Tag Archives: npr

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Today is the day of reading and painting. Again, hubs and I are feeling that mad rush to get things done for the baby. Our shower is coming up next weekend and I got it in my head that we should finish painting the nursery before we lug a bunch of stuff in there. You know, so we can start actually setting things up. And then my husband really pointed out that I should start thinking and talking to my bosses about a post-delivery plan. So I have been reading all the chapters about post-delivery so I have a little bit more realistic expectation of what to expect when the baby comes. I have to think about these things since a lot of the things my husband was hoping for from is work isn’t working out. It is making us very frustrating for various reason we won’t go into.

But here is a collection of different articles and such for you guys to check out and read. Enjoy!

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Sesame Chai Latte & Pumpkin Spice Turmeric Latte

I am not kidding when I say I love a good latte. In fact, I’ve been going through some old posts updating images and stuff from the server transfer and it seems every time this year I post a bunch of latte recipes in the Sunday Reads. I would LOVE to try these two, but realistically, I probably won’t since I am obsessed with how easy my macaccino is. But these are high up on my list of recipes to try. Maybe I should start a new recipe roundup of coffee-free lattes?

coleman-mindful-2-ed1934cded1126de60d6f24de53f3d5dThis School Replaced Detention with Meditation

I think most people will find this idea weird, or counter intuitive. Surely if I kids acts poorly they should be punished. But I think sometimes there is core differences on how people view things. You can either punish bad behavior, or your can try and fix it. This school is try to fix the problem by giving kids an outlet to channel their frustrations. I think people underestimate how much kids can do.

IndieGoGo: Liberation Barbell

I’ve been a fan of Lacy Davis from her blog Super Strength Health. Then her podcast Rise and Resist, and even her podcast Adult Crash. She is now working towards starting a body positive gym. I think there needs to be more gyms focusing on this. Yes, I’ve been places where the coaches are not talking about flattening those tummies, or sculpting arms for the summer. But rarely are these attributes being advertised, leaving people who are afraid of judgement from stepping into a gym. Lacy’s gym will be based in Portland, soo…. I’ll probably never make… at least for awhile. But if you are in the Portland area, I recommend supporting this rad lady.

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Why Lime Crime is the Most Hated Make Company on the Internet

I am not a huge make up person. But oddly I really like seeing when people put on some crazy make up. Green lips? Yeah. Pink Hair? Rainbow Eyeshadow? Yes and yes. But I try and keep things vegan, even when supporting instagram accounts. Which is why I kind-of lurk on Doe Deere and Sugarpill/Shrinkle (not vegan people, but vegan/cruelty free brands.) Doe Deere owns the company Lime Crime and I’ve always wondered why so many people hated the company with a passion. It was hard to sift through all the general hate with legitimate complaints. This article does a good job summarizing the major controversies of the brand. I think it is important since it is now an all vegan brand, and I love their now discontinued nail polishes. Sadly though, their make up is getting a little too crazy for my personal use but it is worth a read if you are thinking about buying their gold lipstick. The whole thing makes me think about the Stuff Mom Never Told You episode about Lisa Frank. Both so colorful, both full of so much drama.

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Chill Out: Stress Can Override Benefits Of Healthful Eating

This was a pretty interesting study, which found that stress really can override many benefits of eating healthfully. It is worth noting that the way the study was set up all participants were given high fat diets, just one got one full of more healthful fats. So it isn’t something that you should look at stress as something to would completely override all your healthful eating.


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These past two weeks…. oh man have they’ve been something. My blog was being hosted by my lovely friend Jamie. Sadly she decided that she wouldn’t be able to keep her hosting services since of various things including money and poor hosting service. I stress the poor hosting service because it has been causing a headache for me. The company she used is slow to reply to help requests, goes down often (which I think more international readers have been at the end of that stick), and general crumminess. The server went down, no big deal, except I freaked out that it was 100% gone forever since Jamie mentioned getting rid of the hosting service (I know I was being irrational, but couldn’t shake that thought.) Then when I came back up, I backed my XML posts, and tried to connect to the FTP… and just couldn’t get it to connect. Turns out, my password was wrong, and the program I used wasn’t compatible. So my IP was blocked, and I couldn’t see anything from my computer. Worse it seemed all Mac FTPs were being blocked as well. So weird. So I had to ask so many favors from Jamie about backing up my files, sending them over, etc. And I felt bad because I had over 2 GB of images for the blog!

Good news? We are moved to our server, and has given my husband a boost in interest to help my blog out more. He is helping me compress my photo files, which means faster loading times for you guys. I am also hoping to improve my search engine crap and work on a new layout that won’t be too boring, but a little more mainstream. Bad news? If you go into our older posts you might find some broken images. I am slowly fixing that

But since it has been so long, I have a bunch of links to share. Some are quick reads, some are opinion pieces, and some are total fluff. Hope you guys enjoy them and I will have more new posts coming up soon next week.

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Laura Izumikawa on Instagram

Let’s start with the fluff! I am not going to be one of those people who will flood you with ooey-gooey Mom stuff, but I need to share this. Even if you don’t like kids, you’ll love these photos. Laura Izumikawa takes photos of her cute baby while she’s asleep. There are some athletes, cartoon characters, anime, nerdy stuff, and pop stars. If you haven’t already seen all the news articles featuring her photos, check out her instagram.

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Black Health Matters

Nothing makes my blood boil more than hearing people make gross racist remarks like “oh black people don’t exercise” or “people on welfare just eat garbage.” What makes it worse is they never seem to care to make a change about that. So when I read about grassroots movements of trying to get free exercise and wellness programs for low income or people of color, I get really excited. If you want more inspirational reads you can check out this Mosaic Podcast episode about the diabetes epidemic in Harlem.

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The best 100 films of the 21st century, according to 177 film critics around the world

I don’t talk too much about it but I am a film nerd. I love movies, and I rarely get off my butt to watch them. Why? I am not interested in blockbusters… like at all. In fact my husband and I have lots of debates over stuff because I think his “greatest films” are kind-of just fluff. *cough* steven spielberg *cough* If you didn’t already picked up that I am pretentious art school student graduate, you now officially know. Anyways, even people who love blockbusters are getting sick of all these sequels and “reboots.” So if you are looking for something new but different, check out this list. I am wanting to watch the ones we haven’t seen before… which is a lot. I’ve only seen about a quarter of the list but here are the films I think everyone should check out (when you have night to really watch a movie) Note- these are my favorites from the list or ones I think that are a little less known, so you know keep that in mind.

  • Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
  • Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
  • The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002)
  • Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
  • A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009)
  • City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002)
  • Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
  • WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)
  • The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
  • Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
  • Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
  • Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)
  • No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
  • Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
  • There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
  • In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)

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Vegan Mofo 2016 Returns

Vegan Mofo will be returning this year! The announcement was made while I was blocked from my server and transferring files so at first I was overwhelmed with the thought of doing it again. I think I will be trying it out again this year with Alexa’s help. But truthfully we will see how often a post since it will be during the 9th month of pregnancy (yikes!) But I had so much fun doing it in 2015 and 2014 that I just had to.

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These Folks Went Vegetarian Back When It Was Way Uncool

This is a brief look at the first vegetarians restaurants in the world. It is interesting to see how vegetarianism have evolved over the years, and how Hitl has stayed the same. I would love to visit it sometimes, but I wonder if they have many vegan options (it seems to have a lot of eggs and dairy in the recipes). Still a fun slice of history.

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Exercising Regularly Saves You Money, Assuming You Don’t Have ClassPass

I’ve always been one to recommend people go out and get some exercise. I don’t think you need to go to a gym, but I know some people thrive with the direction (especially early on.) This study shows that maybe health insurance companies should cover gym classes. It does show to save some money. Even still, walking 30 minutes a day still does the body some good.

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Women Who Eat Full-Fat Yogurt Are Happier, So Don’t Believe the Smug Lady in Yoplait-Light Commercials

Okay, so I find the title of this article more interesting than anything else. A quick summary is that women who eat full fat yogurt have less depression than women who eat the light stuff. There isn’t any direct correlation with fat consumption and depression. It could be because there is more sugar added to the low-fat stuff or could be that women who are depressed are more concerned about weight gain. I take it as better body image equals better mind. 

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Why Fidgeting Is Good Medicine

And if you made this far- congrats! This is a surprising article about fidgeting. We all know sitting down for long periods of time can be bad for our bodies. So scientists wanted to see if fidgeting would help counter the negative effects. And it kind-of does! Sure it better to not sit down for several hours, but it is a great way to counteract it if you have no choice. 


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Another week has gone by and I feel like nothing has gotten done. I blame the weather. I’ve just been so unmotivated. I just want to stay glued to the first floor where the air is the coolest. At some point it will get cooler and I won’t have that excuse anymore. Bummer. 

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Actually my husband has been busy working on our new computer table. He and his Father have been working together on making a custom desk for our oddly shaped third floor (or rather our normal room with an oddly shaped exercise equipment). Our current desk is 43 inches (109 cm) by 20 inches (50 cm), and doesn’t have much space for our computer. The monitor takes up 25 inches, which is pretty much half the length of the desk top, leaving little room for office stuff. So we are making a desk that is 6 feet (72 inches/182 cm) by 24 inches (60 cm), so MUCH bigger. We are most likely to stain the desk, and are looking for some matching shelving so we can get a pinterest worthy work area (yeah right.) Naturally I will be making some posts about our home updates of our finally finished bedroom, office/workout room, and hopefully nursery. Why? Because I assume you guys are just as interested as I am about looking into other people’s homes, best part of looking for a new house btw.

Anyways, I forgot to post this yesterday, so I hope everyone enjoys these articles for the week.

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When Community-Supported Agriculture Is Not What It Seems

I’ve written about CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) before, and if you aren’t familiar with the idea, I recommend you quickly read my post before this article. To do a quick summary, it is when the consumer has a direct connection with the farmer, and pretty much pays a share/pays up front for the produce for the year. This New York Times article talks about how the term CSA is being used in situations that is very far from the original definition. If you are thinking about joining a “CSA” it is important to read this article as it helps educate people about what they are actually signing up for.

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Go Fund Me for Hillary Lawson

I’ve been reading Hillary’s blog My Cat Loves Daiya for awhile now. She is very active on many vegan blogs, usually commenting under the name Vegan Peace. Basically, after a bunch of circumstances, Hillary found herself loosing her apartment, and having to share space with a person who doesn’t want to keep her cats around. She brought her cats to an animal shelter and is scrambling to find money for a new apartment (you know, down deposit, first and last months rent, all that stuff.) She has a great connection with her cats, and have been writing about them on her blog. Basically, she took in a stray cat who was pregnant, and kept all the kittens. If you have a few bucks spare, that would be great. Hillary has already been overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity.

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Beer Bottles Will Soon Include A Reality Check: A Calorie Count

I’ve got so many emotions about this. I love booze. I love the history and complexity of the flavors. I know so much about alcohol that I think many people who meet me think I drink often (not really, more like 3 drinks a week overall? usually less.) As a vegan, I get really annoyed by the government’s viewpoint that alcohol shouldn’t be required to list nutritional information as that would imply it is food. Well, that makes for a lot of confusion for people with dietary restrictions. I had a friend who was allergic to hops, and drinking new beers was a little bit of Russian roulette. But it seems that focus is just on calories, and I don’t like that. It really doesn’t paint a full picture of people are drinking, and unlike hard liquor, beers can have nutritional benefits. Am I saying you should have a beer just to get some b vitamins? No. But there is probably more in a beer than a Kool Aid.

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Watch: Bubbles and balloons pop at 10,000 frames per second

And now for something fun and visually awesome. There is a short video of scientists filming different kind-of bubbles being popped with a high speed camera. Yeah I guess there are facts in there, but let’s face it- it is mostly just cool to watch.


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Hi everyone! Sorry I’ve been a bit of a bum lately. I have been pretty busy… sort of. It is mostly a case of I haven’t had much a chance to be on the computer, and when I did, I wouldn’t be in the mood. I am much more interested in snuggling with a blanket on the couch, which has really given me lots of reading time. If I had a laptop, I probably would be blogging just as much as I did before. But until the day someone just hands me their laptop, I will be using the one I have in my office.

I’ve fallen behind with my links for reading, so some of these article might seem pretty old, so sorry guys! XD I am rarely on top of these things lol. Well hopefully I will be writing more again this week and will get back into the swing of things.

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Members of the U.S Women’s National Team File Federal Equal Pay Complaint

It is about time this happens. I really enjoyed the recent women’s world cup, but I was also a little sad hearing about how little these women were being paid. When complaining, someone replied with “well these girls won’t have to worry anymore with all their endorsement deals” like that solves the root of the problem. My biggest regret is not being able to support the Women’s Soccer League more since there aren’t any teams nearby.

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What I Learned From Tickling Apes

I have been finding a lot of article lately about animals and how science treat their emotions. I get why scientists are so hesitant to say if animals feel pain, have emotions, and have similar problem solving skills to humans, but it seems equally naive that they wouldn’t have any. 

 

Consumer Reports in the Age of the Amazon Review

I first was introduced to Consumer Reports by my Father in Law. He suscribed to the magazine, and I liked their rating system. They didn’t just go with the “best” they also took in practical things like money into consideration. In fact, a lot of the time the Walmart brand foods often would be ranked the best for the price (for things like ketchup.) I now rarely pick it up since the subscription is a hefty chunk. Instead I learned to use online product reviews, whether it be Amazon, Modcloth, or Target. This article brings up some great points like online reviewers are only reviewing one item. For example the person probably bought one TV, not 12 different ones to compare to each other. And they point out something I wasn’t aware of, which make sense, people being given free products to review on Amazon. The person still can say they live the product, but overall are less likely to take price into consideration.

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Do Insects Have a Consciousness Ego?

Bugs get the short end of vegan stick. I sometimes have a hard time getting the warm and fuzzies for a fly. But it seems science is slowly starting to defend bugs as conscious creatures that deserve a little more respect. Although the article isn’t claiming much, it is an interesting step in the field to assume bugs are running on a little more than 100% automated instinct.

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How the Media Got a Study About Vegetarianism Really, Really Wrong

Another case of bad journalism snowballing out of control. Apparently articles about how adopting a vegetarian diet put you at risk for heart disease and colon cancer. It’s udder crap. How much crap is it? Well apparently the authors of the study had to release a statement saying that wasn’t what they found in their study. To put it simply, the scientists found that societies who had adopted a vegetarian or near vegetarian diet developed a way to produce their own omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. If they then adopt a meat eating diet, their bodies will be flooded with too many fats, and will have health issues. Most writer confused hundreds of years of a vegetarian diet with a few years within ones lifetime. Nor does producing your own omega-3 and omega-6 make you sick, if you stick to a vegetarian diet.


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So our computer turned off and wouldn’t turn back on last week. So my husband was extremely stressed by this since we could technically afford a new computer, but it wouldn’t be the best thing for our wallets. Not to mention the computer we currently have is really sweet. Luckily it wasn’t that bad, we just had a bad memory stick and the wonderful Mac Store scanned all our memory to find out which ones were the bad ones. So we have half the RAM… but we still have 16 gigs, and I don’t notice any difference in speed. So I’ve been spending most of the week trying to catch up on blogs and articles that I’ve been wanting to read from earlier.

I am also starting to feel the spring cleaning bug. I am cleaning out my garden of all the stones so we can start planting some flowers. It might take awhile though, we have SO MANY stones in our small garden space. I am also wanting to start painting out bedroom. It was suppose to be the first room we redo along with our powder room. And now we have settled down and probably will have the time to actually start making our house FEEL like ours. And maybe even start to organize our framed art in a manner that makes sense. Most of the stuff is just smacked on random walls, partly because I was trying to wait until we painted the rooms. So maybe there will be pretty pictures of the newly decorated house in the future.

I also was able to hang out with Alexa last Monday and we will be having THREE new vegan restaurants to feature. Two in central Jersey and one from Delaware. And I just found out of a new all vegan restaurant in Collingswood, so I am pumped to try that out sometimes soon with Alexa or my beau. But Alexa started talking about how she is trying hit certain macros and I thought I would try as well. Well, I am never as close to the protein requirements that the one website calculated for me, but it has been getting me thinking about my calorie intake and protein intake. I definitely do not think this is a way of eating I would enjoy continuing, but it is an interesting way to think since I know there are some people trying to hit a large amount of proteins.

Anyways, I’ve been keeping all these articles in the same post draft to share with you guys. I hope you’ll find them as interesting as I did.

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Mermaid Ivory Stirs Controversy Over How Extinct Species are Studied

This is an interesting article talking about how a scientist who could of possibly discovered expanded territory of an extinct species. How? Well he used DNA from a knife handle that was made from mermaid ivory. I found this article really interesting as it talks about a old animal product that I’ve never heard the term for. Mermaid ivory is the tusks and bones of sea mammals like walruses and the like. It is an interesting article about the flaws in this man’s methods.

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Chow Down on a Plastic Eating Fungus

Part art insulation, part science. This is an interesting look at a potential answer to the question of what to do with all the plastic. This fungus breaks down the plastic, but the scientists took it a step further, they make meals from them. The article has two videos but has a link to their website to show some of the special tools they made to eat these fungi eggs.

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Gastropod: The Maple Boom

Gastropod is starting to become my favorite podcast. Yes, I like many others but I love how much research and technical skills go into their podcasts. But remember that review of maple water I did in the past? I wasn’t a huge fan of it, but I wouldn’t help but think there IS a bunch of benefits of maple water over coconut water (mostly economical and environmental). But at the end it made me want to pick up some more for a cocktail! This is a great episode about the all American maple tree with interesting insight for the future of the maple industry.

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In Flint, Mich., Moving The Farmers Market Drew More Poor Shoppers

A great NPR article about how a farmers market moved in Flint. It moved to a lower income area that was closer to a bus stop and surprise, people started to come. I hear a lot of people complain poor people eat garbage, and that is an unfair judgement. I’ve been to low priced markets, and sometimes they just don’t have many fresh foods. This is proof that lower income families are happy to get healthy fresh foods.

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Maybe It’s Time to Take Animal Feelings Seriously

I would say I am very interested in science. In fact sometimes I wonder why I didn’t try and study more biology, then I remember it is because I just didn’t feel like dealing with animal poop. Granted there are lots of questionable way to deal with animals to research them, but this opinion piece is pleading for scientists to start accepting animals have feelings. It seems pretty silly but I am always a little shocked to hear scientists dismiss animal behaviors, saying it is naive to assume animal think like humans. I always think it would be naive to think they are completely void of feelings.

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Women’s products cost more. Here’s how to avoid the “pink tax.”

There is a lot in this article I already knew, but it introduced me to the term “pink tax.” I do get comments from my husband how some of the things I buy are so expensive, which is funny since I don’t think I buy particularly expensive things it is just expensive compared to what he gets. It is a great article that makes you stop and think before you buy something.

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What no one talks about when they extol the benefits of fasting

Love, love, loving this article! If you are half aware of the body love movement or are aware of various eating disorders you might of read a bunch of people who are totally against fasting. And I know where they are coming from, and mostly agree. But there are various studies that show that fasting limiting calorie intake could be good for our health. This article does a great job explaining what fasting is, what type of fasting they are talking about, the short comings of the studies. A nice read for anyone who is interested in dietary health but don’t want all the worthless hype of fasting.

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SNAP Challenge Recap

Gena from The Full Helping had to take the SNAP challenge for her nutrition class. The SNAP challenge is to live off of $40 for a week per person to simulate relying on food stamps. Gena does a great job talking about the challenges other people faced, and talks about how the challenge isn’t accurate. It is very much worth the read and it thoughtfully written.


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Hello everyone! I can report that Alexa and I doing very well and are safe from the big blizzard. We never lost any power, and personally didn’t have any flooding issues. The storm was really bad for the coastline in South Jersey, with flooding that is worse than Sandy. Hopefully the response will be faster than Sandy was. I haven’t ventured out of the house much yet, and I have a feeling the snow distribution will be weird. There are so many mini snow dunes in my development, and one car is covered in snow, while the other is pretty much untouched!

So I put together some articles I found interesting this week, and hopefully you can agree. I didn’t have a ton of articles so I am reverting to my old school way of formatting with pictures and all.

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Why I Went Vegan

There really isn’t anything earth shattering, especially for vegetarians, and vegans here. But I was really excited to read an article on a major non-vegan platform- The Kitchn. There is a series of articles being published as well, like “what do I buy now?” and “what do I eat?” sort of posts. Hopefully this gives a nice transitioning olive branch for people who are thinking about going vegan. Sometimes us vegans and write and write and write but if we keep networking with each other, there is a good chance we aren’t reaching as many non-vegans. So I find this exciting.

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Buffalo Bills Just Hired Their First Female Coach

I think I’ve linked an article before of how the cardinals hired the first ever female assistant coach, Jen Welters. She was only hired for an “internship” and isn’t working anymore. And now the Bills hired Kathryn Smith, and hopefully she will stay around longer than a summer. But even still I’ve been noticing more and more females in football advertisements outside of hot chicks and cheerleaders. There are more women in the Play 60 commercials, which is great. I know my one cousin really liked playing flag football, but surprise, her mother encouraged her to play more “female” centered sports. Football might not be the perfect sport, but I do see positions that women can excel in.

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Long Thought To Be Extinct, Bizarre Tree Frog Surfaces in India

This is really exciting news, a revival of an extinct species. This isn’t the first time, as I love the story about the kakapo (which is like a cute chubby fluffy dinosaur, in my opinion.) But what makes this story super interesting is that scientists think that they never noticed this frog because their tadpole phase could go on for years. This is another case of how we have to much to learn about animals in their natural habitat.  Which brings me to the next article…

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Danes Say Zoo Dissections Fit With Country’s “Very Honest” Parenting

The Danish get a lot of criticism about their zoos, and I do feel a little bad. Zoos put animals to sleep all the time, they just aren’t coming out about it. I do think in someways it is good for the vegan movement. The public rarely sees an animal butchered, and therefore find it disgusting. But I think if you are going to eat meat, you have to stomach it otherwise you are a little hypocritical.I also take faith that kids do listen to their hearts, and even the reporter speculates that these dissections could spark interest with kids in animal activism. I think these dissections are examples of showing that zoos are not natural places for animals, and another example of humans creating new “animal” problems.

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Consoling Voles Hint at Animal Empathy

A new study shows that animals might be empathetic. Seems a little silly, but it is hard to determine different emotions objectively. So scientists construct really weird experiments to try and prove different emotions. Feel free to read, but this experiment does involve distressing and hurting voles.


Why Are Vegetarians Annoying? (An Exploration of a Cultural Rift)

Hank Green has done a few videos about vegetarianism, and I have to give some respect to him. Sadly the comments are full of the same ol’ same ol’ “how can you tell if a person is vegan” jokes. Basically Hank Green admits, he is a little selfish for eating meat, which I totally respect. Very rarely do people come out and say this. There are tons of excuses that give me a big roll of the eyes, bacon, its for my health, it isn’t natural, blah blah blah. And Green is right in saying that we need to draw a line sometimes in the things we do. I would go out of my mind if I questioned every single item I bought in order to live a guilt-free, cruelty-free, sweat-shop-free, lifestyle. I also look at this video as a way to try and live my life less judgmentally, even if everyone else is judging me (which seems likes like a pretty conceded statement, but man reading those comments, people do judge vegans.)


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Alexa hardly ever takes photos of Gizmo! Such a cutie!

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a good week. I had a pretty productive one, and I even squeezed in a sick day! It is weird because it has been awhile since I’ve had a “sick” day. I had stomach bugs, but never stayed home with a flu. Even still, I just felt dizzy Friday and left work early mostly because I didn’t feel comfortable standing up for long periods of time. Got home, slept for 3 hours and when I work up I thought MAYBE I should take my temperature. Nothing huge, 99 degree temperature, but it was kind-of a “oh I guess I should came home then.” I am fine now, heck I was pretty much fine by the end of the night. But I think the experience has given me the motivation to get my flu shot this year. I can’t remember the last time I got one, so I am not really looking forward to it. XD

I am also trying to get use to working out again. I think it was much easier to be motivated in my old apartment, it was so small that going out for a run was a joy (also the area was beautiful, not too thrilled about my new run) Now I am going up and down stairs a lot more, more space to walk, I chase the cat, more personal space, and we can control the temperature so we are constantly snuggling under blankets. So I think is hard to find the motivation to lift weights when a cat is snuggling on my lap. Well, I want to really try and run 3 days a week, and weight train 2 days of the week. Maybe I’ll write a post about it once a week, I don’t know.

I am also in the process of planning my Thanksgiving dinner! I am pretty excited about this. It is almost all vegan, my in-laws are bringing their own turkey, which is fine to me because I know turkey can be a hard symbol to loose for the holiday. This is Jon’s first Thanksgiving without eating turkey, so it should be interesting. I will probably post a menu outline of what I plan on making for the dinner.

The Mayo Clinic did some research to what an energy drink does to your body. Answer, just releases stress hormones.

This article made me stop and rethink my day. It is one of those “yeah we all know this” sort of fact, busy people aren’t productive. I feel like I have been having a hard time getting things done, and maybe I am just bouncing too many different things around. I really want to focus on just reading, or just writing a blog post, or just looking at facebook. I find that when I focus, the clock ticks slower.

Since I am talking about trying to run more, I found this article about why writers run interesting.

Another article in defense of wild bees. Many people defend honey in a vegan diet because OMG ALL OUR BEES ARE DYING! And that is true, but a lot of the problems are manmade creations that we could fix, like planting more native flowers, having various blooms during the season, etc.

Anyone else use their apple news app? I do, and I love it. I like getting a wide variety of article, many I might not find on vegan media platforms. This one is what happens when an Italian goes paleo. I like the conclusion and the breakdown of all the science, and how the author didn’t gush about how she felt amazing. I think a lot of special diets are placebo effects, and if you do feel any real effect, it might take months, or years to have any change, and you might not notice since the change is so gradual.

My husband loves bears, and I love these sculpture projects where there is one blank form that is decorated various ways. This one is a bear in Germany that just made me smile.

Alexa shared this article with me about how our housing situation shapes our friendships. We both struggle with friends living far away, and I even hear how people in New York City struggle keeping in touch since with public transportation it can take several hours to get to certain spots. We also prize privacy, which and keep us closed off from the world. I think we both feel like the most “interaction” we felt with our community might of been when we lived in cities. What do you guys think?


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It if funny reading blogs and hearing people be bummed out about the cooler weather. I am loving it. I love layering clothing, I like snuggling with blankets, and I love a big bowl of soup. Plus I am getting excited about the holidays since we are probably able to enjoy it a lot more this year. I am no longer working with retail, though the framing business does get a little more jobs during Christmas. So all the holiday planning is happening, which is a little less stressful. 

I am also starting to think about what to make for Thanksgiving dinner, which is stressful because I started to plot it in my head then my Mother In Law was like “oh I can make this!” and it brought my plans crashing down. Not because it is us competing to make food, but because I forget there are certain foods that people expect in Thanksgiving foods. Which makes me think, does anyone have any good carrot side dishes? My Father in Law LOVES carrots, but it is just cut boiled carrots, and no one wants them. I don’t think any of us like sweet carrots, so that rules out orange juice glazed carrots. If anyone has any ideas, please share!

Today is all about catching up on posts, and getting a few things done around the house. Yesterday was, ugh, weird. My husband had me buzz his hair and the machine kept making a painfully loud noise. Sure it was working but it sounds like it might explode mid-cut. This led to us fighting right before spending the day with his parents. This worked out in the end, but I think if our hair cutting buzzer whatever you call it breaks again, I am throwing in the hair cutting towel. I don’t know, it just seems wasteful if we have to buy a machine every three years to cut one person’s hair. Though I did get Jon to agree to cut his hair with me next time I make an appointment at Talking Headz. So that will get a post here at some point.

Food

What is neurogastronomy? A new branch of science is emerging on how to study food.

Some of you might of read a study that found animal and human DNA in veggie dogs. This article from Vox pretty much reassures us to not freak out

I would really like to make this black bean cake. It just looks so ooey gooey and yummy!

Apparently there is a growing demand for natural dyes. I have mixed feelings. Yes, natural coloring is better but at the same time it feels weird looking for plant sources for something superficial as coloring.

I am not huge on The Kitchn recipes since most are not vegan, but this one with beans and greens look pretty tasty.

I love gingerbread and pumpkin flavored things! So I am excited about these pumpkin gingerbread spice muffins! She uses a gluten-free mix, but I might do a blend of regular flour with other flours. 

Maybe since my husband and I have been watching the Great British Bake Off, we have been more interested in sweets. This sweet potato cake looks super nice, maybe something to make for a Christmas get together?

I love learning about movements for urban gardening. There are a bunch springing up teaching lower income family how to garden, teaching farming to at risk teens, and more. Bite Size Vegan does a quick video covering some movements that are more exclusively vegan.

Veganism

I found this article about how most coconuts are actually harvested by monkeys! It is an interesting read since the article basically come to the conclusion that isn’t enough information about the topic. I have to say that it doesn’t look like direct animal abuse, but then begs the question, are coconuts vegan?

There is a vegan soccer team? Okay that is a little misleading, more like a stadium that serves vegan food for a team.

Need another reason not to each chicken? How about adult diapers? Yup, this website is all about human rights for people working in the meat industry.

Health

I think I might of posted an article about how honey is just as bad a high fructose sugar, and now I have to bust my own bubble with this article. *sigh* I can’t argue with it because it is true, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about tests, and if anything the study just is proving that the SUGAR in honey is just as bad as high fructose corn syrup, which is still important I think. 

I’ve fallen behind on my workout routine, and this article about the connection between lifting weights in brain function gives me even more motivation to get my shit together.

I spent time when I should of been working (at work) reading about sports bras. It is surprisingly interesting.

Winter Coats

I know that winter coats that don’t have wool can be a hard task. Well, I was browsing on Modcloth an found some cute coats. I love coats, I would love to have 10 different ones to choose from but I know that is impractical, and I still many pre-vegan wool ones. I would donate them, but some have ripped lining or are too cute. I have one vegan winter coat, and it is actually just a blue version of this coat. I love how bright it is, especially when I lived in the city and everyone just had a black coat. Having a colored coat is cool since most of the time you can only see your jeans or black leggings underneath. There is a fuchsia coat by the same company that is vegan as well.

If you are looking for something retro try out this plaid cape! I am thinking about writing a post about getting hand-me downs and thrifting and how it falls in a vegan lifestyle. Sometimes cool throwback things get you to buy vegan.

Any EGL fans out there? Well there are three different cute coats you can get in the clothing style! I love the style but I am much too lazy to wear it, and too cheap to put together an outfit. This coat looks pretty cute, and it even has some little heart pockets! The winnipeg coat has a little bit of faux fur on it! It comes in a pastel blue with white fur or red with black fur. Both are cute, and I kind-of want one. Ugh! I want those and the yellow coat!


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What I wear to my local CSA, cat sweatshirt, stripped dress shirt, cloud leggings, purple striped socks, and super old docs.

Oh boy guys. I’ve been so busy with Vegan MOFO! I’m a little glad to be over with it, and I am also excited to sign up again next year! But for now there are lots of posts to catch up with that I want to write that were “Vegan MOFO themed.” And I’ve been collecting so many of these links that I’ve wanted to share with everyone! So sorry that it is a little long and overwhelming! Take you time guys. Oh! And I can start doing my Farm Haul again! The summer is pretty much done, so that insanely long shopping lists are done. And I get a little bit of break since some of the foods can be stored long term. So yey!

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
1 jack o’lantern
1 bag of stir fry greens
1/2 bag collard greens and kale
1 head of red cabbage
5 tomatoes
9 small potatoes
1 small butternut squash
1 red onion
1 yellow onion
3 big beets
5 small green peppers
4 small broccoli crowns

What I’m cooking:
red lentil dal (with onion and tomatoes)
black bean “chicken” and broccoli stir-fry
Pad See Ew
ginger, beet, and carrot soup
tacos with roasted peppers
collard and kale greens in shake

Food Links:

I need to try out these mango yolks. I really do miss the joy of popping a liquid orb on top of toast. 

So my husband has been pretty trying to get a waffle maker and I am not a sweet bread breakfast person. But these savory waffles? Uh hell yeah.

So I love Eat Your Kimchi, videos of a Canadian couple in South Korea. They recently did a video of making raw and vegan coconut oil chocolates. They give some nice tips, which makes me want to make some… maybe filled with cookie butter?!

Paleo vs Vegan! Such a heated debate. Even the whole protein thing, ugh. My Mom gave me “you brainwashed gurl” eyes during lunch when I told her she probably shouldn’t worry about protein going on a mostly vegetarian diet (especially since she is still eating chicken and fish occasionally, and eggs and dairy frequently). Anyways, I like this short story about how a guy switched from Paleo to Vegan, and nothing happened.

I am not sure why but I am mesmerized by this blue ice cream.

I love reading vegan travel blogs, because it makes me believe that traveling with my husband in the future will still be enriching. One of the things I miss after going vegan is the spontaneity about traveling. Trying the local foods etc. Travel blogs show that it still kind-of is. This post on Denmark on Oh Lady Cakes is getting me pumped. Now I just need several thousand dollars for the plane tickets. XD

Pumpkin Ice Cream is back at Franklin Fountain, hope they are still doing it vegan because the all vegan Great Pumpkin Sundae was THE SHIT!

There is a nitro infused black coffee in Philly? I need to try this out.

Ted Nghiem writes a great post about why food is exciting… and it isn’t just about trying the new hip foods. I love learning about the history and the story about the food sometimes more than the food itself.

I never knew there were so many vegan friendly places to eat in Cleveland. Roadtrip?

The other night I got asked by a vegetarian why I didn’t eat honey, and I had a few points of why it is bad, but a lot of my logic is that there isn’t really a NEED for honey. I mean it isn’t as culturally important as meat in the USA. I was also happy to read this article saying honey is pretty much as bad as sugar

I really want to try this squash, it’s seed was 800 years old!

Feminism and Human Interest

I am sure most of you have already seen this article- about emails sent out to and from trees.

I love animal skeletons. I said it. I know, it isn’t vegan. But I find skeletons so beautiful, human or otherwise. So I’ve been thinking about the ethics of being vegan and taking animal for decoration. Well, this blog post does a great job pretty much saying “ethical” taxidermy is bullshit. Although this person eats animals, I love her wording, there is no bullshitting and dancing around the issues here.

Is it nice to read something POSITIVE about climate change.


I’ve seen a few article talking about the horrors of “trigger warnings” in school settings. And I think there would be some good points, but most of the time it felt like rantings of someone who hates Millenials. I think this sums up how I feel about trigger warnings. It isn’t about trying to get out of doing the work, but more about setting up a discussion!


I knew that women had a pretty big part of the early film industry but rarely do people name names. So this was a nice educational video about Alice Guy-Blaché.

Health

I’ve recently taken some Orange Theory classes, like about 3 months worth. I stopped taking them for various reasons, but I started to learn why people like taking fitness classes. I think this article makes some great points that I didn’t really believe before taking Orange Theory. Like it is nice to have free hair ties and pads in the bathroom for emergencies.

This article by NPR is a little disturbing about the effects of not getting nutrition for young female athletes. Some of the effects will last into adulthood.

The science of body positivity.

Epigenetic is an important key in todays health. This article talks about a study that tries to compare adults who had troubling childhood experiences and their health conditions. It’s an interesting read. And if you don’t know much about epigenetic I would recommend watching this SciShow video that explains it.

Art

I need all these crowns.

These are beautiful machine that walk on beaches. With some cool videos of them walking around.

I don’t know if this is art but I want Glittery Rain Boots

I love these retro spoopy pins.


If you watched the video above about Alice Guy-Blaché, then you might want to see this video by her.

Science

Mental floss reports on cool glowing bacteria, the story is pretty interesting and show that you shouldn’t dismiss kids.

POOP CARS. Got you to click on that link.

And the future of toilets, which is again oddly interesting. What do I listen to when I poop? Nothing. I’m fast.


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Jen’s Sunday Unpacking Tunez: Stryper

Hey everyone! Jen and her husband moved from their apartment into their new house! It’s adorable and I am beyond excited for them. This week for the Sunday reads Jen posted what she could while she still had internet, and there were a few things I had wanted to share as well, hope you all like! – Alexa

Food:

OMG, I think I died a little when I saw that someone made an adult vegan choco taco. This was the ice cream dessert for kings (at least when you were a kid)

I’ve never been fussy about my vegan butters. I use it so little, I never really used real butter that much. But this recipe for vegan butter is making me wonder if I should try it out.

Here is a brief history of the vanilla bean.

Fashion/Visuals:

So Kate from Scathingly Brilliant started to scan her old copies of Delia’s Catalogues. I thought why would anyone possibly need that?! But it is a great reflection of how much I have changed. First I never noticed how “boyish” and boxy all the styles were. I remember them being very “adult” and therefore sexy, for some reason. I also remember how bold the clothing was, and now I am like “I would wear that and not even think twice about it. EVEN the dress with the open field photo, which I remember wanting SOO bad when I was little but was afraid of how many people would STARE at me. I’ve definitely changed over the years, and am so much more confident about myself. I liked my high school (well, enough anyways) but I do think since it was so small the need to blend or disappear completely was strong. Sure I rocked a Daria look (no seriously, it was all about knee high boots, plaid skirts, and quirky shirts) but there was a line that shouldn’t be crossed. I already knew I was different, and I couldn’t wear my vintage clothing unless it was halloween, or look too goth or something. So much has changed. BTW I am pretty sure my sister or I had these dyed shirts.

I love this cute little travel video on The Cat You and Us. I want to do some videos for YouTube about veganism and traveling. But I will have to wait until I get a new computer so I can process the video. Ugh. But this video gave me hope to keep the dream.

This outfit gave me chills. Perfect hair-dress combo.

Sports

Alexa here! It’s been a really exciting week for women’s sports, and I want to talk about it some more! I unfortunately did not get to watch the Women’s World Cup, but I do think it’s fantastic that the whole event has been getting a lot of press and opening up doorways for other women’s athletics to get more notoriety. 

I really enjoyed this article about how women need to start supporting women’s sports. It’s something I’ve noticed but never really thought about until now. I’ve only recently gotten into sports recently, and it’s mostly been wrestling or UFC but I have grown to love the women’s divisions more than the men’s in some cases. Which leads me into my next link…

Why I’m Done Defending Women’s Sports. I legitimately love watching women’s wrestling. People who don’t already love wrestling don’t seem to understand ( I could say that about wrestling itself but when I mention that all my favorites are ladies I get a weird look). I too, am done with defending them, because they shouldn’t need it. 

And finally…

3 of the top women of WWE’s developmental division (NXT) debuted on RAW last Monday. The Divas division has been stale recently and I’m really hoping that this is the start of something great. While I personally think the division is full of talent the writing for the Monday night show has not done any favors for the women. Story lines are started and dropped for no reason, characters aren’t cohesive, and they don’t get a lot of time devoted to their matches. NXT is a very well written show with good character development and great athletes, and while I think it’s great to add new blood to the Divas locker room I can only hope the influence reaches high up to whoever gets a say as to how everything shakes out. I have hope…but it’s not like WWE hasn’t flopped in the department before. Only time will tell.