My Trip

So I am back from Chicago and Minneapolis. I had a great time and ate some fantastic food. I finally was able to go to native foods. It was awesome and delicious and I was finally able to taste the herbivorous butcher. The turkey sandwich I brought from them was the best turkey sandwich I have had in my whole life. All and all it was a great experenice so here is the proof.

Just A Thought

So I was at Whole foods in Memphis a couple weeks ago. I was buying food for my husband. My husband is not vegan and he eats meat. I was in the process of purchasing some chicken wings which were on sale. The cashier spoke to the lady behind me and stated “I know those are not yours”. She stated “girl naw that is not mine.”” You know I do not eat meat. “ The customer bashing me went on to say that she cannot even look at meat because it disgust her. I explained I was vegan but my husband is not. The customer stated to me that well it could not be her. At that moment I thought to myself how turned off I would be with someone with an attitude like hers. I am vegan and felt judged because I married someone who was not. I foundered at that time how many people I could get to go vegan if I treated them the way the lady in the store treated me? This is a lifestyle about compassion. Why do vegans have a hard time being compassionate?  I just don’t get it. Yes my husband eats meat and yes I talk to him about my lifestyle and he see the benefit of my lifestyle. Have I seen changes in his eating habits etc since we met, yes.  Would he even be open to the lifestyle if I had that kind of attitude with him? I don’t think so. Of course I would love for him to be vegan but at the end of the day when I was dating. I wanted someone to treat me right and I wanted certain qualities. My husband has those qualities. I was not vegan at the time we had started dating. I was vegetarian and transitioned to where I am now. I say all that to say that how can we , vegans convince anyone to conform if we are rude and nasty with them. Love covers a multitude of sin the Bible states. Not saying eating meat is a sin. If the Bible states love will cover ALL sins, imagine how many more people would be interested in being vegan if we treated them with love.  We catch more with honey than with salt. Just my little two cents on being compassionate. I will be visiting my hometown Chicago next week for spring break. I am super excited so I will eat at some awesome places. Some of these places are no where near me at the present moment. I already have it in my plans to visit the Chicago Diner. I will also visit Native Foods. I always have to hit up Whole Foods in Chicago. I will also be going to Minneapolis to check out the herbivorous butcher. Plenty of pictures to come when I get back. I will be speaking with you all in a week.

What I have been eating

These are some of the Fabulous foods I have been eating. I did a raw challenge at the beginning of the year. So a lot of this food is from that 21 days of being raw.

 I volunteer at Whole foods. I help out with the cooking classes. These cupcakes were made during a vegan cooking class. The mac and cheese was made during the cooking class also.

  I attend a vegan meet up group in Memphis. Last month we went  to Deja vu and they have the best BarbQue Tofu. The group meets once a month and goes to different vegan restaurants or vegan friendly restaurants in the area.

Living with alopecia

Well today I will be talking about something that is a sensitive subject for me. I found out I had alopecia in 2010 before I moved to Memphis. Alopecia for those of you that don’t know is a form of balding. I was devastated when I found out and made the decision at that point to cut my hair. I wore my hair very low from that point on for about two years. After about two years I had started working with a stylist initially that gave me scalp treatments and my hair started filling in. Once I determined that I was at the end of the road with this stylist, I started going to a trichologist.  A trichologist is a hair specialist. They are not medically trained but are clinically trained in hair loss and the scalp. I had worked with the trichologist for four years. Well our time has come to an end and I decided to cut my hair and start wearing it low again. It was a hard decision. One that I made due to the fact that I had went four years wearing my own hair minimally.  The crown of my hair is where I had the most hair lost and that area would never fully grow in. The hair would grow in and break off for one reason or another. I felt like I was back in hiding. When I first noticed the hair loss I was wearing hats and wigs regularly. I hate wearing wigs that has never been my thing. Due to this experience, I honestly see the point of wigs now. I had said to myself that if by May my hair was not filled in then I would cut it back down.  Honestly, I got tired and God had already given me the green light on moving forward to cut my hair. I cut my hair this Saturday. I will have pictures up soon on the blog. I ended up with the flu this weekend so I could not get my eyebrows done etc. So, picture will be up soon. It was easier than I expected. I struggled with the decision to do it. I was afraid and it is amazing to me how the old feelings I had in 2010 resurfaced in 2017.  I remember in 2010 walking down Michigan Ave in Chicago crying after a trichologist visit. I had the same experience when I went to the dermatologist in 2010.  I remember thinking God I am about to start my career and I was just told I am going bald. Fear is not of God and I recognize that. It is done. I been looking at myself a lot and I am excited. I am still getting use to having no hair. I have some products I will be using so I am interested to see what my hair does. I do plan on blogging more. I have a new computer so I do not have to attempt to blog at work. So here is to a new year and a new me.