Meeting Elise

My name is Elise. I'm twenty-one years old and will be graduating this December with my Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Women's Gender, & Sexuality Studies. I attend the University at Albany (SUNY) where I serve as Service VP of Alpha Phi Omega and President of Sigma Alpha Omega; work with Campus Recreation as a Member Services Representative (fancy way of saying I help people!); do research on weight stigma and sexual assault victimology; and do my best to stay afloat with all of the beautiful obstacles along the way! Three important things about my life:

First and foremost, I am a non-denominational Christian and have been for three years. I was an atheist most of my life. Second, I believe in non-"traditional" Scripture interpretation of the LGBTQ community and have aims to obtain my doctorate in counseling psychology to specifically work with transgender youth. I will not tolerate non-loving attitudes on my blog or in my friendships towards this community. You are more than welcome to disagree with me, but please don't contact me attempting to change my mind. My focus is being God's light; yours should be too :)! My faith inspires, encourages, and motivates me to serve to the capacity that I do and to love with all that I have.

I am a non-honey vegan (there's a difference!). I do my best also to purchase vegan and cruelty-free products, but it's not always possible due to my SES; I never wear animal print. I have been a vegan for seven years and I don't plan on going back! It's such a huge commitment to my life and it's changed me in amazing ways. I am more than happy to answer any and all questions that you might have regarding starting a vegan or vegetarian diet, or even daily questions.

I exercise regularly and am currently in a healthy, transition phase in my life where I am trying to get fit for myself. I am in recovery of bulimia (type II, though the DSM-V has removed this) and have been for several years. While it does not affect my life negatively now, I do have periods where I feel I may relapse into it and have to be careful about what I am eating and how much I am exercising. I've done Insanity, Les Mills, and TFocus 25. At the moment, I'm working through TFocus 25 and cleaning up my eating habits back to where they were two years ago. My health is very important to me. If the Holy Spirit is residing in my body (1 Cor 6:19), I want it to be in the best shape that I can manage. I have no aspirations to look like a model. I have curves and am learning to embrace them.

This is my boyfriend Oscar. We have been dating since around January 4, 2012; I'm very excited to be celebrating 2.5 years with him in June! I won't be cliche and say that he's my other half, but he's definitely an amazing part of me. He treats me like gold and does his best to be the most understanding person he can be to me. Our relationship is based on a strong friendship and I couldn't really ask for more in that respect. He's 12 hours younger than me and I regularly reference him as my "tot," as he's both shorter and far more petite than I am. We do not share spiritual beliefs and this is something we are working through in our relationship. We sponsor a child named Carlos together through VisionTrust Brazil; it's been quite a beautiful journey and it means the world to me that we can share this experience together.

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Meeting Elise

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