Sometimes life happens…and a belated Walk for Farm Animals recap

Whoa, where the heck have I been?

Life threw a curve ball a couple of weeks ago. The company I worked for had massive lay offs that nobody saw coming (well I guess somebody saw it coming, but for the most part they were a surprise). Basically over 750 people showed up to work one day and were told “go home now.” Unfortunately I was one of the people that were no longer needed. It was quite a shock.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I think in the long run it is for the best. I was getting quite frustrated with some aspects of my job, and I already have 3 interviews lined up for next week so I know I’ll be okay. There are some big decisions to be made in the near future, but basically I am doing all I can do and then wait and see where the chips fall. In the meantime I am getting caught up on the gazillion errands that fall by the wayside when you are working full-time and taking advantage of my extra time for working out and getting back in shape now that I have been cleared for cardio post-surgery (still no running until early Feb though…boo). I’m feeling like I’m in a good place. It’s kind of a scary place as I’m someone who likes to be in control, but I know I’ll land on my feet (or foot…).

Anyway, this post isn’t all doom and gloom. A couple of weeks ago I participated in Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals in San Francisco. I was still in my air cast/walking boot, so I didn’t think I’d be able to do the walk, but actually Kathy, Autumn, and I did  a shorter version of the walk and it felt pretty good to be out and about, especially given that the walk was in Golden Gate Park which is stunning.

Here we are afterward with a friendly pig:

We wanted to grab some lunch after the walk, so we headed to Berkeley to check out Cha-Ya, an all vegan Japanese restaurant. It took me soooooo long to figure out what I wanted! They have a very large menu and everything sounds scrumptious. The big toss up was between sushi or noodles….noodles won out. I ordered a vegetable curry dish with soba noodles.

Autumn ordered a delicious plate of vegan sushi:

And Kathy ordered the vegetable sukiyaki:

I definitely need to get back to Cha-Ya to sample more of their dishes. Next time I’m for sure getting the sushi.

After lunch we headed to Berkeley Bowl, a local independent grocery store. Their produce section is INSANE. Look how big it is!

And they have such neat things! Like giant squash:

It was a super fun day. I always love exploring the Bay with my veg buddies.

MoFo wrap-up, ear infections, and pumpkin oatmeal

Ack, I was on track to hit 31 posts this MoFo but at the very end I came down with an ear infection. The ear infection itself wasn’t the problem, but as a result of my ear I ended up with crippling migraines. Yikes. Anyhoo, onwards and upwards. I still managed 28 posts and that’s nothing to shake a stick at.

My favourite thing about MoFo is discovering new blogs to follow all year round! I know I found quite a few gems to add to my blog reader and I hope you did, too.

It was definitely a challenge for me to go from no blogging to blogging every day. When the month first began I thought being on crutches would hinder my MoFoing. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because I have been working from home most days, I was able to take my food photos at lunch time, which is much better than dealing with the dreary winter darkness that is now a problem at dinner time. And I’m happy to report that I am now off of crutches full-time! I am still in my walking boot/air cast though, and probably will be for a few more weeks. But hey, after being on crutches for 8 weeks I’m not going to complain!

And now I leave you with something that kept me going this past weekend when I had such a bad headache I couldn’t be bothered to cook – pumpkin oatmeal! The blogosphere has been writing about this stuff for ages, but I rarely have canned pumpkin in the house. Basically I just took a bowl and threw in some oats, a few scoops of canned pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and water. I mixed it up, microwaved it, and then topped it with agave. Voila. It would have been better with soy milk, but I was fresh out. It was still perfectly yummy!