so last year I did some google hunting and found some blogs that said lou malnati’s crust was vegan. this news changed my life as prior to going vegan i was a deep dish once a week kind of girl. now… while i don’t necessarily want to go back to that habit, i’d be happy to be a deep dish once in awhile kind of girl. and so i started ordering my lou’s without cheese (they don’t even sound surprised when i call and order this). it’s AMAZING. that tomatoey goodness with delicious veggies and that buttery (without butter) crust. SO good. but then last week i had a nightmare that i was lying to myself all along and never actually confirmed the veganness of the crust with lou’s and i just saw a blog that said what i wanted to hear and believed it. so with a guilty conscience i woke up the next day and emailed lou malnati’s to see if their crust is, in fact, vegan. and guess what they said?

Hi Terry,

Yes, that is correct.  The deep dish crust is vegan as long as you do not request the butter crust.  The thin crust is not vegan, and already has butter in it.

Best regards,

Meggie Lindberg
Marketing Manager
Malnati Organization, Inc.

oh happy day!! so now i will enjoy my occasional lou malnati’s with a huge smile on my face knowing for sure that i’m enjoying my favorite pizza of all time (bold statement… i know) and it’s cruelty free!

Ready for my first race of the season!

(Source: theaestheticsfaculties)

(Source: work-your-ass-off-for-it)

vegnews:

Ever had a torta? It’s a Mexican sandwich full of all of the best things in life, like beans, avocado, and peppers.

Vegan or not, there’s no better place to start than this Mexican Fried Eggplant Sandwich. Just look at those layers!

Click here for the recipe. 

this is my most recent tattoo and it’s on my ankle/foot. like above my heel? i got this in minnesota with my two best friends (hawthorn tree & forget-me-not) and we all got them in the same place. though mine healed horribly! the tattoo guy was definitely not the best. for these tiny tattoos it took like three or four hours for the three of us. not cool buddy! anyways this is sanskrit for friendship and now i suppose the three of us will just have to be friends forever. or end up like WB characters who used to be best friends and got matching tattoos and turned into nemeses. these two ladies, however, i never have to worry about losing. we all live in different cities and only all three meet up every few years, but when we do it’s epic and wonderful and one day we’ll all live in the same city and be able to feel complete.

so that’s it for me and my tattoos. when i first started getting them i only got them on my dad’s birthday and on the anniversary of his death, but after awhile i started getting more flexible with timing. and went from two a year to oneish a year. i have my next few planned out and the next will be in may, on the ten year anniversary of losing him. even though my tattoos may not coincide with dates reminding me of my dad, they do make me think about him and maybe that’s why i keep getting them? ten years later i still think about him every day, but not in a sad way any more. of course it still makes me sad to think about it and sometimes it’s overwhelming to think about, but most of the time i just think about him. maybe it’s something i think he’d like (“oh man dad would have liked that cake”) or something i think he’d hate (“good thing dad didn’t know i forgot to change my oil”). my mom’s dad died when she was 13 so i never knew him, but from what i hear they were pretty close. i remember when i was younger i asked her if she still thought about him ever and she said “every day”. i didn’t really get that and it made me really sad to think that still after 100s of years (i was little… my mom seemed ancient!) she still missed her dad every day. what i didn’t understand was it wasn’t a sad thing. that’s something that will never ever go away. you’ll always miss the people in your life who aren’t there any more, dead or alive. but it isn’t necessarily a sad thing. and at first it might seem overwhelming and devastating and like you’ll never feel normal again, but you figure out what a new normal is. at least that’s how it was for me. it took a long time to get to my new normal and to be okay with the new me (shit like this seriously changes the core of your being! okay not always. for me it did though). but i am here! and i am happy with my life and with myself (though i question both what i want to do with my life and who in the world i am on a daily basis). whoa. tattoo post turned deep. stay tuned for #18 though! it’s gonna be a doozy!

this is a bad angle but this is my forget me not. my best friend in portland has them too and i got this with her in portland at the vegan mall. she has them on her back. another wonderful friend tattoo that i will have forever with one of my best friends. above it is the cherry blossom and below it i will get the hawthorne tree, which my other best friend has. i am so blessed to have lots of best friends. i know the word “best” implies “one” but i think the term “best friend” means something else. it means someone you love like family that you will always be there for and will always be there for you. you fight like family too, but always come back to each other. these are the people you will take a bullet for and wouldn’t be you without. and truly i am so lucky to have so many of these people in my life. so i get tattoos for them. it’s how i roll.

so here’s my right wrist. these are my stars. my bff in STL has them too. except bigger and on her ankle. she got them when she was in chicago and i loved them so much i just spur of the moment got them too. i like to color them in sometimes. my twinkling stars that will forever tie me to my bff.