Namely Marly

Goodbye days of summer!

This is the day I’ve been waiting for: Labor Day. It signifies the end of summer (not my most favorite season of the year) and the beginning of fall (NOW you’re talking!). For us cooler weather has already settled in, even if it’s only dipping it’s toe in the water. After the humid scorchers we’ve had recently, well take what we can get!

There are many reasons to love a day like today. I could make a huge list to commemorate it, but wouldn’t that be sort of the antithesis of what this day is about? Instead, I’m offering the CliffsNotes version. Here are the top 5 reasons I love Labor Day:

1. No Regrets. It’s difficult to take time to just relax, but Labor Day is a day to do what you want without regret. Labor Day is recognized as a holiday in all 50 states – so that means you can kick back and relax without anyone questioning.
2. US Open. Tennis is the one sport I have enjoyed watching since I was a teenager. Labor Day falls right in the middle of the US Open tournament (what a great coincidence!). We don’t have cable, but we have a funky, little antenna in our attic that helps us get network coverage. That means we’ll be watching some awesome tennis in HD today!
3. Adios White Shoes! Labor Day used to signify the end of the season for wearing white shoes. I don’t know if this fashion law is still enforced today, but there was a time when white shoes were not considered fashionable after Labor Day. I have big feet (size 10 on a good day) and white shoes only make them look bigger. I’m not much of a fashionista anyway, so to be perfectly honest with you, I don’t think I even own any white shoes. But now I can not wear them without any guilt! 
4. Ciao to Summer. There are some things I like about summer such as thunderstorms, the sound of cicadas in the evening, and gathering the fruit of a garden. Fall is such a glorious compromise between two extremes (winter and summer). Labor Day is like a big billboard saying, “Coming Soon to Life Near You: Fall!”
5. Grilling. What’s Labor Day without grilling? My family doesn’t know this yet, but tonight we’ll be having corn on the cob, veggie burgers, and maybe some of my yummy vegan potato salad (if I can get myself away from US Open coverage long enough to make it). Who knows, maybe we’ll even sit out on that new deck for dinner!

Holidays can mean something different to each of us. What does Labor Day mean for you today?

Article first published as My Vegan Life on Blogcritics.

I recently started writing for BlogCritics and began my series of posts there with a little information about me and my vegan life. I’ve had a couple of questions from readers of my blog about veganism, so I thought I would share this with you all as well. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Hello. I’m Marly. I’m a vegan. For any members of my family who may be reading this post, it’s pronounced VEE-ghun. I have had several people (yes, in my family, but others too) who’ve asked me what the heck that means. Here’s the short and simple answer: it means I do my best to eat food that does not include any type of animal products. I also do my best to avoid purchasing things (like purses) that are made of animal products.

It’s nearly impossible to avoid all animal products. The book Vegan Freak points out how animal products are even in automobile tires and I don’t plan to give up driving my car any time soon. Rather, I try to aim for a more middle-of-the-road approach to my vegan life.

That’s an interesting statement. Vegan and middle-of-the-road are not often two descriptors that you see in the same sentence. Just on face value alone vegans are outliers. It’s a way of life for me, so I don’t think about it…until I meet someone who has no idea what a vegan is. I get the same blank stare as I describe my vegan life to virgin ears. The conversation usually goes something like this:

“You don’t eat any meat?”

“No, I don’t eat meat.”

“Not even chicken?”

“No, I don’t eat chicken.”

“Fish?”

“No. No fish. Nothing with a face.”

“Whoa. And you don’t drink milk?”

“That’s right.”

“Ice cream?”

“Nope. No ice cream.”

“Eggs?”

“Sorry, no, I don’t eat eggs either.”

“Whoa. That’s so strange. What DO you eat?”

Usually there’s some exchange here about nuts and twigs. I do eat almonds, cashews and other various nuts. And I drink kukicha twig tea. Sounds exciting, I know.

We live in Kansas City, Missouri, the heart of beef country. BBQ is king. Steak houses are on every corner (almost). There are some restaurants where you can’t even order a side of a vegetable without some kind of meat in it.

For me, it was easy to give all that up, but there were two things that weren’t quite so easy: milk chocolate and pizza. How could I live without them? Well, I’m pleased to tell you that it really wasn’t that bad. Once I switched to dark chocolate, milk chocolate didn’t even taste good to me anymore. Seriously. I can stand next to an entire bowl full of peanut butter M&Ms (I like to consider those my namesake) and still not be tempted. And once we found some tasty alternatives to milk-based cheese, we began making our own (and very tasty) vegan pizzas.

In fact, there are several restaurants in this little cow town that caters to vegans, including pizza joints. We cook a lot, but we frequent these vegan-friendly joints too. And we haven’t eschewed all comfort foods either. Oreo cookies are in the category of “accidentally” vegan and we do have those from time to time.

I don’t proselytize about veganism. I choose rather to share some of my favorite vegan recipes on Namely Marly. If someone’s interested in learning more, I’m happy to talk with them about veganism, but I’m not going to pound them over the head about it. My philosophy is that we all could benefit from having more whole-food based, vegetarian meals, but veryone has different approaches to how they get there. I watched a video of Graham Hill on TED recently where he described his week-day vegetarian plan. He’s vegetarian Monday-Friday, but then eats whatever he wants on weekends. It’s all about finding what works for you.

I took an unexpected trip recently to southern Missouri, where my sisters and I own a little bit of land. I hadn’t been to our bucolic acreage in quite some time, so I certainly wasn’t expecting much from this visit. It’s farmland in Southern Missouri. What could be exciting about that?

What I found, however, was anything but dull. The land was clearly in need of some tidying up, but it was alive with character. Oh, and lots of bugs. I mean a LOT. But I also found some hidden treasures to share with you all.

An old rusty ring on a fence post. My uncle used to be a dairy farmer so I’m sure this had some purpose. I can see where my uncle crafted this himself and that makes it a very valuable find for me.

Who knew that something so exotic looking would be growing wild out on our farm in Missouri.

If you’re out in the country, you either have to have an affection for or at least an ability to tolerate bugs. They’re everywhere. These little guys had burrowed themselves into some of the peaches on our peach tree. Bugs may be creepy, but they’re smart. Those were some tasty peaches!

This is the old tractor that my uncle rode almost daily. It was obviously near and dear to his heart because he kept it protected in the big old barn. You’ll be surprised to see in the next picture what he did NOT keep in the barn.

This old Plymouth must have been more like a hunk of metal to my uncle because it’s been sitting out in the yard all these years. Who knows what this baby would have been worth had it been kept in the barn too (trust me, there would have been room for the John Deere and the Plymouth!). Oh well, it still has plenty of artistic value to me!

Did I mention there were bugs? Most of them were quite brave when it came to buzzing around my head, but they were shy when it came time to getting their picture taken. Hmm, who would have thought that a camera could also be a bug repellent! All I had with me was my point and shoot camera, but next time I intend to take a decent camera so bugs beware!

The biggest treasure of all was rediscovering the land itself; miles away from highways, cable, and, even decent cell phone reception. I don’t mind the first two, but the last one is kind of nice when you’re out in the country all by yourself.

Article first published as Life Lessons from Eat, Pray, Love on Technorati.

Elizabeth Gilbert went on an amazing journey of self discovery that culminated in her best-selling book and now hit movie, Eat, Pray, Love. The New Yorker describes the author’s journey as “a yearlong trip of recovery, with three main stops: Rome, for pleasure (mostly gustatory, with a special emphasis on gelato); an ashram outside of Mumbai, for spiritual searching; and Bali, for ‘balancing.’”

We’re all basically the offspring of immigrants which means we have that spirit of journey and adventure inside. Connecting to our more migrant nature, doesn’t mean we have to take a multi-month tour of distant lands (but that does sound nice).

During times of self-reflection and renewal, people choose to reinvent themselves in different ways. Some, like Elizabeth Gilbert, go on journeys. But that’s not always a practical (or affordable) option for everyone. Elizabeth says herself that it’s possible to transform yourself right at home. The trick is committing the time and energy toward that endeavor.

Below are the top three life journey tips that I gathered from Eat, Pray, Love:

• Embrace Failure. Have you lost a job recently? Gone through a divorce? Life has a way of bringing all our well-thought out plans to an immediate halt sometimes. I think that’s because our plans are oftentimes too linear. Life is really more like a 2-step dance; you take two steps forward, followed by one step back. Or sometimes two steps back. The point is that when life sends you a flat tire, don’t just put on the spare and keep going. This is a great time to also reevaluate the map.
• Be Your Soul Mate. We all spend (or have spent) a lot of time looking for or that perfect life partner, our soul mate. It seems to be part of human nature. But how much time do we spend nurturing the soul mate within? So many of us have busy lives running kids here and there, working, commuting, etc, that we hardly take time to spend time with ourselves. And even when we do get a few minutes of quiet time, do we really spend it trying to know ourselves more? Elizabeth Gilbert took a voyage to Europe and she went by herself. You don’t have to go to Europe, but how about a walk in the park? Or a trip to a local museum. Julia Cameron in her book, The Artist’s Way recommends weekly dates with ourselves where we treat ourselves like we would someone on a date. Go to a local cafe. Enjoy yourself. Pay attention to the scenery. Enjoy the moment. Then you can return to your family refreshed and with stories of your own to share.
• Defend Your Happiness. I love this quote from EPL, “Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it…And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.” I’ve never thought of myself as the warrior for my own happiness, but I think it’s an idea worth considering. The important thing to note here is that I’m not defending my happiness at the expense of others, but that in fact, others around me will benefit from my happiness. As a “defender” of my own happiness I am much better prepared to be a beneficial presence to those around me than when I’m filled with misery.

There are many more life lessons that could be gleaned from EPL (such as understanding the importance of gelato in the healing process). You can read the book and/or watch the movie for yourself to create your own list of life lessons. What’s most important is to look for the lessons in life, take chances to practice those lessons, and find adventures for the immigrant soul inside.