Called Out

I got called out twice over the extended weekend.

First, I was called out by my dentist. It seems, well... actually its confirmed, that I have a few cavities. How many, you ask? 6. I haven't had a single cavity since I was in elementary school and I've never gone more than a year without seeing a dentist. Since starting at my current company 5 years ago, I haven't gone more than 6 months without seeing a dentist. So I am not neglectful of my teeth.

My last visit was fine. Totally fine. This time, I have 6 f'n cavities. How the hell did that happen? I have to go in for a couple of procedures to get them taken care of and one happens to fall on Valentine's Day. I'm not a big V-day celebrator but still, the idea of half of my mouth being numb on any occasion just seems pitiful.

My dentist, after bearing the bad news, said to me, "Have you not been flossing?"

Well of course I floss daily. Have you been flossing your molars?

Whoops. Nooooo... I stop flossing up to my fangs. Its difficult to floss beyond that point! And of course that's where all my f'n cavities are. Go figure.

The second time I was called out was actually through an anonymous comment to an old post (the one about my purse):

I'm confused and slightly disturbed by this blog entry. Aren't you the same mrstwink that became a vegetarian a year ago partially based on the fact that you are a born-again animal lover who secretly desires to join PETA? Aren't you the same mrstwink who wrote this comment "Recently, my distaste for beef came from reading and then watching "Fast Food Nation". [...] The movie, however, included a scene of the slaughtering of a cow. While the Mr. didn't even flinch, I was bawling uncontrollably. This poor unsuspecting cow was shoved into a pen where it was shot in the head then dragged into a factory where awful awful things were done to it. That image still haunts me."

mrstwink, what about the cow that was slaughtered to make this lovely bag of yours? And the other one that was slaughtered to make a whole new replacement bag b/c there was a small broken piece on the original?

I am disturbed at the fact that you would look down on the practice of killing animals for food and at the same time turn your head at the practice of killing animals for fashion.

Yes, my friends, I am a full-fledged hypocrite. I can't bear the thought of injesting an animal (although I will still eat dairy... I can't quite handle going vegan anytime soon) but I have NO problems carrying around a leather handbag. I see it. I acknowledge it. Am I ready to change it? I'm working on it.

My problem is this... I suffer from a bit of label lust (although I wouldn't necessarily claim my handbag to be a well-known or sought after label) and somehow attribute high cost to high quality. Even so - I detest canvas or nylon bags. I prefer handbags (or at least my daily one) to look polished, chic, etc. I also prefer them to be high quality so they last longer. Unfortunately, I only find these in leather handbags.

I only know of 1 designer that's "animal friendly" in terms of NOT using leather and its Stella McCartney. While owning one of her handbags is one of my dream purchases, I simply can't afford it. Paying over $1k for a purse just makes me a little queasy but only because I don't have the means to do so. I'm sure there are other labels. So help! My faithful readers, point me in the direction of an "animal cruelty free" handbag that is (1) high quality (2) sophisticated and (3) under $500!

I recently read a blurb about Natalie Portman designing some vegan shoes and was stoked. Well... until I saw how much they were! I can't shell out that much for shoes. I just can't. My feet stink. Badly. Very very badly. So I don't invest much in shoes.

Help me people. Its tough to stand by my convictions of eating meat when I'm still wearing it!

Any suggestions?