Holiday Mail for Heroes

Last year, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to participate in her and her boyfriend's effort to collect Christmas cards for soldiers. Given my love of Christmas, I was thrilled to help them, and sent in countless cards.

This year, I want to do something similar. I'm not sure which program my friends used last year, but a Google search turned up the Red Cross's program Holiday Mail for Heroes among several results warning people of scams for this kind of thing. Trusting the legitimacy of the Red Cross, I'm going with their program this year.

I'm sharing this across my social media forums in the hopes that others will join me and make a similar gesture. Regardless of political affiliation or opinions about our current government or military engagements, the individual soldiers are still people, spending holidays away from the warmth and safety of their homes and families.

If you would like to participate, you can send your cards to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes

P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

All cards must be postmarked by Friday, December 9th. Cards postmarked after this day will be returned to sender. Please keep the following guidelines in mind:

Ensure that all cards are signed.

Use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member.” Cards addressed to specific individuals can not be delivered through this program.

Only cards are being accepted. Do not send letters.

Do not include email or home addresses on the cards, as the program is not meant to foster pen pal relationships.

Do not include inserts of any kind, including photos, as these items will be removed during the reviewing process.

We encourage participants to mail as many cards as they are comfortable sending. If you are mailing a large quantity, please bundle the cards and place them in large mailing envelopes or use a flat rate box from the post office. Each card does not need its own envelope, as cards will be removed from all envelopes before distribution.

Please refrain from sending holiday cards with glitter. Many of these cards will be delivered to military and veterans medical facilities and the glitter could interfere with a patient's recovery

Who sustains serious injuries while at the dog park?

"Gud mornin hooman, why iz yew in bed?"

So, I'm laid up in bed today. Yesterday was unusually beautiful (sunny and 65 degrees in November? Yes, please) so I took advantage of the weather and went to the dog park with Dakota. Everything was going well - she made two friends who loved to rough house as much as she does. Then this ugly, annoying, pervert of a dog (and no, I'm not biased. It looked like a giant rat.) showed up and would not leave Dakota alone. Dakota loves just about everyone canine or human, but she WILL become aggressive if a dog is too much up in her lady parts or tries to hump her. It just doesn't fly with her, and I don't blame her. She kept barking at this dog, like, "Hey, back off perv, I don't like that." The dog was oblivious and so was his moronic owner, and Dakota was becoming increasingly agitated. So, I turned to shoo Dakota away from that dog, and as I turned back around, this beautiful, massive Rottweiler took off after a tennis ball and collided head-on in my shin. I'm talking 150 pounds of all muscle, hauling ass, connecting with my shin. I yelled a couple of expletives, and as soon as I was sure I could walk, we dipped out.

Omni Mom is wonderful, and took me to the ER. Nothing is fractured or broken, but I have a huge, bruised lump, and the bruising runs up and my down my leg. I'm on crutches and laid up to try to prevent worsening bruising. Awesome...

I wrapped this thing to death overnight...

This probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been distracted by a poorly behaved dog. So, fellow dog owners, please understand that the dog park is not a babysitting service. You need to be cognizant of where your dog is and what s/he's doing at all times... or else next time, I might let Dakota tear into your dog.

BARCStoberfest

My little brother and Mandi are visiting this weekend, and we took Dakota to BARCStoberfest earlier today. There weren't a ton of things for dogs to do, but there were plenty of vendors selling dog toys, treats, clothing, etc. At DogFest last weekend, we found Ruby & Bailey, a dog treat company. We bought the fall mix bag (apple and pumpkin flavored treats). Dakota loved them, so we picked up another bag of treats from them today. My favorite part of the festival, though, was that BARCS had adoptable pets out and socializing with festival goers. I wish I could have adopted all of them; we met several sweet, friendly puppies! Dakota and I dressed up, too. Can you tell who we are?

The Compassion Over Killing table had vegan food samples!
NOMNOMNOM.

Vegan hot dogs, too?!?!

Best friends.

DogFest 2011

On Saturday, Dakota and I ventured out to the Baltimore Humane Society in Reisterstown for their annual DogFest. The event was wonderfully organized with helpful volunteers wherever you needed them (at the bathrooms, most importantly!). There were great vendors and advocacy groups, too! Someone's birthday is coming up, so I felt the need to buy everything...

She's brilliant.

Spoiled rotten.

Maybe this will last longer than a week.

If you missed DogFest but want to get out with your puppy, don't forget about BARCStoberfest this Saturday!

A technicality...

As you are (hopefully!) well aware, Vegan MoFo is vegan food all day, every day for a month. And while today's food is technically vegan... I don't recommend you eat it.

I bring you vegan dog treats. I can't even remember what made me google vegan dog treats, but I did, and came across a few recipes that called for things I had on hand. I picked a peanut butter recipe, because I think the only person who loves pb more than I do is Dakota. I just bought some Halloween cookie cutters yesterday, too, so I thought it'd be cute to make some seasonally appropriate shaped treats.

You'll need:

- 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 C water
- 1/2 C peanut butter

1. Combine water, oil, and peanut butter. Add flour one cup at a time. By the time I got to the last cup, I had to use my hands to mix it. Add a splash of water if necessary. Form a ball.
2. Divide ball into two halves. Roll out ball of dough, cut into squares/use cookie cutters/use glass to cut treats. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Repeat with remaining dough.
4. Bake on 350 for about 10 minutes. Baking time will vary depending on the size of your treats; just keep an eye on them!

Dakota loved them, and while I'm not sure if that's a good indicator as to how other dogs will like them because she eats just about anything, I felt better feeding her these natural and vegan dog treats! I ended up with about three dozen treats, so I bagged up some for a few doggy friends of ours!

Have you ever made your own dog treats or dog food? If so, please share your experiences! I'm interested in transitioning Dakota to a more natural/vegan diet, but I know little about it so far and would love to hear from other parents of puppies!

Lollerskates.

I've come across some funny pictures since the start of Vegan MoFo, and I thought I'd share.

I'll be back tonight with sweet potatoes and butternut squash. Happy Tuesday!

Birthday Shenanigans

I love birthdays. It doesn't matter whose birthday it is - I love them all! This past Friday was my 24th birthday, which was slightly weird for me. You know how when you're young, 24 seems so old and adulty? It's kind of funny to compare our mental pictures of what certain ages should look and feel like, and then how they really are. It was a wonderful birthday, though, and I spent it with some of my favorite people.

I started my day with lunch and pedicures with my mom and two of my best girlfriends, Mandi and Jen. We went to Sticky Rice to eat, and I ordered my usual. It was my birthday and the mock chicken szechuan is my favorite - I didn't want to be adventurous. The food was great, but the service was kind of slow. Not cool, guys.

After that, we headed over to Juste B in Locust Point, Baltimore's first and only organic nail salon. Juste B is an amazing alternative to conventional nail places. The environment was clean, fresh, and free of the harsh chemical smell that screams "HI YOU'VE JUST ENTERED A NAIL SALON." The staff was great, too! They were friendly, fun (and funny), and engaging. They even surprised me with a cupcake!

When Mom, Mandi, and I returned home, I was greeted with an amazing chocolate cake my mom baked for me. She made a double recipe for chocolate cupcakes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. She used just a bit of almond extract (I normally do just vanilla extract) and oh my the almond extract was such a yummy addition. I definitely recommend it!

That evening, I went dancing! It was the first time I've seen a lot of my work friends since summer started. I had so much fun despite the fact that it was 100 degrees.

The peanut butter to my jelly. The Birdman to my Lil Wayne.

My best friends from work, Jen and Sabrina!

Admittedly, I needed a bit of recovery on Saturday morning. Mandi and I spent too much of our day catching up on True Blood. We eventually dragged ourselves out to dinner at Papermoon Diner.

I ordered Life on the Pita, my favorite! The hummus is always a little different, but always yummy. And the pita bread! I don't know what they do to it, maybe lace it with crack, but the pita bread is the best I have ever had anywhere. It's always so soft and warm and delicious and I can't ever not eat all of it.

Later that night, Jen's band played a gig not far from my house. I may or may not have indulged in too much gin, but I had a wicked good time. 

My aunt brought these goofy glasses.

I'm with the band.

This summarizes the rest of my evening.

Despite (another) rough morning, Dakota and I made it over to Jen's on Sunday afternoon for a low-key cookout. Jen's puppy Dexter was recently fixed, so we had to put play dates on a temporary hold. I thought Dakota and Dexter were going to explode with excitement when they saw each other. And we made a new friend, Bailey the insanely adorable boxer.

Thanks to my wonderful mommy, my amazing friends, and some gosh darn cute puppies for the best birthday!