A credit to my kind. Defining self and defying lowered expection. Oh.. and bacon =)

A day like any day.. standing in the grocery store marveling at the new assortment of flavors in my favorite yogurt brand.
A woman approaches me tentatively. Nervous seeming..
She held up a packet of Nori.
"Excuse me.. I'm so sorry to bother you. Uhm. Do your people eat this?"
I'm not sure how long it took me to respond..
Long enough to check around and know that she was talking to me.
Long enough to assess the woman. Probably 45-50. Well dressed and flawless in appearance.
Long enough to try to make a checklist of which of 'my people' she may be referencing.
I'm often confused for being gay.. but homosexuals don't have separate eating habits as far as I'm aware.
I've been confused for being a yuppy.. but not since I colored my hair blue (Thank Frank ;) )
Cutting and darkening my hair brought on the suggestion of Asian descent. 
I'm sometimes confused for being a student.
People assume I'm vegetarian.. and usually Buddhist. 
I've been told I occasionally speak with a slight accent.. in an attempt to properly enunciate I've been confused for both British and German.


At a complete loss.. I simply replied Yes. My people DO eat Nori.. but we don't like soy sauce.


By the time I got home I was completely stuck in my head. I started trying to define myself in the shortest terms possible. If someone were to refer to me in conversation, how would they do so?
I have friends and acquaintances with absolutely specific labels.
Gay Activist. Political. Militant Feminist. Persian. Nickleback Fan. 


And it doesn't matter what the label is... you become a representative for Your People.
And with that comes the stereotypes.




This is Abrabacon.
He's a Mixed Martial Artist... A Cagefighter.


People understand that this means he is thick-skulled and slow witted.
People understand that while a great physicality, he is obviously unintelligent and brutish with a vile temper.

This is Abrabacon.
His IQ puts him in the genius category. For his birthday last year, I gave him blank canvases and paints. He turned them into tribal-inspired art for our livingroom. He occasionally wakes me up with eggs and bacon.. with melted cheese hearts on top. 


He holds the door for a lady. Any lady.
He cooks.
He's adorable with kids and a fantastic teacher.
He volunteers with Children's Square and Big Brothers/Big Sisters Nebraska. 
He's devastating in a suit. 
He's patient with me when we're lifting together.




He does financial analysis and product development for his firm. 




But if you were to refer to him in conversation... This is Abe. He's a fighter.


You know he's more than that.. but that's what you think when he enters your mind. And knowing all of these things about him you would think... he's a credit to fighters everywhere.

The lovely lady on the right is H.
She's a soccer mom.






She also runs several offices.. having to travel to Costa Rica on a very regular basis to do so.
She started running offices at the age of 17 when the grocery store she was SUPPOSE to be a cashier at seemed disorganized to her. 
To this day it's unclear whether they promoted her or she promoted herself.. But it IS clear that nobody argued and the place had never run more smoothly. 
She left once the place was in better shape and accidentally started running the corporate office for a large chain of restaurants based in our city.

I'm tough.. but she can kick my butt.
She invented this delicious cheese/pepper dish..
She made me a bookshelf for my birthday when I was a teenager.
Made it.


She's my therapist.


She's a life coach.


She's a college student.




She sings like an angel and she'll out dance you any night of the week (Except Wednesdays.. she teaches that night)
But we only get to be ONE thing, right?
So she's a mom.
But she's a credit to Moms who don't realize you can do EVERYTHING.. which sometimes includes drawing a mural of Buzz Lightyear riding a T-Rex for your son's bedroom. 


And so when you define yourself... define yourself by what you ACTUALLY represent.


Feminists have a bad rep.. because the people who define themselves as such don't do 'their people' justice.
Stand up for women.. but not to the detriment of men. Hating men doesn't make you a feminist. It makes you a hypocrite.
Fighters aren't stupid... but wearing Tapout gear and brawling in a bar doesn't make you a fighter. That makes you a douche. 
Studying the discipline and showing respect for your body and your opponent makes you a fighter.
Buddhists and Vegans aren't pretentious.
But preaching and lectures about why eating meat is evil and wrong doesn't make you vegan. It makes you phony and small minded.
Having respect for animals and yourself, recognizing this is YOUR lifestyle makes you Vegan. Respecting other people's journey makes you Buddhist.






So who am I? I really don't know.       





But on behalf of all 
StraightLesbianBuddhistNaturalist YuppyBrokeStudentVeganCarnivoreYogiBritish GermanChristianFeministBrilliantIdiots Everywhere...  
Yes. We love Nori.
And I'll do my best to be a credit to anything you think I am. 




The rest of the title is a bit of a tease, I do confess =)
For this weekend.. is the celebration of The Caveman's birthday!


His party will be called AbrabaconPalooza... and I feel it is quite self explanatory =)
Pictures and posts of all of our creations to you Monday.
Happy Leap Day, my beautiful friends!

The Multi-Purpose Blog; The Reasons my Friends are Better Than Your Friends; Mindful Eating or Dieting?; And, A Recipe For Disaster.

I know I haven't posted as regularly as usual.. but it's been for some pretty good reasons, I assure!


But let's start this out right, eh?


Hi guys =) Missed you lately.. how've you been? How's your dog? And your Mom??
Tell me about that argument with your mailman...


I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it! You're a good person. I'm sure he was just lashing out because he was having a bad day =)


Frewf! I think we're all caught up =)


So here's the thing..
I need to tell you about my friends.


They're.... so wonderful. Just... I can't even begin!


I had a really terrible year last year. REALLY terrible.. Every bad thing that could happen did. 
And before you ask.. yes. That too.
And I got to a point where all I could think about was what was going to go wrong that day, too.
And like clockwork, something went wrong. Every. Day.


But not just for me.. for just about everyone I know. 
That's when you find out who people really are. When you need them the most and they need you the most and you have to decide who's going to be there for whom.
And I love the things I found out <3


So this year, I decided that I would try to help keep others from having another 2011. 
I decided that the people in our community who are in the most need were deserving of a little extra help..


So at around 9:30 one night, I posted on my Facebook Wall 'Thinking about doing a food and clothing drive... anyone wanna help?'
I then shut down my computer and read a book until bedtime.. half thinking about what organization I could send clothes to. What kind of goal I should set.. I decided 300lbs of clothing was a pretty lofty goal.. but that I would keep collecting until I'd reached it.
I woke up the next morning to 39 messages in my inbox.

Formula donated by a Facebook friends <3

!!!

I was asked by friends and strangers for an address to send donated sundries and food. I've filled my gas tank twice in the last 10 days.. just from picking up donations.. I've found links to my page on the facebook pages of people I've never even spoken with.. just so they can help with the cause.


300 lbs.. seems so silly now.
I've recruited friends to keep things in their garages and apologized in advance to The Caveman for the piles in our entryway.


I'm so proud of the people I know.. I'm so proud that my friends can pull together for others.. to help make 2012 a more beautiful, joyful year.




Thank you, my beautiful friends. Thank you for turning your misfortunes and aggravations into hope for people who just need SOMETHING to hope for. Thank you for putting aside your pain and regrets from the last year and putting others first. Thank you for being there for others who are just starting their year of hardship. Thank you.


And I'll keep you all posted on the final tally for donations <3 I'm overwhelmed right now.. just. So thankful!






Part 2 of today's post is to address a pretty common concern.. and really, it's the reason I started this blog to begin with! The silly idea that because I eat a certain way, I am depriving myself of joy.
I assure you, this is not the case.
That's why I post all of the pictures of the delicious foods we eat.. to show that there is no deprivation or hunger. Ever. I am so content with our diet.. yes, I will occasionally eat something that's not Paleo Approved, but that's just life. That's not cheating, it's making a decision that in that moment, I'd rather have a slice of birthday cake than skip it.
The point of eating ANY way is to be mindful.
Vegans don't eat vegan because it's the easiest way to eat or because it's fun. They don't eat that way because it's the home of the most delicious food.. and every now and then, even a vegan will eat a piece of cheese or some shellfish. Is it cheating? No. It's making a decision that in that moment, their body wants something it doesn't usually have. But 90% of the time, a vegan is THINKING about what they put in their mouth. 
A vegetarian will always ask if their barley lentil soup was cooked in chicken broth or veggie stock. 
Because they think about what they're eating.
And someone with a peanut allergy will always ask what kind of oil their food is fried in.


It's not a diet.
It's not deprivation..
It's just rolling things around in your mind for a while before you put it in your body.


And last but not least, my sweet friends and followers..


A Recipe For Disaster 

A friend of ours recently suggested Kelp noodles to take the place of some of our pasta dishes... 
They're kind of crunchy and a little salty.. but otherwise, pretty flavorless.
You rinse them and boil them and they take on the flavor of whatever they're served with. They're also a really good source of Iodine.. and most people only get their iodine from salt that has had it added, so this was a pretty big bonus for us =)


However... sommmmeone (me) kinda messed it up. Otherwise, I'd have a really pretty picture of chicken stir fry with kelp noodles.. instead, all I can tell you is...
Check the batteries on your smoke detector.
Sigh.


And now, my sweet ninja friends.. I'm off to teach yoga at Bob's. 
You'll hear from me again soon! Meanwhile, chin up =) And keep donating <3 <3 


Love <3
S