Harvest Home Animal Animal Sanctuary

On Saturday my boyfriend and I went to Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary about 45 minutes away from our home. For the longest time I have wanted to visit a sanctuary but thought they were to far until I did a Google search. HHAS was holding a vegan waffle party so I knew we had to go.


My goal for the day was holding a chicken or bird. I got to do it! I never thought I could cuddle a bird!

There were so many bunnies. I happen to be allergic to rabbits but I spent as much time as I could saying hi!


My favorite memory of the day was meeting Howard! He is a sweet lil guy, a puff of fur. I really wanted to take him home, however I know nothing about guinea pigs and I do not want to be selfish. I am sending my new friend a box of treats, toys and some money this week, I want to be his fairy godmother!

I got to hang out with birds, a pig named Mohawk, we were greeted by goats and had waffles! This was such a positive experience! I can't wait to go back!

Revisiting MSCL

Over the last week I have been spending some time revisiting a old group of friends. Angela, Ricky, Rayanne, Brian, Jordan ( Catalano)...Maybe you know them...I first watched My So Called Life in the 90s, my sister and I got hooked. We were not happy that we were teased with just one season...A few years back my boyfriend bought me the MSCL box set. I tried getting him to watch with no luck, so I put it away and brought it out because nothing has been on TV recently.

Watching MSCL again in my 30s I just become so much more aware of how painful it is/was to be a teenager. I wish I had the knowledge that I do now to survive the bullies, the friends who were not really friends, boys who really didn't care, parent drama and so on...I hated school so much from junior high till I dropped out in high school to later be home schooled...

Enough on the reminiscent gloom of school here are some awesome clips - a few of the ones I cherish most from MSCL. What are yours?

So this scene paired with Buffalo Tom - just stirs up so many emotions!


The best dance scene ever!


A fun where are they now video:

Random Pictures

My mom brought me flowers from her garden yesterday and I picked the yellow rose buds from the front yard today.

Mar joined me in the front yard and soaked up some sunshine and found a dirt patch to get all dusty in! We love this weather!

Thanks Luna!

Big thank you to Luna the Fashion Kitty for sporting a ribbon I made her for Pet Cancer Awareness month! She is also giving her fans the facts of pet cancer on her page!

Easy Enchiladas

I love enchiladas but they have become rare around here because they take so much time and energy to make. I would make the sauce from scratch - 30 minutes and then roll each corn tortilla. I am kind of impatient!


Last night I experimented with making a easy sauce that turned out great and layering the tortillas instead of rolling them, it cut down the time and effort by 15+ minutes.

Easy Enchilada Sauce

3 tablespoons of Earth Balance
1/4 cup all purpose flour
8 oz of tomato sauce
1 and 1/4 cup of water
a pinch of fresh cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of chili powder
2 teaspoons of hot sauce

Melt butter on medium heat in a medium stock pot, Slowly whisk in flour, add tomato sauce, whisk some more, add water, stir and then add spices, stir again, reduce heat to a simmer, cover
with a lid and cook for 15 minutes. Easy huh?

Also with dinner I served some luscious mangoes covered with lime juice, salt, chili powder and hot sauce! Super tasty! We had rice to - we always have red rice with Mexican food!

Things I Can't Get Enough Of Right Now!

Alba ACNEdote: I was getting some odd hormonal acne along my jaw line and my regular skin routine was not working. I bought the face wash and gel and it really cleared things up without irritating my skin. Everything was at Target for under $10 - score!


Grocery Outlet: My friend Rae told me about her vegan skin care scores at Grocery Outlet, after sampling a mask she bought there I went and scored too! I bought some really nice lavender hand soap that does not dry my hands out, toothpaste and face wash, all vegan, all cruelty free and under $13!



After hanging out a craft show, having a nice dinner and deciding to stay home on Saturday Matt and I Decided to watch The Runaways. I wish the movie was a bit deeper, it was to fluffy, no substance. It was not a bad movie, the acting was good but it needed more depth. After the movie we could not get Cherry Bomb out of our heads! I like the original Japanese performance!


Other things I am into right now: finishing up the next issue of The Easy Vegan, dry brushing my skin, mangoes, limes, wheat grass shots at Jamba Juice, planning summer fun, cleaning out my closet, $8 soft cotton shirts from Target in black (of course), Sharpies (I love the color 'surf'), Pee Wee Herman....

8 - Bit Art Show And Concert

My boyfriend is organizing a 8- bit art show and concert next month - the first in this area. He made this poster and we have been putting them around town this week. I started counting pixels last week and got out my perler stash...be on the look out - more of that later!

Easy Cheezey Mac And Cheeze

Easy Cheezey Mac And Cheeze

8 oz of whole wheat penne rigate pasta
3/4 cup unsweetened plain soy milk
1 and 1/4 cup Daiya cheddar cheeze
salt and pepper to taste (I just use a pinch of pepper)

Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain the water. Return the pasta on a medium-low setting. Add soy milk, then add cheeze slowly while stirring, the cheeze will melt and you need to work it into the noodles so it will not glob up. Take it off the heat and season how you like it. Pretty simple huh? You have a nice side dish in less than 15 minutes!

We like to serve it with BBQ tofu but that is not necessary! Steam some broccoli and serve it up simple style with your cheezey pasta! Yummy either way!

*I know I am not using macaroni here - so technically this in not mac and cheese. This sauce is really thick and needs a tough noodle to stand up to!

Another Cake And Baby Bird Updates

I made this cake last night to continue celebrating Matt's birthday and to share with our moms. It is a chocolate cake with a light almond flavor, topped and baked with organic almond slivers and once cooled dusted with powdered sugar. Really nice, not to heavy!

Today I got to witness two of the baby bird's fly off! One must have flown off recently since only one little one is left - I gave it some words of encouragement today. They grew up so fast. It was so nice having them around and it let me appreciate birds like never before. I wished them all good luck and to come visit anytime they want! There will always be bird seed out!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Today is my boyfriend's 25th birthday (please no cougar jokes!)! Matthew is not really a party person, in fact we both are not, we like small groups of friends in the backyard and we are homebodies to a certain degree.


We had people over for drinks and cake. I made a chocolate - almond cake with classic vanillia frosting. I was so rushed that day I had no time to make a from scratch frosting so I took a tip from Sandra Lee and did a semi home made trick of jazzing up anything store bought by making it pretty. In this case tons of fresh organic strawberries! I just bought a vegan vanilla frosting to slap on my from scratch cake and it was great! I made two of these cakes for the mini party and they were gone by the end of the night!



Also during the mini party Matthew debuted the newest music video he directed. I got a credit of course! Please check it out!

Happy birthday again Matthew with lots of love!

Cinco De Mayo - Nacho Bar Vegan Style

WE had a impromptu Cinco de Mayo celebration in our backyard last night. We went for something easy - something that would help us get rid of some of our left overs from taco night Monday.


Table spread. I just use cut fabric and our day to day fun dishes - I am not a fancy person, I like things to feel like home!

Fruits, veggies, Daiya, guacamole, all the toppings you can want!


A pot of rice, chips and bean/crumble mixture.


My plate included: chile/salted/limed fruit, sour 'cream', chips, veggies, guac, beans/crumbles and chips! All of it was great!

Taco Time

Easy Tacos
1 package of Smart Ground - Mexican Style
1 can of pinto beans drained
1 package of Simply Organic South West Taco Seasoning (prepared)
2 tablespoons of diced green chilies drained
1 cup of grated vegan cheddar cheeze
1 package of corn tortilla shell via Trader Joe's
a bit of canola oil for frying
fresh salsa
hot sauce

Fry SG crumbles in a heated oil skillet for a few minutes, add beans and mix, then pour prepared taco seasoning, over ingredients, mix and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Add chilies, stir and cook a few more minutes as you heat the taco shells in the oven. Top each taco with salsa, cheeze and hot sauce. Get crazy - add your own touches. This will make enough tacos to share with some friends! Tacos + beer = a time for hand time with the homies!

Pet Cancer Awareness Month

May is Pet Cancer Awareness month. Many of you know that Mar is a cancer survivor. Almost 2 years ago he had a boo boo on his tail, it would not heal, we took him to his vet and the vet said it could be cancer. We were like 'ohh it can't be that - he is so healthy'. The test results proved it was cancer. No other cancer was found in his body so we decided to amputate his tail. Since then we have found a few lumps - no cancer!


Last week Mar (also refereed to as Tuxedo Bad Ass) had his teeth cleaned - (every six months we go in), shots and some grooming. He had to get four teeth pulled - including his 2 lower canines. Mar was born with bad gums and requires extra teeth cleaning. He was groggy and sore the first night home. He found Pusheen from Everyday Cute relaxing - excuse the dark quality - it was night and the lights were low.

Please take the time to read up on pet cancer here : PCA and make a donation if you can! I am wearing my blue bracelet all month long and telling the story about how little tails rock!

2011 Vegan Bake Sale Of Modesto

I organized the second annual vegan bake sale for Modesto again this year. I got to make new friends, help out Humane Society of Stanislaus and Alley Cat Guardians with the money we raised and see a bunch of old friends too!


I gave away cook books to those who spent $25 or more. I also I brought out some vegan literature to give out!


We had green tea cupcakes and I made Kendy Bars (rocky road bark with dandies).


There were two tables packed with goodies from cake bombs to bloodies even caramel corn with cashews! You can see Matt helping out in the back!


I wish I got more pictures! I was busy talking and trying to get people to buy! I want to thank The Urban Sheep for letting us have it in front of their store and letting us use their pens and tape which I forgot my supply at home! We raised over $230 for the animal in our communities! Awesome!