{The following is an excerpt from a weekly email from Jason Doucette, TasteBetter.com; You can subscribe to your own copy by clicking the newsletter.

Your ideal life starts with breakfast!
I'm in love with that phrase.  What we eat, and maybe more importantly, how, when and with whom we eat, is the foundation for so many things in life. 

I want you to take a moment to think about what your ideal life would be like, but in particular, I want you to think about the food aspect of it, since that's where I can help the most.

You can do this in five minutes, or you could meditate on it for hours.  Picture yourself at each meal.

Don't think about the "how" behind any of this.  In your ideal world, you've already figured all this out.  What I'd like you to do here is to find a few quiet moments and imagine you've got your ideal life, and think a bit about how food mixes into it.

Here are some seed questions to get you started:

How many meals do you eat per day?

Who do you eat with?

How long does a meal take?

Where do you eat lunch?  Dinner?

Do you cook?  Are you in a restaurant?  Is there a Star Trek food replicator gizmo?

Who does the dishes?  Or are there dishes?

How do these meals mix with your day-to-day activities?  What did you do just before lunch?  What do you do right after breakfast?

What about snacks?  When and where?  And why?

Remember, in your ideal life, there's no reason you can't eat what, how, and when you want.  The obstacles are gone.  Think big!

Most people try to design their lives around their jobs.  A few will flip that and design their jobs around their lives.  Here's the third option: with three to six meals a day for the average person, food can be the anchor that the rest of your life is built around.

If you decide what's really important to you, the rest is just a jigsaw puzzle, really, where you fill in those gaps.  Sure, some of them are huge, but let's start with food.

I want to focus some of the work we do on helping you realize your ideal meals, which I believe can lead to an ideal life.  If this exercise has inspired you to share, please let me know one or two insights that you got from it so I can better tune the stuff we produce to help you get there!

And hey, did you come up with any insights that you can put into practice right now?  What were they?

Thank you It's A Vegan Dog's Life for bringing light the hypocrisy of a so called "Humane" product containing inhumane ingredients. Especially when there are humane alternatives readily available.

Unfortunately, this is not the first disappointing idea that HSUS has presented. Like many animal welfare groups, I do not fully support them. Sure, they have good ideas and run effective  campaigns. But then they go and do things like hire Mike Vick. {Boy, I sure hope that works out for them & mostly the dogs.}

Any how, please read the post over at It's A Vegan Dog's Life & write into to  HSUS.

On our way to Colorado Springs today, Sophie & I were admiring the fresh fallen snow. On a meadowy (It's a word) stretch between the highway & a heavily forested area we noted tracks. When Sophie wondered what might have made the trail of prints, I answered that, "it could have been a deer, a rabbit, maybe a coyote or an elk...."  
She exclaimed, "Elves!! I didn't we had elves in our forest!!"

I would be happy to put together a collection of designs just for you! Let me know if you are interested!

Meanwhile, enjoy my current collection!

Animal lovers everywhere, here is a story you won't want to miss.

Jodi of the amazing VET shop This Is It! Creations made a terrible discovery over the weekend: that these three bulls who graze on her property were to be sold for slaughter in short order. Being a person of high ideals, naturally Jodi immediately started looking for an answer - that is, a way to keep these three gorgeous animals from such a brutal and unnecessary death. The solution? Buy them! But cows don't come cheap; their freedom can indeed be purchased, but it will come to the tune of about $3600. Not only that, but the payment must be made by the end of next week!

And so, friends, we ask for your help. Chip in to save Pooka Cow, Spotty Friend, and Less Spotty Friend!
[Important note: though the ChipIn widget says that the final date to donate is March 13, in reality it is February 13!

Several VET member shops including 3 AM Art Productions, Veganosaurus, Holistically Heather, and Cards and Jewelry by Michele as well as Etsy for Animals' Lola Lynn are donating portions of sales through the zero hour. More shops are adding sales donations all the time - Jodi is keeping an updated list on her own This Is It blog. Jodi's own shop will be putting 100% of all sales from today, Wednesday February 3, towards saving the boys. So get shopping already!

Just a few dollars from each of us can make a big difference. These lives matter! Help Jodi to help her friends. What's their alternative to a terrifying slaughterhouse? Says Jodi:
"We've been asked where the cows will go if we do raise enough money to save them - they will stay here, at least for the short term. We have 11 acres of land, a barn, and a stream. We are planning to create a line of products where all of the profits will go toward their care (hay, vet bills, fence mending, etc.) If we can find a loving family with enough land to adopt them, we are definitely open to that as well."Country idyll or the abattoir - three lives are on the line. So, wanna buy a journal?

UPDATE:
So far, $800+ has been raised!!
Here are the shops:
thisisit.etsy.com - donating 100% of sales on both 2/3 and 2/10
veganosaurus.etsy.com - donating 50% of sales through 2/13
mvegan5.etsy.com - donating 10% of sales through 2/15
holisticallyheather.etsy.com - donating 100% of sales through 2/13
auntflospads.etsy.com - donationg 100% of sales through 2/13
aktie9.etsy.com - donating 100% of sales through 2/13
lolalynn.etsy.com - donating 100% of bracelet sales through 2/13
leandogpottery.etsy.com - donating 20% of sales through 2/13
kimbascritters.etsy.com - donating 50% of sales through 2/11
oooohshiny.etsy.com - donating 50% of sales through 2/13

With water become more and more precious, I do not take it for granted.

And with my showers becoming shorter and rare with baby needing my attention, I just have to say, "Oh my God! There is nothing better than a long HOT shower!"


disclaimer: no, I'm not running around in a b.o. funk! I have been bathing. Just not quite as often. :0)


Now a sweet poem;





Millions of water drops
drops of water
millions of drops
Falling down the rocks

Millions of water drops
Glittering in the sun
Shining like pearls

Millions of water drops
Ending as a river
Finding way to ocean

Millions of water drops
Creating childrens happiness
Laughter and joyfullness

Millions of water drops
Soon will tide reach
White long shores

Millions of water drops
Animating Waves
into forming caves

Millions of water drops
splittering from above
till reaching top of the hill

Millions of water drops
Without them no sound
No whispers of the living

Millions of water drops
Watch the clearness
From crest to earth

Millions of water drops
For tribe’s best
Beware of waste

Millions of water drops
Treasured should they be
As belonging to all humanity

by Mencita (Carmen) Monoi Angel
found on { here }

* p.s. Never take for granted a hot shower.

I want to help my friend Jodi save some beautiful bovines. I'm helping where I can. Since she is doing most of the work, I figure I can at least help spread the word. Please throw in a dollar or two. It all helps!
Here is a repost of her plea:

Hi,
I am reaching out to all friends of animals and asking for your help in saving 3 sweet cows.
I just found out that the 3 cows who graze on our land were scheduled to be slaughtered today. We asked the owner if he would consider selling the cows to us instead. He has agreed to that, but would need the money ($3600) in full in just 2 weeks.
We were hoping that he would take payments - and that would give us enough time to put a fundraiser together, but he wasn't willing to do that. We're just happy that he's given us a 2-week extension.
We have named them Pooka Cow (the brown one), Spotty Friend, and Less Spotty Friend.
I am reaching out to you all and asking for help-mainly through donations. Also through networking and getting the word out to everyone you know. I just can't imagine not raising this money in time-they are only 2 years old and have many more years of happy lives to live.
The first step is to raise enough money to save them from being slaughtered.
You can click here to donate:
http://save3cows.chipin.com/saving-3-cows-from-slaughter (or see "chip in" widget box below)
You can also send a check to:
This Is IT! Creations
P.O. Box 1252
Jacksonville, OR 97530

100% of your donation will go toward saving these cows. Our first priority is to raise enough money to save them from being killed. After that, we will focus on raising money to take care of them.
We've been asked where the cows will go if we do raise enough money to save them - they will stay here, at least for the short term. We have 11 acres of land, a barn, and a stream. We are planning to create a line of products where all of the profits will go toward their care (hay, vet bills, fence mending, etc.) If we can find a loving family with enough land to adopt them, we are definitely open to that as well.
Thanks so much, you guys!
Jodi

We all know cigarettes, coffee and crack are addictive.

But did you know that chocolate, cheese, meat and sugar
are addictive too?

They actually release opiate-like substances in your
brain that cause you to crave and eat more and more.

Willpower is not to blame!

Neal Barnard MD -- founder of the Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) -- shows just how this works,
and how industry, aided by government, exploits these natural
cravings, pushing us to eat more and more unhealthy foods.

What is the solution?

Watch Dr. Barnard's full 40-minute presentation and find out:

http://vegsource.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/news/649858624054/

Peas & Love,
Jeff and Sabrina
P.S. Please share VegSource with friends and colleagues.

Some of the project 365 photo highlights from the week... enjoy!

Well technically I'm not using film, so I should have said "fun with photos". Oh well.


I finally have a place for you to see my 365 project photos all in one place.