New Addition... & Go Vegan...?

Hello Fellow Gym Rats and Health Nuts!! 
How was everyone's weekend? Mine was great! 

I'm writing this post while the newest addition to my family lays beside me, sleeping soundly. Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Pickle, my new puppy :) Pickle is a "Boggle" - a Beagle mixed with a Boston Terrior, and I absolutely adore her, as does everyone else who has met her. She is the sweetest puppy (she can also be quite the terror at times) - so lovable and personable. Her and Jackson are already great friends. He's been doing a great job keeping her in line and out of trouble (for the most part).

(Dad, if you're reading this, I was going to surprise you, but cat's out of the bag I guess!) 

The rest of my weekend consisted of relaxation, friends, and good food. Saturday Reading had a "Garden Party" (which, I eventually realized was some sort of gay pride event) where you walk around the city to different historical homes and in their yards they had beautiful gardens and were catered by the best restaurants/bars in reading with yummy food, beer and wine.

Derek and I met this nice, very outgoing, gay couple who invited us on their (beautiful) porch to listen to live music and talk and laugh. The couple were very interesting, and served us some undrinkable  drinks as we talked. They had the ugliest dog (lol). The couple later invited us back to a party they were holding in their garden later that night. We did not attend, but what I got out of the whole experience was that gay people are the friendliest people!

Right now I have a new chicken concoction cooking in the oven for dinner. The recipe:

"Skinny" Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast (Organic)

Marinated in:

Lemon Juice (duh)

Fresh Salsa 

Topped with "Skinny" Parmesan Cheese Crumbles 

Bake at 375 until cooked through 

I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm serving the chicken with yellow squash (YUM-O!) and salad.

I've recently been thinking about possibly going vegan. I've been eating a lot of organic foods lately - and it is a bit more expensive, but I just can't wrap my mind around all the toxins we put into our body through processed foods and drinks every single day of our lives. We would be so much healthier if we cut all of those processed goods out of our diets. 

I was a vegetarian for about 7 months in high school due to a PETA video, but missed meat too much and went back to my carnivore diet. I'm not sure how I will do without any meat or dairy products again, or how it would affect my workouts...but it's something I've really been considering trying.

I also think being a vegan as well as a college student supporting herself would be hard on the wallet, so I'm not sure if I should just keep eating organic for now? But that's expensive too...

I guess what I need to do is just sit down and really do my research about veganism. If I do try it, I want to last more than a week! The thing I'm most concerned about is my workouts and if they would suffer or not. That's really what I need to look into. 

Are any of my readers vegans? How do you like it? Do you work out as well? How are your energy levels?  Any information would be great! 

Remember, everyone, there's a contest going on right now! Check it out two posts prior to this one!! 

There's still a lot of time!! 

xxxxxo

Fitness Felicia