Something I've been meaning to post for a while.

And now I finally have the ladynads to do it. I'm sick of people treating me like veganism is the only thing defining who I am as a person. They hear the word and shove me into this mold. One of the first reactions I get a lot is "you don't look vegan".

How is a vegan supposed to look? How am I supposed to even react to something like that? My first reaction would be to be slightly offended I guess?

Is it possible to "look" vegan?

What about "acting" vegan? I imagine this might entail a militant vegan response to every situation in life, but that is the EXACT opposite of the person I ever wanted to be. I do not agree with this and I will not stand to be treated this way.

I think one of the reasons I don't outwardly enjoy being defined as a vegan is because of the stigma that sticks to that word.

I am so many other things.

I am a music whore, violinist, baker, hippy, mommy to a wonderful dog, girlfriend to a fantastic man, best friend, daughter, lover, sister, godmother and many many other things. I am NOT just a vegan and I will not let it define me the way it has in the past. I don't enjoy that the first thing people ever find out about me is that I'm vegan. What about all of the other things I do?

This goes to say, I'm not ashamed of being vegan, it's just a facet of who I am. Veganism will never control everything I say and do and I think that is so freeing in a way. I've been putting too much pressure on myself to really wear veganism like a big, neon sign hanging around my neck. I'm ready to let the other parts of me shine through too.

Happy Tofurkey Day!

Hope you all have a great holiday and safe travels this Thanksgiving!

MN Vegan

Thanksgiving Vegan Potlucks!

Welp, it just started snowing here folks. In Minnesota. In the middle of November. You would have thought it would have been here by now, ya dig?

I'm having a better attitude about it this year, I think. I welcome the snow. I realized quite a while ago that I need to change my attitude about Minnesota weather in order to feel like this place can be my home. There's so many good things here! Minneapolis is a kickass city too. And I think we all could have a little more pride in the places we come from.

Because honestly, if I were to fly by the seat of my pants and be finicky like I usually am, I would up and move to Portland, no questions asked. Yep.

So here I am, in my snowy city with my dog and my cozy basement apartment and I'm happy as a fucking clam.

Anyways...THANKSGIVING VEGAN POTLUCKS. YES.

I went to two this last weekend...Compassionate Action for Animals and Animal Rights Coalition each ran their own respective Thanksgiving vegan potlucks and both were fantastic!

Look what I had at both...

Both were excellent. It's like...going to Old Country Buffet. But vegan. And Thanksgiving-ish. And amazing. You should go sometime...seriously.

MN Vegan

Chicago! And stuff.

That there is the Wisconsin sunrise. Yap.

So the boyfren and I went to Chicago this last weekend. He visited a friend while I went to Chicago Vegan Mania to promote Midwest Vegan Radio. We ended up staying a night with his friend and his friend's girlfriend, which was super nice. We had a night on the town and saw some good music be played by some Chicago-based bands. Wicked.

I stopped a few places on the way, namely the new Native Foods and Bleeding Heart Bakery.

Native Foods was first. We stopped for lunch and here's what we had yo!:

My vegan fish tacos were excellent. His vegan dish was indian curry-ish, which is not my fave but the tempeh was seasoned nicely so that's a plus.

Then! I headed to Vegan Mania, promoted the shit out of the radio show and walked to Bleeding Heart Bakery. Here's what I got (pssst, everything was pretty phenomenal):

That would be a chocolate peanut butter brownie and a hazelnut cakeball. Totally where it's at if you ask me. I also got the boy a banana brownie and my mother a rocky road brownie, both vegan and unfortunately not pictured here. Yummmmm.

I had a good time. Traveling with the boyfren was the best part in my opinion though! I know, barf. Whatever.

ATTENTION MINNESOTA VEGANS: Donut Cooperative is now open for business in the old Cake Eater Space. Get your vegan donuts now I says!

I'm outty!

MN Vegan

Cool beans.

I was contacted (literally in the entry prior to this one) by someone affiliated with Get Vegucated, which seems to be like a pretty cool movie to go see and get educated about vegetarianism/veganism. I was instructed to share this link: CLICKY!

If you are in MN, the premiere is in Minneapolis. You should go. Click here for info about the Minneapolis Premiere on 11/7. I probably will be there. I give out high fives to people, so if you see someone walking toward you like this,

don't be alarmed. Just smack that hand back yo and then we can be chums and stuff. Woop!

MN Vegan