Gee, you smell terrific!

Fact: I want to be a vegetarian.

I'm sorry. What now?

I am a self-proclaimed "meat and potatoes girl". I love leather, whether it comes in the form of brown ankle boots or a luscious Nine West purse. I prefer my steak medium rare. The smell of a grilled chicken sandwich slathered in barbecue sauce makes me salivate with joy. When my dad used to make goulash, he would cook ground beef in a pan and I would ask for my own little bowl of browned beef chunks, which I would snork down with a spoon. Does that paint a decent picture?

I believe it was this past July when I noticed my mom was reading a book called Skinny Bitch. Immediately intrigued by the title, I stole the book from her (I do that a lot) and learned that I am supposed to be a vegan. Now... that's just not gonna happen. I have a love affair with dairy that needs no fixing. Nevertheless, I was so bothered by all the horrific treatment of the animals that I started to look at my chicken sandwich a little differently. I wanted to change!

Now,this time last year, I could count the vegetables I would eat (willingly) on one hand... and yes, corn counts! Okay, fine. Corn is a starch but I still count it. Since then, my vegetable repertoire has grown. I mean, I eat salad now! That's HUGE!

So, when I get home (it's so close, I can smell the hamburgers... I mean, the soy), I'm going to make an active effort to remove a sizable amount of meat from my diet. I guarantee a rather large digression at Thanksgiving, another small one at Christmas... and perhaps a slight misstep during my birthday in January, maybe a faux pas on Presidents' Day and maybe a small slip-up on St. Paddy's. I'm not worried about Valentine's Day as the only food group on my mind at that point will be the dark chocolate and nougat areas of the Food Pyramid.

(To be said with a southern accent) "I believe all of God's creatures have a place on this earth... on my plate, next to the mashed potatoes."
-Ms. Lindsay Kerrigan

Chick-Fil-A doesn't count, right?