happy anniversary!

Yes, today is the six month anniversary of my veganism. On one hand, it seems like forever, but on the other I actually can't believe it's been six months already. It just seems like yesterday that I went cold turkey on meat, dairy, refined flour, and refined sugar (I've loosened up on the last two).

Most of my family/friends didn't really understand why I had all of a sudden choose to stop eating meat and dairy (which is totally understandable because I go through many phases and change my mind constantly). Here is why I decided to be vegan:

1. I had gained the Freshman 15.

Or rather, 25.

And I didn't feel like myself anymore. Gaining weight really does something to your self esteem. I tried a lot of different diets, but none of them lasted long because I have no self control. Once I became vegan, not only did I feel better, but I also lost 10 pounds in my first month just by giving up meat and dairy, and I am now back down to my high school weight.

2. After reading a book and researching, I realized that our bodies are not designed to digest cow's milk. If you have a hard time believing this, I urge you to do some research yourself. The book Skinny *ahem* Witch does a great job of explaining it in layman's terms. 

3. I HAVE NO SELF CONTROL. None. If something is on the plate, I will eat it. All of it. Luckily, I mostly eat vegetables anyway, so it's all good. Not having to worry about counting calories or fat grams has really worked for me because I can eat a LOT (and I do) and not gain weight; everything I eat is really low in calories. 

4. Although I originally became vegan for nutrition reasons rather than animal reasons, I have come to realize that animals should be treated with respect. I'm going to bite my tongue and not go off on a tangent, but I encourage everyone in the whole world to at least watch Food, Inc. It's on Netflix. No excuse. 

If you are having trouble losing weight or just don't feel good about yourself anymore, I would really look into veganism. Research your stuff before giving up meat and dairy though, because people will try to argue with you. (NOTE: Do not argue with me unless you know what you're talking about. Huge pet peeve.)

Educate yourself. Know why you eat the things that you eat. Don't rely on the media, because the food industry is just like any other industry; their main motive is to make money. 

On a completely unrelated topic, I want to show the world my wedding invitations.

They were done by the very talented Rachel Wambach, who is a mind reader.

Let's start from the beginning (to get the full experience).

The envelopes:

My mom made me blur my address. Something about "privacy"? What's that?

Oh wow! Look how nice the colors look.

And look how all the inserts are in descending order!

And...is that us as a silhouette? Yes. Yes it is.

I wish I could take all the credit, but Rachel is the true mastermind. 

All of the graphics/the main font are hand drawn.

The whole set.

 I wish I could describe what a pain it was to print our names at the bottom of the pictures,

but no one would understand.

Thanks to my mother for hand feeding all 275 of the envelopes into the printer,

to Madi for printing, messing up, and printing more of the pictures,

to Brooke for helping me "lick" all of the envelopes,

and to Jeffrey for helping me stuff the stuff.