Hairs on the back of your neck

I’m driving or walking alone, sometimes an amazing song is on the car stereo or sometimes a bar from the song is just playing in my mind. I’m lost in my thoughts and all of sudden I notice it. I see something – a person, or an animal. Or a landscape. Or a farmhouse. The moment feels like the most beautiful moment ever in my life. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It’s overwhelming and amazing and sublime.

The common denominators are always some form of music, real or imagined, and being lost in my thoughts. Sometimes it happens with others, but mostly I’m alone. Are these the moments that I’m truly living and in the moment?

So, every time this happens to me, I think to myself – do we all have these moments? Well, I guess that is a silly question. I bet we all do. But they are probably triggered by different sorts of events that speak to our own personal experience. What makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up? How often does it happen?

Soul Vegetarian

After I ate at the SoulVeg in D.C., Keri told me about Soul Veg in Atlanta. I finally had the opportunity to go to Atlanta this week, and had an awesome meal at SoulVegII (yup, there are two in Atlanta!) in the Virginia Highlands area. This was a very cute area by the way, with great new lofts for sale starting at 150k – I just about died! I had pepper “steak” accompanied by collard greens, mac n’ cheese, cornbread, and salad. I finished it off with homemade soy ice cream. I knew my meal would good because the one waiter in the whole place rolled up to my table, looked me in the eyes and said “Sister, are you ready to order?” :)

100% vegan, 100% comfort food, 100% satisfaction. Thanks, SoulVeg!

Life is like a box of chocolates

This week in North Carolina (where, by the way, I had all the sweet tea I wanted, and was very happy about that!) I turned on the TV in my hotel after a long week, and saw that Forrest Gump was on. I proceeded to watch the second half of the movie and it brought a few things to mind:

--to me, being earnest is one of the most amazing qualities a person can have. Utter sincerity…it makes my heart so full and happy! Forrest is the epitome of that to me. I laughed, smiled and cried, and in the end, remembered how life can be so awesome.

--the brilliant job this movie does of weaving a fictional story alongside the history of our country, incorporating the politics, music, and trends of the 60s and 70s

--Tom Hanks is wonderful in that role.

Post More, Plan Less

So, I’ve decided that I’m going to blog more and worry about accompanying photos less.

Part Time Vegan

Okay, I have an announcement to make. After over 3 years of being vegan, I’ve become more flexible in my dining when I am eating out or at other people’s homes. Actually, this happened about 3-4 months ago, but as you all can see I haven’t blogged much lately.

Why? Well, mostly because I’m tired of not eating when I’m hungry but there’s no vegan food around. And I’m tired of going over to people’s homes and causing a big ruckus because they don’t know what to do with me. (Sadly, TJ and I have no vegan friends)

Being more flexible when not eating at home is definitely not a perfect solution. After eating and cooking amazing vegan food, eating something slathered in cheese because it is the only vegetarian option on a menu doesn’t taste so good or feel so good in my stomach. Don’t get me wrong -- I can certainly appreciate good cheese. I just hate it when everything vegetarian is covered in cheese -- because you can’t appreciate the taste of the vegetables and grains, everything just tastes the same (like cheese!). Also, I end up feeling incredibly heavy and lethargic afterwards.

But, as many of you know I travel a lot, and I end up eating out with lots of different people. I can confidently report that my food choices have become much easier since I’ve become more flexible when I’m out. I do like that part!

Call me a part-time vegan, call me a vegetarian who prefers to eat vegan, call me a plain ol’ vegetarian, heck, you can call me Al!