My name is Carrie, I'm 44 and have been vegetarian for 8 years. I try to eat vegan most days but haven't officially made the plunge. I live in Burlington, Ontario with my husband (who is omnivore), my Jack Russell - Simon (who is omnivore) and occasionally, my step-daughter will be here (who is omnivore). I only cook vegetarian meals and they all eat and enjoy. (So why can't they just stop eating animals?)

I originally grew up in the east coast of Canada (New Brunswick) but have lived in Ontario since 1985.

I've persued numerous lines of work in my day, but am now employed in Retail Operations for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). In a nutshell, my business is booze. I enjoy my job and don't mind going to work in the morning. One day a week, I work at my husband's satellite business, doing routine office duties - filing, customer updates, answering phones, etc.

Although I'm not musically inclined - but I must confess, I play a mean ipod & CD player - I very much enjoy music in my life and can't imagine a day without tunes. I'm on the internet daily and surf around wherever my mouse takes me. I'm a trivia junkie, so that helps feed my addiction.

I love to cook & bake and have a blog that is a mish-mash of stuff, but a lot of it includes dishes I whip up in my ridiculously tiny kitchen. I'm also a huge wine geek and frequently attend wine tasting events. I have a decent library of wine and always interested in learning & tasting more.

I also enjoy the company of family & friends, select TV shows, walking with Simon, reading for pleasure, hockey, hiking, bike riding, watching movies, although I never seem to have enough time to do these things. Where does the day go??

Like the majority in North America, I grew up in a meat & potatoes sort of home - Shake n' Bake chicken, roast beef on Sundays, average stuff. And like the majority in North America, I never really connected what was on my plate with the animals on the farm. Until one day, after making what was supposed to be a delicious dinner, while chewing the meat, I felt completely revolted. I spat it out and gave the rest to the dog. It was days before I tried again. I had the same reaction. I realized that this meat-eating wasn`t going to work. That was 8 years ago and I`ve never looked back.

I researched a lot about a meat free diet, scoured the internet for hours upon hours and discovered the horrors that I never knew went on. I wanted to cry, scream, beg...I felt just sick even more so. All of that confirmed to me that I had made the right decision. I still have some bumps in the road. I'm struggling with cheese.

At first friends & family were concerned I'd become ill or waste away to nothing and die. HA! Far from it. Last year, I was the only one in my workplace that didn't have a sick day. My friends & family have seen that only good things can come from a vegetarian diet and although only a couple of them have have since dabbled in vegetarianism, they are all extremely supportive of my choices and for that I'm very grateful.

I`m hoping to meet some cool & interesting people here.