What's stopping me?

Forgive me, dear reader(s). I've had several serious life changes in the past two or three months, and I have yet to fall into a new routine. Blogging has been one of the things that has fallen to the wayside.

Life Changes:
1) I broke up with my wife.
2) I moved out.
  a) I moved in with one of my dearest friends
      i) and stayed on her couch for a month.
  b) I moved off of my friend's couch.
      i) and into my sister's house.
      ii) where I temporarily have a bed!!
3) I enrolled at the local community college.
  a) I am enrolled for a full 12 hour course load.
  b) I am pursuing a Nursing Degree.
      i) to follow my dream of becoming a midwife (!!)
4) I quit my full-time, well-paying job.
  a) See #3
5) After a one-day job search, I found one.
  a) At Starbucks.
  b) I start on Thursday, September 2nd.
  c) I am uber-excited (!!)

Yep. That about sums it up.

So. As to a routine ... Because I am currently living out of a few eco-conscious cloth sacks filled with a very limited selection of clothing, plus a few necessities - toiletries, books, and the like - I feel very transient. My diet, tenuously healthy though it was, has suffered for two reasons: that feeling of having no roots, and a bit of Depression. I'm still grieving The Breakup.

I have so appreciated my friends' and family's hospitality over the past few months. Being with my friend for a full month was just what the doctor ordered for my spirits, and spending time with my family after having been distant for so long has been so refreshing. But ... I crave a space to call my own. I've been searching, and may have a few promising leads on Efficiency and One Bedroom apartments near work and school. I'll be visiting them after class on Monday.

Perhaps ... perhaps, despite the sense of upheaval I can't seem to shake, I should pick up where I left off months ago. Perhaps it's time to use this blog for its appointed purpose.

I need to start making one - just one - vegetarian meal per week. It seems silly that that hasn't occurred to me until tonight. I suppose it goes back to my last post (it seems like I wrote that a lifetime ago!), in which I realized - what the hell am I waiting for? What's stopping me from meditating? A lack of candles??

What's stopping me from going veg*n? Not having an apartment?!

When you put it that way ... LOL.

It'll be good for me to start blogging again. You know things are bad when I stop journaling in my hard-bound blank book. And I have. Stopped, that is.

It'll give me something to look forward to, and prepare for, every single week.

Plus, I like showing off my pictures, even if they are a little gimpy sometimes. :)

So, tomorrow morning, I'll gather the few cookbooks I have not packed away, and go grocery shopping for mah dinner! I'll let you know how it goes!

Simplify, simplify!

I love that admonition, issued from Thoreau all those years ago. In simplicity, there is peace of both mind and spirit.

I have been overcomplicating things. Again. I caught myself at it as I was writing in my journal just a few minutes ago. In it, I was writing about how I'm feeling slightly out of sorts, which I attribute to a lack of meditation. I used the excuse of packing my altar for the move as a way to get out of the habit.

Anyway, I unpacked most of my altar and it's many and varied accoutrements last night, but can't seem to find most of my votives or my pillar candle. In my journal, I wrote, "I'll finish finding my candles tonight and meditate."

That's when I realized that, though the lighting of certain of my candles is calming and ritualisic in nature, I shouldn't base my practice upon whether I find these candles or not. In the boxes I unpacked last night I found my Quan Yin statue, my tea lights, and all of my tarot decks. What's stopping me?

Simplify, simplify indeed!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Musings on a Move

We moved into our new (rental) house this weekend, and it is, in a word, idyllic. Except for the toilets backing up into the bathtubs. But that was taken care of quickly.

It has so much potential, like a blank canvas to an artíst. All of our furniture seems so at home in the various rooms. At last, we have a sitting room, a place to house our many and varied musical instruments!

And the kitchen! I could wax poetic about the kitchen. It is enormous, with spacious cupboards and ample counterspace upon which to work. Truly, an aspiring cook's dream come true.

The neighborhood is being turned around by new developments and new businesses. There's a non-chain coffee shoppe within walking distance of the house, and I found the coolest Farmer's Market just a stone's throw away as well. I bought 5 ears of corn there for $1 TOTAL. How cool is that?

I feel that a new chapter of our lives is unfolding, and that good things will come our way. Wish us luck on this new adventure!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So much to write about ...

... but there seems to be so little time in which to organize my thoughts, much less write them down.

I prayed the other day, while driving all over creation for work. In my prayer, I decided to test the oft quoted, "ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you". I fervently asked that my interest in my meditation practice be focussed once again. For a time, stress had permeated most aspects of my life, and meditation had sadly started to feel like a chore.

That night as I sat before my altar lighting candles, a sweet peace washed over me, and I felt at home, at ease - feelings that had abandoned me when I succombed to the high emotional charge that had been filtering into my every waking moment.

When we take the time to shed the daily grind, and instead focus inward and Upward, inviting the Divine Presence to enter our hearts and lives, nothing can stop us. I truly believe this. I just also tend to forget it, as we are all so prone to do.

Consider yourself reminded. :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Epiphanies

I told you that I got promoted - well, it entails a lot of driving around, from school to school, appointment to appointment. In this time, I usually sing (poorly) along to the radio. Sometimes, if the distance is great enough to allow it, I call up a friend and chat for a few minutes. Catching up can be so hard to do with hectic schedules, so I am thankful for the breaks in my day that driving allows. However, my favorite way to pass the time is by spending time in quiet reflection - nothing but the sound of my own wheels whistling along the highway and the thoughts in my head to keep me company. It was on Wednesday, during one such period of introspection, that I had an Epiphany:

I have been fighting against my true nature for too long now. As a bi-polar, stress - no matter the level - has in the past sent me into a panicked manic state. Naturally, I find that unpleasant, and try my best to reduce or eliminate stressors, in the hopes of likewise eliminating the manic upsets. However, I have been living a life of careful control for far too long! I realized on Wednesday that, as I have matured and grown, I thrive on a little bit of controlled chaos. I find the stability that I've striven for, for so long now, to be stifling, leading to nothing but stagnance, leaving me feeling miserable.

This job change is perfect for me. My schedule remains the same from week to week, more or less - which provides the little bit of stability that I recognize that I do need. But what I do from week to week changes, providing me with the trill of a challenge.

I give thanks to the Powers That Be that such a windfall, such a blessed change of pace, has literally fallen into my lap. I pray that I will have the strength to take on such a challenge head on, and shoulder it with relative ease. And poise. I hope for poise. :)

Climbing the not-so-corporate ladder

My boss approached me last Wednesday with an interesting proposition. After discussing it with The Wife, I accepted.

But first, a bit of back story:

From February to November of 2008, I was a Roadie for the Music Company that I work for. Kind of. I mean, I was on the road a lot. I visited Middle and High School orchestra directors in cities surrounding Home Base (ie: the Corporate Office) and provided services and supplies. It was a great gig, but it was fast paced and high stress. I didn't handle those parts very well, so in October or so, I asked to go back to the store and do sales there.

They agreed. And so it was that, after they found a replacement for me (whom I trained), I went back to store clerk-dom.

Well, the replacement didn't work out so much. Without going into details here, suffice it to say that my manager approached me with a Question:

Would I like to go back to being a Road Representative for the company?

My answer was a resounding, "Yes".

So I'm settling into my new-old routine, and loving it. I feel, in my heart of hearts, that I am better equipped to handle whatever stresses may come my way this time around.

You know what's funny? With the faster pace, I was anticipating having to eat more to compensate for the energy expended. Oddly enough, I've found the opposite to be true - I'm perfectly content with my PB&J sammitch that I bring for my lunch-on-the-fly. I've started eating the "25% less sugar" counterpart of the Quaker Oats Chewy Granola Bar I used to eat for breakfast. After a few days of my body going into shock in the mornings ("ZOMG, WTFBBQ? Less SUGAR??"), I've adjusted quite nicely, and only need the one bar to tie me over 'til lunch time.

And, as long as I play my cards right (ie: coming in to work at 7:25 am), I can leave a little earlier than I used to as a clerk. Instead of pulling a 9 - 6 shift, I'm doing a 7:30 - 4:30 shift. I'm rather liking it. Right now, I'm spending most of that evening time gearing up for the move, but soon --very soon-- I want to be using the time to do more yoga and maybe even walk around the neighborhood.

Anyway, that's what's keeping me away from the keyboard lately. Wish me luck on this new adventure!

Teh sicks. I has them.

I woke up at about 2:30 this morning with the uncontrollable urge to hastily remove the entire contents of my stomach. I did so, rather begrudgingly, and went back to a fitful night of sleep.

I think that my falling off the bandwagon has finally caught up with me. I'm not feeling my best by any stretch of the imagination. I've gained weight, I feel ambiently ill most of the time, and my energy levels have suffered. I'm having a hard time staying motivated (obviously), so I'm going to try to join a support group called Vegan Hopefuls, being hosted by the blog maven of Vegan Hope. I hope I get accepted, and hope it is the last little nudge that I need to get up and moving, and making the changes that I need to make.

Wish me luck.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Doin' the Time Warp

It seems that time has gotten away from me once more. This is the first lazy afternoon in a few weeks that I've really had to myself, and it's rather nice. I just haven't had the time, or frankly the energy lately to plan meals, much less vegetarian ones.

What have I been up to, then?

We've been steadily sorting out the estate of the deceased Aunt, and are taking care of disbursing things as necessary to her other family members. Something that quickly became apparent was that my mother-in-law, who was this Aunt's caretaker and companion for 15 years, needs a place to live after all the dust settles. It just makes sense for her to move in with us, and we were planning on moving when our lease was up, anyway. So we looked for a larger place ... and found one!

It's a spacious little house for rent in an awesome neighborhood, not too far from where we currently live. It was built in the 1920's, and is about double the square-footage than what our current apartment is. We're keeping our awesome roommate, and taking on my mother-in-law. We're getting a screamin' deal on the rent, and the landlords seem like really nice people. And you know what else? They said I can plant things!!! I'm beside myself! I haven't had a garden since I lived at home in High School! I've already figured out what I'll plant in the front yard. Maybe this planting-season I'll leave it at that, and do the back yard next spring. (We'll see, though. :D).

So we're getting our affairs in order to move. As soon as we put the deposit down on the house (this Friday), we can start moving our boxes in, which is extremely convenient since my mother-in-law has to be out of her current place by the end of March (and the move-in date for the New Place isn't until April 30th because of our current lease).

All of this has been extremely sapping on both of us, and I've really had to take my own advice from my previous post. Taking a few minutes to myself to meditate and to commune with the Goddess every day has been invaluable. Some days it comes more easily than others - there are nights where all I want to do is crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head! But I carve out at least 5 minutes for meditation, and am really benefiting from it.

Soon, very soon, I'll get my rear in gear and start back on the path of Vegetarianism. But for now, I'm trying to keep my head above water during a very stressful and busy time.

The hand of death

There was a death in my wife's extended family this past weekend. It has affected us all, in many different ways. Merry was close to this aunt, but hasn't really mourned her loss fully, as she has been busy taking care of her mother's needs. Her mother was this aunt's caretaker and companion for about 15 years, and is beside herself with grief and worry about what the future holds.

I am in an interesting position to be of assisstance to the whole family, especially my wife. I can finally be there for her the way she was there for me through my father's untimely death, and it is an opprotunity that I am grateful to take. It is challenging at times to center myself at such an energy-charged time, but I have still been spending a few minutes per day in front of my altar, taking the time to give thanks to the Goddess for my many blessings, and to pray that both of us will have the strength to shoulder this burden - together.

This experience, despite all the painful feelings it has brought up for both of us, has served to strengthen our relationship, our bond, and our resolve to look at our many blessings - instead of dwelling in the negativity that sometimes seems to surround us.

Taking the time to actively give thanks to your Higher Power, whoever it may be, is something I can't stress the importance of enough. Not only does it draw you closer to the Loving Divine that surrounds each of us, it serves as a wake-up call, a reminder to your Self that, hey, things ain't all THAT bad!

Try it for a few days. See if it doesn't change your perspective, even just a little. Sometimes "a little" is all it takes to tip the scale, after all.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My quiet space

For years now, I've made it a point to dedicate a corner of my bedroom to be a quiet space that is all my own. In that corner is an altar, my most sacred of spaces. I often sit at that altar and do Tarot readings, relying on my intuition and insight to bring life to the cards spread before me. Sometimes I light a special bundle of dried sage and smudge, or cleanse, myself with its perfumed smoke. Other times I light Nag Champa, my favorite incense, and just relish the process of quieting my mind.

Lately though, as I alluded to in my last post, peace of both mind and spirit have been elusive. I have my altar, equipped as it is with tools and candles and incenses, readily available for me ... yet I haven't made the time for it. For months now, I have been a stranger to my Quan Yin statue, my Tibetan singing bowl, my Tarot decks, and my many and varied candle votives. A place that normally brings such a sense of peace has suddenly become a burden, a drain on time that I just couldn't be bothered to spare anymore.

In the past few weeks, my wife has patiently prodded me towards it, sometimes going so far as to refuse to let me into bed until I've meditated - for as long or short a time as I deemed fit.

As the weeks have rolled on, my time at my altar has become just that: my time. My time to quiet myself before bed. My time to reflect upon my day. My time to just sit with the Goddess and be. I relish it. I crave it. I can hardly wait for my time to come around. I never put a time-frame on it; even five minutes of quiet reflection is time well spent. But lately? Lately I have been dedicating more and more time to my meditation.

Something Merry, my wife, said made me pause: When I am at peace with myself, it rubs off on her. Everyone around her notices - in the time that she has known me, she has been more at peace with herself than she ever has been before.

It is said that when a Chakra, or energy center in the Auric field of a person, is out of alignment, the attributes of that Chakra become skewed. Take, for instance, the Throat Chakra: balanced, it represents being able to speak your truth, boldly but still retaining that tenderness that knows when it is the right time and the right place to do so. Skewed, your voice becomes either too timid or too brash, both of which are ineffective ways of expressing the Self.

I have been skewing my gift - instead of simply bringing peace along with me to a situation or relationship, I have been trying to be a peace maker, attempting to force peace to flow into a situation about which I feel I have no control. I realized during meditation the other night that I need to release my need to be in control. It is only then that my natural gifts can flow freely and bless myself and those around me.


Those are my musings for the evening.

Blessed be.

My lover, my love.

As I lay here in bed, my wife snoring gently beside me, my thoughts turn to the past weeks, and I am filled with an overwhelming feeling of contentment.

The past few weeks have been tumultuous to say the least. Many aspects of my life have seemed to be in a constant state of upheaval and I haven't known what to do about it. I've lost my usual zen attitude, and frankly I'm none too pleased about it.

I've slowly been getting my groove back, thanks in no small part to my wife. She has a large heart, and a huge capacity for compassion and love. She has been supportive not only through the mundane (my vegetarian aspirations), but also through my search for peace and sense of self.

I cannot say it enough - I love and appreciate my wife. Every day is a new adventure with her, a fresh start with every sunrise.

You have my heart and devotion, dear one.

Forever yours,
K.

Various and sundry updates

Hello, my name is Kathryn and I am addicted to juicing without a juicer.

It has been, oh, 7 hours since my last juice fix and I'm already craving MOAR! Today I made Apple / Pear juice and LOVED it. It was crisp and refreshing - perfect for a morning pick-me-up.

I'm finding that as I cut back on my coffee intake, I crash less during the course of the day. Juices and teas are turning out to be a great way to help the waking-up process.

Visiting coffee houses during the week is a social ritual for me, so instead of cutting out the visits, I'm changing what I imbibe while there. I'm trying to remove milk from my diet completely, so I'm doing a lot of creative substitutions and really enjoying the challenge ... and the change. My body feels less "icky" after eating a bowl of cereal with Almond Mylk than how it feels after consuming cow's milk.

I bought a book - How to Become Vegetarian for Dummies - and am really enjoying it so far. I bought it because I (rightly) assumed that it'd have great information on the mechanics of nutrition, all in one place.

I also cooked a vegetarian stir-fry, and will post pictures of it soon!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I love my Wife

I came home a little late this evening. If it hasn't been in the news elsewhere, Dallas / North Texas was hit by a snowstorm the likes of which have not been seen in some time. This translates into slower driving times, because as anyone in the South knows, Texas drivers are made more stupid by the presence of inclement weather of any kind, not even counting the level of cold-i-tude and general icy-ness that has blanketed the place for the past several days.

My darling Wife has been so supportive throughout this entire endeavour, and I so appreciate her. But tonight she did something super-special:

As soon as my key was in the door, my beautiful Wife was in the kitchen, busily making me only the most delicious salad EVAR. It had ...

• lettuce
• one whole tomato
• half a large-ish cucumber
• a pinch or two of canned roasted red pepper strips
• and a smattering chopped yellow onion

I was tired, and the last thing I wanted to do was to make dinner for everyone tonight like I normally do. It took all of 5 minutes to toss together such a lovely salad, but it made me feel like a queen. My love, I thank the Goddess every day that she made sure you're in my life. As Valentine's day draws near, know that you're in my heart, now and always.

Thank you for tonight.

XOXO
Kathryn

Also, MOAR JUICE

Yes. I made MOAR.

I am in love with how simple juicing without a juicer has turned out to be!

Behold, the beauty that is ...

Grapefruit / Blood Orange Juice

I used ...

• one whole Texas Red Grapefruit
• one whole Blood Orange
• four pieces of ice

... blended it all together in my Handy-Dandy Food Processor, strained it through a paint-straining bag, and ... VOILA! Juice of the most delicious kind! 

A belated update

I did it!

I cooked a vegetarian meal!

And I was especially proud of myself - I economized. I only purchased two special ingredients for it! I had everything else on hand!

I sat down and thought, "What can I make with what I have?" And I came up with ...

THIS!

Rice without cheese
 
I cooked Basmati rice in vegetable broth, tossed in sauteed onions and sun dried tomato bruschetta, and topped it with lots of mozzarella cheese and called it a day well conquered.

Rice smothered in cheese

I made JUICE

and it is FANTASTIC!

I used this recipe from {gone raw DOT com}, a truly wonderful resource, both for its RAW recipes and for its forum community.

The recipe had only three ingredients, most of which I had on hand -

• 1 apple
• 2 peaches
• half a can of pineapple with its juice

It called for fresh pineapple, but because I'm on a tight budget, I used the canned variety that I had on hand. I found it to be extra handy, since it had the juice and all.


It's so smooth and light! Delightfully refreshing and tingly on my tastebuds! And all I needed was my food processor and a paint-straining bag-thing! It took all of 5 minutes to prepare the fruit, blend, and strain, leaving me plenty of time to enjoy!

This healthy eating thing is just so darn novel, I can't get over it!

Watch out for my post later this evening (or in the morning), for I am preparing a Vegetarian meal, as promised!

Bananas and I ...

... don't seem to get along.

I have a love/hate relationship with 'nanners. I love them, they hate me! It's happened a few times - I eat a banana, and then have to run to the bathroom to allow it a hasty exit, stage left. It sours my stomach, usually very suddenly, and I have the uncontrollable urge to hurl.

I (foolishly) tentatively tried one again today. I needed a quick pick-me-up. My sugars were low, and I didn't want to make a sandwich. My roommate's bananas called to me quite beguilingly, only to prove once and for all, that bananas are not for me.

So I made my first bowl of cereal with Almond Mylk instead of Milk-milk. I was a bit trepidatious, as milk often has the same violently disasterous result with my stomach chemistry that bananas do, but ...

It. was. delicious!

And my stomach is calm as ... something that is very calm!

Now I'm off to conquer my day-off from work. I recently found out from Bitt of Raw that I can make juice using only a Blender! So I'm off to Home Depot for to buy some paint-straining bags. I want to experiment with juices before I try a juice fast next week that I was inspired to do after reading Raw Goddess Healthy's post.

Toodles!

Salad. I enjoys it

Much has happened today which made my planned trip to the grocery store fall through, but I remain undeterred. Salad fixin's to the rescue! I had hoped to make a full-fledged Vegetarian meal this evening, but putting it off an extra day never hurt anyone. So I'm sitting here enjoying the fruits vegetables of my labours and leafing through my (many) Veg' recipes, planning tomorrow night's meal.

While I'm doing that, here's a photo of my tres delicious salad, with

• iceburg lettuce
• 2/3 of a green bell pepper
• one whole vine-ripened tomato
• a handful of chopped yellow onion bits

topped with Kraft Italian Dressing and freshly-grated parmesean cheese.

Bon apetit!

Recipes anonymous

Hello, my name is Kathryn, and I am addicted to collecting recipes.

I constantly crawl the interwebs, always on the prowl for new recipes to satiate my desire for fresh foodstuffs. Vegetarian, vegan, raw ... you name it, I've probably got a recipe for it.

And iPhone apps! Oh, do I have iPhone apps! I have at least four recipe compilations on my iPhone, one of which is completely vegan; t'others have search filters for vegetarian and vegan meals.

Therein lies my downfall. Though I love hoarding these scrumptious recipes, I seldom get around to using them. I tend to choose the most complex, ingredient-heavy recipes I can find. It's silly, and I know it, but I can't seem to help myself! They all sound so good! Forget the fact that I'll probably spend an extra $20 on specialty ingredients that I'll never find a use for again...

I have a big, black binder chock-full of recipes that I've printed out from online. Maybe my project for this weekend will be to weed out the pages (and pages and pages) of recipes that I'll never realistically get around to, or that are unnecessarily complex.

It is time that I get my recipe addiction under control - or at least give it a nudge in the proper direction. :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Gooooooal!!

I'm sitting here on our awesomely fluffy couch with Merry, my beloved wife, sitting to my right. Our kitten, Luna Twinkletoes, is sandwiched between us. I live for these moments, the ones in which life and all its troubles seem to melt away in the simple pleasure of companionable silences.

I'm slowly sweeping out the cobwebs from This Old Blog (sounds like a TV show PBS would broadcast), and as I do, I can't help but compare myself, my current self, to the self of years long past. I'm coming out of a period of semi-stagnation, a time of little self-exploration, an embarrassingly long stretch of just "getting by". The new year has brought new hope, and the goal of vegetarianism seems to be settling in, taking root, and sustaining me right now. It represents something more to me than just changing what I eat. It represents my commitment to take care of and nourish the self. This is the first time in many years that I've wanted to take care of my self. She deserves it. When I let my guard down, I get glimpses of a well rounded, self-assured, interesting young woman. I feel I'm already headed down the path to release her from the layers of personal baggage that I've been clinging to for years now.

For the first time in months, maybe even a year, I'm allowing myself to hope. For the first time in my life, I can say that these dreams I have are attainable.

My darling wife will be going to school in the fall, studying to become an RN. When she finishes in a few years' time, it will be my turn to go back to school. Believe it or not, I won't be studying music again. I know! Crazy, innit? All these years, I've been hemming and hawing over my music, asking myself things like, "Will I ever feel that spark again?", "Why don't I feel the drive to practice anymore?", "What will everyone think if I don't go back to music??" My viola had become a source of guilt and depression - something that it should never have come to. I have been naturally moving away from it for years now, and you know what?


That's ok.

I've given hours upon hours of thought, meditation, and prayer to the question, "If not music, then what??" And I finally have an answer.

My sister invited me to attend the midwife-assisted birth of one of her sons about 9 years ago. I was moved to tears by the beauty of a life, my little nephew, coming into the world. The raw energy of that natural birth was palpable, and touched me in profound ways.

For the first time, I have now given credence to something that has niggled at the back of my mind since that very day. I want to become a midwife. I want to help women empower themselves through natural birth. I want to provide holistic heath care and sound nutritional advice to women throughout their pregnancies, and beyond. And I want to become a certified Yoga instructor, with a focus on yoga during pregnancy.

I've done extensive research. It'll require that I get my RN and then land a job in Labor/Delivery at a hospital. Once I've worked there for a year, I'll finally be eligible to enter the Certified Nurse-Midwifery program at Parkland Medical Center in Dallas. Because it is an extremely competitive school, anything I can do to set myself apart from the masses will only serve me well. I think that with the Yoga training I was already wanting to do, I'll be golden.

I think I've finally developed the patience that it takes to make dreams like these come to fruition. I have the support of a loving wife, and the drive to make it a reality.

This is the stuff dreams are made of.

Going Veg.

I have been remiss in my blog-maven duties. For that, dear readers (assuming I had any...), I offer my deepest apologies.

This blog, for anyone who may remember its old incarnation, has ... evolved. Lets just call it like it is - it's completely re-vamped! There's a new theme. No longer am I merely chronicling my daily escapades (if they can even be called that), this blog now has a purpose. I have a purpose.

Lemme 'splain you:

January rolled around (as it often does), and I took stock of all the things I'd like to accomplish in 2010. It's a new year ... hell, it's a new decade! What do I want to do with my life?

Without hesitation, let me share with you the goal I wrote smack-dab at the top of my list:

I WANT TO GO VEGETARIAN.

Last year ... no, before that. In 2008, I started buying cook books. I wanted to eat healthier by eating at home. I was getting tired of fast food burgers and other overly processed foods. I wanted to go back to the basics.

My body was telling me something, and I was finally pausing long enough to listen to it. But there was something missing ... I needed something more. Eating at home was not enough, and I knew it. At the tail-end of 2008, I was going through a period wherein most foods sounded repulsive, and I had a hard time keeping anything down. I was under extreme amounts of stress, both at home and at work, and I wasn't coping with it well.

That was when I first started making the connection that what I put in my body has a profound effect on the way I feel. It was also the first time that I began to pinpoint specific foods and the way I reacted to them. Milk was my first observation. Milk aggravates my already frustrating post-nasal drip, and if I'm not careful, will make me throw up. Beef, regardless of how well prepared, makes my stomach go sour. I began clinging to my "safe" list and making a conscious effort to omit the worst offenders.

It wasn't until a few months had passed that I was hit upside the head by the Cosmic clue-by-four, and realized that the diet that I was beginning to follow had a name - Vegetarianism - and that there must be books about how to do it, and do it properly.

Being a voracious reader, I went to the local bookstore and sought them out. Another clue-by-four later, it dawned on me that there must be websites and blogs about it, too!

In January of 2009, I excitedly wrote a goal of becoming vegetarian in my New Year's resolutions. My motives? While I know it to be a highly ethical lifestyle, I frankly loved the way I felt after eating a fresh, Vegetarian meal. It was novel. My body was telling me something, and it was right! And furthermore, as I started removing certain things from my diet, the urge to throw-up began to dissipate.

As we all know, however, resolutions - especially of the New Year variety - are often broken. For many reasons, I was not a Vegetarian by the time January 2010 rolled around. I was daunted by the prospect of restocking the entire kitchen. I was daunted by the fact that I have no working repertoire of what constitutes a healthy Vegetarian meal. But I was also frustrated by the fact that, as the only aspiring Vegetarian in a three-person household, cooking two separate meals seemed like the only option. One for me, one for them.

Instead of being frustrated at my (lack of) progress, or being daunted by the sheer magnitude of The Goal, I simply added VEGETARIANISM to the top of my list of Resolutions this year.

My dear wife had a wonderful idea:

So that I don't burn out on the idea (again), why don't I plan just one meal per week? I don't work on Sundays, so that'd be a perfect day to do some meal planning, then hit the grocery store for just the meal's-worth of produce. It'd allow me the chance to slowly build my confidence in the kitchen without feeling overwhelmed. As I get more and more proficient and ambitious, I can begin adding meals. Breakfasts, for instance, would be an easy meal to plan Veg.

AND she offered to help in the kitchen. I'll make a Vegetarian meal for myself, which will be a side dish for the others. SHE will be in charge of cooking the meat for the meal.

Problem solved.

=^.^=

The purpose of this blog, then, is to record my progress on the path to Vegetarianism. Each Sunday, I'll write an entry about my newest culinary creation, possibly posting pictures along the way.

So wish me luck! And be sure to tune in this Sunday for the first installment!