Story of my Dog’s Adoption #dontbuyadopt

Today I learned that here in Poland 25th of October is a National Mutt’s Day. I inspired me to write a story of my dog and why I think that adoption is much better than a purchase.

I grew up in a house always full of dogs. There was a dog at my grandparents house when I was born and when I was 6 my parents got another one who lived with us. Since then we always had animals in our house. When I moved to another city to study I started feeling that something was missing in my life. After 3 years of living without any animals I decided that I wanted to adopt. I felt a huge need to save some animal and make its life better. But I have to admit I wished for a dog but I didn’t believe that I would actually be able to have one. One day I saw a picture on facebook that my hometown shelter posted and I told my mum “this is my dog, I need to have him!”. She was very supportive and told me that I should get him. My boyfriend was very afraid and wasn’t sure, but he knew how excited I was and also told me to go for this puppy.

First picture that I saw:

I contacted shelter and they told me that he needed few more days to stay at their place, because he was under quarantine (a period of time that allows owners to come for their lost pet. Also a time when animal is being checked for different deases). I was very happy when the lady told me that I could come and visit my little guy. At that moment I haven’t decided yet if I was going to take him, because after seeing just one picture I couldn’t tell how big he was. I lived in a small apartment and I did’t want to make him suffer.

The day that I went to shelter to meet this little guy was very happy for me, but also very sad. Earlier in my life all the dogs were bought from breeders and those puppys were always happy, carefree and joyful. This one wasn’t.

Our first meeting:

In this picture I’m smiling, but inside I felt really sorry for this little puppy. He was very scared and didn’t move at all. I thought It was going to be a dog, but it turned out that people in shelter made a mistake and it was her.

Her caregiver holding her (she was so small!):

It only took me few minutes to decided that it was my dog and I was going to take her. We called her Zuri.

At the beginnig she was very frightened of literally everything. She was afraid of people, dogs, going to new places and even walking around our flat. Now, after 3 years she still has her little problems. She is still afraid of floor panels and doors. To be honest I didn’t expect her to be so traumatised, because she was only 3 months old when I took her.

 

 

Many dogs who spend their lives in shelters are stressed and can be harder to work with, but trust me.. when you will be patient and show a lot of love to your puppy, you can see very quick how they open and start enjoyng life.

Zuri now and Zuri then are two completely different dogs. She is very happy and loving. We are best friends and I can’t imagine my life without her 🙂

I want to write another post about onwing a dog, but I need to make a little disclaimer here. In this story it may seem like it was very easy and quick decision, but the truth is it wasn’t and never should be. Dog can bring so much joy to your life, but only if you take good care of him and you meet all his needs. I grew up with dogs and I knew how to take care of mine, but people who want to adopt their first dog should make a good research on them.

 

Have a nice day!

N.

 

 

#FreedomForGirls

Very beautiful and strong video about fighting for woman rights all over the world!

For me Freedom means having a right to decide about your own life and body. Unfortuantely many girls don’t have this right and everyday they are forced to things which are against their free will. There shouldn’t be such a thing as child marriage and the threat of violence which are still very common in many coutries. All girls should have access to education and the right to speak for themselves.

We all should stand together and take an action to change that. Sharing this video is the simplest way of helping but also powerful!

 

Here is The Global Goals page when you can take more action: http://www.globalgoals.org/dayofthegirl

N.

#1 What I eat in a Day as a Vegan

I remeber when I started being vegan and I didn’t know what to eat.. I was lost. Now I have more experience and I found a way to balance my diet. I hope this will help you on your vegan journey 🙂

First thing in the morning for me is usually a glass of water with fresh squeezed lemon. It’s very refreshing, helps me to wake up and gives daily shot of vitamin C.

Second thing, but actually first food is almost always porridge. Sometimes I switch oatmeals to millet. Everyday I try to add something different. As a base I can recommend a half of a cup of oatmeals, 2 Tblsp of Flaxseed, 1 Tblsp of peanutbutter and one mashed banana (I forgot to write it in the ingridient list). This way you can be sure that you give your body a good amount of nutritions.

For lunch I like to have good old bread with avocado and tomato. I’m addicted to avocados and I can eat them everyday.

Later that day I ate pasta with eggplant. I like to choose wholegrain pasta, because it is significantly higher in fiber and nutrients. This time I kept it pretty simple and just added onion, garlic, eggplant and fresh herbs.

Usually in the evening I would eat some snacks like nuts or dates, but that day my portion of pasta was big enough to keep me full. There are many opinions on how often and how big portions you should eat, but I think that it is the best to just listen to your body, as long as everything is well balanced and healthy.

Enjoy!

N.

 

Top 5 Favourite Criminal Documentaries on Netflix

I have to admit I have watched many criminal shows during last few years.. I watch them obsessively when autumn comes, everything is gray, it’s cold outside and all you see behind the window is rain. For me it’s just the perfect time to spend my evenings in company of serial killers and unsolved mysteries. I was thinking about my next post and decided that I will share with you my top 5 favourite documentary shows on Netflix.

1. MAKING A MURDERER

(source:en.wikipedia.org)

The first show I watched from the Netflix Original series and I have to say it was very addictive. It’s about a man who spent most of his life in prison. He was convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder, spent 18 years in jail and then was released in 2003 by DNA evidence. In 2005 he was arrested again on charges of murdering a local photographer. This series shows many inconsistencies during the investigation and possibility of fabricated evidence.

TRAILER:

2. The Keepers

(source: Netflix.com)

This is the show that I saw in the recommendation section and decided to give it a try. I wasn’t expecting to much, but it surprised me very positively. It is about unsolved murder of a nun which took place in 60’s. Story is very complex and I don’t want to give you any spoilers. I can only say that it touches on subject of church hiding many dark secrets which came to light only recently.

TRAILER:

3. Shadow of Truth

(source: Netflix.com)

For me this one is very interesting, because the story takes place in Israel. It shows how legal system works in a different culture and how common, but also controversial many police procedures are. It brings up a subject of wrongful convictions and how big pressure put on suspect can make him believe that he actually committed a crime.

TRAILER:

4. The Imposter

(source:Youtube.com)

This one in my opinion isn’t as good as previous ones from the movie-making point of view, but definitely tells a very interesting and unusual story. It is so weird and disturbing, that you may think these things happen only in movies, but this one is based on facts and real people tell about it.

TRAILER:

5. The Confession Tapes

(source: otlsm.com)

I watched two episodes of this one, but based only on that I can tell it is worth seeing, especially if you are interested in crime, psychology, miscarriages of justice. Similar to Shadow of Truth it touches on subject of inaccurate work of police, manipulating people and disguising the truth during the investigation.

 

Have a nice watch!

N.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#1 The Week in Photo (35mm)

I took these pictures with my film camera on the last weekend of summer. Now autumn came and this is the memory of green trees. I love long walks in the forest with my boyfriend and our dog. This is the place when I always get peace of mind…

Sunset over PKiN in Warsaw

And my friend Ola who visited me

 

 

 

Why I chose to be Vegan?

Many people ask me: What is really a point of being vegan? Very often they add that one person can’t change anything. My view on this is completely different and the first answer I give them is that I don’t want to support killing and using animals for our own purpose. These are the most important things, but to be honest the answer is more complex.. let me start from beginning..

When I was a liitle child I started feeling big empathy for animals. I loved to watch Animal Planet on tv, I played a lot with dogs, cats and this made me think about the food that my grandma gave me. I knew it was made from animals and it felt wrong for me. I felt very sad that some animlas had to die for me to eat them. I asked my mom to be a vegetarian but she didn’t let me until I was 16. I made it to 17 and then decided to stop eating meat. It took me next 4 years to understand that diary industry isn’t more gentle for animals than meat industry.  Now I feel a need to share that point of view with more people and show others that it is important to consider where our food comes from.

I’ll show few reasons which convinced me to make that decision.

1. ANIMALS

Every year we kill over 56 billion animals for food industry. This number unfortunately doesn’t count all the sea/ocean creatures. It’s important to remember that animals are very similar to us and they think, feel different emotions, they have a very strong need to feel safe and want to live in happiness and peace.

Every person that goes vegan is able to safe even over 95 animals every year and thousands throughout lifetime!

2. HEALTH

Well balanced plant-based diet ensures us with all the necessary nutrients, which are needed for healthy life. There were many reasearches conducted by scientiscts and many biggest health organisations confirmed that vegan diet is very beneficial.

American Dietetic Association:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864

“appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.”

Ted Talk – dr. Joanne Kong

 

3. ENVIROMENT (numbers which struck me the most)

• Raising animals for food uses 45% of Earth’s total land and is responsible for 91% of Amazon destruction.
• Animal agribusiness is responsible for 20-30% of all fresh water consumption in the world.
• Hundreds of millions people in the world suffer form hunger and starvation, despite this 70% cereals which are harvested in U.S are used for animal feed. Over 700 millions tons of food that is suitable for people to eat and could end world hunger goes to breeding animals.
• Animal breeding is also responsible for 51% of greenhouse gas emmisions.

All information I derived from various sources:
Vegan Society
https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/environment

Viva!Bloguje (polish site)
http://www.blog.viva.org.pl/2012/11/20/5-dowodow-na-to-ze-bycie-wege-ratuje-srodowisko/

Your Daily Vegan
http://www.yourdailyvegan.com/environment/ 

I hope this information will be usefull for some of you and that I managed to show some of the most important reasons for going vegetarian/vegan.

Have a nice day!

N.