I see it as my job to check the chocolate shelves of my local health food stores daily, at least, to scope out any new and exciting chocolate brands or products. My job for you, to keep you informed, my job for the company in question, to keep vegan products turning over a healthy profit, and my job for my own wellbeing.
Sorry, today’s blog post has nothing to do with Justin Timberlake. But it is about chocolate, so I’m hoping maybe you can forgive me.
When I was in university, I was lucky enough to be the friend and housemate of a guy – let’s call him James, because that’s his name – who despite not being much of a vegetable lover himself completely understood and supported and encouraged my plant-based lifestyle. In fact, he confided that he caught himself reading the ingredients on a packet of beef mince to check it was vegan (spoiler alert: it wasn’t), out of habit after having become inquisitive as to all things “accidentally vegan”!
It is true that I, along with all vegans I’m sure, read a lot of labels. It has turned into a subconscious habit, picking up packets of foodstuffs that could potentially be accidentally vegan whether I want to eat them or not – and it is something I have come to enjoy. In the interests of hurrying a shopping trip along, I sometimes have to not read the ingredients of every product that I have no interest in buying… but there is always time to dissect the contents of any new-to-me bar of chocolate.
Sorry for such an obvious title. But what else could I call a post all about bamboo activewear by a certain company named BAM?
I’ve talked about them before, numerous times, but just to clarify; I am not an affiliate nor did I receive any form of encouragement or incentive or compensation from them for writing positive reviews. I’m just a bit obsessed with their stuff. [Note: since writing this post, they have sent me a range of products from their new collection so that I could give them my feedback and/or review it online, but I was under no obligation to provide said review.]
As well as providing me with some items to try out on top of the range I had already bought myself over the course of a few months, BAM have kindly offered my readers a 15% discount code! Continue reading
If I’m honest (and why wouldn’t I be?) I very nearly didn’t go to the London Vegan Festival. I was tired and was quite sick of public transport by the end of the week. I doubted whether it would surpass Vegfest, I wondered whether there was really anything new the London vegan scene could offer me at a collection of stalls, and if so, I didn’t want to go through the “I want to buy everything” anxiety that would necessarily beset me.
But I had a last-minute look at the list of stallholders, and realised many names were new and unfamiliar to me. I also knew I would regret sitting at home all day more. And, frankly, it was comforting not to be so rabidly excited about vegan baked goods – maybe I could remain somewhat civilised. Continue reading
Reading through last year’s recap of the Allergy + Free From Show and V Delicious, I am touched by how excitable and naive I was. And a little alarmed at how much more cynical I have become in a year.
The strange thing is that overall, I feel I had a much better experience of the show; I had already seen or heard of most of the exhibitors, so I knew which stalls I wanted to battle to get to, and which ones I was happy to drop large amounts of money at. Continue reading
So it looks like all the good I did by posting twice this week, I undid by neglecting my Sunday thoughts. Knowing my Sunday was going to be uncharacteristically jam-packed, I could have prepped them on my quiet Saturday, but my heart wasn’t really in it… and what are Sunday thoughts without peace and love? Continue reading
Lately, in between being busy with clients, training a bit more, looking after the house, and spending time out in the sun, I haven’t had a huge amount to say that has been worth writing about, especially as I hope most of you have been out far from the internet, soaking up sunshine and brewing happy thoughts.
I can’t pretend I didn’t spend a lot of that aimless time thinking about whether that makes me a bad blogger or not… but eventually I settled on “not” as an answer. I don’t get a report card or a medal at the end of this, and there is no foreseeable end anyway. In conclusion, I can do what I want. Continue reading
What an insane week! I feel like I’ve been all over the place this week.
Truth be told, it wasn’t actually all that busy, but all my timings were off – being away on Monday, having a couple of cancellations, training clients in different locations, and starting work with a new client – it’s all just put me out of my comfort zone for a bit. After a relaxing Saturday afternoon and an entire Sunday to myself (and Ben), I hope to be a little better prepared for the workload ahead of me this week. Basically, if I can get into preparing packed breakfasts and packed lunches again, everything will take care of itself! Continue reading
I feel like I live my life in the grey area. Nothing is ever black or white to me – even Marmite, which you supposedly either love or hate, leaves me fairly indifferent; “It’s OK when I’m in the mood – I wouldn’t spit it out” I always shrug.
So are you really surprised that I’m quite indifferent to shopping? Some days I hate it; mainly when it’s raining or cold, when I don’t have enough time to get everything I want or need, when I need to get something for someone but I have no idea what, when I don’t have much money, and when I am on Oxford Street. Oh, and when I need to buy jeans – I know exactly what jeans fit and suit me, but I feel soulless buying from a high-street chain and I don’t know any suitable ethical alternatives. Obviously, when the above is not applicable, I love it. Continue reading
You know what, there would have been a time when I’d have been ashamed to be seen quoting The Sound of Music twice (actually, three times) on my blog, but as I want to talk about some of my favourite things at the moment, I really couldn’t ignore the fact that every time I drafted this post in my head (yeah, I do that – maybe that’s why I never notice things on the street around me?) I ended up with “that song” stuck in my head. Misery loves company, as Ben would say. Continue reading
Great Vegan Expectations 