Hand Made Christmas

My husband hates when I buy him gifts, always preferring something homemade as opposed to something new. So, this Christmas I made some rather interesting things for him, which thankfully he was very happy with. After making him these presents, I decided to set myself a goal to make all my gifts for people this year, and because I am not buying mass-produced presents, I feel this is a greener way to gift.

Farming Sanctuary NY Visit

This summer, Johnny and I spent six week road tripping across America. The first stop of our journey was the Farming Sanctuary, located in western New York.  The farm has been set up to educate the public about the terrible ways factory farmed animals are treated, as well as the benefits of turning to a plant based diet. We had a wonderful day, and especially loved hanging out with all the animals, including a rather playful turkey named Serpentine and the giant Cow featured below named Thunder!  Here is the website link to the farm.  Please, take a look.

The sanctuary also has two other locations in California.  Hopefully, I will visit them soon.  If you can't make it to either Farming Sanctuary, please look up the animal rescue center in your area, because I am sure they will be happy to educate you, and you may even be able to lend a helping hand. Johnny and I  just signed up to help out at our local Humane Society for Animals, which we are very excited about!

Making our home from scratch

On a sunny day back in early April my hubby and I hit the road to start an adventure across America. Our goal was to find a place to call home. With no real time limits, we explored cities and towns that could offer us a better quality of life. I had lived in London for roughly ten years prior to the trip, and I was desperate to shed big city life in an effort to live closer to nature. After two months of touring the country, and 10,000 miles added to our car mileage, we stuck our flag into the ground, claiming Boulder, Colorado as our home.

Before the road trip we had been traveling the world for almost two years. And to fund these epic adventures we both had to sell most of our possessions to front the bill. Because of this, our belongings fit perfectly into our trusty car for the road trip, and we rocked into Boulder with nothing more than the essentials. It's a very liberating feeling to rid yourself of the junk you accumulate over the years and it also promotes a stress-free living environment.

As Johnny and I arrived in Boulder with nothing, we decided to make furniture and furnishings for our new home.  Slowly but surly our apartment is becoming a cosy home that we handcrafted.  Over the next few weeks, I am going to share with you some of our eco-friendly creations.

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The day everything changed....

It was a normal day back in August when I happened to find myself home alone. I decided to hunt through the documentary section on Netflix, and that's when I came across a film by Marisa Miller Wolfson called, Vegucated. I thought I would give the documentary a go, not knowing the phenomenal effect it would have on me. 

Within the first ten minutes of the movie, I had decided I would become a Vegan. I can honestly say that before watching Vegucated, I thought that by leading a vegetarian diet I was humanely conscious and completely cruelty free. How wrong I was....

I quickly discovered the hard and shocking facts of the dairy industry, and was completely appalled by my own poor judgment regarding dairy products, dairy production, and the industry's practices. Vegucated was exactly the wake up call I needed. And, thus, another vegan was born--actually two vegans were sprouted that day. Returning home from work, my husband found me in an excitable mood.  Filled with energy and facts I had learned through the day's research, I began to unveil my yearning for a new way of life. Right there and then, my husband Johnny became a vegan too, validating the fact that he is the best person I know.