I made delicious dinner tonight that reminded me why I like being vegan.  This is what it was:
1 c Quinoa
a few garlic cloves
an onion
1  package of tempeh
1 red pepper
1 tomato
a whole lot of kale
1 can of kidney beans
oregano, basil, garlic salt, pepper and lemon juice.

I sauteed the onions and garlic in olive oil, added the tempeh and pepper and then sprinkled the spices and lemon juice over everything.  I just poured a lot of lemon juice.  In my opinion you can't have too much.  Then I put the kale in and gave it time to cook down.  Then I poured the can of kidney beans in with all the liquid from the can, added the tomato and I put the spices on again and more lemon juice.  I let it simmer for awhile in all of the juices.  I cooked the quinoa in the rice cooker.  And then Ryan and I ate it while watching the office on netflix.  It was so good!  One of the reasons I became vegan was to eat more vegetables.  Lately I have been been doing pretty good at that.  Ryan and I have been doing a lot of home cooking with tons of veggies.

Nursing school has been going really well so far.  I keep waiting for it to get nuts, but right now it seems really doable.  My schedule is pretty awesome.  Mondays and Tuesday and Thursdays are pretty packed but I have Wednesdays off and Friday mornings off.  Usually I watch law and order on those days and try to do work.  I probably should be doing more reading for school.

I have been trying to keep up with all the news about Occupy Wall st and Occupy Philly.  I went to one of the Wall St marches.  I feel pretty disconnected from the Wall St stuff.  Probably because I am new to NYC and don't know a lot of people.  I feel a lot more connected to the Philly stuff, but I am so far away from it.  I feel pretty disconnected from street activism these days.  I just don't feel the passion like I used to.  I think my brain might be too critical.  I feel really happy that all of this this stuff is happening.  I'm just having a hard time relating to the "if you aren't documenting it, it didn't happen" actions.

Since moving to New York, I have watched all of Mad Men.  I have also become addicted to Scrabble and Words with Friends on my iphone.  I've been watching a lot of baseball lately.  I felt real sad when the Phillies lost in the playoffs.  I miss Philly, but I am glad to have a quiet calm life in Brooklyn.  It is pretty here and the people watching is top notch.

It is a rainy day in Brooklyn.  Ryan started his job at the high school this week while I have been trying to keep busy getting things in order before school starts.  Yesterday I went to the Fairway supermarket in Red Hook with Molly.  I bought many household staples that will hopefully hold us over for a few weeks.  Today I was supposed to do laundry, but I cleaned the kitchen and made an excellent bagel sandwich instead.  I started cleaning the bedroom, but I think I drank too much coffee and took too many vitamins because I started feeling nauseous and had to sit down for awhile.  I have been obsessed with cleaning and organizing since moving into the new apartment.  I love our apartment.  It is bright and newly refinished.  It has a huge bedroom and living room, hardwood floors, white walls, and arched doorway.  It is the nicest place I have ever lived.  I just finished reading a book called "Dirty Secret" by Jessie Scholl.  It is about being the daughter of a compulsive hoarder.  I also grew up in a hoarding household and am continually learning how that is affecting me in my adult life.  I never learned to clean or organize or get rid of things.  A few years ago I got a job as a house cleaner partially so I could learn how to clean properly.  I am pretty good at cleaning now, but organizing stuff and getting rid of stuff has been a major hurdle for me.  This move has been really nice because Ryan and I had a few weeks to unpack and organize.  We made several trips to box stores and the hardware store.  Ryan spent days building a wall sized shelving unit so we can store our library of books and records.  It is amazing to have a living space that I feel proud of.  This is the first time I have felt that.  It is a huge thing for me.  I am scared that once school starts I won't have time to keep up with maintaining an organized work and living space.  But I am hopeful.  Brooklyn has been a nice change from Philadelphia.  I haven't really had any obligations since being here and that has helped clear my mind.  I have hung out with a few friends and gone exploring some but it feels really different than Philly.  Things are new.  I've been making an effort to wear new outfits (the same old clothes, but in a different way).
I've been really nervous about starting school.  It starts Sept 19th.  I've been having anxiety dreams about going to the hospital.  My first day is at the hospital!  I have to be there at 7:30 am.  I have a little more that 1 week left of summer vacation.
Ryan and I have become addicted to Mad Men.  I want to watch it all the time.  I dream about it sometimes.  We have also become addicted to Klein's vegan ice cream.  They sell it at the kosher supermarket 2 blocks away.  It is the best vegan ice cream ever.  Normally I don't eat sweets very often.  I like salty snacks so much more, but this ice cream has been all I want everyday.  The kosher supermarket also sells the best vegan whipped cream ever.  
I bought Dodger an orthopedic dog bed and he loves it.  He sleeps on it all the time.  It is very cute.  TK likes the new apartment.  She found a special sleeping spot underneath some clothes that hang in the bedroom.  She keeps clawing the new couch and it is making me crazy.  I may try to get her some of those covers for her nails, since nothing else has been working.