Hello and welcome. I guess I should start with how I got to where I am today. I am married to a wonderful man and have five amazing children along with three dogs and too many cats(when strays show up, I just can't say no and then they tend to stay). I have a Bachelor's degree in education and a Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. I have taught high school special education and English and worked as a student services coordinator at an alternative high school. I am currently a substitute teacher. I live in a small desert town on the Colorado River - that's the basics.

I have flirted with vegetarianism for many years. My husband is a meat and potato kind of guy and never really took to my forays into the world of vegetarianism, so I would not eat meat for six months or so and then slide back into my old eating habits turning a blind eye to what has actually on my plate.

I started eating a mostly vegetarian diet about two years ago and was becoming more conscious of what was on my plate when for Christmas 2009 my husband gave me Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet as a gift. If he had only known what he was getting himself into.

I read her book in a day and it changed me for life. I became a vegan then and there. Next I read Jonathan Foer's book, Eating Animals and new there was no turning back.

My family has been willing participants in my new cooking and baking exploits (for the most part) and are usually pleasantly surprised.

With this blog, I plan to share the ups and downs, highs and lows of living the vegan lifestyle. I hope to share recipes and other things that I find of value to some one who is also living the vegan lifestyle. I hope you enjoy reading it and please feel free to share your wonderful ideas and finds.

There is a wonderful vegan community out there online and I hope together we can navigate it and find the most useful information.

Animals are our friends :-)