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About a week ago I got a frantic call from my friend Jayde telling me that she witnessed one of the Carriage Horses (who drag around tourists) fall on the street and get caught up in the reins. I asked her to run back and take photos of the horse … not because I wanted to see the carnage but because the Carriage Tour Groups try and hide what’s happening with the horses so they clean up any evidence “spills” before the public can see.

By the time she got back to the scene … it was all cleaned up and the poor horse was gone.

Well yesterday nobody could hide what happened. A beautiful horse named Sarg was clipped by a tour bus. Spooked he threw his rider off the carriage and barreled down the busy Victoria downtown streets in fear. My husband Gerry actually saw the horse and carriage bolting down Wharf Street in front of Tattoo Zoo. In the carriage was a customer screaming for help because there was nobody driving the carriage and Sargent was hell bent on getting back to his “home”.

FYI. His “home” is a corner on one of the busiest tourist streets in Victoria where all the tour buses, cars, and tourists converge. Sarge and his other horse buddies stand on the hot road (breathing in car/bus fumes) waiting to drag tourists around Victoria and it’s the last place a horse should be hanging out.

CTV did a story last night on what happened. Notice how the owner of the Carriage Tour can’t even look the cameraman in the eye. That’s called SHAME!

We need to use this incident to save Sarge and his buddies from their slave-work on the downtown streets. We need to find them a sanctuary where they can live out the rest of their lives with dignity. These horses do not belong on the streets of Victoria and we must be moved to action to push Victoria to ban these carriages from the downtown streets.

Please come to Sarah’s Place (560 Johnson Street) and sign the Friends of Animals BAN HORSE DRAWN CARRIAGES petition. I have a petition ready for both Residents and Visitors to Victoria. There is also a Carriage-Free Victoria facebook page for more info.

Woke up at 8:30am. Oh my dog!! That’s progress!! I hope this is the start of a new trend … 🙂

I get my love of food from my parents … they really know how to eat.

Coffee too. I don’t normally drink coffee but they do it so right that I just had to have a wee cup!

I love hanging out with my parents. Seriously. If you had told my 15 year old self that I would have FUN running errands with my parents I would have laughed.

The day was MISERABLE! It was raining like it was January.  🙁

Luckily by the time we got to the farmers market the rain had stopped … Dad knows how to sniff out a good peach.

After the farmers market we went to Fluevog where I traded in my new 7.5 shoes that I bought online for a size 8. My Step-Mum got caught up in the shoe frenzy and bought herself some shoes too! 🙂

After Fluevog we went to Gorilla Foods for lunch. I was worried my Dad wouldn’t like it there but I think they enjoyed it … especially when Aaron brought over a slice of pie.  Thanks Aaron!

We also hit up Costco where I saw the worlds biggest TV. Or maybe I’m just shorter then I think…

Pooped from shopping – we came home and had a nap. When I’m at my parents house I like to nap with my Step-Mum’s Grammy. I’m so proud of her.

After a nice nap – I made my parents Macaroni & Cashew Cheese for dinner. Denise had purchased some Sea Asparagus at the farmers market so we used that as a side. It was realllly yummy. I wonder where I can get it in Victoria? Anyone?

I cleaned my plate. My Dad was proud.  😉

My brother called after dinner and I ended up shooting the shit with him for a couple of hours (it’s been a while since we played catch-up) and then I climbed into bed.

The next morning I woke up at 6:30 again full of anxiety. Ugh. When will this end?  🙁 I gave my parents hugs and kisses and hit the road – but before I went to the ferry I stopped by Nice Shoes …

I might have purchased some shoes… ha ha. I have no shoe control. I see vegan shoes. I must buy.

I also stopped by Fairy Cakes and grabbed some vegan cupcakes for Gerry.

I was so happy to get home … Fergus on the other hand was a little miffed that I was gone 3 nights.

Don’t worry … he forgave me.  🙂

THANKS FAMILY! I had three full days of family loving and it’s filled me up with the energy I need to get the new store moved and ready. I love you guys.

Woke up. Got out of bed. Dragged a comb across my head and had breakfast with The Monkey Bunch. I gave my dear sweet friends kisses as I ran out the door and got on the highway. I was nervous that I would hit Vancouver traffic and miss my niece Heidi’s first performance!!

For Heidi’s birthday this year I enrolled her in a week long intensive Girls Rock Camp and Saturday was her showcase!! At the camp they not only learn how to play an instrument but how to write a song, screen print their own t-shirts, how to deal with band-conflict, etc. I wish there was this kind of camp when I was a teenager!

I bumped into Heidi outside the theater and I was able to give her a gift before the show started … I had Adore Jewelry (my Market Square neighbour) make me some custom lightening bolt pendants for the girls in Heidi’s band. I handed them to Heidi and I said “Give these to your girlfriends in the band. Tell them that the power of rock has been forged into each lightening bolt and that it will help them ROCK OUT on stage.” 🙂

I got a text from Heidi about 20 minutes later that said “The band says to tell you thank you and “you’re Auntie is Awesome!!” … that made me happy.

I met up with my parents and Heidi’s Mum and we sat nervously in the theater watching the slide-show of the campers week. I almost screamed outloud when I saw Heidi’s photos on the big screen. I’m such a geeky proud Auntie.  😉

Heidi is learning bass … if we could get Gerry on the drums and me on the ukulele we could have a wicked three-piece. Hee hee.

All the bands were awesome. Some of them sloppy. Some of them tight but all of them inspiring!! Heidi’s band rocked the house – their song started with the White Stripes 7 Nation Army riff and then morphed into a song that Heidi and her band had written. It was awesome!! 🙂

I wish I could post the video I shot but the Camp asked that no photos/videos of campers be posted (except for your own kids) so …

I was SO PROUD of my Heidi! She did so great!

After the showcase we took Heidi out for dinner to celebrate and we ate the worlds biggest Dosa!!

When I was looking through my trip photos I realized that Heidi does the same side-glance pose that I do. I think I do it cause of my Mum. She must do it because of me … funny right?

After dinner everyone headed home and I went over to Shoshana’s Step-Dads house. I wanted to try and squeeze in a little more time with my delicious friends before they flew out in the morning.

Fred is a total foodie. He is the opposite of vegan but I totally appreciate his passion …

He made everyone an incredible (and accidentally vegan) Peach Soup – and even though I was completely full from the dosas I just had to partake. It was a beautifully simple recipe – I’ll write it out for ya’ll soon.

We talked A LOT about food that night and in particular salt. Fred does not care for salt … don’t get him started.  🙂

It was a lovely evening with my dear friends … we hugged it out, said a sad good-bye and I hit the road to my Dad’s house to sleep. One more day in Vancouver and tomorrow will be all about hanging with my parents. Wahoo! So excited.  😉

Went to Vancouver last weekend. I told everyone it was a for a family reunion and it kind of was.

First I headed to Whistler to see my friends The Monkey Bunch. They were performing at the kids festival up there and their trip to Whistler coincided with my niece also performing in her first rock concert in Vancouver so the timing could not have been better. 🙂

Gerry convinced me to go to Vancouver right after work on Friday so I could spend the night at the River Rock Casino. Not because I’m a big gambler or anything but because I am SO in love with their beds. Seriously. They have beds that are specially made for their hotel and they are quite honestly THE BEST BED I have ever slept on.

I haven’t been sleeping well the last couple months (I’ve been living on adrenaline for weeks) and my sweet hubby wanted me to get a good nights sleep.

I checked in – got naked and lay in bed and made my way through a bag of pistachios! Heaven!

I slept like a baby in my giant bed but still woke up at 6:30am full of anxiety. When will this stop? 🙁 Since I was awake I decided to wander down the incredibly long hallway (Inception?) to the pool and go for a morning swim.

The pool was empty and it was just me and the chlorine. I splashed around for a bit but the pool was only 4 feet deep at the deepest end so I didn’t feel like I could really swim.

On the way back to my room I noticed the numbers … why?

I got dressed. Said a sad good-bye to my beloved bed…

And went outside to wait for The Monkey Bunch to come meet me for the drive up to Whistler.

I’ve known 3/4 of the Monkey Bunch for over 20 years. I’ve known Graham (guitar) and Maury (bass) since high school and Shoshana (singer) I’ve known since we were about 2 years old. They all live in Toronto and are the best people I know – so I go out of my way to see them whenever I can.  🙂

We arrived, checked in and then everyone got ready to rock out!!

For those of you who don’t know – the Juno nominated  Monkey Bunch is a rock band for kids… but they’re more then that. They are a revolution!! 🙂 Their music is REAL music played by REAL musicians with a message of empowerment! The music is perfect for any sized kiddlet you have in your life and because they’re a rock band adults enjoy them too – I actually have their cd’s on heavy rotation in my car!!

Graham is a professional guitarist and has toured with Jann Arden and Ron Sexsmith…

Maury is also a professional musician/producer who has worked with K-os, Bare Naked Ladies, Sarah Harmer, etc …

And my crazy darling Shoshana is an actor/writer/singer … I have talented friends.  🙂

It’s SO FUN for me to watch my friends kick ass on stage and perform. I was so puffed up with pride watching them perform. I used to watch Maury and Graham play clubs when we were in highschool and here they are all these years later making a living doing what they love. Amazing!

After the show we headed to a local sushi place and ate our faces off and then headed back to the hotel room exhausted. These guys are on Toronto time and were pooped.

My bed wasn’t as glamorous as the night before…

…but it was really cozy and my heart was so full of love that I managed to sleep in until 7:30!! That’s progress right??  🙂

Yikes. Victoria Vegan Fest was 3 weeks ago and I haven’t even had a chance to write about how it went!

We managed to organize the Victoria Vegan Fest in just 3 months. If any of you have ever organized any big event (festival, wedding, dinner for more then 4 people) you know how time consuming it is. Me, Dave and the rest of our Festival Team worked our ASSES off so that the festival would come off without a hitch and I am so thrilled to say that all our hard work paid off and the entire day went perfectly.

The night before the festival the stress was overwhelming … there are SO many tiny details to take care of when you organize an event of this magnitude. So when I woke up at 6:30am full of adrenaline – I decided to get up and head down to Market Square to get a head start on setting up.

I think the biggest part of the stress for me was “would people come?”

The calm before the storm …

I was there so early that I realized there was nothing I could do yet – so I nervously set up chairs in the “classroom”.

I looked down into the square and saw that the Captains had arrived and we started to setup the tables and chairs.

Once we were set up – I got up on the main-stage and welcomed the crowd to the festival and talked a little bit about the schedule. It was also the first time I had told anyone that I was moving Sarah’s Place to a new location (which happened to be our classroom for the festival). When I mentioned I was moving above Green Cuisine I heard a woman in the crowd gasp and say “Oh that is perfect location. How exciting!”  🙂 It totally made my day.

We started the day with a yoga demonstration from Ashtanga Yoga who are a fantastic yoga studio located here in Market Square. My favourite part was watching the crowd participate … yay!!

With Ashtanga on the stage I had a minute to stop and see how the festival was going. Wait. What?? It’s 12:05 and the square is already so busy!! It was a thrilling feeling.

One of my biggest worries was “would the classrooms be popular”. We had set up a schedule for the day with some amazing speakers but I was worried that because the classroom was upstairs and away from the festival action that nobody would go upstairs.

Was I ever wrong.  🙂 Every time I popped up to see how the classrooms were doing they were packed full of happy vegan people. I was so happy.

On the mainstage we had The Ukubellas perform a couple of sets. They are an awesome Victoria ukulele group that sing fun standards that everyone knows.

I wish I had more time to watch them but I had to run around and make sure everything was running smoothly.

Every time I would stop to take a look at how things were doing there were more and more people milling about the square. My friend Greg came over and said to me “You did this. You made this happen…” and then he gave me a hug. It was a really sweet moment.  🙂

Speaking of Greg – he performed on the mainstage.

Greg juggled for the crowd and wowed them with his vegan skills!!  By the way. We have some THIS IS WHAT A VEGAN LOOKS LIKE” shirts left and they are available in my store. I also do mail-order and ship worldwide so go grab one HERE before they’re all gone.

Greg also taught the crowd how to juggle … so fun.  🙂

After Greg performed with had a 30 minute gap before the next performance so I decided to bring the kids up on stage for a dance party. I blasted The Monkey Bunch and the kids went nuts.  😉

The festival went off without a hitch. There were no fires to put out. Nobody hurt themselves … although I did almost fall down and entire flight of stairs because I was texting. Whoops.  🙁

I stepped down to what I thought was a stair but was actually just air … I stopped and took a deep breath when it happened and then I said out-loud to myself “This is a warning. The universe wants you to slow down and be present.”

I don’t know how I found my footing but I am thankful I didn’t fall down the stairs. Can you imagine? “Vegan Superstar dies at her own vegan festival! News at 11!”

I also performed at the festival too. I did my Canada’s Next Top Vegan bit but it didn’t go as well as I wanted. I was so exhasuted and frazzled by the end of the day – so next time I plan a festival in 3 months, host the mainstage, and have vendor table – remind me to not perform too.  🙂

The clean-up after the festival went fast (thanks to our amazing volunteers) and I was exhausted but elated with how the day went. And incredibly hungry. I HAD FORGOTTEN TO EAT!! So I grabbed Shannon Mann (of Sea Shepherd and Backyard Activist) and her friends and we headed out for a quick celebratory dinner and then I crawled into bed and fell asleep. I don’t even remember falling asleep.

I woke up the next day feeling like I had run a marathon. I wish I had worn a pedometer to keep track of how far I walked … The next day I took 3 naps. THREE naps! That’s how tired I was.

I am so so so happy with how the festival turned out. It wasn’t perfect but it was incredibly successful and I am very excited to see what we pull together next year.  😉

I am so full of gratitude to everyone who helped with the festival. Thank you to Market Square for being so generous with the space, to all our sponsors, vendors, speakers, performers. Also all our volunteers who put all their free time and energy into making the festival a success. And also to you – you who donated to our various fundraisers. Your $$ helped us put together a kick-ass festival and for that I am forever in your debt.

But no rest for the wicked … As I mentioned above – I am moving Sarah’s Place to a new location Aug 1st so as soon as Vegan Fest was over I started working on the new store. If any of you have ever organized any big event (festival, wedding, dinner for more then 4 people) then you know it’s not as simple as just moving my stuff over to the new store. So many details. I haven’t had a good nights sleep in months. 🙁

I am EXHAUSTED but also really excited for the evolution of Sarah’s Place. If the festival showed me anything … it’s that Victoria is hungry for all things vegan and I’m hoping Sarah’s Place can fill that craving.  🙂

I read this article over at Gentle World blog and it ran so true to me that I felt like I had to re-post it here.

Please take a moment to read it HERE.

I’d love to hear your thoughts…

I can’t believe it but Sarah’s Place is creeping up to it’s 1 year anniversary!! WHAT?? How did that happen?

Almost 365 days ago I stood with a stomach full of butterflies ready to cut the ribbon to my new store. I was excited but also unsure if I would be able to make it as a small “loud and proud” vegan business in downtown Victoria.

Victoria BC is a unique and special city in that the people who live here really love and support small business and I’ve felt so much of that from my vegan and non-vegan customers. But I’ve not only received support from my local community but also from my beloved international community as well. My favourite part of getting to the store in the morning is seeing what mail-orders have happened while I was sleeping – then I spend the morning packing up boxes to send to far off places like France, Australia and even Cleveland.  🙂

Besides showcasing interesting and unique vegan products – my other goal with Sarah’s Place from the beginning was to have it be the “hub” of vegan culture in Victoria. You want to know what’s going on in the city? Go to Sarah’s Place. This last year I was able to create Sarah’s Vegan Guide to Downtown Victoria for out-of-towners who are interested in checking out some of my favourite places to eat and shop in the downtown core. This July 1st I was was able to co-organize Victoria’s first Vegan Festival. My personal goal with the festival was to educate, motivate and inspire – and to plant seeds of change and watch them grow. The festival was a rousing success and went off without a hitch (thanks to the work done by our little army of fantastic volunteers) and I look forward to seeing what happens next year.

EXCITING NEWS!!
With my 1 year anniversary looming – I have been given an opportunity to expand to a larger location!

I will still be located in the magical Market Square – but I will be now on the Johnson Street side of the complex. The new store opens AUG 1st and is located directly above the 100% vegan Green Cuisine restaurant (Est. in 1990).

While I am sad to leave my 7 1/2 foot wide micro-store with it’s adorable dutch door – I am VERY excited by all the possibilities of my new location. The new Sarah’s Place is over 700sq feet and I will now be able to do more! My goal is to not just have fun interesting products for you to buy – but for Sarah’s Place to be like a vegan community center.

My plan with the bigger space is to have more “events” like book signings, movie nights, cooking classes, etc. I am really excited about this new phase of Sarah’s Place and would love your feedback about what you’d like to see in the new store.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported Sarah’s Place this last year. You make coming to work a joy. Who gets to say that about their job?? I’m so lucky.  🙂

The Victoria Vegan Festival was a BIG success. I am so happy with how it turned out but I need to collect my thoughts before I write about it so in the meantime … I will tell you that our THIS IS WHAT A VEGAN LOOKS LIKE T-shirts were a big hit but we have a few leftover so I put them up for sale in the Sarah’s Place store.

We have Unisex, Ladies, children’s shirts as well as grocery totes and buttons galore! Buy them HERE.

Don’t forget – I ship worldwide!! 🙂

The closed caption on this video is hilarious … 🙂

Oh Fergus … 🙂