Happy New Year!

2013 was such a busy year, filled with school (mostly), recipes, reviews and thoughts. I can’t believe how much this blog has grown (though it’s still just a baby blog, tehee). Here are some highlights of 2013, thanks to YOU!

A loaded veggie pie on the Italian Herb crust, with Tuscan Marinara sauce. My toppings consisted of minced garlic, spinach, artichokes, mushrooms, pineapples, red onions, banana peppers, black olives, red bell peppers and diced tomatoes. After the pizza was cooked, it was topped with fresh basil and a drizzle of tomato basil sauce.

Veggie burrito (minus the cheese) in a spinach tortilla. This was good, but I definitely prefer the filling to the tortilla. Hence my obsession with the veggie burrito bowl.

Lavender Lemonade and Vegan Cheesecake: To wash everything down, Lesley and I made lavender lemonade. A note about the recipe–if you are using the blossoms, use 1.5 tablespoons instead of what the recipe calls for.

This vegan corndog from the Caribbean Jerk Shack was served with corn nuggets. Vegan items were cooked separately from meat items.

1. Pie Five Pizza Crust Controversy Resolved!
2. Vegan Phở: A How-To
3. Blackfish: My Personal Review
4. Vegan Options at GRIP Mediterranean Grill + Beirut Cafe
5. Vegans Digg In
6. My Holiday Potluck Recipe Roundup
7. Vegan Valentine’s Day Tips
8. Vegan Chili Mac’n’Cheese
9. Vegan Finds at the Texas State Fair
10. 15 Last Minute DIY Vegan Foodie Gifts (That Your Friends Actually Want)

Without your support and interest, I wouldn’t have been motivated to keep running this blog, so thank you all SO MUCH for reading, liking and sharing my content! I am ecstatic to have shared this experience with you, and look forward to the future.

For those of you who know me from UTA, I worked as a life reporter and vegan blogger for The Shorthorn this past fall semester. It was a challenging and rewarding experience, to say the least. All my articles can be viewed on my Contently profile, but here is a list of my most successful posts for The Shorthorn from Fall 2013 semester.

1. Vegetarianism has different types
2. 7 Back-to-School Vegan Essentials
3. ‘Blackfish’ makes waves through local groups
4. Community responds to animal captivity
5. Bentley’s drafts plans to rebuild
6. Arlington Ecofest entertains, educates citizens
7. Vegan hot chocolate for cooling temperatures
8. Make vegan Alfredo fettuccine in 2 steps
9. ‘Thigh Gap’ trend sweeps social media but isn’t always healthy
10. 12 reasons why I ditched dairy

I am so grateful for my fellow coworkers at The Shorthorn, the advice and wisdom from my advisor, and an awesome editor who always listened to my story pitches, gave me feedback and guidance, and assigned me challenging stories to help me grow.

I was almost never at staff meetings (it turns out graduate classes are quite demanding!), but when I did check in, I received nothing but support, useful advice and constructive feedback. Balancing reporting with school got awfully stressful sometimes (okay, a lot of the time, ha), but I’m very glad I had the opportunity to work and learn.

1. Web design (Closed Loop Architecture + Native Landscaping): In Spring 2013, I collaborated with two different student groups to research topics in sustainability. With feedback from my classmates and Heather Dowell, the Urban Forestry & Land Manager from the City of Arlington, I designed two different sites to display our findings in a visual and engaging manner. My knowledge of web design is extremely limited, but I was happy with how I could modify existing blog themes so they could serve our purposes. I hope to learn more about web design in the future!
2. Vegan dining capstone: For my capstone class, I wrote an extensive research paper about the benefits of implementing vegan dining in higher learning institutions. Since I’m very passionate about the topic, it was a great experience and it wasn’t difficult for me to come up with things to write–although it was not any less stressful than your average capstone research paper.
3. Featured on other sites: One of my posts was featured as a guest post on EcoVeggy.com and on the front page of Eat Green DFW–thanks to my great friend and mentor, Ken Botts,  the special projects manager at UNT and innovator of the nation’s first vegan dining hall. Check out his blog, he is amazing and a great inspiration to me.
4. Social media connection: I finally made a Facebook page for The Broccoli Bulletin, after much debate about if it was necessary. I’m so glad I did, because it gave me another way to connect with readers I don’t know in real life.
5. Got a degree: I now have a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in engineering, sustainability, urban planning + landscape architecture, and a minor in sustainability.
6. Grad school headstart: As an undergrad, I finished my first unofficial semester of grad school at UTA’s program of Landscape Architecture! I’ll be coming back to finish, but I want a break from classes for at least another semester.

I couldn’t have made it through this year without the support and love from my amazing parents, friends and family.

Let’s make 2014 a good one. I wish you all the best! In the words of Neil Gaiman from 2011,

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

Related articles

• No meat, no dairy, no problem: is 2014 the year vegans become mainstream? (independent.co.uk)
• Peace, love and health all year-round (theshorthorn.com)
• Happy New Vegan! (thethinkingherbivore.wordpress.com)
• 7-Day Vegan Challenge: Day 1 (gradualthought.wordpress.com)
• Domino’s Pizza Goes Vegan? Oy vey! (vegandivasnyc.wordpress.com)
• Detox, Get Back on Track (theshorthorn.com)