readers right there) who are looking to protect their fortunes. Screw them.

Dietician Video about HFCS and its Effects



INSANELY STUPID COMMERCIAL 1



INSANELY STUPID COMMERCIAL 2

One more thing.

I just recently discovered something amazing, right here in Whatcom County that has helped make my life easier. I would highly recommend it! Dandelion Organic Delivery Service. They deliver within Bellingham (I pick up my bin at the Easy Entree). You can choose to do weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, whatever. There are no contracts, just lots of yummy organic produce. I am set up to do bi-weekly and I chose the Harvest bin. This week's bin has tons of great stuff in it that will all get eaten. The great thing is picking up my bin saves me lots of time from having to run from store to store trying to find organic produce. They put it all together for me in one cute little bin to bring home. I absolutely love it! Check it out and if you decide to sign up, make sure to tell them I sent you! I will add their link to my favorite websites, too. Click here to go to their website.

Cheers. I am off to take a mid-term and go pick up my bin!

DeTox

The nice thing about really knowing my body now is I can see patterns within myself and how my system reacts. Currently, my body is on its way to freak out mode. Why? Well, I haven't been being exactly nice to it lately. Long hours spent studying, attacks of the munchies being satisfied with brownies and chips, loss of sleep and not enough stretching... this has all led to a couple of problems in my behavioral cycles that are concerning to me. So instead of sulking and feeling sorry for myself, like I would have done a couple years ago, I am going to be pro-active. I cannot take away a whole lot of the stress in my life right now, so I just need to be better to myself in coping with it. I have a tendency to think I need to have a nice cocktail at the end of the week to reward myself. This habit is one that I had kicked for a good 9 months or so. But now the sun is trying to peek out again and I just get that urge to sit on a patio somewhere with a nice cold chocolate martini or vanilla lemon drop. Now, don't get me wrong, one cocktail is not going to be the end of me. However, when I have a cocktail, I tend to have other things along with it that don't work... like a lack of self control. So I am not ruling out cocktails all-in-all, I'm simply limiting myself. And no, mom, I have not become an alcoholic, I promise. I am too busy to be an alcoholic. Anyway, no more baking for me for the majority of the summer months. I will enjoy a couple cookies or a brownie once in a while but when I bake them, I feel compelled to eat them... all.... in one sitting. So let's not do that anymore either.

My cousin Jennifer asked me the other day how I do it all. I was flattered that she really thinks I have it all together. Ha! That is not the case, ladies and gentlemen, I assure you. Those who know me well and have stopped by my house mid-week within the last few months know that we have just enough clean clothes, towels, dishes and cups to get us by for the week. Where I used to sweep twice a day, now I am sweeping every other day (ick with wood floors, not recommended!). My dishes are always awaiting my attention. The area around Merritt's chair is always sticky (that's a given whether I clean or not, he is a two year old boy). I am so upset that I cannot clean as much as I used to that it has really been getting to me. I know I can do more and be more productive, I just have to plan out my days a little better and stop committing to so many things. So what is the plan, beyond all this blabbing? Well... let me tell you. I am going on an Abby DeTox Diet. It's not all about eating, it all about treating myself better and giving me and my body the attention it needs. So today is day one. I will explain the elements of this diet.

Abby's DeTox Diet Daily Requirements:
- Have a meal plan and stick to it including three healthy meals, 2-3 healthy snacks a day, lots of water and at least one of those Arbonne Figure 8 Citrus Fizz drinks a day.
- Follow weekly homework schedule to stay on top of it all and maybe even get ahead!
- Follow house cleaning schedule
- Check up on business and personal bills every Tuesday
- Get outside for at least 30 minutes a day with my adorable son
- Read with Merritt for at least 20 minutes a day
- Take some time each day to do nothing and feel ok about it
- Limited sugar intake, watch gluten intake, munch smartly and carefully and hide the vanilla vodka from myself
- Go to bed by 11pm every single night during the week

Some of these requirements might sound simple but I assure you this will be a challenge. I am putting myself on the DeTox diet for the next 30 days to see what it does for me. By then I will have finished up Spring Quarter and bikini season will be upon us. I will be updating my blog as often as possible as it's therapeutic for me and it helps to hold me accountable. So to start with the whole accountability thing, here is my meal plan for the week.


Monday:
Breakfast - Strawberry Mocha Smoothie: (1 scoop Arbonne chocolate protein powder, 1/4 cup toddy coffee, 1 cup strawberries, 1/2 cup fortified chocolate rice milk, 1/2 cup water, 2 handfuls of ice) This is about 20 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, and includes a lot of my daily vitamin and mineral needs. Very filling and yummy, too!

Lunch - Balsamic Garbanzo Salad: (1/2 cup cooked garbanzo beans, cucumber slices, 15 halved cherry tomatoes, 1/2 green bell pepper chopped, handful of chopped onion, 10 sliced kalamata olives, 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts, dressing (1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp olive oil, couple shakes of garlic powder, chopped fresh flat leaf parsley (from my herb garden!) and cilantro (b/c I have it on hand) shake together and marinate on salad for about an hour before eating). All of this goodness goes on top of a bed of fresh romaine lettuce.

Dinner - Chinese Veggie Soy Ginger Stir Fry with Brown Rice and Peanuts

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Smoothie of some sort, probably chai with chocolate chai rice milk and coffee.

Lunch - Mexican Black Beans, Rice and Veggies (Bringing to school)

Dinner - Big Ben's Lentil Burgers (How it all Vegan, page 110) & Garlic-Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, Steamed Lemon Asparagus

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Fabulous French Toast (How it all Vegan, page 47), pear slices, pure organic maple syrup

Lunch - Rice Pilaf with slivered almonds, veggies, ground flax seed, lemon garlic sauce. Apple.

Dinner - Artichoke Rotini Pasta (How it all Vegan, page 105). Romaine Salad with Veggies and that new Kalamata Olive Dressing we got at the Co-Op

Thursday:
Breakfast - Smoothie - probably raspberry mocha (Can you tell I love these?)

Lunch - Sandwich on whole wheat toast with Sunflower Seeds, Avocado, Tomato Slices, Onion, Green peppers, Cucumbers, Lettuce. Fruit. Leftover roasted potatoes.

Dinner - Quinoa, Hummus and Veggie Stuffed Whole Wheat Pitas. Greek Garbanzo Bean Salad (garbanzo beans, garlic, tomatoes, celery, lemon juice, fresh mint, fresh parsley, olive oil, kalamata olives, lettuce) I will post the exact recipe later.

Friday:
Breakfast - Raspberry Cornmeal Muffins (How it all Vegan, page 131)

Lunch - Some sort of leftovers from the week

Dinner - Baked Beans (How it all Vegan, page 99) & Curried Potatoes (How it all Vegan, page 43), Grilled Veggies. Fresh fruit.

So that's it for now. I think you get the picture that I am actually planning things so I will stay on track. Beyond that, I will be doing homework according to a plan instead of whenever I can squeeze it in; thus alleviating a lot of the stress and frustration I have had lately. I will keep y'all updated on how things are going. Oh, and I will be having lots of snacks every day in addition to the meals listed... stuff like fresh fruit (probably apples with peanut butter), veggies, Lara Bars, Arbonne Weight Loss Chews, Arbonne Citrus Fizz drinks, etc.

So maybe you should try taking better care of yourself for the next month along with me and we will all be feeling better and ready to take on the Summer in full force. Here's to hoping!

Love,
Abby

Healing and Clarity

No Time to Say Goodbye. While I have not had much free time lately, I did manage to sneak in some extra reading the other day that has been really helpful, has given me some clarity. I was looking for a new vegan cookbook in Barnes & Noble when I stumbled upon this book. It is No Time to Say Goodbye, Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One. It was written by Carla Fine, whose husband suffered from depression and lost his battle after 21 years of marriage and so many hard times. Carla gives an unfiltered look into a grieving widow who doesn't know how to feel from one minute to the next. While reading this book I have realized a few things. Suicide is one of those subjects people don't want to talk about; they don't want to think about it. So when a person loses someone near to them to suicide, the survivor is often ostracized and not allowed to grieve in the standard fashion. Another thing that really spoke to me was the level of depression that the people suffered from prior to taking their own lives. Most of the stories included statements like "We knew he was depressed, we just never thought it would go this far." Confused mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, children, relatives... the list of stories within this book goes on and on. And throughout it all, the people all felt so alone after the death of their loved one... as if they couldn't talk about the person to others... that the person they lost is all of a sudden being judged for that one final act instead of their life as a whole. It made me so sad to read the stories... one story after another of heartache, sorrow and confusion. But it also brought me a lot of closure, which is what I was looking for in this book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever lost a loved one to suicide. It is very healing, to know that your feelings are normal and justified. I have decided to stop being pissed off at that person we lost to suicide and just let him rest in peace. No one can stop this awful act and no one can ever fully understand it... so that's that.

Oh, and on another note, I think that the lack of respect flows over to people who are depressed and willing to do something about it. If someone knows they need it and seek medical help, they should be praised for taking initiative rather than judged for needing a little help. It drives me crazy to hear people sitting around judging others when they have never walked a mile in their shoes. Until you have hit rock bottom and made it from the hardest times in your life and over that hump, you can't begin to understand how hard a single day can be. When you wake up and wonder if you want to even get out of bed. Those feelings are real and they are heart-wrenching and cannot be ignored. So if someone you love is suffering from depression, lend a helping hand instead of a judgmental stare or a whisper to someone else behind their back. It's time we all hold each other up. One day you will need someone to reach out a hand when you don't know if you can climb up out of the miry pit on your own. Grace... we can all pass it on to one another.

The GDP, Inflation, Unemployment and Other Reasons Why Our Government Sucks

So as you probably know, I am currently taking an Economics class. This class is online and I am really learning a lot from it. Sometimes I think maybe I don't want to know. Maybe I should continue to be an ignorant American and just pretend all is well in the land of the free... err I mean the land of the lied to. So this week I have been learning about macroeconomics. Sounded scary, it really isn't. It's basically looking at our economy as a whole and how it is affected and how growth is measured. So I learned about GDP (gross domestic product), how the inflation rate is measured and how our government fudges the numbers to make us think we are in less trouble than we really are and that the unemployment rate has varied little in the last 10 years.

I had to gather information for an assignment and give my opinion, which we all know I am good at. Wanna hear it? It's long but I think you will find it interesting. Check out the links and websites mentioned, if you dare....

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Williams’s assessment of government data reporting (http://www.gillespieresearch.com/cgi-bin/bgn). Politicians want to further their agendas; therefore, they manipulate numbers to plead their cases and to make the economy look better than it actually is. Because Americans are traditionally uninformed and ignorant, it is easy for the government to get away with this type of behavior. In my own experience I have felt the effects of inflation, have seen how unemployment has affected those around me. I have also seen firsthand how little our economy is growing in comparison to spending by the US government. I was particularly disturbed after reading a paper written by John Schmitt and Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. The article is at http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/JSDB_08recession.pdf and discusses what Americans are in for with the projected recession of 2008. In this paper the authors say that, “A recession would also increase the national poverty rate by between 1.6 and 3.5 percentage points (from a 2006 level of 12.3 percent), raising the number of individuals living in poverty by between 4.7 million and 10.4 million people.”

In my own life I have seen people I care about lose their jobs while facing increasing personal debt. A few have claimed bankruptcy in what should be the prime of their lives. There is constant talk around the dinner table with my family about current debt levels and how awful it feels to have debt and feel like there is no way out of it. I can imagine that politicians must have this feeling in the back of their minds in regards to our national situation, but ignore it to further themselves. While this is the basis of our economy and capitalism, it does no good for our country as a whole. On the CEPR website (www.cepr.net) I found an economic calculator. I punched in the number of 34.8 trillion dollars, that representing what Williams asserts is America’s negative net worth. I think he is probably close, also disturbing. However, when those 34.8 trillion dollars are spread out per capita, it would cost each American $111,444.16 in one year to pay our country’s net worth down to zero. That figure scares me the most. Many Americans cannot afford health insurance or adequate amounts of food to feed their families. I look at my two year old son and wonder what this world and our government will be like when he is my age and it truly scares me. After reading more of the paper written by Schmitt and Baker, I saw that however optimistic I, or politicians, want to be, the future looks bleak for our country unless drastic changes are made soon. As was encouraged by a blog that I came across (http://theviewfromtheveranda.blogspot.com/2007/07/america-negative-net-worth.html), my husband and I plan to follow a simple statement; “So get yourself out of debt--now. Be frugal. Save aggressively. This is not paranoia; it's reality.” I think that is all too true in our society.

Interesting...

So folks... let's clear the air. First of all, if you have something to say about my blogs, please, by all means say it. I like to hear what others' opinions are. However, I will not publish any comments that do not have a name attached to them. Growing up people attacked my family and my father constantly through the form of words... which are the most hurtful. And there was never a name attached to those hurtful words. When I have something to say, I say it out loud and I am not ashamed to let people know who I am and what I stand for. I can have an adult conversation about my lifestyle, beliefs and anything else you want to talk about. So yes, this is in response to a comment I received on my last blog. So for whomever that person was... I will respond just this one time to an anonymous comment.

"I dont think wanting to be skinny or lose weight is a reason to go vegan... there are other ways to lose weight and still eat healthy. There are many different lifestyles that are classified as healthy."

Whoever had the nerve to send this comment to me must be insane or have never met me. I am the first person to suggest Weight Watchers to someone who wants to lose weight. I struggled for years with weight issues and Weight Watchers helped me to get into a healthy weight range and stay there. For those of you who know me well, you know that I would tell you to try Weight Watchers online first. Incorporating vegetarian or vegan meals into your lifestyle obviously can't hurt either. Plus, studies have been shown that eating meat one less time per week highly improves your overall health and decreases your chances of many diseases including cancer.

However, by NO means would I ever suggest someone go vegan to lose weight. That's asking for a person to have an excuse to go anorexic and blame it on me or on veganism. That is ridiculous. Before making a huge life change a person has to learn how to gain self control over their eating habits and their thoughts. Being vegan is definitely not for everyone because not everyone has the patience or will power to take the time to know what they are ingesting every single meal. I applaud those of you who are willing to take the steps to live a healthy lifestyle. I hope that you will inspire others to do the same. My last blog was not focused on people who are not vegan. It was in response to people who have been attacking me. For those people who want to sit around and criticize me and my family while doing nothing in their own lives to be healthy. I have no sympathy for those people. Once a person is ready to change their lives and choose to be healthy and happy... however they choose to do that, I am happy and willing to encourage them with tips I have learned along the way, recipes, dinners at my place and whatever else.

So, to "anonymous", please feel free to leave a comment to this or any other posting. But you'll have to add you name next time. If no name is attached, I won't even respond one little bit to it. Like my mom always said, you can't give people power in your life if they aren't even willing to say who they are. She was right, as usual.

Wow. I sound a little mean.

It's been far too long since I blogged last. Life has taken over and I have been BUSY! I increased my school load to 19 credits. It has been a lot of fun... learning again. I am a bit of an overachiever but enjoy a challenge. Other than that, I have been doing some consulting through my very own marketing firm. If you need help with marketing, let me know! That has been fun too. I am getting back into the swing of thinking like a marketing professional and remember how obsessive I used to be.

Other than that, just trying out new Vegan recipes and living life as a wife and a mom. It has come to my attention lately some very unhealthy eating habits that people I know partake in. And no, I am not even going to touch the meat, dairy, animal by-product portion of my opinions... however, I will say this much... don't complain about "being fat" if you are not willing to take responsibilities for your own actions. No one makes you fat. The extra calories you consume without burning off by exercise, that makes you fat. I know. Because I did it to myself. My meal of choice when I first got married and wanted to be Abby Home Maker: White Pasta with butter-drenched, cheese-laden, homemade alfredo sauce. As if that wasn't enough, I would sprinkle chicken on top of it along with 2 cups of cheese and bake it until the cheese got crusty. This served alongside Ceasar Salad and Garlic Bread... hmmm.... I wonder why I gained over 30 pounds in that first year. And let me tell you, it is no fun trying to take off that 30 pounds or more. So don't sit there and call me a Skinny Bitch unless you mean it in the form that the book calls it... I worked hard to get to where I am. I started out 3 years ago, literally THREE YEARS FROM TODAY, I was 50 pounds heavier than I am today. I have been up and down and up again and down again... but now that I truly live a healthy lifestyle, I don't have to worry. I eat whole foods, gets lots of protein (yes, really, vegans get enough protein to not whither away) and I enjoy eating so much more than I used to. I love to eat. I love food. And yet I always used it as a form of punishment on myself. So today, I enjoy the act of sharing a meal with friends and family without thinking in my head "This is going straight to my thighs". So you want to lose weight? You want to be healthy? I dare you... try having 2 vegan meals a day. See how much better you feel after those meals. See what happens with your body. You will probably be amazed. Or even once in a while try to go a WHOLE day. The proof is in the non-gelatin pudding and it is that our bodies were not meant to process all that junk. And stop skipping meals you idiots. Not eating freaks your body out and it starts to work against itself. And protein shakes twice a day don't count as two meals... I don't care who you ask. Drink water, eat healthy, whole foods and stop crying about how fat you are. That's all I have to say about that. Man, I sound a bit bitchy tonight. I guess you can call me a Skinny Bitch after that blog. Good night. I am off to bed to enjoy not feeling my stomach hang over my pajama pants as I lay on my side and drift off to sleep to dream about warm, sunny days on a beach in Maui. Ahhh....

Some of My Favorite Reasons to be Veg

I picked up the latest copy of VegNews, Mar+Apr 2008 edition. I was immediately drawn to the list of 222 Reasons to Be Veg on page 50. I just had to share a couple of my favorites that I can relate to.

6. Never having to eat spam.
8. The joy and triumph when "veganizing" a recipe.
13. Not eating the bodies of tortured souls.
18. Lactose intolerance is a non-issue.
20. Having clean arteries that aren't clogged with dead-animal goo.
28. Greater spirtitual, mental, emotional and physical strength.
34. Watching loved ones and strangers slowly evolve toward vegetarianism.
36. Not having to inspect meals for fatty, gristly bits.
40. Vegan guys are hot! (damn straight they are!)
41. No dead bodies in my refrigerator.
46. Cooking is easier and more fun.
47. Feeling instantly at home upon entering veg restaurants, anywhere in the world.
52. Never having to apologize for not eating questionable potluck food.
54. Bean and guacamole burritos.
57. Vegans taste better.
58. Belonging to a higher-IQ demographic.
61. Living simply so that others may simply live.
67. A lowered risk of osteoporosis.
73. One needn't be an Einstein to choose vegetarianism (although Einstein was veg).
78. Better skin and fewer zits.
79. Getting to wear pleather in a non-weird way.
80. Cheaper groceries.
83. Reducing the risk of acquiring many chronic diseases.
87. Indulging guiltlessly in rich, delicious vegan desserts.
92. Never having to cut and prepare blood-soaked food. (This is probably one of my FAVORITES!)
99. Finding like-minded people and having something in common instantly.
100. Not feeling like crap all the time. (AMEN!)
102. Cooking for and eating with friends.
107. Experimenting in the kitchen.
110. Not inadvertently funding a corrupt agribusiness billionaire's vacation home.
113. Eating whatever I want, within reason, and not gaining tons of weight. (An answer to countless prayers after years of agonizing daily over weight instead of enjoying life!)
116. Everything!
117. Knowing the Heimlich maneuver, if ever needed, won't produce a hunk of dead flesh.
123. Not getting queasy when thinking about where food comes from.
124. Having a kitchen that never reeks of seafood.
132. Not having to use a toothpick to scrape meat of one's teeth.
134. Quinoa.
140. Having the most unique and exciting cookbook collection ever.
142. Eating healthfully by default.
143. Getting to lick the batter off the electric cookie beater without fear of salmonella.
145. Feeling squeaky clean inside.
147. Saying goodbye to diabetes.
149. Breakfast smoothies. (YUMMM!!!)
150. Vegetarians smell better.
152. More energy and stamina. (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)
162. Getting to wear size 6 jeans. (Actually smaller, but not having to worry about ever going beyond a 6 again)
166. Using my vegan status to deflect weirdos in bars. (made me laugh. I can deflect almost anyone now once I bring up vegan convo.)
173. Eating all the time.
181. Not being a mindless, cheese-addicted zombie. (Lord knows I was before)
184. The excitement of discovering a new veg restaurant.
186. Not worrying about whether tofu is cage-free.
189. Greater mental clarity. (It's true!)
202. Tofu scramble.
205. Teaching children life lessons invaluable to character development.
206. Avocado every which way.
216. Vegan soap feels clean, not lardy.

And to add a couple of my own to the list... although it is a great list already...
1. How great I feel after 3 vegan doughnuts for breakfast... not all heavy and sugar-laden like before.
2. Iced Soy Chai Lattes made in my own kitchen.
3. A sense of more pride and ownership over my own life and decisions.
4. Thinking that... I am a Skinny Bitch now!
5. Goodbye fat days! They are a thing of the past.
6. I am more empowered and outspoken. (who knew I could be more so!)
7. People who are interested in my lifestyle because they see positive change in me.
8. I am proud of myself.
9. Being vegan is easy. So easy. I dare you to try it for 2 weeks and see what happens, how you feel.
10. Not feeling pressured to eat cheese or beef every time I drink red wine.
11. Better taste buds.
12. No more McDonald's.
13. Merritt knows that "McDonald's isn't healthy. We don't eat there anymore. Eww!"
14. Not feeling guilty about what I feed my child.
15. I love fruits and veggies and eat so much now.
16. Using our VitaMix blender the way it was intended to be used.
17. Coming up with my own recipe variations for anything.
18. I have rediscovered my love of reading and am in the middle of 5 or 6 books right now. All empowering, thoughtful books.
19. More energy every single day.
20. No more gut bombs after eating an expensive dinner.
21. Homemade pizza dough made by yours truly.
22. Discovering new spices.
23. Sharon's Sorbet. Gourmet Coconut.
24. Endangered Species Chocolate Bars.
25. Vitamins without "gelatin" listed on the list of ingredients.
26. Arbonne products.
27. Soft skin.
28. Clarity about my whole life.
29. Raising my son to feel empowered to make decisions for himself and no one else.
30. Blogging about my experiences.
31. Deep Fried Avocado from Cafe Flora. Dear Lord. Wow.
32. Knowing who Rory Freedman is and appreciating her.
33. Understanding this phrase "I don't know a single vegan who's managed to avoid being the center of a meathead bully-circle." And knowing that it does come with the territory... and that is okay because I am healthy and happy and whole!
34. My teeth don't hurt anymore.
35. Mighty O Doughnuts.
36. Trader Joe's and their countless vegan cookie options.
37. Knowing that my makeup has no icky rendering-plant related ingredients.
38. Not having to puke after watching Fast Food Nation.
39. Political awareness.
40. The idea of falling off the grid sounds good to me now.
41. I get Scott more now.
42. Hummus.
43. Knowledge is power.

K. I think I could go on and on. So I will stop now. You get the picture. I am happy to be vegan and VegNews helped to show me many of the ways I am grateful. Thank you again, to Skinny Bitch, for changing my life, opening my eyes and helping to give me that push I needed to travel down a healthier path in life! I am off to dream about Vegan Doughnuts now.

The Answer to #1 Question

Let's see. I am about 3 months into being vegan. I feel great, people who haven't seen me in a while can tell a difference. I am still, obviously, happy with this change. The one question that continues to be brought up is... "What do you eat, anyway?" There are variations of this question such as "Do you eat only rabbit food now?" or "Well, you eat fish, right? I mean, how do you get protein?" and my favorite "I could never do that. Aren't you hungry all the time?"

So I have been keeping track of what I eat every day for the last few days so that I can answer all of these questions in one swoop. And no, I do not eat fish. So let's get this party started with Thursday.

Thursday 3/27/08
My first day of online classes started today. Economics and General Business. I sat by the computer half the day between breaks for highlighting my text and checking on my emails. Food for the day looked like this:
Breakfast - Gorilla Munch Cereal with Vanilla Soy Milk. Raspberry Mocha Smoothie with Arbonne Chocolate Protein Powder in it. Yum.

Lunch - Vegan Black Bean Half Burrito from Taco del Mar. Chips. Iced Tea.

Snack - 1/2 Endangered Species Dark Chocolate bar with espresso beans.

Dinner - 1/2 Veggie Pot Pie. Lots of apples and bananas with peanut butter. Glass of Kiona Cab wine. Some veggies with hummus. This was the night of my Arbonne party that barely anyone showed up for. So I followed up as I cleaned up all the uneaten food with a pity party and another glass of wine.

Friday 3/28/08
Good morning juice - Fresh squeezed Grapefruit juice.

Snack/Late Breakfast - Strawberry Mocha Smoothie. Banana.

Lunch - Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. Handful of Kettle chips. Arbonne energy drink. We headed to Seattle while eating our lunch.

Dinner at Cafe Flora - Appetizer of fried avocado with southwestern aoili dip. Yum! Vegan Pizza with tofu ricotta, asparagus and roasted tomatoes on a yummy herb crust. A couple bites of Hayden's ravioli. Dessert of vegan bread pudding with a chocolate topping that was delicious.

More - tall soy cinnamon dolce latte from Starbucks. No whip.


Saturday 3/29/08
Breakfast - Amazon Frosted Flakes with vanilla soy milk. Strawberry Mocha Smoothie (I love these smoothies! They are chocolate protein powder, ice cubes, frozen fruit, a scoop of instant coffee and vanilla soy milk).

Snack - Champagne with Chambord as we wait for the locksmith to come rescue us at my sister's house. Way too many macadamia nuts on the car ride down to Chateau St Michele Winery in Woodinville, WA. We are headed to a private tasting and tour.

Winery Tour eats and drinks - well, not too vegan friendly as this is a food and wine pairing tasting and they did not know that 2 of the 6 were vegan. Hayden and I ended up eating lots of strawberries, grapes, kalamata olives, bread and crackers. We also downed 5 pours of different wines that were all Heavenly. Each was about 4 ounces. Then toured the estate with a glass of champagne. Then tried some more wine. And on an empty stomach. It was funny. Then headed back to Bellingham. Had to stop into El Gitano for some karaoke. Duh.

Dinner - el Gitano. The lovely Victoria ensured that we had no icky animal by-products in our meals. I got a black bean enchilada with rice and more black beans on the side. WAY too many chips and lots of pico de gallo. I attempted a grey hound for a drink but it was not working for me so I passed it to Hayden. I drank lots of water and iced tea to prep my voice for a night of singing.


Sunday 3/30/08
We started out the day with a brunch since I was being lazy and didn't cook until 11. Merritt had cereal so don't get upset.
Brunch - Greek Tofu Scramble (crumbled tofu, onions, sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, spinach, tumeric and garlic). Potatoes Obrien with paprika, garlic powder, salt pepper and parsley. Very yummy.

Lunch - 1/2 bar of Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Orange. MMMMM.... Lots of Salt & Vinegar Kettle chips. I know, healthy.

Dinner - I made black bean soup but didn't feel like eating it. I had baked potatoes and steamed asparagus instead with lots of garlic dill seasoning on top. Glass of orange juice.

Dessert - Giant Fuji apple with lotsa peanut butter.


The plan for tomorrow is....
Breakfast - Mocha Smoothie.
Lunch - Black Bean Soup with Garlic Bread
Dinner - Pitas or Sandwiches with Hummus and Veggies. Garlic Fries.
Dessert - I am getting more of that Coconut Sorbet. Period.

My dinner menu plan for the week looks like:
Tuesday - Whole Wheat Pasta Pomodoro with Salad with Poppyseed Dressing and garlic bread.
Wednesday - Boca Burgers and something on the side. Probably sweet potato fries.
Thursday - Thai food. Probably Swimming Ramma with Brown Rice.
Friday - Quinoa Pilaf. Steamed Veggies with Garlic Dill. Fruit Salad.
Saturday - Roasted Veggie Sub Sandwiches.
Sunday - Black Bean Burritos with Spanish Rice.
Monday - Homemade Pizza with Tomato and Fresh Basil.
Tuesday - Spring Rolls and veggie Fried Rice.

So I hope that gives you some sort of look into what we eat and how yummy it really is. Lunches usually consist of sandwiches, soup or something frozen from Trader Joes that is easy to make. Breakfast is a lot of Gorilla Munch (Merritt's favorite cereal) and fresh fruit. Smoothies for me and Hayden. Merr usually has some smoothie, too. And we eat lots of healthy snacks throughout the day. We have fresh cut veggies with dip, apples, oranges, bananas, etc. If you are careful to plan a well balanced vegan menu, you get all the protein, nutrients and everything else you need.

I am off to go get more peanut butter for my apples and to finish my notes for Econ. Later.

Cafe Flora, economics and why am I up so late?

I am up late again. So many things to do, so little time. I am gearing up for many changes in our lives here in the next few weeks. I am starting school in a couple of days. I have two online courses and one class on campus. I am 4 quarters away from my degree and I am really excited to embark on this new adventure. I went into WCC the other day. It was so bizarre. I was pumped to be there again. I got a few of my books and I started reading them that day. From what I recall of my prior days of college, I never looked forward to a whole lot of anything to do with school. My main priority was figuring out what class I could afford to skip that week so I could spend more time with my boyfriend. I think it will be challenging but really a good step for our family... to get me out of the house and into an adult setting again. I really need more social time. I am such a people person and it's really hard for me on days that I am cleaning up the third glass of spilled soy milk and am scrubbing the floors again to really remember how grateful I truly am to be blessed enough to stay home with my little baby bear. I don't want to be absent so using the term "absence makes the heart grow fonder" doesn't really fit. I guess for me maybe it would be phrased something like "Time to remember who I am makes me more appreciative of my blessed life." Does that sound right? I don't know but it makes sense to me.

So what are the other changes? Well, Hayden and I have a little plan cooking up (no, I am not pregnant). You will have to stay tuned to see if we can take it to the place we want to. And if we do, I promise you will be happy and so will we.

We are setting our whole plan into action of changing our lives. Now we're healthier physically... it's time to get healthy spiritually, mentally, financially. I have been singing my baby to sleep every night with Amazing Grace and I tell you what... having a toddler fall asleep on my shoulder as I sing to him... that right there really is amazing grace. It puts things into perspective. Hayden and I want to live passionately and with no fears, no regrets... always remembering that this life is too short to miss out on LIFE. We want to make just enough money to pay our bills so we can survive and eat yummy vegan food. Money is just a thing. The opportunity cost of living my life without making money to hoard away, to buy things that clutter up my house... it would definitely be missing out on a lot of fabulous fashion-related items... but I am investing in the richness of my life, so in the end I leave this earth smiling and having my son remember that mommy and daddy really LIVED (see, Economics really is pertinent to real life). What could I take to the ends of the earth that no one can ever take away from me? My memories. So I am here to make more of them with my family and my friends. And along the way in the next few months you too may learn about economics or event planning or business right along with me.

I hope my little blog finds you in happy place. On that note I will leave you with one wonderful restaurant recommendation.

Cafe Flora - Madison Street. Seattle, Washington.
Let's talk about happy vegans for a moment. Cafe Flora is nestled between cute little buildings in a suburb-type area of Seattle. This restaurant looks simple from the front. Then you look at the menu posted outside... and if you are vegan like me, you squeal with delight! So many options, clearly lined out on the menu. Hayden and I had a nice little lunch together and we both enjoyed food without any fear of animal products creeping in without our knowledge. I had a black eyed pea curry soup with a very delicious salad and about 10 bites off Hayden's plate... Hayden's plate full of heavenly potatoes and "Chorizo" Southwestern Scramble. His also came with a little piece of coffee cake that was our dessert. While we waited for our food I sipped on Rosemary Lemonade... probably the second best lemonade I have ever had (and that is saying a lot because numero uno is like, well, numero uno I guess). I browsed through their cookbook and decided to buy one to bring home. I am getting so many amazing ideas already! The service was normal, not the very best but for that amazing food, we didn't care. And did I mention the take-out vegan Sticky Buns? I have been picking at those for a few days and they still taste just as good as when they were hot out of the oven. So next time you're in Seattle, definitely check out Cafe Flora. You won't be disappointed! It's yummy for vegans, vegetarians and carnivores alike (but don't show up there expecting any meat because then you will be disappointed).

When God Speaks

I have been a bit stressed lately. The perils of being a small business owner have hit hard in the last few weeks and money is tight. This, of course, after we have a plan to get out of debt and to be successful financially as well as personally. We have a budget and we stick to it. We have been diligent about our goal and it has been going well. Then we hit March and all of a sudden Hayden has had very little work. As you know, in construction things don't always go as you might plan them. Sunday morning I had reached my point. That point when I was either going to go psycho like a mad woman on someone or I was just going to crawl under the covers, stay in my jammies all day and feel sorry for myself. I believe it takes getting to that point before you are ready to learn a lesson or allow God to take control of the situation. I said a prayer... it's in your hands Lord. I give it all to you. But please take this from us. PLEASE!

I called up my mom. She is a good listener. I told her in detail how I was feeling, how stressed I am and that I don't know what to do. Hence the selling of Arbonne, going back to school to get paid for it, selling all my clothes at consignment... attempting to sell everything we own to get past this moment. She listened and reminded me to give it to God. What I really needed was just for someone to listen and she helped me by just allowing me to vent. So I got out of bed and decided to face the day with a smile. Less than 3 hours later I got a phone call from Hayden. We sold the property we inherited from Hayden's dad.

It will close within the next few weeks and we will have more than enough money in the bank to make our goals a reality. Debt will be paid off. We can finally close up Steve's estate and allow him to rest in peace without all of that junk hanging over our heads anymore (this will probably end up being the biggest blessing of the whole lot). We can jet off to Hawaii to renew our vows on the beach like we promised each other. We can get everything in order to sell our house and move down on the family property. We can give our marriage some breathing room with the heavy burden of debt and the estate of a parent still in probate almost 3 years later... all lifted off of us.

It's funny how God listens and He answers prayers. Just not always in the way we think He will or in the way we have planned. But nonetheless, prayers were answered with that offer on the property and in about a month we will see our goals become a reality. I think I will probably cry tears of joy the day we are handed that check. So thanks be to God for knowing what we truly needed right now... and for finding a way to make it happen. Amen!

Lemon-Lime Vanilla Drop Recipe and Random Ramblings.

Just a little update from the home front here in my cold neck of the woods. I am currently working on getting enrolled and registered and yada yada yada to return to college in a few weeks. I will be completing my Business Admin degree with a focus on tourism and hotel business management. I am very excited for a bit of a change in pace around here. I have been needing something for myself and I think this will help a lot. I will be going full time on a federal grant and so everything will be paid for and taken care of. Very exciting! I am only 56 credits from completing my degree (thank you Running Start!) so I should be graduating next June!

I am also very excited about my newest discovery in the world of vegan products... Arbonne! Arbonne is a company that has skin care, makeup, nutritional products, baby products, sun care and so much more. I was so convinced on their product and company beliefs that I decided to become an Independent Consultant. So far I am loving it and am excited to share the products with others. It's easy and fun when the product really does sell itself. And when I really believe in the company, it's mission and goals and the high quality of what I am selling and using. Woo Hoo for Arbonne.

Other than that, I am just busy trying to organize my home and my life before I hit the books. I want more order around here so I will have a calm place to study and do my homework. Ha! Yeah right. I know. I have a two year old and a husband; but, one can hope. I am busy working on new recipes to post but I need to perfect them a bit more. I promised you a cookie recipe and a crouton recipe and I am slacking. Sorry. Once I have a bit more energy I will get to it. I will, however, leave you with a great lemon-lime vanilla drop recipe that hit the spot for me on this St Patty's day. So cheers to finding your pot of gold... whatever that might be!

Lemon-Lime Vanilla Drop
2 Large Lemons
2 Large Limes
5 oz vanilla vodka (don't get the cheap stuff, it isn't worth it)
1/4 cup or so of sugar (and not the icky kind processed with charred animal bones)
Water
Shaker, Peeler, Reamer, Muddler, Pitcher... and cute martini glasses!

Shave the skin off the lemons and limes into a shallow bowl. Be careful to shave only the colored part of the rind and avoid getting to much of the white stuff (pith). Once you have all the rind peeled from the lemons and limes, add the sugar over the rinds and let this mixture sit for a while. I allowed for about 45 minutes. Sniff vanilla vodka to get yourself in the mood.

Once the peels have sat for enough time, pour enough water to cover the mixture and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add to a pitcher. Add about 1 cup of water. Juice the lemons and limes into the pitcher. Stir and taste. Make sure it is sweet enough to your liking for a martini. It all depends on the person, right? Right.

Next, fish out some of the rind and add it to an ice filled martini shaker. Muddle the rinds with the ice until you feel like you have taken out your aggressions for the day. Add in your sweet little lemon lime mixture and the vanilla vodka. Shake, shake, shake. Shake like a bar tending rock star. You know you want to. Strain into glasses and enjoy. But don't enjoy too much. I highly recommend paying attention to how fast you drink this because it's like candy and you can over-do it quick!

And oopsie... did I forget to mention that this is good for about 3-4 drinks? Right. I wouldn't be putting out recipes for one drink that include 5oz of vodka. I hope y'all know that!

Happy St Pat's Day everyday. I hear Irish music in the background of my mind. I guess that means it's time for bed...

Recipes Galore.

I posted some of my new and old favorites this morning for your cooking and eating pleasure. After getting many requests I decided I had better get on it and start sharing this wholesome goodness with the world. Within the week I will be posting my all time favorite Very Chocolatey Coconut Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookie recipe and my Good Enough to Eat Alone Crouton recipe. Stay tuned and let me know if you have any specific requests. I'd be happy to share!

Veggie Puff Pillows with Basil-ee Tomato Sauce

I concocted up this recipe last night to try to use up some of our fresh veggies in the fridge... and to try something other than stir fry or any of the other standbys we have been eating lately. I was so happy with the results. We love puff pastry and I used to try lots of recipes in my non-vegan days, so I guess this is just a healthier and much yummier variation. Enjoy!

Veggie Puff Pillows
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup onion, diced
5 medium stalks of asparagus, diced
1/4 cup yellow pepper, diced
1/4 cup green pepper, diced
1/4 cup kalamata olives, diced
2 plum tomatoes diced
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3 tsp dried or frozen chopped basil
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
For sprinkling: pinch of salt, pepper and dried basil
Cooking Spray
Small dish of water

Preheat oven to 425. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray and set aside. Cut thawed puff pastry into 12 even squares and allow to rest on a floured cutting board.

In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add yellow and green peppers, carrots, asparagus, kalamata olives and pine nuts. Season with basil, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Saute for an additional 3-5 minutes until flavors are combined. Drop in baby spinach and stir for about 1-2 minutes until spinach begins to wilt. Turn off heat. Allow to cool for a couple minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl.

Spoon 1 tbsp of mixture onto center of 6 of the puff pastry squares. Using your fingers, dab water around edges of each filled pastry square. Then go to work on the tops. Slightly stretch each remaining square using gentle pressure and set a top onto each filled square. Crimp edges with a fork. Puncture top with a fork to allow steam to escape during baking. Place on greased cookie sheet. Spray tops with cooking spray and sprinkle with basil, salt and pepper. Cook until tops are golden brown and pastries have puffed. Approximately 18 minutes in my oven. Allow puff pillows to cool for 10-15 minutes. Serve with Basil-ee Tomato Sauce (see below) for dipping.


Basil-ee Tomato Sauce
Why by tomato sauce when you can make a healthier, inexpensive version in minutes!
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup onion, diced
4 tsp dried or frozen basil
1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes with basil
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tbsp ground flax seed

In a medium sauce pan, saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat for two minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, basil and Italian seasoning. Salt and Pepper to taste. Stir until well combined. Reduce heat and simmer at least 5 minutes (I know you're impatient...) but more is better to allow flavors to incorporate well. Mix in flax seed and stir to incorporate. Simmer an additional 2 minutes and serve. This goes well over pasta dishes, as a pizza sauce or as a dipping sauce for bread sticks or puff pastry pillows. Healthy and tastes good. My favorite combo!

If you want to take advantage of my favorite "I'm feeling lazy and want to pull something out of the freezer for dinner" method... allow remaining sauce to cool and transfer to 1 qt freezer bags. This freezes well. You will probably use up all the left over sauce within a couple weeks... but if you don't, I would suggest trying to use it all up within 3 months.

Abby's Favorite Black Bean Chili

I am obsessed with this black bean chili. I got a freezer meal from one of those prepared dinner places. It was so blah-bland. So I decided I could do a much better recipe by adding some of my favorite Mexican flavors. And alas, I was correct and one of my favorite meals was born.

2 tbsp canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrot, diced
28 oz canned tomatoes, diced or crushed
28 oz canned black beans, drained and rinsed
8 oz tomato sauce
1 quart vegetable broth
1 cup frozen sweet corn
1 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
Crushed red pepper flake, to taste
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Saute onion, garlic, carrot and celery in canola oil for 3 minutes over medium heat. Add all remaining ingredients and stir to incorporate. For those of you who like it spicy (like me), shake that red pepper flake in until your arm starts to tire. Then give a couple extra shakes for good measure. Do not serve to children or my husband this way. That would be cruel.

Simmer for 30 minutes over low heat. Serve with tortilla chips or corn bread. Allow leftover chili to cool and transfer to 1 qt freezer bags. Freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw chili in fridge and warm in a sauce pan.

Crock Pot Directions: Combine all ingredients minus canola oil and set on low heat for 4-6 hours.

Black Bean Stew with Warmed Tortillas: Add only 1/4 quart of vegetable broth. Simmer to a stew-like consistency. Serve with warmed tortillas, soy cheddar cheese and sour cream substitute.

Lemon Quinoa Medley

For those of you who do not know, quinoa is a grain that is being dubbed as the super-food of the future. I have been hesitant to try it out for some odd reason but I decided to go for it and create a recipe with some of my favorite things to ensure it would be edible. Was it ever! I thought there was enough for leftovers but we scarfed every last bit of it. This will definitely become a staple in our house. And for those of you blessed to have a Trader Joe's near by - they sell organic quinoa for MUCH less than anywhere else I have found!

1 cup Quinoa
2 cups Vegetable Broth
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 cup Onion, diced
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
1/4 cup Carrot, diced
1/4 cup Celery, diced
1/2 cup Bell Pepper (Your favorite color), diced
1/4 cup Slivered Almonds
1/4 cup Golden Raisins
2 tbsp Italian Seasoning
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Bring quinoa, vegetable broth and lemon juice to a boil in a 1.5 quart sauce pan. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a skillet saute onion and garlic for 2 minutes in olive oil. Add vegetables, Italian seasonings, and salt & pepper to taste. Saute an additional 5 minutes. Add almonds and golden raisins and continue to saute for 2 more minutes. Turn off heat.

Add vegetable mixture to cooked quinoa and stir to incorporate. This is hearty enough to be a meal in itself!

Blood Orange Roasted Tomato & Asparagus Pasta with Walnuts

Long name, I know. But this is packed full of flavor and yummy goodness. It was so good we didn't even have to coax Merritt to eat his vegetables!

1 pint Cherry Tomatoes, quartered
1 pound Asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
Juice of 1 medium Blood Orange
Zest of 1/2 Blood Orange
Juice of 1/2 small Lemon
Zest of 1/2 Lemon
1 tsp Cane Juice Sugar
Splash of White Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Walnut pieces, toasted
1 pound Whole Wheat Pasta
Salt and Pepper to taste
Nutritional Yeast, optional

Preheat oven to 425. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. In a large bowl whisk 1 tbsp olive oil and Italian seasoning. Drop in asparagus and tomatoes. Stir gently until coated. Transfer to baking sheet in single layer. Roast for 15-20 minutes in oven, or until tomatoes start to wilt and the edges begin to char.

Boil pasta according to directions in salted water. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water.

While pasta is boiling... using a medium sauce pan over low heat combine juices and zest of the blood orange and lemon, sugar, white balsamic vinegar and remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil. Whisk until combined. Bring to a simmer and add 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over low heat 5 minutes to reduce the sauce to a bubbly consistency.

Ideally, your pasta will be done cooking at the same time that your sauce has become bubbly and you are about to take the tomatoes and asparagus out of the oven. You might have to do it a couple times before you get it down to that science.


Transfer pasta, walnuts and roasted vegetables to a large serving dish. Pour blood orange sauce over top. Using tongs, toss until sauce has reached every little nook and cranny of the dish. Serve warm. Top with nutritional yeast if desired. Enjoy!

Cold Rosemary Potatoes in EVOO

Exciting day today. Merritt and I headed off to do our usual errands. He has been quite the pill over the last week so I decided to not allow him to take a nap today... let's all see how that goes. Ha. Anyhow, we headed off around noon. This after making breakfast (he refused the oatmeal but was content with cereal, so whatever), showering and getting myself and a bouncy toddler ready to head out the door. I finally got my hair highlighted so I wouldn't look so "pale" as Josh pointed out to me. Hey, don't hate. I can appreciate some truth once in a while. He even told me to check out a particular picture of me. I was pale. He was right. That's what I love about a true friend. They will tell you that you look like shit in hopes that one day you will do the same for them.

So yes, highlights in the black hair to hopefully tone down the whitey-ness and pastey-like appearance I have been toting around. I like it. I am more of a chunky highlights with lots of hair drama type of girl anyway. So of course, I had to spend some extra time on the hair to see what I could do with it now that I have a new look. And I have to admit, I was inspired a bit, as I always am, by America's Next Top Model and their perfect makeover show for cycle 10. I love it. Watching little girls flip out over "short" hair. Waaa. Waaa. It's great. If I were able to have a supermodel give me advice on style of any sort, I would take it. Anyway, I am off track and you are starting to wonder what any of this has to do with cold rosemary potatoes, right? Right, so let's get to it. Merritt and I headed off. We needed TP, more natural toothpaste, some new soap that is a little less disgusting and some deodorant for mama that doesn't have carcinogens in it. Switching over to vegan-ism has taught me a lot about EVERYTHING I am putting into and on my body. I started looking at labels in my shower and just about everything has to go. Sad. But not so much. So Merr and I hit up Target first. He is so much fun and easy to entertain. I brought in an organic apple juice box for him and that kept him busy for the first 20 minutes of shopping. I tried on a couple swimsuits. Now that I am 20 pounds less than I have been any summer for the last 10... I figured I should get a hot swimsuit. Plus, I am on a budget which leads me more and more to want to purchase things I do not absolutely need. Fortunately for the budget, I was not convinced on any of the swimsuits. So we headed off to get our real necessities.

After finishing up we met up with my twin sister and her gaggle of children for a fun afternoon of screaming, arguing and breaking up fights with cookies (that would be me). I transferred Merritt's car seat into her mommy van and we were off. After a few stops for her, it was my turn for a break from the children. I ran into the Food Co-Op to grab some produce and somehow ended up standing in the chocolate isle for far too long. I passed it up which is rather shocking considering how much I have been craving chocolate lately. I headed outside after lingering a bit longer to ensure that I took advantage of my time away from the kiddos. Out to the van it was. Surprisingly for me, some cute hippie followed me out of the co-op to try to make small talk. Cute. But then I saw him eye the rock on my finger and he smiled and turned around. Have I mentioned that having someone want to make small talk with me or try to get my number... well that can keep a married girl smiling for months. I've still got it folks. That's right. Hot mom, wife and homemaker. Anyway... rosemary potatoes, I know.

We head off to get some lunch for Anna's screaming children and end up at a Mexican take-out place. You may have seen them on that show "Dirty Jobs" for turning their oil into bio-diesel, which, by-the-way, my husband did two times. I ran inside to grab a couple vegan burritos for me and Merr and somehow got suckered into paying for and picking up a shredded beef burrito for my brother in law. It really grossed me out and the smell permeated my beautiful bag of vegan goodness. Tragic. Then me and the sis and all the kids headed off to a park to enjoy our Mexican late lunch. Once we got to the park, the children who had been screaming about being SOOO hungry could care less about food. They wanted to chase each other and not listen to their mommies. It was about 45 degrees out but I was freezing. And the fact that I was wearing very adorable heels did not help my case as far as corralling children went. But we got them their outdoors time and a chance for me and Anna to scarf down two bags of take-out tortilla chips. It was good. The kids chased a couple squirrels and then we decided it was time to leave.

Somehow I ended up in Target again but this time Merritt was no angel. Remember, no nap? Right. It was about 4pm by now and he was not having anything to do with being good, listening to mommy, minding, NOT screaming. You know, typical I am about to melt down drama. For him and me. So Merritt and I got out of there as fast as we could before I lost it in the middle of Target and had some mom in her mom jeans glare at me like I am the scum of the earth.

I call Hayden for some moral support and he says we need to drive 45 minutes away to get a part for his truck that he is trading for a Mustang tomorrow. Yay! Just what I need, 45 minutes in a car with an unhappy toddler who has not had a nap. Woo hoo! So I grabbed more vegan cookies and we were off. Our happy little family. About 35 minutes into it, Merritt could no longer hold his head up and his eyes were rolling open and closed. It was really funny. Hayden decided to take advantage of the fact that I didn't want to go inside the auto parts store to strike up a 30 minute conversation with a stranger about Porsche's. It was fun. For him.

Just as he barreled his way back into the car (and after 3 harassing text/picture messages of my bored face), Merritt woke up. And once he wakes up from a late nap, he is even worse, usually, then he was before he woke up. But we were all hungry so we decided to hit up some chain Italian restaurant (and NOT olive garden). We waited for 20 minutes. Hayden asked about 5 minutes into it if their pasta had egg in it. We still didn't have an answer until just before we were seated. Yup, eggs in the pasta. Now you are getting the rosemary potatoes, right?

Our waitress bounces over... a skinny blonde 20ish girl. She takes our drink orders and Hayden starts in on his questions. Now for those of you who have ever gone to a restaurant with Hayden, you know what this can be like. Pure agony. However, now that we are vegan, it's even lengthier and more frustrating for everyone involved. The waitress was confused (shocker) about what vegan meant and even said maybe we could just try the pecan chicken dish without cheese. Yum! Her vegetarian server friend overheard that she had a vegan table (wonder how, I bet she wasn't complaining about us) and he came up with some meal ideas for us. Then the manager came over with an ingredient book to make sure we were happy and confident in our orders. We ended up ordering the bread without butter smothered on it for a starter... then green salads with red pepper balsamic vinaigrette and for the main dish... roasted rosemary potatoes that are then finished in a frying pan with EVOO. Sounded ok. My cooking is far better but we are over an hour from home, so any food will do at this point. Or so I think.

Our bread comes out and it is heavenly. We all dig in and almost completely finished 2 loaves. Then salads and they are great too. Our waitress still didn't seem too impressed by us, especially between Merritt's coughing fits from all his running around earlier combined with his massive fit at bedtime last night that left his voice hoarse and his little cough sounding awful.

Then comes the main dish. Some other gal brought it over to us. It looked really great. Lots of potatoes and I could smell the rosemary right when she set it in front of me. Yum. I dig in. First potato, cold. Second potato, cold. Third potato I dug to the bottom of the dish... it was even colder! At this point I am not too happy but I don't want to be the angry vegan who asked all the questions and then complains about cold food. So I choke down a few more. And just as my stomach starts to turn the manager comes back over to check on us. "How is everything" she asks... Hayden and I looked at each other and chuckled. This as our waitress starts our direction, too. I said "I hate to say this, but the potatoes are cold." The waitress made eye contact with me, rolled her bratty little eyes, turned and darted away from our table. She was whispering to someone else at the computer across the room. The manager called her back over, not impressed with the antics. Our options, sending the potatoes that smelled really good back to be warmed up... aka spit in. Or boxing them up and bringing them home. At this point Merritt is in critical melt down mode and the waitress is pissing me off... so we decide with the latter. The waitress threw the to-go box on the table along with the bill and walked away without saying anything. I put our card in and filled the box while trying to convince Merritt to not "swim" on the seat toward the gentleman next to us. Somewhere in the midst of this she took the bill and my card, again, without saying anything. When she brought it back she put it on the table and said "thanks." and walked away. I was so impressed. More and more by the minute, actually. Now, I like to think of myself as a good tipper. I almost always give 20% and if it is really great service, even more. I wanted to write in the tip part something snotty like "don't be a brat". Instead I let Hayden pay the tip. He was nice and left 20%. We left. So much fun. I don't mind being different or having people judge me. I am used to that. But when it comes to downright snottiness, I get really pissy. I clicked my way out as loudly as I could in my heels and we left.

Merritt made it about 30 minutes before he passed out around 9pm. We had a long day. By the time we got home he was still out. He stayed asleep as I carried him to the house, changed him into his pajamas and rearranged his bedspread. I am hoping tonight will be the night that the stupid train doesn't honk 14 times as it is passing our house at 3 am... and that we will all get a good, restful night's sleep. Here's to hoping that I won't wake up tired in the morning. And I would also like to say that from now on, I guess we'll be eating ethnic food if we are out of town... or at a restaurant that we know can accommodate us easily. So... to everyone as Hayden sits next to me and eats the cold rosemary potatoes that now smell disgusting... Good night!

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes - A Fave in Our House

I have goals for my blog. Yes, indeed, it is true. One such goal is to provide you with information about some of my favorite recipes, websites, books, etc. So I have recently updated my blog to reflect that. Check out some of the links and the books I mention. You won't be disappointed, unless you are crazy, that is.

So here it is. One of the favorite breakfast treats in our household. And for the Lord's sake people. get vegan chocolate chips. Please. They sell them at Trader Joe's, the Food Co-Op, Safeway. Just check out the ingredients. Regular chocolate chips have nasty milk fats added to them that are totally unnecessary! OK, so here it really is.

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2 cups buckwheat pancake mix
1 tsp ground flax seeds
2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
2 1/4 cups water
2 bananas, mashed to a sweet, slimy consistency
1/2 cup of chopped chocolate chips (or more if you need it)
1 tsp really good cinnamon
Maple Syrup for dipping
Sliced bananas and Chocolate Chips for Topping


Combine pancake mix, flax seeds, applesauce, water and bananas with a wooden spoon. I like to spray my spoon with cooking spray first to get it in the mood for some good mixing. Get everything well combined to ensure even banana distributions throughout all pancakes. Then drop in the chocolate chips and cinnamon. Stir until just combined. Drop by just less than 1/4 cup per pancake on a hot, cooking spray prepped skillet. Allow the pancakes to cook through until the bubbles on top of the pancake are popping and the little air bubble spots do not disappear. Then flip and cook about 1 minute more. Serve immediately. We like to eat these with our hands. The little kid has to dip everything, so we provide some organic yummy real maple syrup for him. If you have to be appropriate and eat with plates and utensils, I would suggest topping with sliced bananas and chocolate chips... or just mix that up and eat it separately after all the pancakes are gone. IF there are any left over, you can let them cool and throw them in a freezer bag... then into the freezer for a few weeks to enjoy at a later date. You can warm them easily in a skillet or if you are really lazy, just chuck them into the microwave for a tasty treat. These would be really great, too, with some coconut sorbet or soy ice cream. Enjoy and modify to your liking!

The Things Of Life.

For my regular readers, you know I put it all out there. It might be too much information for some but for me, it's therapeutic to let my story be known. To get everything that is festering inside of me... out of my body and into the world. Maybe someone can offer me some great advice, maybe people read it and think I am a drama queen. Whatever the case, it's my life and I want to share it.

So what's going on in Abbyland today? Well, it's Tuesday. I spent last night listening to my son cough every 2 to 3 minutes throughout the night. I am a part of MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Tuesdays are the day we get to go. This is a great opportunity for me to meet up with other moms of toddlers. I get to see that they are just as frazzled as I am and needing that couple hour break, too. I am blessed enough to sit with a group of amazing women. My sister Anna is a mother of twins... and she is my twin. So we, naturally, got sat at the twin table. Early on I was afraid I might not be able to relate to people... or maybe I would get left out since I cannot relate directly to having twins. But I have been so pleasantly surprised by how accepting and genuine every single woman is at our table. We have real conversations about life and love, children, motherhood or the latest and greatest find for moms. It has been so refreshing for me. Sometimes I just don't know how other moms do it. I have one little guy. He is so sweet and, yes, we have our melt downs, but for the most part he is a really great kid who listens and learns very fast. So when I see mothers walking in there with 3 or 4 toddlers, I just think, wow. I could never do that. I can barely stay sane with one. So what's my point? I love MOPs. It is a chance for me to connect with great people. It really has been a blessing for me. For those other mommies out there, I would recommend getting connected into a MOPs group. It's for anyone who has a child who is not yet in grade school. This also includes you pregnant mommies out there. You will meet real, genuine people who care. What do you have to lose, right? Right. So now that we have that settled, I will move on to why I decided to blog on this day.

I look out the window in front of me. it's sunny. Barely any clouds in the sky. Merritt has been sleeping for a while so I got the chance to cut up all my veggies for the week, have my favorite snack of apples and peanut butter and I got a chance to sit down for a moment and just have a quiet house. It's been a good day. Not to mention I had a vegan burrito from Taco Del Mar for lunch... one of my most favorite meals these days. Yummy. But with the cloudless sky, there is still one of those sad little black clouds hanging over me today. I am extremely emotional today. And yesterday I was too. It was two years ago yesterday that I last saw my Grandpa alive. We knew he didn't have much time left with him. I could barely bring myself to visit him. I didn't think I wanted to remember him that way, laying in bed, barely aware of his surroundings. But I loved him too much to not go. So I went. I got there and it was just us. Me, Grandpa and Grandma. And he wasn't as bad as I expected. He was pale and weak and he knew he was near the end... but he was almost peaceful. I talked to him a bit and told him how much I love him. I don't think I could have expressed my full feelings for him. He will never know what a blessing he was in my life. I have so many wonderful memories of taking walks with him, going fishing, sitting on his knee listening to tall stories about his pet horse who lived up in the mountains. Those are some of the things that I will remember in my last days. How lucky I was to have a Grandfather like him. I left that day from their house feeling so lost. Hayden and I and our whole family had already experienced so much tragedy in the last 12 months... how could it be that I was now going to lose one of the most important people in my life. I have to be honest. I was really starting to lose faith. I cried the rest of the night. Cried and cried and cried. I don't know that I had any tears left after all the crying I did in that year. The next day we were going about our usual business. It was a Saturday. I was upstairs doing some cleaning and Hayden called me down. I was so carefree that day. It was a day like today. Sunny and beautiful. And Hayden said that they had just called and Grandpa was gone. I thought I was ready for that news but it hit me like a ton of bricks. That was it. He was really gone. He said good-bye to this world in one of the best ways I have ever heard of. Most of his children were sitting around him... holding their hands on him. They were praying and some were singing. And they led him into the kingdom of God in a way that was peaceful and graceful and relaxed. So although I am so very sad to say that my Grandpa has been gone for 2 years now, I do have to say that he went to the Lord so gracefully and for that I cannot be sad. It snowed the day of his funeral. It really was perfect and beautiful. But I still get those pangs of heartache when I see little things or when I hear certain songs.

When he first got sick, I had given him my teddy bear. It was the bear that Hayden gave me right after we started dating. My blue bear because he could not find a bear with blue eyes. I have blue eyes like my Grandpa, so I thought it was only fitting that he have that bear to keep him company and to hold on to. I thought it was kinda silly but for some reason I really felt compelled to let him borrow my bear. And I can't even tell you how many times over the next few years that I showed up and Grandpa would be curled up, asleep on the couch with that bear in his arms. And on that last day... there was the bear, above his hospital bed in the living room. So I went over to the house the other day... my sister Anna and her husband have purchased my Grandparent's house. And there it was. My blue bear, sitting there, staring back at me... this when I have had this sad outlook, knowing that this anniversary was approaching. I really feel like my Grandpa is looking down on me from Heaven and he doesn't want me to be sad anymore. So I figured he doesn't need the bear anymore. I have it again and I plan to hold onto that bear forever. So if you are ever going through a rough patch and need to borrow him to lend you some comfort, just let me know. But you can't keep him. Merritt has his "Papa Bear" that Sherry made out of fabric from Steve's shirt... and I have my Franklin bear. I am not a little girl anymore. Life has barreled it's way through and I have a bit of a rougher exterior now. But I will always be my Grandpa's little girl. And there will always be a little piece of my heart missing until that day that I get to see him again. In memory of my Grandpa I am going to head off to visit his grave sight today. I have not been there since he was buried. I guess I felt like it would make it too real. But I have to let him go and remember the things that he taught me... how to get through the hard times so that you can enjoy the good times even more. He had so many great words of advice in our hardest days, after losing a baby and losing a dad. I have to take the things he taught me and pass them on so others can benefit from the simple truth that you are never given more than you can handle.

So to my Grandpa, I love and miss you everyday. Thank you for the memories. When I get where I'm going, on the far side of the sky, the first things I'm gonna do is spread my wings and fly. I'm gonna land beside a lion and run my fingers through his mane... or I might find out what it's like, to ride a drop of rain. When I get where I'm going, they'll be only happy tears. I will shed the sins and struggles I have carried all these years. I will leave my heart wide open. I will love and have no fear. Yeah, when I get where I am going, don't cry for me down here. I'm gonna walk with my Grand Daddy and he'll match me step for step. And I'll tell him how much I've missed him every minute since he left... and then I'll hug his neck. When I get where I'm going... I know this will be true. I love you Grandpa. Hugs from me here to you up there.

Abby

Vegan Cookies For All

Hey all,

I am sad. I had a situation arise this week that has really got me to thinking. It is crazy how this society works. People strive to be thin, sexy, attractive. Except we are the most unhealthy people in the world. So, obviously, I have become a convert to the world of being healthy and striving to live a long, fulfilled life. In that equation includes a lot of good, whole foods, exercise, raising an amazing kid who will impact lives for the greater good and being a positive influence on others.

I have been in need of an opportunity to get out of the house... to do something that could make me feel good. To be a part of something positive. I thought I had found it. I felt really called and prompted by the Lord to follow my gut instinct. And unfortunately, it has left me, in the end, feeling confused and sad and left me, in some ways, doubting myself. So I had a chat with my wonderful Kimmie and she helped me (I love you Kim!). Because I am thin, confident and have a strong personality type, I have found recently, that I am being judged. Not for who I am and the core of my soul... the things I aspire towards in this life. No. No. I am judged because I have an edgy haircut (thank you Ashley) and because I all of a sudden have been blessed to make better decisions for my body... and that is starting to be reflected in the way I look. I am thin and I feel good. This puts a smile on my face and happiness in my heart. It is beneficial to all of my friends, my husband, my son, my family.... to feel this way is amazing. And it shines through. I walk with my head held higher. I am more confident in myself and who I am and how I want to be perceived.

Somewhere along the way, people got resentful towards me. Not all people, but a few in particular. Some know me well, some are new acquaintances and some are strangers on the street. Those women who glare and think I am trying to steal their boyfriends.

So, to set the record straight... here it is... who Abby wants to be.

I want to be someone you can call on the worst day of your life. That person whose shoulder you can cry on. That person who has been through so much and who can relate to your heartache. Someone to listen, truly listen. And not to try to tell you how to fix it. Just to listen so a little piece of your heart can be mended.

I want to raise the most amazing child into a man who is successful in his life. He will be confident and brilliant and sweet and kind. He will one day make a difference in this world. I can see it in his sweet mannerisms and kind heart already.

I want to be an amazing wife to my wonderful husband. We have been through some really rocky times and I am sure there are more to come... but when I am asked the million dollar question - do you think you will still be married in 5 years? How about in 20? Or 50? I can confidently, without wavering, say yes. Because he is an integral part of who I am and who I want to be with forever. I believe that we will wait for each other outside the gates... and one day Hayden and I will walk through the gate, hand in hand. We will see Steve again, my Grandpa and we will meet our maker... and our sweet baby who we never got a chance to hold. And because Merritt is a part of us, he'll be there too. And our family will be complete. And that will be the best day ever.

I want to make a difference in this world. I don't know how but I know without a doubt that this is my calling. I am supposed to uplift people. Maybe it is through my blogs. Maybe it is through my relationships or maybe it is through my karaoke... I might never know but I know that I have been blessed with the gift of compassion through all of the things I have been through and seen in life.

So there it is people. I am confident and happy and successful in life and I want you to be too. Truly, I want to see my friends and family walk with their heads held high... walk confidently into the future. So for those who want to judge based on outward things, I am sad for you. You are missing so much by not looking into the heart and soul of other people.

Love and peace and vegan cookies for all.
Abby

And a PS for Joshy - the sweat pants in public thing is sorta a joke. I don't judge folks for wearing sweat pants in public, I am just completely baffled by it. Why wear sweat pants when there are so many amazing clothes out there? Clothes that are flattering and make you feel good. I don't get it. I just don't.

The Best Puttanesca Sauce

Hayden's Grammie was up from California a few months ago. Grammie is hilarious. We looked at 3 karat diamond rings together and talked about how much we deserved them. We are on the same level. Then we headed across the street, toddler and husbands in tow, for a fabulous pasta dinner. This was the day. The day I was introduced to puttanesca sauce. And my life has not been the same since. I did a little spin off and created a recipe that would work for my little family. We have this or some variation of it once every couple of weeks and that night is a family dinner favorite. So here it is. One of my most favorite recipes...

Abby's Puttanesca Pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 medium yellow onion
2 cans diced tomatoes
3/4 cans of tomato sauce
1/2 cup diced kalamata olives
2 tablespoons capers
1 diced green bell pepper
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
However much red pepper flakes you can handle
Salt and Pepper to taste
Chopped Fresh Basil Leaves - maybe 4 or 5
Enough cooked whole wheat pasta to feed your family. Mine requires 8 oz for dinner.

Start with a skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Drop in 2 cloves of chopped garlic and one whole diced yellow onion (obviously I would encourage you to use all organic products, but that is another blog altogether, so we won't go there now). Stir these together and allow the onion to get all yummy and soft. Watch during this part of the process. You want the onion and garlic to sweeten up and get nice and soft, but not to burn. Hence cooking over medium heat. I know you are impatient, but seriously, don't burn it. It will suck. This will take about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, start your water to boil for that whole wheat pasta you will be dropping in. Cook pasta according to directions. While doing so, add 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 3/4 can of tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of diced kalamata olives, 2 tablespoons capers, 1 diced green bell pepper (or whatever color bell pepper you may have). Salt and pepper to your liking... we like lots. Mix in about 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning. Add in however many shakes of crushed red pepper flakes you can handle. If I am making a batch just for me, it would be quite a bit more than if I am making for my family... but you will have to experiment with what works for you. Let this simmer for at least 15 minutes so all the flavors can marry. Once your pasta is cooked al dente, ladle in about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the salted pasta water to your sauce. This makes it all starchy and adds a little more liquid, which helps. Drain your pasta. Serve in a pretty bowl, pasta on bottom with enough sauce to coat. Save the extra sauce in the fridge or freezer to re-use later. This will allow for about 2 dinner size servings of sauce. We like to have leftovers for lunch in our house, so that works perfectly for us! This recipe is also perfect to add in your favorite veggies or other spices. Almost anything tastes good when you have red pepper flakes, onion and garlic in one recipe! And by the way, if you are freezing the leftovers, let them cool before transferring to the freezer. You can store in the freezer for a few months but this sauce won't last that long in there.

Oh, and I can't believe I forgot... chop up some fresh basil leaves to garnish the top and save some extra for your plate. You're the cook, you deserve a little extra! Serve with a green salad and garlic bread and you will be hero of the household. If you are serving to a little growing toddler or you just want some extra nutrition, you can also sprinkle the top with a bit of nutrional yeast to add in some extra bang for your buck. Enjoy!

Welcome, oh welcome to my little show...

For those of you who are my friend on myspace, you know I love to blog. I blog about my life, my hopes, my dreams, my fears... and most recently, my transformation to the world of becoming and being a Vegan Rock Star. But there are so many more folks who want a view into my little world who refuse to sign up for myspace, thus limiting their ability to know what's really going on in my little head. So here it is... this is for those of you who love the Abbinator and need the opportunity to trespass into my life a little bit. This blog is for you!

Now, for those of you who may not know me so well, I'll fill you in a bit. I am a 25 year old wife and the mother to one awesome 2-year old. I love to spend time outside pretending that I am still a bright-eyed kid, I love to cook and read and to try new things. My husband, Hayden, and I have been married for over 5 years. Yes, you read correctly. I got married at 19. It was the right decision for us, but man alive, I wouldn't necessarily recommend getting married that young. From the moment I met Hayden, I literally knew I would marry him. Scary, considering I was only 16 years old. I obviously did not let him in on this little secret until much later on in our relationship. We love God and love our little family of 3. Our son, Merritt, just turned 2 and is the center of our universe. He is an only child and will continue to be. You will, most assured, learn more about my reasons for only having one child... that is, if you tune in for more updates on our lives. I quit my job about a year ago. I was a casino marketing manager. It was not the right field for me to be in...I started to go crazy. I was having weird dreams about work, losing touch with my friends, family and my faith. So I took a step back, we re-evaluated and Hayden went back to work. He had been a stay-at-home Dad up to that point. It has been an interesting year... starting our own business, trying to figure out our new roles in our family and in the mean time, trying to cultivate a wonderful little human being. Through it all, our love for each other has grown and we are still going strong. Of course there are bumps in the road of life; we are humans. But I am happy to share our bumps in the road, our little and big heartaches... in the hopes that maybe our story can inspire others; give hope... or at least keep you laughing at the fallies of everyday life as a stay-at-home mother. And as you can see, I am a karaoke rock star. I have fans, a following, if you will. I am most famous for my re-creation of "My Humps" and most recently, my version of "Como La Flor". So stay tuned for whatever it is that's to come in this thing called the life of Abby.

Cheers!