How to become a Vegan

I know that the idea of becoming vegan is daunting and almost terrifying at times. The thought of being judged by friends and family, having to completely change what you cook and eat, stop using make up, burn all your clothes, shoes and accessories, turn your hair into dreadlocks, ditch the deodorant and perfume, start protesting and throwing red paint on celebrities.
Just kidding..................................................
Granted if that's what you want then you do you honey, more power to you but the reality is that changing to a vegan lifestyle is pretty simple, there is no one way to live and most of the vegan community is supportive no matter how small the changes you begin with.
So I have broken down some tips I think will help when becoming vegan below.

• Become acquainted with your local farmers market or better yet plant your own vegetable garden, this means that you will always have the freshest of vegetables available and will help keep costs down.
• Don't be afraid of carbs! Eat both complex and simple carbs, just eat until you are full, no need to stuff it in and no need to avoid them.
• Buy all the banana's in the shop. Most fruit and veg shops will bag up the banana's when they start to become spotty and sell them a discounted rates. This when they are at their ripest so I always buy the whole display then I come home, peel them and store them sealed in the freezer.
• Eat as much avocado as you like. I know that some High Carb Low Fat vegans like to demonize avocado because of its fat content but at the end of the day a little bit of healthy fat is good for you plus avocados are amazing.
• If you like the mock meats and fake cheese then go for your life. I am yet to meet a mock meat that I enjoy so I don't cook with them but I am sure it would make the transition much easier. Also if you have a good mock meat let me know, I am still on the out look for a good one.
• Finally eat what you want when you want, as long as you aren't eating animals you are doing alright in my book!

• Make up is a very personal preference, I myself love a full face of make up or at least a bright lip and some mascara. Make up makes me feel confident and well presented so when I went vegan I was terrified that I would have to give that all up. Thankfully I didn't.
• There are quite a few cosmetics companies that do not test on animals, that doesn't mean that they don't contain animal products so if you are unsure just contact the company and ask if they are vegan.
• PETA runs a page that lists cosmetics that are not tested on animals, feature the PETA bunny label and are or aren't vegan. I thoroughly suggest checking the site out HERE.
• Some of my favourite vegan products are made by Australis there liquid lipsticks are everything, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics and E.L.F which are extremely cheap and are amazing especially their moisturizing lipsticks.
• Its all good and well to have make up but you need some brushes to apply it, I love the vegan make up brushes my Morphe (granted there are other non vegan brush sets so make sure you check before you buy!) and the cheaper E.L.F studio brushes (only the studio sets are vegan).
• What to do with old products I hear you ask, I know there are people out there that once they make that decision its out with the old in with the new. I personally cannot justify not using the full products I currently have and replacing them with vegan products so I have decided to continue to use them until they are empty and then buy the vegan products but that's a personal preference.

• Unless you live in a nudist colony clothing is not really optional but I'm not one for baggy hemp, again if that's what your into more power to you, I'm just more flaunt what you got hide what you need to kinda girl. Thankfully more and more companies are using vegan friendly products in their clothing lines.
• Looking for vegan shoes look no further than these guys Bourgeois Boheme they create amazing and super stylish shoes, Cri De Coeur sell amazing shoes and bags, Vegan Style has amazing bags and shoes a little on the pricy side but they are amazing and Vegan Wares do amazing things with faux leather and even make footballs.
• Not sure where to buy stylish vegan clothes Stella McCartney created a vegan line, Vaute Couture has heaps of adorable slogan tee's and ships worldwide, Zazzle have heaps of stuff even cute vegan slogan baby onsies, Blessed Earth make clothing and bedding, Green Horse sell beautiful from clothing to skincare and Herbivore Clothing sell everything from clothing to home-wares. 
• As with make up I have a lot of non vegan clothing that I bought previously which I am also choosing to wear until they need replacing but if you want to get rid of everything non vegan consider giving it to a company supporting the homeless or needy.

• In a prefect world you would wake one day, decide to become Vegan, tell your family and friends and then that's that. However life is not that easy and normally family and friends can be the most critical of your veganism, this is mostly caused by ignorance and their love for you.
• To help combat the negative questions and to help inform your loved ones of their misinformation it helps to be highly educated on the hot topics and there are plenty of sources around these days.
• Looking for films and documentaries check out Home, Meat the truth, The 11th Hour, A River of Waste, Food Inc, Earthlings, Behind the Mask, Gary Yourofsky's Best Speech You Will Hear, Food That Kills and Forks Over Knives, 
• Looking for great books check out Eating Animals, The China Study, Skinny Bitch and The Kind Life.
• There are also countless youtubers and bloggers out there are not only information but inspiring. 
• Find the right information and then use your social media platforms to educate others.

Finally just enjoy yourself, if you are living the best life possible then you are doing the right thing. You may have slip us, you may eat something that's not correctly labelled only to find out after, you may squash a bug before it dawns on you that its a animal too, you might be given clothes that aren't and you may do none of that and be the perfect vegan it only matters that you can start your vegan life, live it too its fullest and love animals.

What do you think of my vegan tips?
Do you have any tips for me?

Thank Goodness Its Friday

Whelp another long week is over, I am really glad that it is finally Friday it seems like it has been a week of sadness for a lot of people. I am looking forward to getting some serious reading done this weekend.

1 // Charlie // My littlest sister Charlie came and stayed with me for a few days this week, she is only 20 and was recently diagnosed with the same kidney disease that I have so she comes and works as my assistant 2 days a week now which is nice, I don't get to see her very often so it's nice she's coming down to work with me. We are both so similar and I hope that I can help her deal with her kidney disease as I've already been through the it so I can give her advice and guide her through it all.
2 // Looking for Beds // Dylan and I have been looking for a new bed recently, we have had our current bed for around 4 years now and while its still a nice bed its only a queen and we seem to have fights in our sleep with anther over space. We have started taking pictures of each other whilst we sleep to prove who is the bigger bed hog, its all in fun but it is time we started looking for a king bed. I have had a dream of a certain scenario in my head forever of me, my husband and my future children all curled up watching movies together in a bed but I just can't seem to find the bed I imagine. Its really frustrating and nothing I see is good enough either, I hope I find it soon.
3 // Yoga // I spoke last Friday about how well my yoga practice had been going and of course I had to go ahead and jinx myself. I have been so busy and flustered this week that I haven't gone once! Oh well here's to hoping next week is better.

4 // August Step to the Beat Challenge //

How is everyone's August step the beat challenge going, I am currently sitting at 105,853 steps but I still have 5,876 steps until I reach 10,000 for the day so wish me luck. I will be at home watching movies whilst on the treadmill to get the rest of today's done.

5 // Vegan fact of the week //

It takes 16 pounds of grain to feed cattle enough to produce 1 pound of beef. The grain that goes to feed livestock could end world hunger.

How was this week for you? Did you link up with Oh Hey Friday?

Thank goodness its Friday

This week has been a long one for me! I have been counting down the hours until 5pm on Friday afternoon and now its finally here and I am more than just a little relieved.

1 // Yoga //

I have been all about my yoga practice lately! I go through fazes of being super into yoga in the evenings and then being super lazy on the couch instead through out the year but I really want to maintain my practice. This winter has made it slightly more challenging because the last thing I can be bothered doing after working all day is driving in the rain to yoga and back but Dylan has been making me go the nights he is home at 5pm and the other nights he is out at sport I feel more obliged to go so I hope I can keep it up. Plus look at the picture of the studio I attend below isn't it beautiful, its a old renovated church, its so relaxing in there.

2 // Trainwreck //

Trainwreck officially came out in cinemas here on Thursday and whilst I would have loved to have been able to view it on opening night work the next day would be practically impossible so I have post poned it for Saturday sometime. I'm not sure about you but Amy Schumer just might be my spirit animal, I feel we would be best friends IRL plus I recently found out that she went on holiday's with my other spirit animal Jennifer Lawrence who would also be a bestie IRL so that just makes me love them even more. (I really need to stop pretending this friendship will happen). 

3 // Prank Phone Calls //

As I run a shopping centre I am always on call incase something goes wrong. Last night I had a bunch of kids prank calling the work number which kept me up all night. It was incredibly lame, I can't believe that kids today think its cool to prank call someone, whats more these stupid kids didn't put their phones on private so I call have called them back and yelled at them, not that I would do that because I couldn't be bothered and wanted to go back to bed am a fully grown adult that would never act so childish!!

4 // August Step to the Beat Challenge //

How is everyone's August step the beat challenge going, it maybe Friday at 5pm and I may still need to get 6,737 steps today to finish at 10,000 to have officially completed the first 50,000 steps for the month but don't you worry I will be pacing all over my lounge room this evening to get those bad boys in.

5 // Vegan fact of the week //

Newborn piglets learn to run to their mothers' voices and recognize their own names. I am trying to convince Dylan that we should adopt a pig from a no kill sanctuary but he's still not sold on the idea.

How was this week for you? Did you link up with Oh Hey Friday?