Looking forward

School starts on Monday and I don't feel ready at all. I am looking forward to having a schedule, a fixed routine to follow, but aside from that I'd really rather have a couple more weeks of vacation. Normally I enjoy school (sometimes not when I'm in the midst of a round of tests), but with the state budget cuts increasing my tuition and decreasing my financial aid, quality of classes, and hours my department can pay me to work and the 2 days a month of staff furloughs that may or may not mean classes won't meet (not even the teachers know what is happening), this year is just looking like it will be a big mess. All that on top of general class stress. But I do think I'll enjoy my classes (geological oceanography, senior project, field cruise, plant physiology, photography, and sound mind-sound body), and I'll have almost all my friends in most of the classes.

I'm trying to get all my "domestic" things done now, or within the first few weeks of school and get them out of the way. I've been doing a lot of canning, and plan on doing tomato sauce, blueberry syrup/jelly/pie filling (haven't decided yet), apple sauce and apple butter in the next few weeks. I want to freeze a bunch of blueberries, muffins, bread, casseroles, brown rice, and other similar items to have for quick meals during busy weeks. I'd also like to do at least one more batch of dried apples as well, but we'll see how it goes. So far this year I have preserved:

-1 sandwich bag of dried apples
-1/2 sandwich bag dried cantaloupe (from two melons! Wow they shrunk up a lot!)
-1 sandwich bag of dried pineapple
-4 12-oz and 10 8-oz jars of strawberry jam
-9 pint jars of dill pickles - thrown out because they were so salty you couldn't eat them!
-9 pint jars of dill pickles from a different recipe - probably going to be thrown out... :(
-18 12-oz jars of white grape jelly with grapes from my parent's vine

One thing I am excited about starting school for is my new lap top lunchbox! I've wanted one for several years now, and I finally broke down and bought one with a carrying case and an extra set of inner containers. I'm trying to lose weight before the wedding and I think the compartments will help with portion control and will keep me from buying food at school.

Did I mention wedding? Why yes, I did! David and I have decided to get married (really for real this time!) next summer after over 7 years of being together! We are shooting for June 12th, which will give us about a month after graduation (we will both walk in May, although David will have classes to finish up in the fall semester) and about two months to enjoy married life before David starts classes in August for his last semester at HSU. After that we plan on moving out of California for greener pastures and to gain residency in another state before I begin my graduate and Ph. D. work. I'm very excited, but am trying to keep a level head and focus on my school work for now.

That's all for now. I'm off to make next week's meal plan and enjoy one of my final free afternoons in the sun.

1 year

In all the stress and craziness that has been my life over the last several weeks, I let my one year Veganniversary and the 1st year anniversary of this blog go right on by. It doesn't seem like it's been that long at all! So what's changed over the last year in terms of my health? I don't have exact numbers but:

Weight: I started out at 236lbs, increased to nearly 245, dropped to 219 over the summer (26 lbs!), and since the holidays and all the stress, I've been hovering between 225 and 230lbs. So over the whole year I've lost a total of about 6 lbs. Not great, but at least it's a drop!

Cholesterol: Starting out this year I had an overall cholesterol of 201, with LDL at 122 and HDL at 43, which is just over the high side of normal. I don't have the exact numbers to share, but my last blood test in January came back with "normal cholesterol levels", and the doctor didn't mention anything about it, so I'm going to assume that I have dropped my overall and LDL numbers and raised my HDL levels to within healthy limits.

Blood Sugar: It's still kind of in the air if I'm pre-diabetic or not. One doctor keeps saying yes, while two others have done blood tests and said 'no'. I've tested my fasting blood sugars a couple of times with David's monitor and have generally been between 75-85, which David tells me is good.

Triglycerides: I started with triglycerides at 181 (a good number is 150), and again don't have actual numbers, but the last blood test came back in the normal range and the doctor didn't say anything about me being high.

So it seems to me that switching to an entirely vegan diet has really been great for my health! In addition to the numbers, I haven't truly been sick since going vegan (besides from the sniffles for a day or two here and there). Before, if I came down with a cold I would be incapacitated for nearly a week; having to miss school and work and often ending up with the early stages of pneumonia and a deep rattling, hacking cough that would last for months. I've also found that generally my "cycles" have been less painful (sorry guys). Before going vegan and definitely before going on birth control, I would have to miss school because the cramps were so horrible. And let's not forget that my face has cleared up and I've had much more energy throughout the day!

And how was it, switching to a vegan diet? Looking back, not that hard! For the first couple of months, I craved cheese and cheese is still my biggest temptation. There was a day when I just craved a cheese burger so bad that I went to Carl's Jr. and got a Western Bacon Cheeseburger. I have to admit, I devoured that thing and it seemed like the best thing I'd ever tasted. But I paid for it for the next week or so with an upset stomach. There has been a couple of times when I have been tired of not finding anything at a restaurant and it has just been easier to eat something with cheese or milk in it. I'll admit it hasn't been a perfect vegan year. But after eating animal products, even in small amounts, I've found myself feeling icky, sluggish, and just in general not as great as I do when I'm eating vegan.

This blog has really helped me through the last year. Although it doesn't seem like I have a lot of readers (if you're out there and haven't said 'hi' yet, please do!), I have had people stop by from nearly every U.S. State and from other countries like Canada, Russia, Spain, Finland, and the UK. Wow! Hopefully y'all found something helpful or interesting on your way through.

Over the next year I want to continue to focus on eating more raw fruits and veggies, whole grains, and in general eat with "could I eat this straight out of a garden" in mind. Now that I have access to a dehydrator and some canning skills, I want to spend my summer preserving local fruits and veggies to enjoy all year round. I've also been toying with the idea of doing a juice feast, but I'm not sure about that yet. I'll just see how things go and try to listen to my body.

I hope everyone continues to stop by over the next year. And this wouldn't be a post about anniversaries and yearly milestones without saying:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT JUDY AND AUNT TAMI!!!!!!!! I hope both of you have lovely days enjoying your friends and family!

Whoa, Nelly!

Well, it's been an eventful two weeks. It kind of seems like the world was just waiting for me to go back to classes to start up again.

Our dog, Boots, died on the 19th. He was old (not quite sure how old since he just showed up on our doorstep one day), blind, deaf, and was having trouble walking around. Several days before he died he pretty much stopped eating, and on Monday he went outside, laid in the sun, and passed away.

On the 20th, classes started again, and there was no "ease into it" period. We were pretty much thrown straight into the deep end. Yikes! I'm taking second semester physics, physical oceanography, library research and writing, field cruise, and working on my independent senior research project. After spring break I'll be taking Lost Arts of Living (basically canning, candle making, darning, that sort of thing) through CCAT. So basically, I have two hard "traditional" classes (midterm, final); a class with a 30-40 page paper due at the end; a class that will span two semesters and summer where the 12 of us design an experiment, write a proposal, reserve the R/V Coral Sea, conduct the experiment, analyze the samples, write a research paper, present the paper at a national conference, and potentially try to get our paper published in a scientific journal; a project that consists of taking water samples every week, analyzing them for the presence of harmful algae bloom species, writing a scientific paper and defending it in front of a panel of my professors; and a class just for fun to help me balance my science self with my domestic homemaker self. Whew. Yeah, I have my work cut out for me alright!

Then there's also tracking down scholarships and filing the FAFSA, taking the GWPE (must pass to graduate), and following up on a lead for a potential internship (thanks Aunt Tami!!!!). Which means I also need to put together a good resume and gather up some letters of recommendation. Not to mention the Ocean Club, which is in need of a treasurer and I am thinking of going for the position (I must hate myself). Oh, and then there's the PG&E Marine Sampling Project that's still going on!

I'll try to post more frequently, but really, I'm not sure I can even promise a post once a week. This weekend I have 7 scientific papers to read and report on, type and post the meeting minutes for Field Cruise (I stupidly volunteered myself to be secretary of the meetings), not to mention make and devour yummy Superbowl snacks (not sure if we'll actually go somewhere to watch the game since we don't have tv, or just stay home and eat food anyway). I'll also write up a post soon about what David and I did for my birthday soon.

Happy World Vegan Day

As soon as I finished typing the title, I glanced out my kitchen window and spotted a huge, perfect, vibrant, arching rainbow reaching across the sky. I tried taking some pictures but my camera decided to be difficult and not actually capture the beautiful colors on the dark grey backdrop. Then, as I watched, a second perfect, whole rainbow appeared around the first. They stood there for a few minutes like giant concentric half-rings, and then slowly faded away. I'm taking it as a sign that World Vegan Day is approved by nature and that everyone should celebrate by eating vegan for today (or tomorrow, or a randomly picked day of your choosing, y'know, whatever).

It also reminded me that I'm happy to be alive, and healthy, and able to experience such beauty like the rainbows and other little moments throughout every day. Sometimes when I begin to feel crushed under the midterms, term papers, presentations, thesis's, politics, collapsing economy, and the massive amount of housework that has built up while I am busy putting it off to take care of other things, it's hard for me to be grateful for what I have and just live in the moment. But usually right when I need it most, nature tosses a little bit of beauty my way and reminds me that life isn't always this stressful.

Now that I've been completely sidetracked from what I was originally going to post about, but have been rejuvenated, I'm going to make myself some dinner, study some physics, then come back and try again. I hope everyone got to experience a little moment of beauty today!

Vegan Happiness

I have never been good at social situations. I am much like my mother, in that once I am home from work and school, I don't want to deal with anyone besides my family. I don't want people to come over, I don't want to go places. Tuesday I forced myself out of the house, and I'm so glad I did.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned CCAT (Campus Center for Appropriate Technology) before here, but it is a wonderful group on campus that deals with alternative technologies and sustainability. Tonight they hosted a vegan cooking class with AWARE (Always Working for Animal-Rights & Equality); another club on campus. I was a little surprised at how many people showed up (about 12-13?), considering a lot of the fliers had been torn down around campus. The food was excellent, and the atmosphere was great. All of us hung out in the kitchen (luckily a very spacious one!) and talked, helped out, and ate. CCAT is a really special place, and I wish every one had a place like this in their lives and communities. It really lends itself to making everyone feel at home and accepted. Drop in and sit down to read a book from their library, take a few minutes to weed the garden, sign up for a class and learn about herbalism, lost arts of living, organic gardening, thermal curtains, and a myriad of other skills and topics.

And did I mention the food? Because all of it was wonderful. Well, except for the mashed cauliflower with capers. I tried to be impartial to the capers, really I did, but it wasn't happening. The menu consisted of cheap vegan comfort foods (we are po' college students after all) including raspberry cole slaw, 50 cent tomato soup, mashed cauliflower, garlic and rosemary potatoes, mac and cheese, baked tofu, and thai peanut sauce. The big winners were definitely the mac and cheese, baked tofu, and the potatoes. I made the mac and cheese last night for dinner, and even David ate it and said it was good (but that it didn't taste like cheese).

My organic gardening class (put on by CCAT) is having a local and organic potluck on Monday. I've been thinking about doing a local food month (or just in general), but I'm not sure it's possible. While Humboldt is a great area for omnivores to eat local, there are almost no vegan protein sources and very few grains. For the potluck I think I'm going to make a potato salad with oregano, lemon thyme, rosemary, and (cheating-not local, but organic) garlic and olive oil. For my local food diet, I made a modified 100 mile radius that I'm going to try to work in. I had to modify a little because half of my area would be at sea, so now I'm working in an area roughly south of Brookings and Ashland, north of Willits and Willows, and west of Susanville. I think that gives me enough options, but with more research I may need to change it a little more. As things around the house get used up, I'll slowly start replacing stuff with things grown and (possibly or) made in my little area. I can't wait until the farmer's markets start carrying things besides lettuce and starts.

Only one more week of classes!

Picture from Arcata Community.org