A New Goal

Over the past few days, Nationals camp has begun!  And now, as a Novice, I must do a hornpipe set, a reel set, and a treble jig set.  Furthermore, I am in an 8-hand called Trip To The Cottage.  And finally, I am doing a group freestyle too!  It has been going well, but some people (the few junior champions we have and some new prizewinners) are having trouble.

This Summer, I have been working at the barn a lot, and I have learned so much in the short time I have started helping out there.  One embarrassing this is, is that I know no basics whatsoever about horse care/handling.  I had no idea how to put a halter on or how to shower a horse. But I learned these things. I just hope I can remember :)

Now, for the reason I am posting, here is the news:
The other day, while I was at the barn, I was talking to a girl who just got a new horse from Germany (a dappled gray German Sport Horse) and a boy who is my friend and major helper.  He was saying something about getting free ice cream, but then said, "Oh wait, you can't eat it..." And so I asked, "Why not?"
"Oh, I'm a vegan."
I felt my eyes get wide, "REALLY?  I AM TOO!" (I was really excited)
"Really?  How long?"
and you can guess how the rest went on, but I asked her another question a few days later:
"Are you going to wear all organic clothing?"
"Yeah, I am trying to slowly change everything to organic."
"But what about saddles and your riding boots?"
"I can't do that, because synthetic saddles can hurt horses because they bend/mold so easily and can hurt his back.  So, everything but riding items."

Hearing this, made me think: "Do I want to go fully vegan?"
Well, on Friday night, I watched "Forks Over Knives" and am currently reading, "Please Don't Eat The Animals," so I have all the more reasons to live a vegan life. I want to get rid of fish, but I need to try eating more dark leafy greens and have a bunch of recipes for Kale and such.  My goal is to live a vegan life within the next 3-4 years.
The only thing is, is that there are some things that will not be vegan, such as: my horseback riding life, Irish dance shoes, my bow, some clothing, and a few other things, but nothing major.
Oh yeah, furniture...that stays same?
So I got really excited about this, and I hope I can achieve it!

How Ya Doing?

I am back after a long break. 

Happy Herbivore has been put on hold because there are now recipes that I need to do this summer since I do not have the time or need to make them right now.  

Anyway, I have been doing a lot of recipes from some of older cookbooks and one of my newer ones: Big Book of Vegetarian, Moosewood, and 1,000 Vegan Recipes (which, btw, has been a real winner!).  For my upcoming graduation, I gave my parents six choices of desserts that we can make for my grad. party.  Yumm..

Right now there is a Cookbook Giveaway from one of my favorite authors (Robin Robertson) where you can win one of her books.  Just go to her blog to enter.

Furthermore, I qualify for Nationals again this year and I have a chance of going to Worlds and another huge competition in Europe by next year :) (both of those comps. are back-to-back.)

Anyway, that's all for now.