Plan + Attack = Vegan MoFo

It's been a few days however I'm prepping for Vegan Mofo, it's my first year and I want to make it a good one. I am going to apologize in advance for couple things I may not be able to respond to comments right away due to job hunting and interviews. I'm really focused on trying to get a job at least two months before my next birthday, so I'm really focused. 

If you want to a sneak peak at what I'm doing for Vegan MoFo head over to Instagram and look up me @southernpurplevegan, feel free to look at any of my other pictures. All Vegan MoFo pictures will have the hashtag #veganmofo.

Exciting News

Hello everyone, it’s been over a week since blogging. I do apologize, I actually have some posts that I was/am going to write up but life got in the way. I’m not going to give a long excuse why I didn’t blog; I just got busy and forgot. It happens everyone is human, with that being said. I am actually going to start going something creatively fun on Etsy which was a recommendation from a friend of mine who I used to work with; plus my boyfriend thinks it’s a good idea too.

I’m not sure what I am going to do on Etsy yet, all I know is that I’m thinking of doing something with my photography that I have stored on my computer. I’m thinking some modern yet arty like jewelry with my pictures, or even making my pictures into homemade cards or postcards. I have lots of ideas but none are solid ideas yet. As you can see I have a lot of thinking to do; besides the Etsy excitement I have a lot of stuff to write up.

Some of the things that I have to write up is the September Vegan Conscious Box, a review of California Pizza Kitchen and some personal recipes plus a few movie reviews. So as you can tell I have some fun stuff planned to be posted soon than later, hopefully before the month ends. Oh the last thing is I have joined this year’s vegan MoFo, which I am so excited for; my first year on MoFo. Of course I kind of have a theme it’s evolved around recipes I have pinned on pinterest plus cooking from a cookbook.

If you want to take part of Vegan MoFo you need to sign up before the 26th of this month to be included, I have linked the sign up sheet below if you want to join.

Sign Up Sheet For Vegan MoFo

Question of the day:

Have you done Vegan MoFo before and what was your theme?

It's A Warm Friday

Wow to think about summer is about to be official over, with everyone back in school. You’d think the temperature outside would go down also since summer is over. However where I live it seems the weather gets hotter each day. As you can see below it's pretty hot where I live, upper 90's all day and even at night it's still warm.

 So I'm going to take advantage of this great weather this weekend, plus it's labor day weekend. Which means a family BBQ at my grandpa's near Huntsville, so I have a pretty busy weekend planned. I will take pictures and blog about what I took to my family BBQ over the weekend and anything else that is interesting. 

Do you have any interesting plans for this weekend?

What would you do if you had sunny weather for the next week? 

Computer Nightmare

Going to sleep at night with a computer on can really give someone weird dreams especially when it doesn't go to sleep. I learned this lesson last night when I was attempting to download Microsoft Office 2010, again for the fifth time. It didn't download it got stuck on the screen saying it was downloading, so I went to bed and woke up. It was still on that screen, so I turned the computer off and eventually it decide to download Microsoft Office 2010 after three hours.

Needless to say waiting for 60 days to get Microsoft Office back on my netbook has been a pain in my butt, simply because I haven't been able to do anything. I have been attempting to use Internet based resume builders for posting on the Internet to get jobs, but these builders make your resume the same like everyone else's. That is why I'm so excited to have Microsoft Office back, because now I don't have to use my mom's computer for creating a resume. 

It's really a good thing that I got Microsoft Office to download today;after I got it downloaded my mom told me that her laptop had died. Isn't that a crazy the same day that I finally get Microsoft Office to download my mom's laptop battery completely dies on her and I was about to finish my resume too. My resume is on my mom's dead computer right now so I'm kinda of glad  that I did use the online resume builder, simply because I have some of the information to create a new resume.

Even though my actually almost finished resume is on my mom's computer, I need to whip up something today. I have an awesome friend from high school, we're in choir together; she's going to help me with my resume tomorrow when we meet up. We haven't seen each other since I graduated from high school which was about five years ago. So I'm a little nervous but purely excited to see her , plus we live 5 minutes away from each other we didn't know this until last week.

What do you think of the online resume builders?

Mad World, Really It Is.

I'm writing this post at 11:15pm on Monday, while listening to Mad World by Gary Jules on Pandora. For some reason this song triggered me to write this post that it is really a mad world. I say this with the context of a grain of salt regards to the job market. I am currently searching for a job & have been for the past year since I left my last job on good terms. However I haven't been that lucky with finding a new job nor a company that has been willing to hire me yet. 

But! I got a email from anonymous company which I am not going to name offering me a job at a kinda of local area but they want to pay me less than the industry standard for the job. Which I was very confused about 1. I'm a experienced in this field, 2. I have highly great feedback from previous supervisor's for my work. This made me think wow this is really a mad world, and I am just now noticing it in regards to the job market.

The lyric's that I think relate to this post are paraphrased below:

.."I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take

When people run in circles its a very,very

Mad World, mad world..."

However on the other hand, I can say that I do understand it's a tough job market right especially with a weak economy and bad politics going on. I apologize for ranting about how it's a crazy world right now, I could go on but I'm not going to. I do apologize again for not blogging, I have been way to busy looking for jobs that blogging is on the far back burner, but I think I'm going to make a honest attempted at trying to blog more. It feels nice to blog, it's like singing it lightens the soul to a place of joy.

I apologize

I do apologize for being gone for over a month now, but to be honest I liked it. I like blogging it relieves stress for me and I get to share wonderful recipes. It took over a month for my finger to fully heal its much better now expect that nail is really weak and breaks easily. Since I had that super awesome hang nail infection (sarcasm insert), I have learned a few new things to prevent it from happening again.

I have learned to stop biting my nails no matter what, which has been hard breaking that bad habit. Instant I have been learning to clip my nails carefully and correctly to avoid hang nails. Also I have been wearing gloves when I clean the dishes or even clean the countertops. You be amazed that the bacteria your cleaning up actually aids in creating hang nail infections or infections of the nail bed. I didn't know that until I read up on how to prevent hang nails.

So as you can see my finger is doing better much better. As for this blog I hope that I can get back to it regularly at least three times a week. Some exciting news my lovely boyfriend dirp man he has decided to go to a plant based diet. I honestly didn't have that much influence on him; he decide on his own for his health.

Day 168 Where Have I Been?

I have lot to catch you up on for the past 11 days, but for now I am going to have to wait. I am currently on antibiotics and fighting a infection in my finger. I got a hangnail that got really infected , I went to the ER to get it lanced my finger didn't have much pus in the infection; it was mostly infected blood. The doctor was very surprised that they were no pus mostly blood and also very worried too. As I am writing this I am writing with one hand it takes alot of time to write this post.

Hopefully I'll be back in a week or sooner, it solely depends on how my finger is. I have lot to write up about my journey on getting healthy but it's going to wait until I feel better.

Question does anyone have any good suggestions to fight upset stomach from antibiotics?

179 Days To Reset My Life

The title is pretty interesting huh? Curious what it's about me wanting to really take control of my weight issues that I have. I have 179 days until my 24th birthday, when I was younger I had imagine myself being at a health weight by then and not being overweight. 

I have always been overweight except for a few years where I was at a healthy weight and I liked being at a healthy weight. I want to go back to my healthy weight , I want to be proud of myself and not unhappy with the way I look.So I look at the next 179 days as a chance to reset my life and to learn how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

As of today I am typing this because I am going to be writing about this journey , I will still my vegan reviews of places and food. However I am going to blog about my journey during these next 179 days, it's something that is dear to me. I am doing these journey without a trainer or a weight loss program, this will be something I will be figuring out on my own.

Some thing's that will assist in me with this journey are my food scale that I recently had gotten, my dumbbells 3lbs & 5lbs, my Wii Fit Plus & Just Dance 3 game. Also the apartment I live in has a swimming pool plus a workout room with cable. I know that with the things listed above will help me during the next 179 days, now on to the important details where I am at right now.

My current weight is at 251.6 pounds as of right now, I used my mom's scale to get that number. I know I need a scale myself to keep track of my weight loss. My ultimate goal is to get down to 165-175 range I would be happy and pleased.

Wacky Wednesday at IKEA

Credit

Veggies I know I have been a bad little blogger , forgetting to blog  oops. I have been focused on loosing weight and trying to get myself ready for my family reunion next week. I always post on Instagram,  I usually post picture through out the  day instant of blogging it's easier right now. I got a infection in my middle finger on the right side from a hang nail and it's painful to use that finger.

However I had to write a post today I was in a blogging mood and I went to IKEA in Houston; it was fun. I found out today that IKEA has a cafe inside it which I never knew about until today. I was thinking right away that the cafe wouldn't have any vegan options well I was actually wrong. The IKEA actually had a section of there menu which was for vegetarians and they also listed a vegan option. 

A Picture that I love it's really bright in colors.

I decided to get the vegan option to be on the safe side because I have never eaten at IKEA's cafe. The vegan option was a daily soup that sometimes would be vegan. Well today was my lucky day it was vegan and it was chili; I was actually glad it was chili. It was way to hot today for a soup so chili sound good and in fact my mom who was with me recommend that I get fries too. She made the recommendation for me to put the chili on top the fries and have chili fries, it was the best idea. 

The chili was actually really good in fact it was even better over the fries, I know it was totally junk  food but it was good. The chili had LOTS of vegetables in it and beans so it was very filling. I was hungry when I was eating it so I didn't really look at the food.I did find a couple piece's of furniture that I liked that I will be getting later, me and my mom will buy our stuff at the same time to save on shipping. It's only $59 dollar to where we live which is awesome!

 I hope this wasn't too long of a post or boring. I would like to know what you would like to see me blog about I am not sure if you would like me blogging about my weight loss and my daily meals. Please let me know.

I Think Technology Hates Me

Hello Veggies,

Sorry about no posts for about three weeks, after I got the netbook I crashed it within the first 24 hours. Some how when I was updating the software on the netbook a virus got downloaded at the same time. That's why I had a huge absence from my blog with no way to update either.

I have so much to post here on my blog , lot's of stuff. I am going to be posting my food each day on the blog like what I eat on Friday I would post today; if I had taken pictures. Silly me! So today I will be writing up my blog posts today to future date them just in case I mess up the computer again.

Have you ever crashed a brand new computer before or ever?

I'm So Excited

I apologize for my absence from my little blog, I didn't like blogging on a iPhone. It was slightly a pain in the butt with a small screen and no keyboard. I am able to blog now , because I got a mini netbook for my anniversary present from my boyfriend.

I was completely surprised that my boyfriend got this netbook as anniversary, it was the best thing that happen this week. This is all I have to write up today, I am off to spend the rest of my day with my lovely mom since it's mothers day.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!!

Me? Angry...

As you can see my title kinda leads right into this post. I have been coping with some serious angry issues and sadness right now. I am conflicted with my feelings due to a REALLY bad haircut. I mean the type of bad haircut that blows you self esteem down to a rain drop instant of being like a ocean.

I take proud in my hair for the longest time I had short hair and I wanted to grow it out. I was finally on that track to getting my hair back to the length I wanted again, so I went in for a haircut. Because I have really thick hair and it's wavy/curly. So when it grews out I have to get it cut and thinned so it doesn't feel like having a rock on my head.

So I got to "the salon" (I am not going to name the place), simply because I am that upset. I told the gal which happen to be someone that cut my hair before and did a good job. I told her what I want she started to cut she was doing a good job while I was at the salon.

But now after couple days , I noticed that the haircut is bad. I can't put my hair up in a ponytail for working out , or anything. It blew my self esteem I couldn't do this , in fact I can't even blow dry my hair either. If I blow dry my hair it looks like a mushroom on top of my head.

I did contact "the salon" that was three days ago and no answer if they are going to help fix the problem. So I am curious to anyone who reads this Any tips or suggestions on what to do?

Another Wordless Wednesday

It's Wednesday again and I have nothing to really update you on expect. It's been almost 4 years since me and dirp man started dating. So with that being said I will leave y'all with a picture.

Can you guess what that is a photo of?

Friday Follow Me

Here's a couple ways to stay up to date with me and my blog. I also have included MyFitnessPal username for those who are interested in my fitness .

Follow me on Twitter @SouthnPurpleVeg
Follow me on Instagram as southernpurplevegan
Follow me on YouTube as
ashleyncolin80s
Follow me on MyFitnessPal as southernpurplevegan

Hope everyone has a great day.

Same Old Not Anymore

I am so happy to start out with that my Blogger+ app got an update. Now I am schedule my posts ahead of time , so there well be more posts now. Now that the app is updated , it will make my routine easier. As for my routine I usually sleep in until 9 but that is going to change.

I am going to wake up ealier and go with my mom to Curves. She wants to go but she wants me to be her workout buddy. I cant say no I mean I want to help support my mom with her wanting to get fit. Plus I am still in between jobs right so I have lots of time. I am still looking for a job but I have a commitment coming up in June. So I might have to wait until that commitment is done with.

I am hopefully that I will find a job that is decent. If not at least start applying for school and start on getting a degree. Enough rumbling, today I walked 1.3 miles with my mother. It felt good , afterwards I went home and had a smoothie that was protein based.

It is a basic smoothie I make all the time and it's really good.I make it with a personal small blender to save time and to make sure that there is enough for one serving. This is usually what I drink after a really long workout or I have a coconut yogurt with apples.

What's your favorite post work out drink or meal?

Let me know.

Wacky Wordless Wednesday

Not really a post today just a random picture from adventures of me and dirp man. I have a few posts to type up today and things to do.

Have a great wacky wednesday!

Changing Generations

Growing up in Oregon until the age 9 maybe a fact as to why I was raised to have the choice to be vegetarian. My wonderful mother was vegetarian and she gave me the choice to choose if I wanted to eat meat or not. I am not going to lie I have had meat before and I just felt it was wrong to be eating an animal for food. When there are better choices and options, I had this view at the age of 12. I was eating vegetarian most of my childhood , so needless to say I was raised vegetarian with open views. By age 13 I decided to announce that I was going vegetarian, it was simply to do because my family figured I was vegetarian in the first place.

As you can see vegetarianism was always part of my life for me , it has always been around me. As for my two cousins which are in the same age group they were raised differently than me and we didn't meet until I was 9 years old. So to them my diet and style of eating was consider different to them than what they were used to which was the Standard American Diet. I remember my mom who was vegetarian at the time had to sneak vegetables into there food because they didn't like the taste of them. This went on for a few years, in fact I think until the past few years did they started to like vegetables.

It blew my mind when I found out  that my oldest cousin who is merely only 8 months different in age from me was vegetarian. Growing up he never , I NEVER liked any type of vegetable. I mean if anyone asked him to eat a vegetable it was like giving him a death sentence. Honestly I don't know how or why , he went vegetarian but most of all. I am very proud of my cousin because he understands me and my views. Now there is my last cousin which is his sister, me and her get along in a certain way. We never really got each other and she's my only female cousin in my age group but that doesn't matter.

My youngest cousin recently went vegan within the past month, I believe. I am not to clear on the details all I know is that her and her boyfriend both decided to go vegan after watching Forks Over Knives. I am actually shocked over her going vegan , it was something I would never imagine in my lifetime. However I am surprised but very proud of her. This made me think wow a whole generation of my family doesn't eat any meat, which is amazing. Simply because my family is not use to eating plant based diet.

It shows you that things do change over generations , and that they do not stay the same. I mean even my boyfriend who grew up on Standard American Diet has even decided to go vegetarian. We age close in age ; the same generation needless to say. All of the people I have mention in this blog post; I have never asked them to go vegetarian nor vegan. Maybe expect my boyfriend which he was willing to do over 3 years.

This post was to show how proud I am of my family and how things change over generations. Do you have anything like this in your family? Leave me a comment below.

Time Flys

It's been awhile since I blogged, and I feel bad for not posting anything. I have written down a lot of stuff via paper and meaning to transfer on to my blog. I have been wanting just to write things down first and then typing them up later. I have new things to let everyone know about like I am eating wheat again but in very very small portions.

It seems that I can be very sensitive to wheat depending on a couple of factors, like if I eat it more than twice in a day I have problems. This has made things easier for me to make meals with being said. I have also been cooking from scratch making my own recipes and have so much needed learning experiences. With these learning experiences it made me understand why I love cooking. It's a simply joy of creating something and figuring out the flavors to match with the food.

Needless to say it sparked something in me to want to be a chef and will I have looked into going to school for it. In Texas there is a culinary school just for vegetarians & vegans. Which I was very excited about and have looked into but is expensive. Plus my family doesn't want me to be a chef because I will not make any money.

So as you can see there has been a lot going on plus I have been looking for a job. The job hunting has been going on for about 4 months and so far no luck. Which is very sad, I have experience but yet not able to find me a job. So please excuse me if me nor dirp man posts anything sometimes time flys and life gets in the way.

Truvía® natural sweetener Product Review

Truvia is something I have known about for a year now. I was given samples back when I lived in Oregon. However I am doing this review because I have never told you how good Truvia is. I received this sample from Influenster's VoxBox program, which is pretty cool.

I actually like Truvia for a couple reasons like that it tastes just as sweet or sweeter than sugar. I just recent found out on Truvia's website that this product is also gluten free, kosher and it has no effect on the glycemic index. Which makes me even more happy because I honestly don't like the effects of sugar. Plus I love that people with diabetes can also enjoy this wonderful replacement for sugar.

I put in my coffee every morning that I make coffee, just a little goes a long way. I have learned by personal experience but it does go good in coffee. However sometimes it can be too sweet for me on occasion but I do like over sugar. I haven't tried baking or cooking with it yet but Truvia has some recipes on there site. I figured in the future that I could try some of the recipes in fact here's there information so you can learn more about Truvia; you can go to www.truvia.com or Truvia's Facebook.

Here's the skinny as my cousin would say when asking for information. This was my take on what I think of about Truvia natrual sweetener. I was not paid to review this product nor give a good review , I was simply given a sample by Influesnters VoxBox program to test complimentary.

Happy Sunday

Sorry about the lack posts but for some reason my blogger+ app; I bought hasn't been updating. So I have been blogging but it hasn't been post them. I will retype them up and post them; I hope ya'll have been having a great week.

I have had a very interesting week , I could say. I will fill in the details of what has happen recently in multiple posts. It has been one of those weeks, lots of learning experiences from cooking and a couple of personal success. I successful made my first vegan baked good and my moms picky boyfriend said "that they were good".

That's a up close photo of the final product of the cupcake. Which I am very pleased with it but the cupcake itself was from the The Sweetest Vegan. I love her YouTube channel check it out, it awesome. As far as the frosting it's actually fudge from the cookbook Chloe's Kitchen. They were delicious but room to improve my baking skills.

Have you made anything from Chloe's Kitchen or from The Sweetest Vegan? Let me know leave a comment below.