Annnnnd we’re back!

After a month of travel across the US we’re back on the west coast!

I wish I were still on the road, but I’m happy to be reunited with my little cat, Juniper.  She stayed at the house while we were away and we had a good friend come over every day to take care of her and to hang out with her.  She was so so happy to see us, but it kind of made me feel bad because she must have missed us so much from the way she’s been acting.  She was glued to me the first few days back at home.

So what we’re we doing traveling for a month?

• We drove to Pennsylvania.
• We got married complete with a 100% vegan wedding and 100 cupcakes made by me!
• We drove to Chicago and honeymooned all the way to Los Angeles on old Route 66.
• We drove up California State Route 1 along the Pacific Ocean.
• We also saw some friends along the way and stopped at many many roadside attractions, oddities and museums.

Over the next few months I’m planning on posting photos from the trip and wedding.  I want to do a post for each of the main attractions we saw along with photos from all over Route 66.  I’m kind of excited to get back to blogging!  I felt burned out by it a few months before the trip, but I think maybe I just needed a break from it.

Wedding Day!

Our friend, D.J., performed the wedding ceremony.  The night before the wedding Eric and I went to a local amusement park in PA call Knoebels.  Eight friends who were in town for the wedding went to Knoebels with us and we had such a fun night!  My best friend Aaron and I went on a ride call the Tilt-A-Whirl with D.J.  The ride tilts and whirls you around and around in a circle on an incline.  As we were tilting and whirling around in the dark with bright lights flashing I declared that this was the best bachelorette party ever!  Girls night!…three girls and seven guys.

Grill it!

Most of the food at the wedding was homemade aside from the veggie burgers.  Eric and I took control of the grill and served our wedding guests.  Now we want to buy a grill for our house!  All I can think about are grilled veggie burgers, roasted corn and kabobs with pineapple on them!

I’m doing something beautiful!

This is such an awesome video!

A boy questions his mom about eating animals and then tells us why we shouldn’t eat them!

My favorite quotes from the video are…

“Fish are animals…octopus are animals…chicken are animals…cows are animals…pigs are animals.”

 

“I don’t like that they die…I like that they stay standing up.”

 

“These animals…you gotta take care of them..and not eat them!”

 

Son- “Why are you crying?”

Mom- “I’m not crying…I’m just touched by you.”

Son- “I’m doing something beautiful.”

 

OMG!  You are doing something beautiful!  And I like that they stay standing up too.

Cranky-pants-cookie-maker.

Today wasn’t a horrible day, but it wasn’t a good day.  I was mega-tired and cranky.  Also I realized halfway through my workday that my underwear was inside out.  Eric so kindly pointed out that my panties were literally in a bunch.  True story.  And just for the record, I don’t even like the word “panties.”

A few things managed to brighten my day though.  I elliptical-led (how do you use that word?!) 4.25 miles after work.  Sweet sweet sweat to make the cranky go away.

I’ve been hesitant to list to St. Vincent and David Byrne but I finally did it today!  I love David Byrne, but I was skeptical.  This is fabulous!  David Byrne is 61 and is as dreamy as ever!  Shake it boy.

I also made chocolate chip cookies after dinner tonight.  Suck that one bad day!

Beans and ugly shoes.

I made a whole mess of rice yesterday! I like to throw all sorts of goodies in my rice. This time I used kidney beans, sweet corn, broccoli, red bell pepper and pineapple!

I went for my first run in very very very long time yesterday. I ran 1.5 miles away from the house and then almost cried when I realized I had to somehow make it home. Boo! It really wasn’t THAT bad…the sun was shining, I was sweaty and after one day in the sun my freckles are coming back! And don’t run on the petal on the sidewalk. Slippery like whoa!

Bits and pieces.

Currently reading:

• VegNews: The Music Issue
• Sunset: Best Places to Camp
• Tough Sh*t by Kevin Smith

Reads!

Shameless Self-Promotion:

• Our Kickstarter project is still up and running!  Head on over and check it out!  
• A few weeks ago I started a blog with my friend Alexis!  I live on the west coast of the United States and she lives on the east coast of Canada.  Follow Sound to Shore for a look into the life of two gals living on opposite sides of a continent and opposite sides of a border!

One of the Best Things I’ve EVER consumed:

The Cubano from South in Leavenworth, Washington.  Holiday rice, black beans, fried banana, avocado slices and lettuce in a flour tortilla served with cabbage salad, corn chips and a salsa bar!  Tasty goodness for my mouth!

The Cubano.

See you soon!

-Sarah

 

Food, finds and some PA DIY!

I managed to snap a few shots of some of the food I ate while in PA.  In central PA, where I was staying, there aren’t many options for vegans/vegetarians if you want to go out to eat.  Luckily there’s the college town of Lewisburg that has a cafe with two vegan lunch options.  Cherry Alley Cafe used to have some amazing burritos!  Vegan and all!  I was really disappointed to find that they did away with awesome-burrito.  They did have some vegan cookies though.  I used to always get their iced chai tea with soy milk too.  The barista there was actually kind enough to tell me that the chai mix isn’t vegan.  Boo!!  I’m assuming there’s dry milk in it.  Make your own chai mix, Cherry Alley!  Some spices and some grinding and BAM!…chai tea.

My mom did take me to a grocery store to stock up on some avocados, tofu and refried beans though!  I usually live on bean burritos when I travel!

Travel food. Beans, avocado and hot sauce.

Root beer Italian ice! Rita’s is an east coast thing. I miss it!

Cherry Alley does have fun tables. I made that same face when I found out the chai tea mix isn’t vegan.

Tofu wrap!

And a grilled vegetable panini. The so kindly put cheese on this even though I asked for no cheese. They made me another one, but Cherry Alley kind of let me down! The birch beer in the background did not though!

More Italian ice! This time it was lemonade.

My aunt usually makes me something vegan when I’m in Pennsylvania visiting. This time she made me chocolate chip blondies and a chocolate cake with chocolate icing! I DID NOT eat all of that by myself. Although I could have.

After Eric picked me up from the airport we went to Bamboo Garden. We always go to Bamboo Garden after he picks me up or we pick someone up from the airport. It’s a nice little tradition.

Bamboo Garden!

There’s an antique mall/flea market that I love in Lewisburg, PA called, The Street of Shops. I squealed inside when I saw these lamps there! You might remember that I found a similar turtle lamp in a thrift store a few months ago. I wanted to take all of them home, but I knew I couldn’t. I snagged that little dinosaur lamp in the back. I didn’t have room to take him on the plane with me so I packaged him up as well as I could and my sister shipped him back to me. The package should arrive early this week and I’m hoping his little glass back didn’t break!

Remember my turtle lamp?

My dad and I had some time to work on a project for the wedding! I wanted to make some glass Ball jar cups so the wedding guests can take them home with them. I found bright yellow and white straws to put in these guys.

Dad punched a hole in the lid.

And I drilled the hole out! We then fished rubber grommets through the hole that the straws will later be placed in.

We made 36 Ball jar cups in about 45 minutes! Fun PA DIY!

Good things on Wednesday.

This week at work has been evil and busy. More evil than busy. Chocolate was needed after dinner so Eric and I went to the co-op for the goods. They were giving away free daffodils too! Apparently someone bought 200 daffodils for their birthday today and they gave them to the co-op to hand out. Kind of sweet and odd all in one. I took one though. I’m going to take it to work to brighten up my little inky corner of the print shop.

But for this evening it can stay on my makeshift altar with John Taylor.

Some cute mail arrived for me today too. These little things really do brighten my day! Friends in Ithaca, NY sent this drawing and a pressed penny. Cute! I kind of want to frame this one. I hope you had a great Wednesday as well!

(((Happy 800th blog post!)))

Donuts, more food, and walking off that food!

This chubby little thing greeted us after getting out of the car for some Saturday morning donuts at Mighty O.

One donut for each hand. I don’t mess around. Peanut butter and orange blossom! I’m on level 2 of Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred…I deserve donuts!

I spotted this gem after leaving the donut shop. I saw it, stopped the car and put it in reverse. There are a ton of these Little Free Libraries popping up all over Seattle AND the states! Look them up to find a Little Free Library near you!

The Little Free Libraries are free, of course, or a leave one take one deal. I’m going to start carrying some books in my car so I can trade books if I find something I like!

In Fremont there’s a vintage shop we like to check out once in a while. We usually find some interesting items, but I’m also usually too cheap. We picked up a bag of groceries and since we didn’t have enough food already, we went to Bamboo Garden for some lunch! I always seem to get their creamy corn chowder.

Mongolian beef! 100% vegan too!

After stuffing our faces we needed a walk. We ventured around Discovery Park for about an hour. I was sleepy, but I kept on truckin’.

Fort Lawton is in Discovery Park and used to be a missile base. There are some houses that are still lived in by Army personnel. That big ‘ol white thing in the background is a radar tower.

Discovery Park is huge. Five hundred thirty four acres huge! The park is in decent condition, but it could use some loving. Parts of the park are paved paths and some are just dirt. There’s a lighthouse that you can walk to which we did not do this time. I think we it gets a little sunnier and warmer we’ll take the long walk to the beach and lighthouse!

That tree wasn’t messing around!

We’re getting more sun an blue skies! I can’t wait until I don’t have to wear a jacket and socks. I hate socks.

These are old parts of the base that aren’t lived in or used any more. I wish you could walk through the buildings. I get that you can’t leave them open all the time, but having them open at certain times would be nice!

This fun building was the gymnasium!

And a church on the base was poking through the trees.

If you’re in Seattle and haven’t been to Discovery Park, you should definitely check it out! But be cautious…tiny plants grow by the inch BUT die by the foot! What a zinger!

Finally Friday!

Juniper is usually more excited when a package arrives in the mail than we are. She sits beside us while we open it and as soon as its contents are taken out, she hops right in! I found her laying in the a box she turned on its side after my shower today.

I started a new batch of kombucha 10 days ago! It will soon be time for drinking! This is a really small batch but in a few days I’ll start brewing a gallon. I bought a little heat mat for the brewing because it is just so cold in our house. I think the mushroom is really loving it!

I was craving pasta and vegetables tonight for dinner. I warmed up some peas, kale and mushrooms to top the pasta.

I made a cashew cream sauce for the pasta using 1 cup of raw cashews, 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1/2 cup soymilk, 1 tablespoon cayenne powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon paprika!

I poured the cashew sauce over 16 ounces of whole wheat pasta.

And then topped the pasta with veggies! Happy Friday! I even exercised after work and took a nap. I don’t mess around!

Pier and Market Day.

It was supposed to be sunny on Saturday. If the fog and clouds weren’t hanging on I bet it would have been sunny! We do know how to make the most of a sunless day though.

I rode the Ferris Wheel this past summer when it was sunny. You could see Mt. Rainier, the Space Needle and the Cascades. I can’t imagine a Ferris Wheel ride on a cloudy day would be super fun.

Here’s the real reason for a trip to the Pier!

Under the Ferris Wheel on Pier 57 there is a wonderful carousel! I do love me some carousels. My favorite one is the Grand Carousel at Knoebel’s Amusement Park in Pennsylvania. They have gorgeous hand-carved wooden horses, that I think are 100 years old. Even though the carousel horses in Seattle are fiberglass, they are gorgeous just the same.

I recently backed a project on Kickstarter to help restore the world’s only Cowboy and Indian Carousel.  The carousel is in Buffalo, Wyoming.  The project WAS funded!  Eric and I are planning to visit the carousel this summer on our drive back to Pennsylvania.

We watched the carousel for a bit before deciding that we should ride it too.

Giddy up!

I love how gaudy the horses always are.

There is a horse with similar armour at the Knoebel’s carousel. When I was a youngin’ I thought it looked like a seahorse. No seahorse…just some armour.

Eric’s horse.

My horse. Hello, Beautiful!

I think Eric and I were the only adults on the carousel. I have no shame!

I picked a wild horse for the ride!

It actually wasn’t too busy around the Pier so we decided to head up to the market.

And up through Post Alley.

Post Alley is famous for this.

Nasty wall.

The market was oddly not busy. We were able to snap some film shots too! And…no people were in the shots. Sometimes you just want a humanless shot.

I like the naked Trick or Treat kitty ladies.

Market time.

Cinnamon Works sells massive vegan cookies. Look how big they are! They also sell vegan muffins aaaaaannnd vegan cinnamon rolls! We couldn’t say no to a cinnamon roll.

On the way back to the car, look who we saw walking down the tracks.

Oh my goodness look at that cute little guy! You usually don’t see raccoons out during the day, but he really seemed like he knew what he was doing. He quickly and safely crossed the road and hopped in the water. I have a feeling he comes out during the day because he gets many sweets and goods from tourists. Pier and Market success for everyone!