Meeting Thee Erin Red

I know I should post pictures of the food we ate(they're coming!), review the talks and inspiring speakers, and celebrate the variety of great people we met. But no, I need to talk about meeting Erin Red.

Yes folks. It was a magical moment.
Abigail and I were sitting, waiting for Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's first talk, From Excuse-itarian to Vegan: Addressing the Blocks and Excuses that Keep Us from Making Changes on Saturday, September 8th.
In the front row, I might add, cause we're super nerds.

What Would Colleen Patrick-Goudreau Do?

"I Can't Even Look At You In That Fur"

Sitting and waiting. I recognized a female's voice just behind me. She excused herself as she tried to get past someone. Before I had even turned around fully, and before the thought had truly registered in my brain, I heard myself exclaiming, "Erin Red?!"
Then I saw her. Red hair and all. She saw me and exclaimed herself, "Alyx Millham?!"
We both grinned widely, and immediately moved from where we were.
I stood from my seat, and she somehow shimmied her way out of the isle.

Seriously. It was magical.
I felt like we were two lovers in an open field, running toward one another, with open arms, about to embrace.
Okay, not exactly...I wrote 'like'...so similarly. And I'm sure we didn't look that way to bystanders.
But we did hug, and took our seats again. She introduced me to her father. He was very kind. And awesome!

After the talk, Colleen was signing books, so Abi and I waited our turn in line. While we waited, Erin talked with us, and showed us her new tattoo! Colleen hadn't even seen it yet! Pretty incredible stuff, I must say(mighty tempted to copy her).
Colleen signed my Vegan's Daily Companion, and Abi's The Vegan Table.
Yes, Abigail and I lugged them from home in Regina, Saskatchewan. Don't judge.
I got Erin to sign Vegan's Daily Companion on the page where her story is(pg 292-From Skeptic To Vegan).
She wrote,
"Remember to always ask yourself-WWCPGD? You're awesome. Don't forget it. Erin Red xoxo"

I brought the tattoo magazine, Skin & Ink(April/May 2012) with her tattooed self, gracing the pages. She signed that, too.
"You are the reason I do what I do, thank you for your powerful activism! Much love! Erin Red xoxo"

We got photographs with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and Erin Red. I felt like the luckiest woman alive.

Pre-Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival

Food Festival Site

My first vegetarian festival. <beam>
Abigail and I flew to Toronto, Ontario just for this event. Neither of us had been to Toronto before. Well, I've been to the airport, but that's it.
This was a big deal.

It was the weekend before we were to be roommates.
September 7-9th, 2012.
It was a good test to see if we could live together.
As I talked about in a past post, I had moved back in with my parents since the split from Troy. Abigail is quite a bit younger than myself(10 or 11 years-but who's counting, am I right??), she hadn't moved out of her Mom's place yet. Mallory(my sister) had told me her plan to move into her boyfriend's condo, and I told her I would be interested in renting her house from her. Course, I needed a roommate because I don't make a heck of a lot of money.

Focus Alyx!!

My apologies.
Abigail and I were flying to Toronto! We were both so excited.
Well . . . ecstatic is more accurate . . . I was hoping to meet some of my vegan heroes!! Namely, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and Erin Red. I was also very much looking forward to going to the talks from Dr. Michael Gregor, and Rich Roll.

I was a little concerned that this event would prove to be entirely too much for my brain. I get overwhelmed when more than 5 people are present. Never mind the 40,000 visitors the Toronto Vegetarian Association boasted. Plus, an unfamiliar bed, no time for my daily nap, decidedly long days of lectures, meeting lots of people, and eating. A lot of eating. I was nervous that I would get overwhelmed, then tired, then really bitchy, and Abigail would just say, "forget you!" and not want to move into my sister's house with me.
It was a lot of pressure.

We arrived there Thursday around noon. We took our bags to our hotel, then began our food vacation! We tried to hit as many vegan and vegetarian restaurants as we could. Every time someone heard we were from somewhere else, they would insist we need to eat at such-and-such. We were only there four days-not thirty! Plus we had a lot of stuff to check out at the festival.
Not to worry though, like good vegans, we photographed everything we ate.
This trip will have to be broken into more posts. So stay tuned!

It was an excellent trip, one I hope to make each year. Abigail and I decided we would plan more 'food vacations' for the future. We also decided sharing living space with one another would work out.

I was very tired when we got home. Tired, happy, full of hope and delicious plants.