Welcome to Food for Thought, giving you the tools and resources you need to live according to your own values of compassion and wellness, joyfully, healthfully, deliciously, and sustainably with me, your host of 17 years, Colleen, Patrick, Gudro.

I hope you're doing fabulously well while I work on some really fun episodes for you.

I'm really, really excited about the one in particular that I'm working on right now.

I wanted to just give you this brief announcement, little time sensitive. First of all, thank you for your well wishes, regarding my broken ankle.

It's healing every day as broken bones are want to do. The body is an amazing thing, and it's been really, really incredible to watch the healing I've actually been keeping a journal specifically about my progress.

I'm still in my boot. I am not walking without support, but come June when we leave for Italy for all inclusive trips, trips, both trips, both the Tuscany trip and the Northern Italy trip.

I suspect I've been told I'm feeling confident that I should be able to walk on my own without a supportive device, most likely still in my boot.

And I'm excited about that. Just every day it's getting better. So thank you for your well wishes.

And in light of the response to my recent podcast episode, Conversations with Strangers, I realized it was time to host a workshop on effective communication and advocacy.

Both topics have been the focus of my work in general and in my books and conferences and my talks in particular, but we're going to spend three hours just talking about talking.

We're going to be talking about communicating, listening, advocating effectively. The three hour workshop is going to take place online on Saturday, May 27th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific time.

There is an early bird special right now that will expire on May 17th and like with all my conferences, there are two levels to choose from. There's a basic and there's a VIP level.

The latter includes a 30 minute one-on-one call with me as well as a three-month follow-up call with me and other VIPs.

So go over to joyfulvegan.com today. You'll see events is a new menu item at the website on the website. And you can register from there. Speaking of events that you'll also see on that list, I will be in Colorado in July for VegFest Colorado in Denver, which is going to be fabulous.

I'm going to be speaking at my first VegFest since before COVID. So that feels really good. And then finally, if you're interested in traveling to France with me on an all-inclusive trip,

you have two to choose from. One to the French countryside, the Loire Valley and the Dordoyne Valley. That's one trip. We'll be staying in our own incredible villas. We're staying in a castle. It's just going to be an incredible trip.

And then our Alsace trip is in December and that is a magical pre-Christmas trip. Also staying in our own villa and enjoying the cuisine of the region, which of course is 100% vegan.

And in both cases, you would most likely not get to experience that cuisine if you're not going on an all-inclusive vegan trip because both places are not conducive to plant-based eating.

So the French countryside is in September and the Alsace trip is in December.

So let me get back to the episode I'm working on. I just wanted to give you a quick update. And I hope you're enjoying the short weekly episodes every Wednesday.

Until next time, thank you for your support. Thank you for your compassion for the animals. This is Colleen Patrick-Gudrow. Thanks for listening.