You. GUYS!  You are all so amazingly wise!!!

I can’t believe the response I got from my dilemma post yesterday. All of the girls at work asked “What’s the verdict” as soon as I walked in today.  And you wanna know what I told them?

I honestly don’t know. 

You all gave me such awesome feedback and points to thing about.  I’ve been thinking it all over, and so far – I’m still “vegan”, but I’m taking it on a meal by meal basis.

My biggest takeaways from all your comments, tweets & FB posts:

1. If I’m not happy – it’s okay to “move on” or “retire” the challenge, it’s not “quitting.”   It’s obvious that vegan isn’t a lifestyle for me, and I gave it my best.  (a TON of you said this, and said amazingly encouraging things about that nasty “Q” word – thank you!)
2. Take this opportunity to clean up and be a healthy vegan these last 6 days (thanks Andrea!)
3. Keep in mind vegan isn’t just a lifestyle, but also a belief, so it can be hard to get 100% behind it when you are just “testing it out” for 30 days.
4. Why did I take on the challenge to begin with?  Always keep in mind the end goal.  Don’t just do something to do it.
5. I have the most awesome people in the whole entire world reading this blog.

6 days left. Full recap in 7.

Wanna know a cereal you can never outgrown?  Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Lunch: Chipotle Vegetarian Bowl

Topped with Tofutti Sour Cream & lots of Chipotle Tabasco!

That’s just half the burrito bowl!   I love the vegetarian bowls – they pile it on!! 

After work – I had a date at Applebee’s (CRINGE!!!!!! ) with my handsome husband, because he deserved a reward for driving me to and from Blossom the other night.   

He LOVES Applebee’s, and I LOATHE it.  And you can bet your sweet butt the food blogger almost always wins in a fight like that.    But last night, he’d earned it!

There wasn’t many vegan options on the menu, so I stuck with “fruit”…

…because I had crazy Vegan Pasta Salad ideas for when I got home!

If I had it in my cupboard or fridge, and it was vegan, it went in to this pasta salad!

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Pasta Salad:

Cupboard Ingredients

• Olives
• TJ’s Giant White Beans (strained)
• Artichoke Hearts
• TJ’s Marinated Bean Salad (unstrained – this is packed in olive oil, which was a great base for the pasta salad “dressing”)

• Chopped garlic
• Green olives
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Banana Peppers
• Pasta.  Duh!

Not pictured fridge ingredients:

• Bag of shredded carrots
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Onion
• Newman’s Light Italian

FINALLY! THERE’S a healthy vegan meal involving vegetables.

Was it that hard?!  Not at all!  Do I need to stop being a whiny baby?  Perhaps!

This was perfect, and I’m sure ANYONE in your family would eat it, without complaining that it was weird or vegan!

Now for a funny…

I’d been at work for 90 minutes yesterday, when I looked down at my feet to see this:

That’s Mike’s MENS 13 flip flop on the left, and mine, WOMENS 9, on the right.

Really?

I think I’m pretty “with it” (read: not ditzy) but HOLY COW.  I have no idea how I didn’t notice sooner.  I blame it on the fact that the dogs are always up in my business, especially when putting on shoes (they think they are getting a walk).  Who knows. 

Kristin’s reaction:  “Your life scares me”

What’s the most embarrassing outfit faux-pas that you’ve ever had?

So I have a dilemma.  A pretty large one, in blog terms. (Pretty damn small in terms of the world – I know)

When it comes to blog dilemmas, there’s only one “person” I feel comfortable going to.  That’s YOU!

Here it is.

I’m so over the vegan challenge.

I’m not enjoying it – here’s the list of things I’ve been thinking over and over again the past week:

• I hate when anything is “entirely off limits” – I am a HUGE believer in “everything in moderation”.
• Deprivation makes me angry/crabby.
• I’m eating garbage food, because I’m not doing a good job shopping & cooking.  Example?  Fritos. Out. The. Wa-zoo!
• I’m gaining weight because of eating crap garbage.
• Eating vegan is not anywhere near the way I eat in “normal life”.
• One thing I’ve learned is, if something makes you unhappy, do something to change it.
• There’s 7 whole days left, and with a Blogger Dinner & the Cleveland Wine Festival coming up – I’d like to able to do what I want.
• All of the above are TOTALLY my own fault, but it’s the truth.

On that same breath though – here are the reasons why I don’t want to quit:

• I don’t like the word quit, I don’t consider myself a quitter, quitting STINKS.
• I feel like I’m letting people down by quitting.
• I “only” have 7 days left.
• I especially feel like I’ll be letting down two fabulous bloggers: Brandi & Emily.

Help!

I have to be honest kiddos – I was HURTING yesterday.   I had five “one too many” drinks at the Toby Keith concert, and man, oh, man, did I pay the price!

Breakfast did not sound good (perhaps out of fear of it coming back up), so I though the ALWAYS delicious Clif Mojo PB&J Dipped Bar would be safe.

‘Twas not. I took about two bites and called it quits!  Good news – I kept the two bites down!

For lunch I finally had an appetite, and my hunger was definitely in full force.  Solution?

Giant Eagle Prepared Food Section! :mgreen:

Vegetable Sushi & Salad topped with curried tofu

I think that just may be the healthiest “hangover meal” I’ve ever eaten!

Also – has anyone else tried kalamata olives as “dressing”? I just loaded up on them – and they were perfect!  Seriously – try it!

My afternoon snack was something I was saving for a special occasion!   My friend Kelly made a special trip to a vegan bakery last weekend just to pick me up some vegan treat (yeah – have I mentioned how fantastic AND supportive my friends are?!?!?!)

Vegan Carrot Cake Muffin (from Tree Huggers in Berea, for you Clevelanders!)

Ahhhh.  Bliss!!!!!   Thanks Kelly!

Dinner I got creative (because, hold on to your pants kids, I know you will find this shocking…) I REALLY need to go to the grocery store!  Don’t I complain about that ever two weeks?!

Okra + TJ’s Meatless Meatballs + TJ’s Frozen Vegan Fried Rice

+ marinara + INSANE AMOUNT OF RED PEPPER FLAKES

= Quick, easy, vegan amazingness!!!!

I know this might seem like an oxy-moron, because I know we are all mostly focused on living healthy – but I must know:

What is your all time favorite hangover meal?

Mine is pizza, or ham & cheese omlette with hash browns