Meet Our Family

ASHLEY
 The expectant mother who started this page.

  I entered the world of vegetarianism in 1999, after my own mother brought home a pair of discounted steaks. These steaks had prominent veins. Those steaks were the last time I put meat in my mouth. I no longer could separate the animals I loved from the food on my plate. I went vegan two years later, after a high school friend loaned me Being Vegan by Joanne Stepaniak. I cried throughout the whole book. I thought I was doing all that I could for the animals by not eating them, but I realized that my choice to still consume dairy and eggs was doing just as much harm. I have made several bad choices in my life, choosing compassion was the best choice thus far. 

  In addition to being a vegan, I am also a writer. I have recently finished the first draft of my first novel--such a beautiful accomplishment. I can't wait to revise and see it to completion. 2014 is a year of creation for me, for sure. Before finishing that first draft, I found out I was creating another masterpiece: a tiny human. This tiny human inspired this blog, crafting a log of my own personal journey through vegan pregnancy and my impending future of vegan parenting. 

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ERIC

        He can whip up some sweet vegan buffalo sauce, cheeze balls, and jalapeño poppers. Eric has such infectious excitement over veganism. Sometimes you forget how awesome it is to live compassionately--the gleam in Eric's eyes when he tries a new Veg restaurant re-inspires me.  He went vegan in 2011, after lengthy interest in the lifestyle. His choice was based on a desire to live peacefully, artistically, and culturally. All while saving animals.

   Eric is a stellar musician. One day he will release an entire canon of revolutionary material, music the world needs. Music that matters.  I can't wait to have him co-tour with me once the book is ready for the world's eyes. We have planned an artistic collaboration, which will blend cinema, sound, and literature.   

   It is an understatement to say that I'm excited to co-parent with him. We are going to have an intellectual, creative, and conscientious child. I'm sure of it. 

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Pandora
The feline goddess of the house. My eternal feline muse.

January 2002, I walked into the Long Beach Humane Society with my grandmother, intent on finding a male, black cat. I found Pandora instead. She was all alone in a glass room. It was instantaneous love. I was further introduced to her in a small room, just us and a feather toy. That was it; we became best friends. We moved into our first apartment together, an experience in dealing with a feisty cat who snapped her teeth the entire move into her cat carrier. Pandora and I have now lived in two states, three cities, and three decades of my life together. 

Pandora enjoys eating, lounging, and the occasional window voyeurism. 

Gustav
Gustav came into our lives on October 13th, 2012. Earlier in the day I had attended the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, which is an annual event that every reader and writer within any radius of Nashville should attend. Anyway, that evening Eric and I were driving near our house and saw a German Shepherd running down the street, a nylon rope dangling from his neck. The rope coiled around a stop sign, and the dog let out a pitiful yelp. We pulled over without hesitation. 

The dog wouldn't come into the car, so we walked him home. We sought out his original home, scanned him for microchips, posted ads. Nobody claimed him. We came to a sorrowful conclusion: we weren't ready to take on a dog; we didn't have the funds or time to give him what he deserved. With tears in our eyes we found a rescue. They would find him a better life than he had surely had before we found him, probably tied up and left in a yard as a "protection" device. 

Everything happens for a reason, I hear. Gustav wasn't taken by the rescue. He bit a vet and was deemed unadoptable. He would certainly be euthanized. Against our initial resistance, we took him in. We gave him pure food and access indoors. We found a local trainer/behaviorist. Tonia, from the Training Spot, has been such an asset to our lives with Gustav. She has brought him from a recalcitrant hellion to the loyal friend we have today. He still has issues, but that comes with the rescue territory.

Baby

On her way!