Thought we'd use this thread to re-introduce ourselves. If you live in Illinois please post an introduction and a picture if you have one.

I'm Michael. I'm 34, recently married, and live in Bloomington. I've been a vegetarian for 10 1/2 years. A couple of my favorite vegetarian restaurants are the Coffeehouse in Normal (best veggie burger ever!) and Alice & Friends in Chicago. I've met quite a few vegetarians (and fellow VB'ers) through VeggieBoards, the Vegan Chicago Meetup (http://vegan.meetup.com/11/), and the Central Illinois Vegetarian Meetup (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CILVegMeetup/).

Hi! I am Amanda and I too live in Bloomington. YEAH! Sry no picture :(

Hi Amanda! You might want to check out the Central Illinois Vegetarian Meetup...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CILVegMeetup/

Our next meetup is Tuesday the 19th at Medici in downtown Normal.

My name is Marty. I am 21 and I live in Johnsburg which is a small town about an hour north of Chicago!

www.myspace.com/doktormartini

Nice to meet fellow vegetarians/vegans in my state!

I'm Tricia, and I contentedly reside in Normal...the Coffeehouse is also one of my fave restaurants, along with anything Mexican and Flattop Grill. I first found out about VB through my cousin hummus! i've met lots of other great VB peeps, including the "creator", in the process.

:afro:

Hey I'm entro. I live in Chicago in the Pilsen neighborhood and my favorite restaurant is Handlebar on North Ave, no question. I'm doubly diet restricted in terms of vegan and limited sodium for mainly high blood pressure of which I no longer am medicated for or have. I've been veg for like 4 years and vegan for a year and a half. I like to bike ride in excruciating bad weather... actually no i don't but i do anyway.

:pibo:

http://www.myspace.com/entromc

I signed up for the chicago meetup. Hopefully it won't be a frozen wasteland.

Nice to meet you all.

Hey! I'm Tracy. I'm 30, live in Plainfield and am an editor. You can see my pic in my profile.

Hi, I'm Debra. :D

I'm about a month shy of turning 49, and I live in Oak Park and work a full-time job in the Loop. In addition, I have a part-time job working at a bead store, where I teach a variety of techniques. I'm also one of the assistant organizers of the Vegan Chicago Meetup Group:

http://vegan.meetup.com/11/

As far as pics go, I'm in a bunch in the Photo Album (mostly in the 'VB Gatherings' section). Here's one of them (I'm in the skirt):

http://www.veggieboards.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=7498&c=511

There's also a pic of me in my profile.

:sunny:

I'm not from Illinois but I feel like an honorary member. :p I live close enough to Chicago that I go to the meetups there regularly. My name is Kelly and I'm 31 from South Bend, Indiana. I'm the guy in the yellow shirt in the picture Debra linked to.

We'll gladly accept you as an honorary member, Kelly!

I live about 2-1/2 hours from Chicago in a town most people probably haven't heard of, and that's me in my avatar. :D

Hi, I'm Mandy. I'm married to Michael and therefore also from Bloomington. The Coffeehouse's Frisco Melt and Spicy hummus are the best ever! If you are ever in town, I definitely recommend stopping by.

Hello!!! I'm Marisa and I live in the far south suburbs. I'm also a small animal vet. I usually work too much to get out to the meet ups, but I would love to again when I get the chance. I have pictures of me and most of my critters in my photo album.

I'm Julian! I'm a burnt-out, antisocial guy living in Hyde Park!

Hi, I'm Adam and I currently live in DeKalb.

Hey I'm Danielle. I'm 28 turning 29 later this month. Just moved to Aurora from NY. Decided to go vegan this past summer and am loving the decision!

2 new locals, yay! You may want to check out the Vegan Chicago Meetup I have linked in the first post. A bunch of us get together on the first Saturday of each month. :)

I signed up. Looking forward to the next meetup!

I signed up. Looking forward to the next meetup!

Cool! I saw you on the Meetup site, Adam! Welcome! :up:

Hi, I'm Bella (it's not my real name, but that's what most people call me), I'm two months or so shy of 16, and I live in central Illinois in a town most people have probably never heard of. I'm not really from here, I just moved from Kansas City, and before that, I lived in Texas, Maryland, Omaha, Singapore, Indonesia and Canada. I'm actually Canadian and American. :)

2 new locals, yay! You may want to check out the Vegan Chicago Meetup I have linked in the first post. A bunch of us get together on the first Saturday of each month. :)
I did join that meetup group - just haven't introduced myself yet. Won't be at the next meetup though, already had plans for that day :sick:

I've been AWOL/MIA for a long time cuz I went back to skool foolltime a year ago at the age of 43. That makes me......44 now.

Hey Michael, I like what you've done to the place :up:

I believe I'll soon be a Chicagoan (is that right?) My office is closing here this year on 11/30 and I've been offered a job in the Chicago office. I'm probably going to take it. I can't imagine finding a job here that would pay the same. They are going to move their office from downtown Chicago to Aurora in 2010. So, I've been looking at the housing market between the two points. I have to sell this house too. What a pain. Anyhow, I'll be in this thread hunting down the veg spots. Oh, and if you can think of any good towns between Chicago and Aurora I'd really love you to PM them to me.

Yay! I might get to meet Ruthie!

Oh man, I'm such a slacker, I just saw this thread!

I'm Julie! I'm 26 years old, I live in the city of Chicago (Wrigleyville-ish area) and that's me in my avatar. I'm bored at work so I'm just spamming the Illinois forum. :D I'm a writer/artist/photographer stuck in an office admin's job. I have a cat, a rabbit, a studio apartment, a 1960s bike and a brand-new digital SLR camera. I love Chicago and all its veggie restaurants!

Now I'm just babbling. Hehe.

~Julie

Hello all. My name's Julie. I live in Bloomington and I also really like The Coffeehouse. I went to Medicci's (sp?) a few weeks ago and liked it too. I've been a vegetarian for 13 years now. My friend, Tom, told me about a facebook site affiliated with the meet-up group and I found you this way. This is my first year in the B-N area and I live here with my partner (husband), Craig, and our 3 cats - Olivia, Pepper, and Miles.

I look forward to chatting with everyone. :hi: