Dear Kerby,

All I can say is that it has been a while since I last wrote. I have had things going through my head that I have wanted to write you about things going on lately. It is more of me being afraid of telling you rather than being lazy and not writing. 

Here I go:

• relationships
• computers problems
• design work
• photography
• exercise

With this being 2017 and I not being in a relationship I wanted to start over. I have been taking to some guys but never sure where it goes. They talk to me as if it is going to lead to a first date but they fade away. In the past week I found someone new to talk to. This one had lead to me going on a date/ hanging out with him in a few days. On the outside I am excited but on the inside I know not to get my hopes up.

Last year I had a computer problem with the new update. The Apple Store wiped my computer clean and did a clean install of the operating system. Since that incident I have been using Time Machine on my iMac. have not had to restore anything from it so far. 

In the past week I found out that I had an external drive start failing on me. The bad way to notice it is when files start to disappear. The Genius Bar at the Apple Store told me to put the files on the Mac hard drive itself. Time Machine will take care of backing up the files. In the future, I would like to get a new portable external drive. Not a priority because life changed and I hardly have a place to transport the files; not going to school any more. I would still like something portable for those large files.

I have been doing a little design work from time to time as always. I find little projects I do for people but noting that major at this point. I keep up with what I like to do.

Photography is also keeping me busy. I have had two shows so far to display work in and I am working on a third. All I can say is that creativity takes time. Executing the photograph is the main chunk of the project when you do things as I do. I hope one photo will sell. 

When feeling healthy I get back into exercising. I am sticking to the 5 days a week goal that I set for myself 95% of the time. It works for me as long as I watch what I eat and log it. My goal is to be more fit for a special event I have planned in June. Maybe, this goal makes me more fit.

Lately, I feel better about myself. Things can only get better.

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Keeping On

• Posted by: bluelaugh
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Dear Kerby,

I do not know if you have ever heard about MorningStar Farms, Boca, or Gardein before. These are all companies that produce vegetarian food. The first company I got hooked on was Boca. The Boca company makes two veggie burgers and a chicken patty that I was introduced to. These were the basic of my existence when cooking on my own while living at the dorms. I later found MorningStar Farms products. The MorningStar Farms company sells more than burgers. They make meat crumble for tacos, chili and much more. They also make meatballs, breakfast sausages (links and patties), veggie dogs, bacon, and other varieties of meatless style meat. Some of the MorningStar Farms products can be stand alone like the ribs with sauce or in a recipe like the meatballs. Gardein is very Similar to MorningStar Farms except that is has beef tips, veggie fish, turkey cutlets, and fancy main dishes.

I eat these products more than anything else because I find it easier than making a vegetarian recipe. From time to time I make things from scratch when I have extra money. It can add up when you need to buy individual ingredients for every meal. Sad. I like making a veggie meatloaf from scratch. Not many other things do I make from scratch unless it is a special day. I have used the recipes on the websites from Gardein before but that is different than than from scratch.

When I got my new issue of the vegetarian magazine I saw an ad for Lightlife. The ad features a ground beef/meat crumble option. This made me think of the other meat crumbles by the previous mentioned companies. For some reason I had to research Lightlife and find out if they are just a copy of a vegetarian company that already exists. The more satisfying thing that they do different is a veggie style lunch meat. Part of me thinks that this will not be the best thing ever but I am still curious to have a taste. Luckily, sites like these show you where you can buy their products.

The vegetarian isle seems to be growing after I found out which local store (Kroger) sells products from this newly featured company (that had been around a while). Most stores near me that have a vegetarian section do not feature vegetarian items like they would with other products. It might have to do with not many people in my area being vegetarian. At times if I do not take time to look for vegetarian products I will miss them (that is how small the vegetarian section is). When I was living in the dorms I had stopped into an unfamiliar grocery store and it took forever to find the vegetarian section, but I eventually did.

Not sure what new vegetarian company will emerge next. When they do I hope that they make a product different than what is already in stores. Some times I guess it is the Pepsi vs Coke debate all over again.

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Not Meat

• Posted by: bluelaugh
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Dear Kerby,

It has been a while since we last talked. I have been working on some of my art while going through some things.

Here is a screen shot of some of the elements that I have been working for the (dessert) taco truck I am designing. Yes, this truck sells dessert tacos. This is a project for my portfolio. An artist online was nice enough to share a truck template that anyone can use to turn into mock-up of a food truck. This project is fun to do and has me thinking all the time about every decision I make. Hope to show you more later on.

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Tacos

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Dear Kerby,

Today's letter is about food. If you are hungry then you might need to read this letter later.

Since I have been out of high school I have been a vegetarian. It has been a struggle to find places to go out to eat and things to eat on the menu. Most places put at least one vegetarian item on the menu because they have to.

In this time I have made my share of vegetarian meals at home. Some of these meals could have been family meals but failed. No one else in the house cares to eat vegetarian food but me. My mom freaks out if she does not have meat in her meal but yet she has made me meatless meals before. My dad calls my cooking weird from time to time.

Now and again we have pizza night at the house. My mom puts a sausage pizza in the over for her and my dad and a cheese pizza for me. We get the simple pizzas from Aldi and sometimes I like it that way. Lately my mom has been adding more cheese to the pizzas. Last time we had pizza night I knew something tasted weird about the pizza. I told my mom not to add more cheese. I am the only eater of the cheese pizza. Would be different if someone talked to me about adding more cheese.

Pizza night happened again and so did my mom. The pizza was once again ruined with more cheese. I mad funny faces as I ate the pizza due to the more cheese. I am not here for her to judge her about eating her meat so do not screw up what I eat. I wanted to say something this time but I kept quiet as not to start a fight.

Mom dominates the kitchen and when food is not cooked by her she freaks out. I have cooked in replace of my mom on occasion. She feels the need to pester me every step of the way to make sure I am up to her standards. I would like to cook now and again for other people to let them know that I can do something.

The guy I am dating does not have a problem with my vegetarian cooking he eats it all the time. I have tried new recipes on date night and has enjoyed them. He has eaten vegetarian meatloaf (store bought) , faux chicken, faux beef, and many varieties of veggie burgers. When I get a pace of my own I will make more meals like this even when guests come over.

What would you do if someone messed up your meal? Have you ever tried a vegetarian meal before?

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Wrong Food

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Dear Kerby,

A few years ago my mom got a nice wooden box of multiple flavours of tea. She never really drank any of it. As a result I started to drink the tea. After starting to drink the tea my aunt gave me a box of candy cane tea and a box of coconut style tea. I think I became know as the tea drinker of the house. To me, tea is not that bad.

For Christmas this year my mom got me a box of cranberry vanilla tea. I think she got that flavour only because she likes the holiday Cranberry Sierra Mist. after drinking the tea I came to the conclusion that it is not the worst thing ever. I could be drinking a giant bottle of soda pop every day. One of my goals for this year is to drink more of tea that I have at home and buy less. When I am low then I can buy more.

I broke that goal because I was in search of box of watermelon lime tea from Celestial Seasonings yesterday. That multiple places had this particular box of tea. I never did find the tea after visiting three of the places that the website said it would be online. Somehow, my mom got the idea that she wanted to buy it online. In my mind I was yelling and trying to stop her from ordering it. Like I said previously, I have to drink what I have. Her spending habit does not help any.

What do you think of tea? Do you like yours hot or cold? Any good flavours? Do you put in milk or honey?

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Tea Time

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