Annie OliverioIn a past life I was an office manager at a small non-profit in Washington, DC. I walked to work and to the grocery store. My running path was the C & O Canal. Occasionally on Saturday mornings I would take the metro to the Mall and take in a museum r two. I wore nice clothes and had more purses and shoes than any one person should. Before living in the Nation's Capitol, I worked at a well-known law school, at a direct marketing firm, and at a think-tank a stone's throw from the Pacific Ocean. I've moved from Ohio to California to Colorado, back to California and on to Russia for a stint; then Armenia, Iraq, Massachusetts, and the aforementioned DC. City life was starting to wear thin, as was packing and moving. My husband and I were looking for space - lots of space - quiet, the Milky Way, coyotes, and the kind of freedom not found on the city streets. So we did what people have been doing for generations. We moved west. To the wilds of Oklahoma. Now my nice clothes hang neglected in the closet. I prefer my Carhartts and Bogs. I've given away most of my shoes and purses. There are no streetlights here or traffic jams. No lunch hours, car alarms or neighbors. There is time for walking the pastures with our dogs, Ike and Willa, puttering in the kitchen, reading, and other simple pleasures. I like this life very much. I've authored five books and e-books, and have taken the food photographs for the cookbooks of several popular vegan authors. Find out more about me at my award-winning website, An Unrefined Vegan. Read More Read Less