Doing My Part

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First Aid Kit (Tangerine)

hello lovely readers!

Hope your weekend is going well and that you are all taking a bit of time for yourselves. I think it so often becomes the American ideal that we should feel guilty for relaxing. My thoughts? Life is too short to not enjoy yourself. So take some time for you!

Anyways, I just thought I would share a few things with you....

Last night I went to a launch party for a website that pulls together vegetarian and vegan resources around the Cincinnati area and the tristate called CincyVeg.

It was launched at this amazing cafe/store that I had no idea existed in the Cincinnati area called Park + Vine and the best way I can describe it is like a general store of the future. It kind of has that small town feel to it. Like back in the old days when you went to the general store to get all your supplies. You can also grab a coffee there and pick up some amazing vegan pastries. The general store part in the back hosts a variety of vegan products all in one area. The amazing thing is that you don't have to check the ingredients to make sure they are vegan because the store owner is vegan and makes sure everything he purchases is vegan-friendly! It makes shopping so much easier.

Anyways, the launch party was amazing. Ther was tons of free sample food ranging from vegan gravy over seitan and rice to strawberry cakes and chocolate chip cookies. There was great live entertainment and I met some awesome fellow veg heads! I definitely plan on returning to Park + Vine and hopefully doing some more networking and meeting some more vegans. I think it is important to get involved and meet others experiencing the same thing you are. It definitely helps you along in the process of transitioning and staying committed. Park + Vine makes it very easy to stay involved because they host events almost every weekend ranging from classes on permaculture design and composting to vegan chilli bake-offs! I am so glad that I found this little gem and cannot wait ot get more involved.

So before leaving last night, in an effort to do my part to not partake in animal products, I purchased some amazing body soap/shampoo and hemp conditioner that are guaranteed to never have been tested on animals and contain only plant=based products. I used them this morning and let me tell you, they are so lovely. I bought Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap in eucalyptus and Nature's Gate Nourishing Hemp Conditioner. The soap can be used on the body and hair and is so invigorating. They also gaurantee that all the oils are fair trade which is pretty awesome. The soap is in oil form so you only use a tiny amount, combine it with water and you get a really soapy sudsy mixture! So really, I can see this bottle lasting me a very long time. I also ordered vegan lip balm online from Hurraw! Balm.

(I got coffee bean, chai spice and coconut!)

Concluding Thoughts....

I know that you can't control every aspect in your life, nor do I want to. I think when you become vegan it is easy to go crazy over all of the little changes. I think it is important to keep track of the goal, which in my case is to improve animal welfare, improve my health and to help the environment. I think the best I can do is to do my part when possible.

Well I will leave you all with some photos of another yummy vegan meal I made this past week. No recipe really, just kinda whipped it together.

breaded, baked tofu with sesame soy broccoli and veggies with couscous (sprinkle some crushed cashews on top)

images via: my camera and here