Vegan wedding dresses

Well... I failed at posting again the same week as my last post. 10 days later isn't too terrible, though, right? I thought today I'd share a few of my favorite handmade, vegan wedding dress finds.

I bought my dress from a neat little shop called Olivia Luca. The coolest thing about the website/shop is that you design your own dress. In the design studio, you choose the neckline, skirt shape and length, fabric, color, and detail (for example, a sash around the waist) for your dress. For my wedding dress (no pics until after the wedding, of course!), I chose to use the organic cotton for a vegan and eco-friendly option.

There are a few other cute dresses I found by other small, handmade business. My favorite is probably Sarah Seven. She builds her dresses off of vintage bustiers, how cool is that!? Most of her dresses are silk (which, if you're fine with that, have at it!), but she has a few that are made with tulle or netting. Like this lovely elope dress:



Ouma and Holly Stalder also make cute dresses. Ouma is for the ballerina, tutu-loving, girlie-girl in us all. Holly's dresses are again mostly silk, but she works with a lot of tulle, and I'm sure she'd be willing to line with something else if asked. Holly also makes adorable vintage lace shrugs. I was afraid they were a bit fancy for the look I'm trying to achieve, but my mom convinced me I needed one. So I ordered one, and I am NOT regretting that decision. She worked with me to make a shrug with details I love in a hand-dyed color to match my wedding theme. My shrug is AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL and probably my favorite part of my wedding attire at this point.


*Just as a note, here's why I don't wear silk: I'm definitely not a fan of bugs, but I absolutely cannot support boiling alive THOUSANDS of silkworms for ONE dress. Especially for a wedding. That should be a time of happiness... not genocide! But that's just my opinion, and you certainly don't have to agree!


EDIT:
I found another pretty awesome dress! See here. It's not technically a "wedding dress" but the designer has made it as a wedding dress for several customers. I just adore the mix of an old-fashioned structure with modern, box-y ruffles. An interesting note on the designer, Liza Rietz: she also tours with a rock band. A life of rock and fashion, what a lucky lady!

Happy New Year!

I totally suck at being a blogger, BUT!!! it is now 2011, and 2011 will be a great year. One of my New Years resolutions is to blog more frequently. I think a lot of my problem is that with the upcoming wedding, I just have TOO MUCH to blog about, and I'm just not sure where to start. Well! I solemnly vow to blog tomorrow...ish. Ok, how about sometime this week (...that's reassuring).


While I'm on the topic of New Years resolutions, here are my other ones:
- Reduce the amount of processed foods I eat (aka, cook from scratch a lot more and avoid that darn microwave)
- Practice yoga 4-6x a week. I think I'll up this to 5-6x in February. Gotta look perfect for my wedding!
- Keep the apartment cleaner. This one is a complete failure so far... Lazy, lazy me.


I also had some other personal health goals for the past few months with which I'm having various levels of success:

- No more caffeine! I'm probably doing the best on this one. I do have a cup of green tea about every other day or less, and I still often have decaf coffee. So, I'm getting a little bit of caffeine, but I've cut back SUBSTANTIALLY. I highly recommend giving up caffeine. I can tell a huge difference in my daily... umm... sleepiness? I sleep less overall (which is a good thing because I often sleep 10+ hours), and I feel much more awake throughout the day.

- Don't have sugar or agave nectar. They're just not natural. The sweetness is too concentrated. I've resorted to brown rice syrup and maple syrup (YUM) for my sweeteners, though I really rarely have sweets at all. If I make myself a cup of (decaf) coffee, I'll add about a teaspoon of maple syrup. It's still not the best sweetener for you, but I love that maple flavor. Plus, it has at least a little nutritional value (it contains a decent percentage of calcium, iron, and a few others). If you do decide to try some maple syrup go for Grade B. Grade B is boiled at a lower temperature, and therefore retains more of its nutritional value.

- Reduce soy intake. I'm terrible at this one. My huge weakness is still soy lattes (and, of course, Starbucks' soymilk is sweetened with what I can only assume is sugar *sigh*). I don't know what it is about lattes... they're just happiness in a cup to me. I can't find any definitive sources on soy, but it has enough supposed good and bad health effects that I've personally concluded it's probably fine to have in moderation. This is, of course, assuming it's non-GMO (aka not genetically modified).


Alrighty then, I'll be back later this week! Hmm which topic to choose then... (Oh, and I apologize for the lack of pretty pictures)

Save the NEW Date...

Ok, I lied. Cross April 29th off your calendars, and mark Tony and Ev in a little heart on April 30th! We found an awesome (and green!) venue called event1013 in downtown Plano, which saved us a nice wad of cash compared to the other place we were planning on using. Check it out!

event1013

While you're at it, check out our wedding website. It's in need of some work, but I'm waiting until we get our engagement photos done. Anyway, there's still some stuff done on there, so have at it!

Tony and Ev

<3s!

A Side Order of Guilt

Last night Tony and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie (hooray!). We got there about an hour and a half early, so we opted to sit down at their cafe and split an order of french fries. I LOVE french fries and potato chips, but I usually avoid them due to the greasiness, high calorie content, and lack of nutritional value. I hadn't had either in a while, though, so I figured, meh, what the hell! But then, as we sat there munching on fries, I looked over at the next table where they were having fried chicken tenders. I thought to myself, "Hmm, I wonder if they have separate fryers..." Now, I know most places usually do have separate fry and meat fryers, but I've heard that if the restaurant gets busy, they'll often toss whatever into whichever.

I guess that thought bothered me more than I knew at the time. Every once in a while when I feel guilty about something I've eaten, I'll have a nightmare in which I eat meat. Last night was one of those times. I dreamed that my mom served up fried chicken for dinner, and I had a few bites before realizing, "WAIT! WHAT AM I DOING!? I DON'T EAT MEAT!!!" Then I set the chicken down, disgusted. Sometimes parts of dreams feel so real, and tasting the nasty, greasy chicken fat sure was a horrid, realistic feeling. I think the fact that Thanksgiving is coming is another reason I had this dream. I've been dreading seeing that poor animal carcass sitting on the table while the rest of my family chows down on its flesh.

My point in all this is not that vegans and vegetarians should beat themselves up over little slips. My point is that you should listen to yourself. From now on, I'll probably never touch a restaurant french fry again. I'm obviously not OK with eating them, and I feel good knowing that I discovered something about myself.

I'll end with a little plug for Farm Sanctuary. If I had ANY spare money right now, I'd love to donate to this. Hopefully someone else out there will read my blog or one of the many places it's posted and decide to take part. Maybe I can convince my mom as a way to make our Thanksgiving more compassionate. Check it out, and sponsor a turkey! http://www.adoptaturkey.org/

My new favorite vegan products

I finally gave a few of Strawberry Hedgehog's products a try after many months spent lusting after them. I learned about Strawberry Hedgehog through the wonderful Vegan Beauty Review (awesome blog, check it out)! Strawberry Hedgehog products are ALL vegan and handmade without chemicals, sulfates, parabens, artificial fragrances, dyes, or other harmful crap. Hooray!

My absolute favorite new thing is Tracy's organic whipped body creme. It's "unscented" other than the natural scents of the ingredients, which make it smell like almondy, vanilla-y, chocolatey cookie deliciousness. The creme is a bit thick, but after a little rub between my fingers I can smooth it on with ease. This stuff is heaven. Literally. A lot of lotions and body cremes don't really seem to absorb into my skin, but this one is very hydrating without being greasy. How fantastic does this look:



I'm also loving her tea tree rosemary face soap/cleanser/thing. Recently my face was getting pretty icky. I could feel the dead skin in a few places (sexy, no?), but nothing I tried would get it off. Just one use and those nasty patches started coming right off. Two uses later, my skin feels 100x better. Not to mention I've been very blemish-free for me (though I also gave up caffeine and started drinking a lot more water, so that could be from any combination of things).

I'd really like to try one of the facial treatment oils next time I make a purchase... which will definitely happen soon because I AM IN LOVE.

Save the Date!

4/29/2011!

In Appreciation of my Kitty Love

This may be a bit of an odd post to the majority of people, but I felt it needed to be made. I owe so much to my baby girl; she has been a blessing in my life. It's strange to think that one little cat could significantly change the world, but the way I see it Kitty has. Especially my world.

Tony and I adopted Kitty together very early in our relationship. We were both slightly different people back then, and without her our love may not have survived. Both of us were somewhat anti-commitment and would rather walk away than fix our problems. We broke up a few times, and that probably would have been the end of things if it weren't for Kitty. She kept me coming back. My parents wouldn't let me keep her at home, so I had to go over to Tony's daily to see her. I couldn't abandon my baby! Where our pride and stubbornness kept us from making amends, Kitty came in; we were connected by her. Eventually we stopped fighting it. We realized how great of a couple we are and that we wanted to spend our lives together.

Then, of course, she inspired a huge change in my lifestyle. If it weren't for her I doubt I would have gone vegan. Now when I think about the animals that other people eat, I think how if they are anything like Kitty, I could never harm them. I want them to have the love, respect, and lives they deserve, just as I try to give her and little Cindy. They never cease to amaze me with their intellect and adorableness hehe. Kitty melted my heart and helped my love and appreciation of animals grow. Thanks to her I've lessened my carbon footprint, around 100 animals a year are saved by my diet, and Tony and I are both healthier.

Here are a few pictures of the kitty that made the world a better place:

Napping in mommy's lap


Getting in the Christmas spirit


Peek-a-boo!


With daddy :)




Being a good sis


I LOVE YOU KITTY! I LOVE YOU CINDY!