32 Things Before 32 // #32 Ignore Haters

This is a harder one to post about because I don't have physical proof of accomplishing it, just my story. My entire life I have struggled with always wanting everyone to like me. I've always wore my heart on my sleeve and been hurt many times because of it. Over the years though I learned that when something bad happens to me, I just become a little bit stronger. Last year when my vegan lifestyle was more fresh and new to me I really had a hard time adapting emotionally. I didn't know how to ignore negative comments or reactions that I would receive from people. I didn't get what the big deal was. Yes, I don't eat animals, what's the problem?


I would seriously just fall apart. I know now that people are going to dislike me because of my values and beliefs. There is always going to be haters. It doesn't matter what you do or say. Over time I realized that people feel attacked personally if you talk about not eating animals. Some people view it as you are trying to be pushy and change them. I have never wanted to make someone feel that way. I just like giving information to people. Plus I just simply get excited when I talk about it. I feel like I am glowing and I have a smile from ear to ear. I get so happy when someone asks me questions about the food I eat and why. It's so nice when someone is curious and listens to what I have to say. I've learned to just focus on the people who are willing to accept me for who I am and not treat me like a freak or a crazy person. Why waste so much energy on those who don't care or show interest? This was the lesson I needed to learn and I feel like in the last 6 months I have.


I used to stress over influencing family and friends to go vegan. It's hard to influence the people I love since they live 1,200 miles away. The best way to prove to people that eating a plant based diet isn't hard is by cooking for them. Since I can't cook for them on a regular basis, they will never understand that I don't just eat tofu and carrots. When I post things about animal rights on Facebook they can just choose to ignore me. Which would cause me to get very sad sometimes. I could never understand why no one cared. One of the reasons Cody and I visited Ohio back in April was to hopefully talk to our families about adapting our diet. I didn't expect my family to want to go join Peta and become animal activists, but I would love for everyone to be healthier. Once I was there with the people I love I decided not to bring it up. It's like the saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink." One of my blogger friends said that to me once and it's stuck every since.



During our visit we fed people good vegan meals, they saw how happy we are and how healthy we have become,....done. All I ever hope to do is inspire people and lead by example. Conversations were started with family but ended fairly quick. It just proved to me that I need to let things be. Even though it's hard on me at times, I definitely learned from it as well. Things don't seem to be bothering me as much. I still struggle with watching people eat meat or even seeing it. I don't know if that will ever change, maybe just get easier over time. I do, however, not worry about what people think or say when I tell them I don't eat animals. I also will straight forward tell them why. Which leaves me with this video below. I stumbled across it by accident. This guy is vegan and he took the words right out of my mouth. I found it very inspiring. He speaks out about why vegans shouldn't be scared of speaking their minds.

Skip ahead to 2 minutes and 15 seconds. That is where he starts talking about vegans.

I speak my mind when it's appropriate and I'm never mean or pushy. That doesn't get you anywhere in any aspect of life!! I have always treated people the way I want to be treated. It's so simple yet very powerful. A few months back I had someone tell me that I was going to live a life of depression by being vegan. This was said to me because one day I was really sad over animals being killed for food. As if we don't all get sad about something that happens in the world from time to time. We are human aren't we? Those words were said to me as a personal attack.

Funny thing is, it did the opposite. It made me learn to "Ignore Haters" and I think I am stronger now. I am just going to keep being me. Which is actually a rather happy person I think. If I inspire some people along the way then that's just an added bonus. I hope that this post wasn't just another vegan one to you. I think we all have things in our lives that we are passionate about and wish that others were as well. Just lead by example and always wear a smile on your face. It's contagious. ;)

Things on my list I have accomplished so far:
#3 Learn to Knit | #26 Dye My Hair Pink | #24 Biking in Ohio
#20 Kick My Coffee Addiction | #29 Surprise Someone | #23 Visit A Farm Sanctuary

You can view the full list HERE.
Or check out my labels below to find similar posts like this one.

32 Things Before 32 // #3 Learn to Knit

I am very happy to say that I have taught myself how to knit. When I say taught myself, that means I've learned some basics from watching some videos on YouTube. I have to say that I did not expect there to be so much to knitting. All the needles, different types of yarn, different types of stitching patterns and all these terms that made me feel like knitters have their own language. I still have a lot to learn but I am excited that I have made something already.


For my first project I decided to make a coffee cozy. There are tons of free patterns online. I found some of the patterns confusing though since I didn't understand any of the basic knitting terms. I went to Hobby Lobby and just bought the things that the pattern called for. The first pattern I attempted I purchased some thick yarn and circular needles.


Can you say FAIL? hahaha I tried following the pattern but had no idea what the person was talking about. I attempted looking at the photos of "what to do" but they were confusing and not getting me anywhere. That first night of knitting I was doing everything wrong and became very frustrated. That is when I resorted to YouTube. I needed actual directions I could understand. I needed to see the motions of knitting. A picture did me no good at all. Also starting out with circular needles and thick yarn was a mistake. I learned really fast that I needed a yarn that was thin and that would not unravel easily. Back to Hobby Lobby to get different supplies...


I ended up finding a different pattern that did not use circular needles. It was way easier for a beginner. I did cheat and only used knit stitches and not pearl stitches. Knit stitches look more like rows (see below picture for an example) and pearl stitches have more of a zig-zag pattern. I plan to make my next cozy in only pearl stitches. Baby steps! I figured this way I could really learn each style.


I have to say I am loving how relaxing knitting is. I really hoped that I was going to enjoy it. Every time I saw someone knitting I thought they looked so peaceful. I've just been knitting in bed at night while we watch TV. The cats are loving it because they get to play with the yarn and apparently it's a good pillow.


I am really happy with the results of my cozy. I can't wait to keep making more of them and try new projects as well. It feels so good to learn a new hobby and to create things. Now I won't have to use a cardboard sleeve from Starbucks ever again. Of course Cody wants a cozy as well, but has requested less girly yarn. ;)

The videos I used to teach myself the basics are done by Knitting Help.com.
If you are interested in watching them go HERE.

32 Things Before 32 // Pink Hair

While I was on my vacation in Ohio I knew one thing for sure, that I wanted to dye my hair pink. I have had a bottle of pink hair dye for the last 2 years and I have never used it. After looking at Pinterest for hours and falling in love with light pink hair, I wanted to give it a try. The color I used is called Bubble Head Pink and is rather bright! By mixing the dye with bright white conditioner I was able to make my own light pink hair dye.


I colored my hair pink two times while I was on vacation. The first time I did it I didn't add a lot of pink dye. I was so scared of my hair being too bright! After my first attempt you could hardly even see any pink in my hair at all. Good thing though was that the conditioner left my hair super soft and healthy looking. My hair benefited from it big time.


The second time I dyed my hair I used almost the entire bottle of pink dye and just added some conditioner to lighten it a bit. I also put it on my hair while it was wet. It seemed to go on much easier that way. I left the dye on for about an hour. It turned out much better. The same day we went and visited my family and they called me Strawberry Shortcake all day long!


The dye faded pretty quickly. Which was fine because I had to go back to work. I am still not sure how they would react to colored hair so I just don't chance it. It's kind of a "common sense" thing not to do it where I work. I am not even supposed to have a piercing but I get away with that.


During my trip I had two strangers say something about my hair. A guy at a gas station in Nebraska told me he loved it. A different guy mumbled under his breath, "Pink hair" and shook his head in disgust. hahaha People are funny aren't they!? I miss my pink hair very much. It was fun while it lasted. I will defiantly be doing it again. Especially since I know I can wash it out fairly fast.
Have you or would you dye your hair a fun color?

You can see all my 32 Things Before 32 posts HERE, including the full list.

32 Things Before 32 List // #24 Biking in Ohio

We just got back from our vacation in Ohio visiting with our family and friends. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great. Spring hadn't really arrived yet. Things weren't green yet, temperatures were cool and our biking was very limited. These photos are actually from Easter Sunday. We were able to get up early and ride a trail that is near my parents house. We had hoped to do close to 60 miles but only had the motivation to do one loop of 8 miles. It was too cold! I am glad we still went though and made the best of it. It was a great way to start off the day.


I love that people also ride their horses on this trail.
The trail had a lot of curves and some hills. It was good practice for me on my new bike. I am starting to get the hang of it now. Can't wait to really start riding a lot. I used my old camera to take photos while I was riding. Getting my I-Phone out is way too dangerous. My other camera is very big. I used my little Canon PowerShot which has a little strap that I can wrap around my wrist. It worked out nicely. If I drop it while peddling I won't be that upset if the camera breaks and I can get some cool shots while riding.

Doing a bike ride in Ohio was on my 32 Things List. I could tell that the air wasn't as thin and I did seem to keep my breathing under control better. Now that I am back from Ohio, I will get back into the swing of blogging again. I haven't been able to read blogs or get to my comments as fast. I missed you guys!!!

See my full 32 Things Before 32 List HERE.

32 Things Before 32 List // #20 Kicking My Coffee Addiction

If you are a coffee lover, the first thought you may have when reading the title of this post is, "Why the heck would anyone want to kick their coffee addiction?" Maybe addiction also seems like a harsh word and I should say "habit". Honestly for me I know it's an addiction. I crave it. I threw this on my 32 Things List because I knew the amount of coffee I was drinking most days was out of control. This is something that I have struggled with for YEARS!


There I am in a coffee shop in Solvang, California back in 2011. Boy did I enjoy that vanilla latte that day! My coffee habit started back in high school. I would drink a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning and then drink a cold iced coffee on the way to school. I was even known to take caffeine pills on top of that, something I am not proud of now! My poor little heart. Fast forward through the years, on my 21st birthday I didn't even drink. Instead I had a group of friends over for a card night. We stayed up late and drank coffee. My friends and I would go out to restaurants just to drink coffee.

A few years back when Cody went through basic training I decided that I wanted to cut my coffee drinking way down. I was working at IKEA where they provided their co-workers FREE coffee all day long. I would drink up to 6 cups just while at work. That's not counting the coffee I had before work. I will say, I got a lot done when I was at work jacked up on caffeine! While Cody was gone I went on this health kick. I actually got my coffee intake down to one cup in the morning and it was only half-caff.

French Pressed coffee, my favorite way to drink coffee now.

While I was in Texas attending Cody's Graduation, I fell off the wagon. I went to Starbucks and got a vanilla latte. After that one latte, I started drinking them often again and picked up my bad habits. Back to all the free coffee at work (IKEA), back to more then one cup in the morning and goodbye half-caff! For this post I was able to pretty much click on any of my Flickr photo sets and find an image of me with a coffee cup either in my hand or next to me...

Drinking coffee in 80 degree weather at Disney World!

So it's only March and I'm already posting about kicking my coffee addiction. I didn't expect to start cutting back on coffee so soon in the year. At the beginning of February we fell in love with a new brand of coffee. We had been drinking the brand Millstone and some Starbucks. We tried a new coffee from a local coffee shop in town, DAZ BOG. This coffee is amazing. It's for true coffee junkies. It's so dark and strong. After drinking it everything else tastes watered down. I tried drinking some Millstone that we had left over and it tasted like water. I poured it down the drain because I hated it that much.

Well something strange happened to me after I started to drink DAZ BOG. I suddenly had a million pimples on my face. My whole chin and forehead were covered. It looked almost like a red rash on both sides of my face. At the time I was drinking on average two cups of coffee in the morning and then two cups of decaf in the afternoon. I craved it so I would just settle for decaf to satisfy my cravings during the day. I couldn't figure out what was causing the breakouts! It was driving me crazy. The light bulb went off over my head and I thought, "Maybe it's the coffee?"


I thought maybe since this coffee is stronger then other brands it was the reason I was breaking out. It's been a little over a week and I have increased my water intake and I'm down to only one cup of coffee in the morning. My skin has drastically cleared up. I would be happy with only one cup of coffee from now on. Or maybe even switch to tea with caffeine in it for some mornings. My energy level seems to have already increased and I'm not crashing as much. This isn't the first time I've gave up HUGE amounts of caffeine. When I have in the past I always find myself feeling better without it. Problem for me is coffee tastes amazing. I love it. That's why I don't plan to fully give it up. It's a treat now. I just have to have strong will power. I'm curious to see how I do when I go on vacation. Dun dun duunnnn....

A road trip without lots of coffee??? This will be a first for me. I just keep telling myself I WANT CLEAR SKIN!
Are you a coffee drinker or a coffee addict?

See my full 32 Things Before 32 List HERE.

32 Things Before 32 List // #29 Surprise Someone

I have been thinking about my 32 Things Before 32 List lately since January is already GONE. I thought to myself,"I better start seriously doing some of that stuff." It's amazing how just typing out a list on your blog motivates you to do things. During my day job I do price markdowns. I put things on clearance. I was marking down some things in our electronics department, when I realized one of them was a Nintendo DSi. Cody's wanted one for awhile now, but we could never justify the cost. I marked it down to $44. Amazing.


Cody and I never surprise each other with gifts. I debated on waiting till Valentines Day to give it to him. We usually don't give gifts for VDay either. I decided it would be more of a surprise if I just gave it to him the day I bought it. I decided to send him a text message letting him know that when he got home from work I had a surprise for him. He was so confused, but excited. I bought him the game Kingdom of Hearts. I wrapped the DSi up so he would have to unwrap it...


His face was priceless. He truly was surprised. That's what I wanted. :)
A gift just because. Isn't that how gift giving should be?

I plan to surprise people throughout the year. I wanted to share this with you because I may not be able to have photos of all the other surprises I attempt to pull off. Plus, I think it's a great reminder that we should do this for our spouses, friends and family from time to time. I'm not good about doing it myself, so that's why it's on my list for this year. Everyone loves surprises! So why not put a smile on someone's face?

Do you have a surprise story you'd like to share? I'd love to hear it.
See my full 32 Things Before 32 List HERE.

Trip to The Peaceful Prairie Farm Sanctuary

I am so excited to share this trip to the farm sanctuary with you! Last year when we went to Vegfest we picked up some literature for an farm sanctuary that rescued farms animals. The farm is called Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary and it's located in Deer Trail Colorado. It took us almost two and half hours to get there, but the drive was well worth the experience. Get ready to see a ton of cute pictures...


The drive was gorgeous. It also helped that the temperature was in the 50's and no snow or wind. Perfect. We really lucked out for January. One of the first things I noticed when we arrived was this Llama that was hanging out by the cars. I thought it was funny to see him next to a mini van. The animals that live on this farm really do get to roam free.


Above you can see Michelle. She and her husband own and run the farm with the help of volunteers. I loved this photo of her because she is "glowing" with happiness. You can tell she loves giving tours of her farm and teaching people about the animals. One of the main reasons why I picked to tour this farm is because they educate people about the truths of ALL farming. Pretty much what it comes down to is slaughtering is slaughtering, free range or not. Most people think free range makes it okay or better. It's Michelle's mission in life to break the myths and educate every day people. Sometimes we don't want to hear it but it doesn't keep it from being reality. I learned during this tour that "free range" farming isn't any better and in some cases worse then factory farming. (more information on that HERE.)


As soon as the whole tour group reached the top of the hill to start the tour, these two guys knew it was time to greet us. I found it amazing how they knew when they saw people it meant it was time to get petted and be scratched. Frank is the large black cow and the smaller one behind him is Piere. Piere is blind and Frank acts as his "seeing eye cow". Frank guides him around the farm. They have created a strong bond between each other. It was really sweet. Piere was more laid back, but Frank however was much more demanding of your attention. It's very cool to have a huge cow want to be petted like a dog...


I probably should mention that I hadn't ever done anything like this. I had never been this close to a farm animal in my life. The cows did make me a bit nervous since I am so short. Frank headed butted me because I stopped petting him. I just stayed clear of his path after that. I let the taller people pet him instead. Cody kept trying to get close up shots of him, but Frank would head butt the camera...


Once we visited with Frank and Piere it was time to move on to the goats. They were off in the distance waiting for their turn for affection. I love how they just watched us patiently. It's like you can read their minds,"Oh here comes another group of people to pet us!" The goats were my favorite animals on the farm...


I was in love with this black and white cat that lived on the farm. One thing that really warmed my heart during our tour was seeing all the different species coexisting together. Humans need to take a lesson from these animals. Michelle pointed out two goats that were sunning themselves together. They were a mother and son. She said that a lot of people don't believe that farm animals can create family bonds, this is proof that they do...


I LOVED how we walked with the animals. The animals became part of our group. I think Cody made more friends on the farm then I did. They seemed to keep seeking him out. This little goat was so sweet. Cody would take a step back from her and she would then step close to him putting her head up against his leg. It was so cute...


Off in the distance the Llamas on the farm just watched us.
The Llamas aren't that fond of people, but will leave you alone. I can't get over how tall they are...

After walking by some of the Llamas, we got a look at some more animals that were just wandering around and being curious. I am pretty sure this cute guy was a goose. He was so adorable...
Then it was time to meet the chickens...

This was sad. Michelle wanted to really educate us about how chickens are used in the farming industry. Male baby chicks are useless, so are usually killed. (Usually ground up alive.) Female chicks are only good till the age of 18 months because they are so exhausted from all the egg laying. They are then also killed. Something about the chickens get me teary eyed every time. Once I watched Vegucated and saw the reality of what happens to these animals, it instantly gave me an attachment to them.


This hen had only been at the farm for 2 weeks. She had been rescued from an "egg laying" operation. You can see how she is missing feathers on her wing. So sad. I want to cry just looking at the photo. She will get better and stronger. She will get to live out her life peacefully and never have to be in a cage again.


The last part of the tour was the best part I thought. Every Sunday the grocery store Whole Foods donates produce to the farm. It was produce that they would other wise just throw away. A few volunteers from the farm will go pick up boxes full of goodies for the animals. It is so funny to watch the feast that unfolds. The animals are so smart and have learned the routine and know that Sunday is when people visit the farm and Sunday is when they get produce...


I hope the photos of the goat eating the orange didn't completely gross you out. Cody and I were laughing so hard watching this goat eat a full orange. He was in heaven. After watching him struggle to eat the orange, I started peeling oranges for some of the goats. Well, it ended up being one goat once he figured out what I was doing. I fed him about 8 oranges...


Another really cool animal that we met was named JC...

Michelle told us that during every tour of the farm JC picks one male in the group to follow around. He picked Cody. He wanted Cody to join his group and stay on the farm with him. How cool? It was so funny. He would not leave Cody's side. The animals on the farm were all so smart and unique.

I was so happy when I was at the farm with the animals. I felt so at peace. I didn't cry till I started editing these photos and doing this blog post. It hit me like a tons of bricks. These animals look you in the eye and you see love. You see a personality, just like a pet in your home. This was a very moving experience for me and I'm already vegan. If you have any type of animal sanctuary near you I urge you to visit it. It's really fun being with the animals and getting to know their stories. I think I have found my purpose in life. To try to save as many as these guys as possible. :)


The Goose you hear in the video next to Cody is JC talking to him. LOL

You can learn more about the farm by visiting their website, Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary
The animals living on this farm will never be killed or eaten. This is their forever home.

This was a goal of mine from my 32 Things Before 32 List!