Changed My Mind

After going out to dinner tonight and having some drinks and compounded by the fact that I saw a woman breast pumping in the bathroom at work today, I decided against having a child at this point in my life.

Dude. Her breast. Squeezed into a pump that made a really scary wheezing sound. Lactating in the work bathroom. For all to see.

Do you know that milk comes out of a breast? Like, ACTUAL MILK!??? THEY ARE NOT LYING ABOUT THAT!

I am all for that. POWER TO YOU WOMAN!

But just...seeing it up close. (NOT THAT I WAS STARING...) It just...brought it all home to me.

No, thank you. At this moment. Just...no thank you.

Pass the champagne.

In fact, tonight, it was champagne mixed with pomegranate liqueur and a sugar cube at the bottom of my glass that kept dissolving and fizzing as I sipped it.

NEW YORK CITY: I LOVE YOU FOR THAT FANCY DRINKY DRINK.

I EVEN LOVE YOU FOR CHARGING ME $12 FOR EACH OF THEM.

I LOVE YOU TO DAN FOR BUYING ME TWO OF THEM.

I love that I came home tonight and put on my brand new Totally 80's playlist on my iPod. While I was dancing to the inimitable "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey in our living room, my roommate showed me the artwork he performed on my lonely pomegranate sitting in the fruit basket.



I LOVE YOU ROOMMATE.

I LOVE YOU CHAMPAGNE IN MY FEELING BETTER TUMMY.

And Journey? Oh, you. I have a super big crush on you.

Love,
Laura

Issues of the Stomach Variety

My stomach has been off lately.

This is nothing new, really. I have a very sensitive stomach. And no, I have not eaten any cheese.

For the past three days, at random times throughout the day, I don't want to do anything but throw up EVERYWHERE.

I came out of the subway on Monday morning and I swear that the only thing my body wanted to do was run over to the nearest garbage can and surrender the contents of my stomach.

Except it never actually happens. Which is unfortunately, kind of anti-climactic! I get super super close, say, maybe paused over the public garbage can in hopeful expectation? And then the nausea dissolves. And I straighten myself up and look around kind of embarrassed because, I don't know, I just launched my body over a garbage can in Times Square, HEYYYYYYYYYYYY! JUST KIDDING! I thought I accidentally, um, threw my bag away and I was just...making sure...um. Hm. So, it's awkward and then I just walk on over to work like nothing is wrong in the slightest.

And then I get hungry.

So I drink a little water and then I eat something...pita bread, an apple, a pear, some soup.

And about fifteen minutes after this occurs, my body is all, OH MA GOD! LET'S RUN TO THE BATHROOM AND HURRRRRRRL.

But I don't.

I get to the toilet and my body is all, JUST KIDDIN' FOOL!

And I walk back to my desk.

And I blink a few times.

And then I think, HMMMMM. I'M HUNGRY.

Rinse. Repeat.

Thoughts on this?

I know, I know. Your immediate reaction is one that would give my mother a heart attack (or cause her to whoop for joy, who knows): LAURA SWEETIE! YOU ARE HAVIN' A BABY! Morning sickness! Hoorah! But that would be physically impossible for many reasons. One major reason is the fact that I am successfully about halfway through my 6 Months Without Tongue Kissing Any Boys Pledge. The other major reason has something to do with the fact that this morning, my uterus is causing me to alternately grip my desk and chair in agony. Sometimes I even put my head down on the desk and practice some deep breathing.

Uterus, old girl, why so cruel?

So we can rule out the most obvious suggestion which, can I actually confess, kind of makes me sad because I've been thinking for the past month or so about how I would like to have a baby sometime soon?

DOES THAT FREAK ANYONE ELSE OUT!???????

I am so serious. I feel myself getting to the point where it doesn't actually seem like the worst idea in the history of the world. It might actually seem like a GOOD one. Let me rephrase this before I die of a heart attack. What I'm saying is. It used to be that people having babies were SOOO OLD and SOOO MATURE and SOOO WHATEVER. And now I think that instead of that being 15 years away it is a little bit closer...say...12 1/2?

And then I think about the fact that maybe if I was pregnant, my feet would stretch out and never go back to their pretty size 7's and I would have to throw all my pretty shoes out.



And you guys? I'm not ready to do that. So. No babies for now. Perhaps a puppy in the not-too-distant future?

So. If it's not baby hormones, WHAT IS MAKING ME SICK?

Let's make a list because I am a Type A and very good at those.

THINGS THAT MAKE ME FEEL LIKE PUKING
by Laura Elizabeth

1. Raw Ground Beef
2. Ricotta Cheese
3. Caffeine
4. Really big auditions
5. First dates
6. Singing a song in an audition that I have never sang before (NOT THAT I WOULD EVER GO IN UNPREPARED. NEVER. NO.)
7. A bagel with creamcheese and tomato. (This used to be one of my favorite things ever but it was the last thing I ate before I was hit with the Seven Day Stomach Virus of 2005 so...I still can't handle it.)
8. Vodka
8b.) Some vodka is okay, I'm talking about the 6-Martinis-In-One-Night kind of vodka. (Not that I ever did that in college one time...hi mom! I wasn't out drinking! I was at church!)
9. Seeing someone else throwing up (I saw it happen. Sitting across from me on the SUBWAY. Oh Lord.)
10. Reading in the car (This is a new one since it never bothered me as a young child! Ah! My youth!)
11. The way my uterus feels right now, CALM YE SELF, UTERUS OLD GIRL. A BABY YE SOON SHALL HAVE. (Just kidding mom! Gimme 8 years or so! Thanks!)
12. Stress (see also, the first lead in a play I had in college and how I could not eat for a week without throwing up! MMMM delicious stress!)
13. Zinc
14. When anyone looks at me with a serious face or calls me on the phone with a serious voice and says, "I need to talk to you."
15. MY UTERUS RIGHT NOW SERIOUSLY! Why are my reproductive organs always so angry with me?! I swear I'll treat you right, baby. Gimme another chance.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand we're back because I just realized that this list could go on and on forever and ever Amen.

Point is, something is going on with the tummy and I want to know exactly what it is.

Am I nauseated because my stomach is empty?

Am I nauseated because my stomach is full?

Am I nauseated from the decaf coffee I started bringing with me to work in the morning?

Am I nauseated from the Thai vegetable curry I ate on Sunday?

Am I stressed about something on a subconscious level?

Do I have a little "bug" or virus in my intestines that has not worked itself out? (see also, vegetable curry)

Am I pregnant with Adam Levine's lovechild? (*CROSSES FINGERS*)

Should I get a puppy and hide it from my landlord?

Should I suck it up already and go find some Midol?

These are the questions I turn to you for, Internet. Don't let me down.

Turning My Attitude Into Gratitude

It was foggy and rainy all day today and after a long weekend, it was really hard to get out of bed this morning. By the time I came back home tonight, it was pitch black outside, drizzling slightly but warmer than it has been. I decided to take advantage of a free evening and the mellow weather and I headed out for a run.

In hindsight, it was not a smart move to begin with. The rain was getting progressively heavier as I ran and I was wearing navy blue capris, a dark green long sleeved tshirt and a navy blue baseball cap. I took a different course than usual, heading south instead of north, trying to stay on main roads instead of the park since it was so dark.

I was jamming out pretty hard and running really fast ("Wake Up Call" by Maroon 5) when I saw the bright headlights of a car to my right. I thought that the driver saw me so I proceeded to cross the street ahead of it. But it didn't slow down. He saw me almost too late as I started screaming and the brakes squealed to a halt mere centimeters from my body, like Joe Pesci's van pressed up to Macaulay Culkin's face in Home Alone.

The driver looked startled but didn't get out of the car. I backed up slowly, clutching my chest, my heart pounding and I walked around the back of his car as he drove away. I didn't cry. I didn't stop to let it sink in. I took a few deep breaths and began to jog slowly away. I had been running for quite a few minutes before I realized I was talking outloud. In a clearly audible voice, I was running down the street saying, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" as the rain soaked through my tshirt.

I didn't do a Thanksgiving "I'm Grateful For" list this year.

But that pretty much sums it up. I'm grateful for all of you. Grateful for breathing deep autumn air. And I'm grateful for my legs that carry me far away when I need them to.

Hmmm...

Is it lame that I spent an hour today downloading Christmas music?

If so, is it SUPER lame if it may or may not have included downloading songs by Josh Groban?

Or a medley of popular Christmas tunes...





By Kenny G?

Chestnuts Roasting

Along with reading the paper every day, cutting out articles for me and buying me Thai food, my dad has been getting treatment for his prostate cancer over the past month or so. The doctor's advice was to radiate the cancer but only after he builds up his immune system, concluding that my father wasn't in the best physical position to handle the effects of radiation. He has been coming into the city once a week to get various treatments from a licensed MD who practices a rare combination of Eastern and Western medicine.

One of his treatments involves the taking of blood out of his body, exposing it to ultraviolet light and then putting it back inside. Apparently, when you expose blood to ultraviolet rays, the white blood cell count multiples by 39 times. (WHAT? Can someone do that to me for fun?!) So, when the blood is put back into his body, the white blood cells race to the cancer and kick its ass. I am loving that image. I asked my dad if he could feel the white blood cells unleashing their heroic power on the cancer and he said no. I was pretty disappointed.

He was recently given another type of treatment to take home with him and administer himself. It involves injecting himself with some sort of mistletoe extract. The doctor showed him the proper dosage and how to stick the needle into his stomach. I asked him if it hurt and he said not at all. I'm going to believe him but only because my dad has a high tolerance for pain. In fact, he once walked around with a broken finger for three months before realizing it was broken. The doctor was like "You didn't feel the swelling and the bits and pieces of bone just hanging out in your finger?" My dad was all, "Uhhh. No. I thought it just looked a little funny." To this day, we have no idea how he did this. ANYWAY.

He called to tell me about the mistletoe.

Dad: You know, like the Christmas stuff!

Laura: RIGHT RIGHT. Mistletoe and kissing! WAHHHHHHHH I DON'T HAVE A BOYFRIEND.

Dad: We're talking about me and my cancer.

Laura: Right. I know. Sorry.

Dad: So, I inject the mistletoe inta my stomach and it fights the cancer!

Laura: Wow. Who knew!?

Dad: I didn't!!! There are three types of mistletoe apparently and one of dem has been proven to fight cancer.

Laura: You mean, kick your cancer's ASS.

Dad: Exactly.

Laura: Does that bother you? Sticking a needle in your stomach a few times a week!?

Dad: Nah. I don't feel it. There could be some possible side effects though.

Laura: Oh my God, like what!? Like nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, Lyme's Disease, sudden DEATH!?!?!?

Dad: No. Like, I told your mom she better watch out. With all this mistletoe running through me, I have a feeling some ladies are going to start running after me, trying to kiss my stomach.

Laura: I....don't even know what to say about that.

Dad: I know. But you better say it nicely. I have cancer. I could die.

Laura: DAD!!!!!!!

Dad: HAHA! I'm kidding.

Mistletoe and ultraviolet rays, the perfect additions to a Happy Holiday Season.

Doubt You Had This Good A Weekend

I made it to Regina's Wedding.



Best wedding I've ever been to. Hands down.



There was a huge Jesus Christ outside the reception hall.

Naturally, we took pictures.



You can view them all here.

Also, then I got stuck in a washing machine.

But I got out.

Tom documented that series of events which can be found here.

And now I'm going to bed forever.

The End.

Where I Get So Stressed Out, I Fall Ill (Surprise)

Yesterday, 3:00 PM, Office

Coworker: I just came back from getting my free flu shot. Are you going?

Self: No!

Coworker: No?

Self: I'm anti-flu shot.

Coworker: Awesome.

Awesome indeed. Especially because I woke up today and VIOLA! I think I have the flu. Ah, hubris.

I am so not that smart when it comes to getting sick. I've had a bit of a sore throat since Tuesday and then this morning I woke up extremely congested. I went to an audition anyway (what? why?!) and on the way from the audition to work I thought "Wow. My muscles are SUPER sore. Must've been that gym workout! I AM SUCH A SUPER WORKER OUTER!" And then I was all, "Self? You have not gone to the gym since Sunday. That is totally not the reason." I got to work and started shivering and I think now is when I will cave in and say that yes, my body is sick.

We've been talking in philosophy about what we ARE exactly. Technically, we are made up of the body, the mind, and the heart. We have these things but that's not WHAT we are. This has been such a wonderful discovery for me. I am not my body. It is an instrument for my use. And holy crap, the instrument is SICK man, sick. It really is so unfortunate. Especially since someone is getting married in two days and it is kind of important for me not to be blowing my nose on the dance floor. I bought super cute shoes for this occasion and I WILL BE GOING.

Also, I have a very cute dress to wear.

It took me forever to find such a dress. My options seemed to be SUPER LONG AND FANCY WITH SPARKLES PLUS EXTRA SPARKLES or POLKA DOTTED WITH EXTRA POOFY SERIOUSLY IT'S POOFY. I decided against both options lest I look like a Long Island girl going to a Sweet 16 in Dix Hills. At my age, I think it's finally time to stop shopping in the Juniors Department. Ah, my youth.

So, I ordered a very grownup dress offline but when it arrived, the Roommate vetoed it immediately.

"Not only does it look like you're going to a funeral but it looks like you're going to a funeral in the Victorian Era."

I don't even know what that MEANS but I returned it and bought a dress that does not look like Death From Consumption.

It has all the things I like in a dress:
It hits my legs in the perfect spot, it is a pretty color and it has padding in the boob area.

All very important for people like me who have nice legs and no boobs.

I know I'm not supposed to blog about work but that's really all that's going on with me lately. A ton of work and auditions and classes that I signed up for months ago that ALL HAPPENED THIS WEEK. (Hence, the flu? Maybe?) But work is so much better than I ever thought it would be. I am so much happier when I'm on a set schedule. I find it easier to eat well and sleep well and just BE well when I'm in a routine. (With the exception of this week from hell of course and one minor panic attack last Monday that caused me to call my therapist and beg for a session. CLASSY!)

I was feeling super bad about leaving the job to audition even though it was okayed by the boss before I began. So far this week, I came in late three times and left early once to get the twins from preschool giving me a grand total for the week of ONE FULL WORKDAY. I emailed my boss to apologize and promised to be here every single day next week. She emailed me a response. It said:

"No problem! You should take advantage of every audition!"

Um. Boss?

I love you. 4 REAL. 4 EVA. Love, Laura.

The people I work with are fantastic. (WHO KNEW!? I wasted so much time dreading this whole experience!) Although, on Halloween, I went trick or treating from cubicle to cubicle and I have to say, I was totally disappointed. All I got were some of those taffy type candies? (GARBAGE) and flavored tootsie rolls (SERIOUSLY, GARBAGE). A tootsie roll is bad enough but a LIME FLAVORED TOOTSIE ROLL? I told my coworker to seriously reconsider taking that candy home and giving it out to kids, unless he wanted his house egged.

The next day he brought in mini Twix bars.

Smart man.

I'm going to go to sleep forever and when I wake up, I will be magically cured and dancing my face off at Regina's wedding. I really hope they play an uptempo swing song so Tom and I can bust a move. Or that "Let's Twist Again Like We Did Last Summer" song. I don't know why but I love that song.

It's World Vegan Day Y'all!

Today is World Vegan Day. So, if you will indulge me, I shall now post a blog about veganism. Ahem. It is a long post. Pull up a chair. Make some tea. Here we go. (This is not about the slaughtering of innocent animals or how we pollute the atmosphere by mass producing cows, this is just my testimonial and update of how I got to where I am. Deal with it.)

I became a vegan on December 21, 2006. I’m hesitant to even refer to myself as a vegan sometimes since I own multiple pairs of leather shoes and indulge in desserts that sometimes contain honey or the occasional egg. Strict vegans would not call me vegan at all and would probably be offended that I still wear clothes made of wool and silk. (Silk? Really? Do I own anything silk?) Whatever, let’s put all that aside for the sake of this post and just say that 98% of the time, I eat what is considered a vegan diet, a diet free from animal products including meat, dairy and eggs and that I am celebrating World Vegan Day along with every staff member at LUSH, who’s been asked by the company to eat vegan for the day. (ONE MORE REASON TO LOVE THAT STORE.)

I became a vegetarian in the summer of 2006 for about 5 months for absolutely no reason at all. I did absolutely no research on the subject. I did not think about it. I just woke up and thought “HMMM. NO MEAT ANYMORE!” and that was that. And though I was no longer consuming meat or fish, I was consuming a TON of dairy and a ton of crap in general. I was not necessarily healthier, just happy for an excuse to eat 10,000 pounds of cheese a day. When I left to go on tour, I went back to chicken and turkey in order to survive the phenomenon known as Eating Restaurant Food Every Single Day For Three Months.

During the last ten days of our tour, a castmate of mine left early for another gig and was replaced by the now infamous Vegan Mike who has appeared several times on this blog for many reasons including (but not limited to): his general awesomeness, he does great accents, he is on my list of Top Five Most Hilarious People I Have Ever Met Ever For Real Seriously and because mainly, he kind of changed my entire life. Vegan Mike is obviously a Vegan and was the first one of his kind that I’d ever met though I do have many friends that are vegetarian.

“A VEGAN?!” I remember remarking to my friend Margot. “WHAT DOES HE EAT!?” Margot suggested something witty like “paper” and that was that.

I was driving the tour bus AKA Dodge Sprinter o’ Fun when we picked up Vegan Mike at the Detroit airport. I was very distracted at the time, driving the van, making fun of someone and then proceeding to lose my wallet in a Wendy’s bathroom stall but finally at some point, I wound up sitting in the back of the van with Michael and discussing various topics, including his penchant for trail mix.

It’s funny, isn’t it? To look back on your life and think about those serendipitous times when you meet people that change you? And how in that tiny, casual moment, you have absolutely no idea what’s ahead? How that person will tease out of you your very best qualities? How that person will come barreling into your life and you will open up to them and share with them and you will slowly start to metamorphose into something you never knew you could be? And you wonder how you ever survived before knowing them?

All those moments are different whether they are with friends or lovers or aliens. (?! I didn’t know what else to write besides friends or lovers. What else is there?) But the moments are the same in that I always think the same thought and that is “This person gets me.” I do not remember having such a moment with my cousin Tom, since we grew up together. But I do remember all the others. With my best friend Alayna, it happened while she watched me clean out my kitchen cabinets. I assigned her the task of figuring out which Tupperware containers were missing their lids. And by God, did I know in that instant that we were meant to be.

Meeting Vegan Mike was very much like that and so we talked all the time every single second of every day and much of our conversation was centered around veganism, not because he was preachy but because I bothered him about it all the time. I remember telling him that I was interested in going back to vegetarianism but that I could not for the life of me think of giving up dairy. “CHEESE! YOGURT!? IT IS MY LIFE!” Back in the city, after the insanity of an 8-day Master Cleanse, I decided to give veganism a try, just for thirty days. Michael’s philosophy being that, really, you could do anything for just thirty days if you had to. (My addendum being “Except maybe be a prostitute. But that’s just me personally.)

I highly agree with the theory that being a vegan is easier to do when you have someone to show you the ropes. Reading about it helped cement everything in place for me and though cookbooks helped me find my way somewhat, it was really Vegan Mike who helped me relearn how to eat and showed me the effect that my choices had on animals and the environment. I realized that over time, my definition of “healthy” had shifted. Before, a healthy day started out with an omelet, continued with a turkey sandwich on wheat and ended with a piece of chicken, vegetables and some rice.

Healthy to me now is a ton of fruit, a ton of vegetables, salads and soups, quinoa and barley, tofu, cashews, chickpeas, nut butters, kidney beans, black beans, almond milk, whole wheat pumpkin muffins, Luna Bars, vegan pancakes with strawberries on Sundays and I could keep going forever and ever. After just thirty you-can-do-anything-in-this-amount-of-time days, I felt amazing. I felt less sluggish, less heavy, more energetic, more positive. Some of it was Vegan Mike boosting my self-esteem all the damn time and some of it was the change in eating. Most of the time it was both.

My aunt once told me that being a vegan is a major inconvenience and also extremely rude, particularly when in a group setting. At first, I really did feel like a bothersome inconvenience to people, especially when out to eat. But I don’t anymore. (In fact, after I spent some time mulling it over, I concluded that it is very similar to having a food allergy. Sure maybe it inconveniences a host or hostess but it’s no one’s fault.) Most of the time, as long as no one brings it up, I’m able to order off any menu without strangers ever taking note of my eating choices. And sometimes, when people do take note of it, I feel incredibly cared for. A few weekends ago when I was at home, my mother remarked that there was nothing for dinner and my father told her he was sure that the fridge was full of leftovers. “No, no,” she clarified, “Laura can’t eat any of that.” And a few hours later, we all sat down to homemade vegetable soup and a pasta dish with olive oil and broccoli.

It’s taken awhile but my family no longer thinks of me as “going through a phase” and has accepted and even copied my eating habits (this mostly being my father, thanks to his cancer. Hooray for cancer.) Of course, everyone has their opinion and a startlingly rude way of revealing it. A famous story now in my family is one that involves my aunt turning to me over Chinese food and asking me if I ate fish. When I replied that I did not, she countered with, “Laura!! Jesus Christ ate fish! Are you saying that God is wrong?!” Vegan Mike was with me when this fabulous story occurred and I believe that when she uttered this, I kicked him under the table very hard. Or he kicked me. I had been a vegan about a week, him about seven years and neither of us had ever heard such a case for carnivores. You had to hand it to her, it was pretty creative.

With the exception of a few, none of my friends were ever excited for my venture into veganism. Mostly it was, “Are you seriously going to do that?” and even better “That is so DUMB and UNNATURAL.” Which, okay, because eating hormone-filled rotted cow carcass is such an incredibly natural experience but I digress. Some of my friends express their admiration when I “cave in” and eat something non-vegan. While taking a bite of a non-vegan dessert, one friend remarked that if I had to be a vegan, at least I was a “cool” vegan, implying that most of the time, vegans are tightassed losers. (Okay fine! I am sometimes a tightassed loser!)

Vegan Mike once warned me that the more research I did on the subject, the harder it would be to ever go back to my old lifestyle. He couldn’t have been more correct. And I do feel that living in ignorance is somewhat easier. If I never read about the animals or about the physical effects of meat and dairy on my body, it might be easier to go out to a restaurant and order anything I wanted off the menu. It might be simpler to attend parties or family gatherings or anything at all really if I didn’t think twice about what I put on my plate. But it’s kind of too late for that now and I’m secretly kind of glad.

I had some very interesting experiences while converting to the vegan lifestyle. Avid readers may remember a lovely episode that occurred when I decided to indulge in cheese after a few months without it. Who knew that underneath it all, I was really lactose intolerant? A condition that was probably well underway before becoming vegan in the first place!? I remember calling Mike and bragging to him about my food choices for the day.

“GREAT! So I started off GREAT! I made a smoothie!”

“THAT SOUNDS DELICIOUS AND AMAZING!” said Vegan Mike, which is his response for pretty much everything in life.

“I made it with raspberries! And strawberries! And orange juice! And this stuff my roommate has called ‘whey protein powder’!”

“Um. Laura? Whey is a milk protein.”

“@$^@#$%!%$!!!!!! I WAS SO GOOD UNTIL THAT MOMENT!”

And so it went.

And now I know about whey. And about casein. And about a whole bunch of things I never thought I would ever know. My father told me once that he could “NEVER” seeing himself eating tofu, NEVER NO. I told him I had a similar reaction. Now I meet him for Thai food after his doctor appointments and the fried tofu appetizer is the first thing we order. There is never any left on our plate.

My roommate became a vegan a few months after I did. Gradually, we made the transition together. Once soymilk entered the house, we stopped buying regular milk. We replaced meat with tofu and veggie burgers and fake hot dogs and beans and peanut butter. We replaced cheese, ravioli, breads and English Muffins with non-dairy versions. Right now 2/3 of our household eats a vegan diet. We use separate pots and pans for cooking the non-meat items.

I am so grateful to the compassionate, passionate boy who guided me and subsequently my roommate and my father toward a healthier state of being. It is because of him that I stop people while walking their dogs and bend down to pet them, remembering that animals are all the same and deserve to be treated with kindness and respect. It is because of him that I buy local-grown in-season food and that I frequent the farmer’s market and remember to take my B vitamins. It is because of him that I know how to bake cookies without using eggs, how to make a kickass stir-fry with pineapple chunks and how to make the most amazing chocolate peanut butter pie you’ve ever tasted in your life.

It is a universal truth that in the same way that people can barrel full force into your life, they can also slip away very quietly without a sound, without a warning. As with all friends, lovers, and aliens, sometimes there are rifts that cannot be repaired. So we are left with the lessons they taught us and the way they showed us that we matter and that the choices we make affect everything and everyone, a ripple in the water that can move on and create a wave. If you feel so inclined, I would love you very much if you ate a vegan meal today or ate vegan meals all day, or all week or heck, even thirty days. After all, someone once told me you can do pretty much anything in thirty days. Happy World Vegan Day.