Hiking among Giants

I've been substituting for a single teacher for two weeks now. I'm not teaching for her on Monday, but I am teaching. Yay!

Friday we took some of the students hiking in the rain. Oh my Goth. Perfect weather for me as the cold and rain kept the bugs and pollen away! I love the look of green on gray days and I love the rain. Yes, to me it's only beautiful outside when it's very overcast.

We live on the edge of a vast forest. Part of this forest include small cliff areas like this one. It was a gorgeous hike and I actually felt better after it. However, the next day wow I was so incredibly exhausted, beyond reckoning. If I had been on my own it would have been a more spiritual experience, but maybe my husband and I can go out there soon on a rainy day.

Corp Goth

As Morticia would say "Black is such a cheerful color"

I don't see a lot of people using this term anymore, but corporate goth is the type of fashion I have for work. I've been working professional jobs since 2003 and when I'm not working in an IT setting I'm teaching. Luckily because of this fact I have a fairly wide variety of clothes suitable for a business setting. I've hit deep sales for these items or the thrift store.

Right now due to my health, and really for the foreseeable future I can only do temporary freelance IT work or substitute teach.

Subbing is turning out to be the best job I've ever had. Working at the special education school means a lot to me. I think my personality is the perfect mix of mellow and spontaneous to work with students who have autism or ADD.

Stripes. It's like adding color in my mind.

I've been called in a lot, which makes me really happy. It also means that my neglected corp goth wardrobe can see the light of day (ha, instead of the dark of night as most goth clothes go).

At some point I'm going to make a video about it. I've noticed some people are taught that they won't be able to find jobs while maintaining the fashion they love.  Some of this is probably coming from parents and professors, but things have changed a lot, even in the nine years I've been working professionally.

For instance, I obtained a Master's degree and taught while having pink hair, purple hair, tattoos, and stretched ears. Sometimes I wore more sedate business type goth outfits and sometimes wilder stuff depending on my mood and the state of my health. None of it seemed to make a difference to my students.

I guess my point is that there is a way to dress the way you want to. Sometimes you do have to adapt for your job, like I need to keep my tattoos covered while teaching, but there's always a way to stay true to your sense of fashion and have a job.
                                             

One of the hair colors (ha, or two as it were) that I had while teaching college courses.

Yay!

Thanks new followers and everyone else following me too! I received the most page views ever yesterday! Huzzah for food!

I wasn't called in to substitute today, so I took advantage of the free time to work on some projects and go for a walk. Walking is one of the few exercises that my body tolerates currently. This is kind of shame, as I used to lift weights regularly and do very challenging hikes. However, I can still do gentle Pilates and take walks.

The pollen count was on red alert around us and I've been suffering from it! However, I took some meds and went for a stroll in one of my Gothic Lolita dresses. (Lolita fashion has nothing to do with the book. It's a fashion movement from Japan based on Victorian aesthetics and some other influences. You can read about it here.)

I also took my Nintendo 3DS with me. It counts the steps you take and rewards you with coins that you can use to play games. I love it!

EGL Fashion. You wear a petticoat under the skirt to get  a big pouf. 

I was also carrying an umbrella with me to ward off the sun and wearing sunscreen. Both of my parents have had skin cancer! They weren't into tanning and started out with naturally darker skin tone than I have. (I'm the only pale, blue eyed, natural blonde in the family). So I try to be very careful!

In fact, I even made a silly video about my umbrella use. This video, does not, however explain what got me started on using umbrellas to protect from the sun. Many years ago I spent a year studying abroad and teaching English in China. Almost all the women I met carried an umbrella on sunny days and I found it very useful, so I adopted the habit. 

What does a Gluten Free Vegan Eat Anyway?

I love food. Basic functions that we have to do like eating and sleeping might as well be done with some art and care since we HAVE to do them! I also see food in a spiritual and magical sense, like alchemy. Science tells us that what we put in our bodies becomes a part of us at the microscopic level. This is, to me, like a confirmation of magical principles. For instance, some things like high fructose corn syrup get stuck in our bodies since we can't break them down. How does this affect us health wise and spiritually? Does it encourage sluggishness because something foreign is weighing us down?

Wild rice and veggie stew.

Ok, enough metaphysical talk! I'm not here to preach or convert anyone to my way of eating. No, instead I want to answer a question that I get asked ALL THE TIME. "What do you eat?".

Well, there are a lot of things that I cannot eat. My body can't process gluten, a protein found in grains like wheat and barley. Thus most commercially prepared foods, snacks, and almost all restaurant meals are impossible for me to consume without dire consequences. I also have a separate allergy to wheat which causes an additional reaction when the gluten comes from wheat. Being very sensitive to gluten I have gotten cross contaminated multiple times. Last year I spent a hellish week in the hospital due to a series of reactions. The cafeteria did not understand what a gluten free diet was or being vegan. They sent me fatty pork and toast!

Gluten is a very sticky molecule, even at the atomic level. It's very pervasive and hard to destroy.

On top of this I choose to be vegan. I've been vegetarian for a little over 18 years, and vegan off and on. The only caveat to that was that I made a bad choice and got married when I was a freshman in college. When I got divorced I went through an identity crisis and ate meat off and on for the next year. However, my health started to go downhill soon after and I soon felt I had to go back to my old habits of being a...BUNNY!

With that out of the way you're surely still wondering WHAT DO YOU EAT!! Enough exposition, tell us!

Stocking up on sale items and fresh veggies.

The good news is that there is a lot out there that I can eat and enjoy! My choices to go out to eat are pretty limited, but I can eat at most Indian restaurants (most Indian dishes are gluten free and many restaurants will make them vegan for you), sushi places (again, vegan sushi is available and amazing), and some other Asian restaurants. In bigger cities, for example Chicago, I can even get gluten free vegan cupcakes!

Eating out: Summer rolls (rice paper with rice noodles, thai basil and tofu)

Most of the time I eat at home. Here are some examples of foods that I regularly buy:

Carbs

• Wild Rice
• Quinoa (actually a complete protein seed, but replaces cous cous and small pastas)
• Gluten Free Oatmeal (very expensive)
• Brown Rice Flour

(Special note here. I am also reactive hypoglycemic so I eat low-glycemic to counteract symptoms of anxiety, dizziness, depression, and fainting. It works amazingly well. I've done it for three months and had no panic attacks or vertigo!)

Proteins

• Nuts and nut milks (like Almond milk)
• Hemp protein (and Hemp milk)
• Peas
• My favorite beans: black, white and red (so GOTH!)
• Tofu
• Edamame (soy beans, so good)
• Mung beans (these make incredible balls cooked and then food processed)
• Mung bean noodles, black bean noodles (made from bean flour)
• Tofu noodles (same as above, sold in refrigerated area)

(If you are interested you can google "the protein myth". Most Americans get way too much protein)

Gluten free spaghetti. For cheesiness top with nutritional yeast or vegan cheese like Daiya.

Aside from those foods there is a whole world of delicious fruits and vegetables out there that I eat with relish. The only plant food I've encountered that I don't like is the turnip.

A typical week of meals for me looks like:

Breakfast : Cooked beans with flackers (Raw Flax Seed Crackers) and Hummus

                    Gluten Free Oatmeal with Almonds and, or fruit

                    Larabar (for when I am called in to sub)

                    Tofu Scramble (my husbands specialty) with stewed apples and pecans.

Lunch :       Skillet refried beans with avocado and peppers 

                   Veggie Stir-Fry

                   Raw wraps with rainbow chard or kale as the wraps 

                   Massive salad!

Snacks :    Fruit and veg smoothies

                  Dried, crunchy Seaweed

                  Sprouted nuts

                  Chocolate and So Delicious Coconut ice cream products

                  Fruit leather

                  Apples and other fresh fruit

                  Carrots and hummus (hummus is a must! flavor plain to make many dips)

Dinner :     Curry ( I make various veg curries a lot.)

                  Red or white chili (I usually put in some Quinoa)

                  Sweet Potatoes and Beans with Brown Rice Flour Noodles Mac n Cheez

                  Mung bean balls with noodles

                  Stews and soups with whatever is seasonal and low cost

                  Raw dinners like mango curry wrapped in swiss chard leaves

                  Mexican dishes with plenty of heat

                  Falafel

                  Brown Rice Flour Pizza

I made this pizza earlier this week. 

I feel like my life is excellent thanks to the food I eat. In fact, I love being a gluten free vegan. I don't mind that I have a disorder that keeps me from eating so many foods. If something acts like a poison in my body I don't view it as a food anymore. I never feel deprived or neglected because I know how ill I get from what is safe for others to eat.  

Luckily I also really love cooking. To pick up my starting point I see cooking as a magical, alchemical process. The energy I put in my food matters to me, as much as the energy the food contains when I get it. Thus, I buy local and organic. I look for sales, coupons, and am blessed to live near a grocery store with its own store brand of organic. I also buy marked down, manager's special organic produce and use it immediately or freeze it. My husband is also a vegan. He can eat gluten and does so for some of his lunches or snacks. Often he eats gluten free with me, even at restaurants so we can share food. He's truly wonderful. And if you're curious our grocery bill is about $85 a week, but it would be less if I didn't buy expensive coffee! Since we don't eat out I think we are saving money in the long run.

So that's probably more than you wanted to know, but too bad! I get asked this question so often! Sometimes I answer that I eat babies... In any case, I actually want to give a thoughtful response, but I never know how serious the person asking might be and I don't want to take up too much time answering. The bottom line is that anyone can eat the way they feel aligns with their values and still enjoy food. It takes some transitioning, having guilty pleasures (like chocolate) on hand and most importantly re-thinking what a meal should look like. Our local customs and cultures really shape us and it's easy to stay in that box and think a meal automatically equals something specific. If you want to change your diet you can. If you want to be a part-time vegan, you can! There's no harm in trying something or even trying it over and over again. Most importantly, enjoy yourself!

Yes this is a vegan gluten free cookie bar!

* Note: A gluten free vegan who doesn't have blood sugar issues can also add in a large variety of prepared foods that use white rice and potato flour, even gluten free vegan oreo style cookies exist! Polenta, potatoes, and a huge assortment of gf pastas are out there for others.

Links: 

Celiac Disease   (great starting point for going gluten-free and their message board has saved me!)

Suzie the Foodie (for non-vegans and vegans who like to adapt recipes)

The Spooky Vegan (another Goth vegan)

Vegan Black Metal Chef (this guy is amazing! hilarious videos and great recipes! also videos on youtube)

                 

Time Capsule Posting

I've decided to start going through my old pictures and posting some of them from time to time because I can honestly say that my life started having good memories instead of bad in late 2006 when I left my ex-husband.

Soon I was living in a, let's be honest, abysmal attic with my new boyfriend and now husband. However, I loved my new life. I left everything behind when I left the ex from most of my possessions that I had worked two or three jobs to earn to my car. It didn't matter. I was free. To understand that you'd have to hear a long, awful back story of the first two decades of my life. I'll spare you. Perhaps the time to tell will be someday, but not now.

This picture sums up my new life. It was taken in January 2007 and you can see how happy I am. My luck has changed for the first time ever. It's a small thing, but I won a contest. I had entered contest after contest for years and not won. (Well, chance contests, I'd won some writing awards over the years).

Night of the Living Dorks is a ridiculous German zombie movie. I speak German and so it was cool to win it. Alice Cooper was giving it away on his website. Just a few months prior Dustin had gone to see Alice Cooper and I remember him telling me what happened the next day, back when were just friends. I had really wanted to go to the concert, but was still in the process of leaving the ex and getting ready to move out for a few weeks to see how it went. The ex was nothing like me and with nothing in common I found it hard to do the things I liked.

In contrast this photo shows a happy young woman who has made some hard choices to live the life she wants. I'm surrounded by the symbols of that life: music, rebellion, art (behind me by Robin McQuay)....

Random Picture

Don't mind this picture. I just have to post it somewhere to link to it. Carry on.

St. Patricks' Day

What a rush of a weekend! We drove hours and hours to another city to visit friends and family and attend a St. Patrick's Day party. I'd had terrible back pain the last two weeks and one day of drinking whiskey off and on (not to excess) and the back pain finally went away. Isn't that wild? Two weeks of hot/cold showers, gentle pilates, massage, and even advil didn't work!

Well, despite my mixed feelings about the origins of St. Patrick's Day and how ridiculous all Americans are about being "Irish" I took the chance to have some fun.

My husband tried absinthe for the first time!

By coincidence I had my favorite drink at Starbucks, a green tea frappucino. So I guess it fit with the theme of green things...

Finally, the most fun was had with my new friend (who I met at the Emilie Autumn concert!). We made a video about all the scary people in green and then I edited it into utter ridiculousness..

How was your weekend?