Vegan Interrogated: Nikole

Name: Nikole ~ Vegan Sudz Shop
Location: Michigan
Website: http://www.etsy.com/shop/VeganSudzShop

A little about yourself:
Just a happily married mother of none, living in my own little bubble in the woods of Michigan with hubby and my 2 beautiful pups, Bela & Otis. When I'm not busy posting NO HUNTING/TRESPASSING signs around my property to keep out the butthole hunters that wander around, I love kayaking, bicycling, motorcycling, walking/playing with the pups, and on occasion, binge drinking. Ok ok, that's not entirely true, I kid... I kid... its definitely not just occasional.
I love making my soaps and lotions, the creepy bloody ones are always my faves, but I do have a day job that sucks up most of my happy time, I take care of the pensions for the retired police & firefighters of a big city here. And then yet another job helping my ultra-hard-working husband with his business working in the office. So in other words, I sit in front of an F'n computer a lot!

What made you decide to go vegan?
Finally my actions caught up with what my brain had known for years, and knew what I was contributing to by eating animal products. I love them and don't want to see them hurt in any way, shape or form, but here I am eating my favorite ice cream, which *bla bla bla... insert horrible story of the dairy industry*. I realized that I was an a**hole hypocrite and it was time to cut it out already.

Favorite restaurant & why
Seeing as I don't really have any veggie ones close around - I'd have to say any one of them that don't completely jack up my order by still leaving cheese sprinkled all over it or melted inside of it after I specifically said WITHOUT CHEESE. I love a waitress that understands that by the time I say "no cheese and you keep your sour cream to yourself (please)" that I'm not into dairy, and lets the cook know without me having to be that bitchy vegan who reports my vegany status out loud for the entire restaurant to not give a crap about and just roll their eyes.
Oh wait update - middle eastern food, totally forgot about them, yeah, I can get a lot of good sh*t there!

Dumbest question someone asked you about being vegan.
I  know there have been TONS over the past 14 years of veginess, but this one stands out, it was more of a dumb statement - someone once asked me about being vegan and he stated that he too was vegetarian, and only ate ham and chicken...what do you even respond to that with? It was not worth my effort, breath and sanity to school this person on the fact that not eating red meat does not equal a vegetarian and the fact that he eerily reminds me of Jeffrey Dahmer helped me to just let it go. Enjoy your ham dude. Idiot.

Favorite organization/cause & why
I love love love the Detroit Dog Rescue!!! They have helped so many of the homeless, neglected and abused dogs in this area and are focused on having a no-kill facility in Detroit, as opposed to the 90% of them that are euthanized now. Between the declining city and the amount of people still believing that dog fighting is cool, we need these guys more than ever!

Do you have any advice for people toying with the idea of becoming a vegan?
Can't hurt to try it, right?
I know I could probably give a more involved answer here, but if they're already thinking about it, what are you waiting for? You obviously are interested in it because its better for your health and the well being of countless numbers of animals. At this point, why would you NOT at least try it?