The Big Letdown

One of my biggest hobbies is something that started almost four years ago on that dreadful day that my doctor told me I would not be eating gluten or eggs anymore.  This hobby is reading the ingredient list on all foods that I buy.  Sounds fun right?

It is really not as much fun as it sounds.  Yet I have gotten pretty good at skimming through labels to determine whether or not I should actually be eating it. 

It is the reading of the ingredients that usually leads to the big letdown.  I enter the “gluten-free” section of the grocery store and things are plastered with labels letting everyone know they are safe.  That is when I discovery that yes it is gluten-free but there are eggs right there teasing me. 

I was let down once again this week.  A classmate let me know that the website TeamBuy was offering gluten-free products at roughly half price.  I was excited about this until I started to read the ingredients.  Everything they offered contained egg and I was disappointed once again. 

Gluten-free products have become easier and easier to find as it becomes more common to be on a gluten-free diet.  I am very grateful that it is easier to find.  I just wish that more people would switch to an egg-free diet as well so those foods become easier to find.  Is that really too much to ask? 

The Nerd That I’ve Become

It came to my attention the other day that I have become what I consider to be a nerd.  This realization left me wondering when this happened.  How long have I been one and not known?  Is it a new phenomenon?  Am I stuck with it?  What can I do about it?

I realized I was a nerd when I got a package in the mail from Purolator.  I had been waiting not so patiently for it to arrive.  I ordered the contents of this package late last Friday night and the website told me it would be here sometime between 7 and 12 days.  Seemed reasonable enough and I thought that I could wait that long.  I was apparently wrong.  Every day since I hit the submit button on the webpage I have been hoping that it would finally be the day it showed up.  Day 5 my package finally arrived.  I was more excited than I probably should have been.  My books had finally arrived. 

I had never intended to purchase the books online.  I bought a book that looked interesting while I was shopping at Costco.  I realized when I was done reading it that it was the 9^th book in a series.  Costco only had the 9^th and 10^th books.  So what was a girl to do?  Obviously the only solution was to go out and by the 10^th book.  I expected it to take me awhile to read them but that did not happen.  I couldn’t put them down.  James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club series had my full and undivided attention.

I was determined that I had to read the complete series now.  On Friday night, the same night that I finished the 10^th book, I made a pit stop at Chapters on the way to the movies.  I searched high and low for the first book in the series.  Imagine my horror when I discovered they did not have it.  The closest they had was the 4^th and I was now set on reading them in order. 

What was I going to do?  I had no book to read.  I thought I would go home and order them online but what if they were sold out too.  That’s when I picked up The Hunger Games - The book that I am currently reading and interfering with my other series.  I am in the middle of 2 book series.  Really? Who am I?

When did this obsession with books start?  

As a kid I hated reading.  I could never understand why people read for fun.  Didn’t they understand that they could watch TV.  My mom used to always read in the same room that I was watching TV in.  It bugged me to no end.  Now I am becoming my mom more and more every day.

While writing this I’ve learned that the 11th book comes out May 7^th.  Challenge accepted to catch up by then. 

The Books in the series are:

• 1^st to Die (Ordered on Amazon)
• 2^nd Chance (Ordered on Amazon)
• 3^rd Degree (Ordered on Amazon)
• 4^th of July
• The 5^th Horseman
• The 6^th Target
• 7^th Heaven
• The 8^th Confession
• The 9^th Judgment (1^st book read)
• 10^th Anniversary (2^nd book read)
• 11^th hour (out May 7^th) 

Who am I you ask?

You may be asking yourself who is this gluten-free student that is writing a blog.  And I will tell you.

My Name in Brenna and I am a 20 something Public Relations student.  I decided it was time to start my own blog after several talks about them with my classmates.  I figured, what better way to work on my writing and get my thoughts out to the masses than through my very own blog. 

Now that you know why I’m writing this, you may want to know a little bit more about me. 

I am originally from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Well really Etobicoke but sometime in the 1990’s it was merged into one super city with Toronto.  So it doesn’t exist anymore.   I grew up in the same house since I was 9 months old.  I never ventured far from home.  I used to get home sick at sleepovers across the street from my parents house. 

When it was time to go off to university, I decided to go to one that was not the obvious choice.  Toronto has many universities and colleges that I could have chosen from, many that are all relatively close to home.  Any one of those would make sense for a girl that gets homesick with her home in sight.  I, however, decided to apply to the University of New Brunswick, Saint John campus. 

For someone who has a hard time deciding what to eat for dinner or what shoes I am going to wear, picking a university was something that I didn’t hesitate over.  I jumped right on board and didn’t think twice about my decision to move to New Brunswick until the night before I was getting ready to drive there. 

I graduated from UNBSJ with my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and I loved my time there. I am glad that I made decision that seemed so out of the box at the time. 

After my first year of university I learned something about myself that was only semi shocking but still at the time it seemed life changing.  I discovered that I was allergic to gluten and eggs.  As if gluten wasn’t bad enough, eggs had to be thrown in as well.  I don’t know if you are aware or not but it seems like once a manufacturer has taken out gluten and eggs, everything else goes with it.  No sugar. No dairy.  No nuts.  No taste.  No fun.  I began my gluten-free egg-free (gfef) lifestyle and to put it nicely…I was not happy about it.  Four years later and I can’t even begin to tell you how much the food has improved and how much easier it is to find gfef products.  But let me tell you - I am still less than happy about eating it.  I truly must be the worst gluten free individual out there.  I swear I jump on every opportunity I get to cheat.  And yes, I do pay the price. 

This is who I am.  A student that can’t eat gluten or eggs that has a thought and opinion on a lot of things.  Thanks for stopping by!