Fat Tuesday! No Meat Zone.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roule! (Let The Good Times Roll!)

Today is Fat Tuesday! Woo hoo! One of these days, I want to visit New Orleans during Mardi Gras. I bet that is an experience one will never forget.

Today is my last day as a meat eater; at least for the next 40 days.  I'm not Catholic but since I was 18 and learned about Lent from my college roommates, every year  I have given up a vice for Lent. Last year it was alcohol. At the time, I didn't think I'd be able to do it. The first week was difficult but I managed to last the entire 40 days without drinking. Woo hoo! What did I learn from this? I seriously needed to cut back on my alcohol intake. I still drink now, but not as much as I used to. I would use alcohol as a way to soothe when I was stress or as a sleeping aid. That's not good. It could have easily turned into a terrible, destructible habit. Plus, I don't need those extra, empty calories!

This year I'm giving up MEAT. Yep, I'm going vegetarian. I was thinking about going vegan after watching an episode of Oprah where she and her staff went vegan for 7 days. My brother did it for 7 days and succeeded but he said it wasn't easy. Veganism means you don't eat anything from an animal which means no DAIRY! I love yogurt. I have to have my yogurt everyday so I know I would not have the willpower to be a vegan for 40 days. So I'm going for the next best thing. In conjunction of going vegetarian, I'm also not drinking alcohol again. Might as well go all the way or not at all.

Wish me luck! I'm not a big meat eater but there are times where I crave a burger and must have Popeye's.  Yum!! Tonight we're having leftover lasagna for dinner. It'll be my last meal with meat. I'm so going to savor it!

Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday - the start of Lent. I'm not a super-religious person. I don't even know if Southern Baptists celebrate Ash Wednesday/Lent. I haven't been to church since we moved to Virginia back in 1985. I do believe in God and I do think religion/spirituality is important but I have a problem with "organized" religion. I think my issues with it stem from being brought up as Southern Baptist, having a preacher for a grandfather and going to church every Sunday and seeing the hypocrisy of the people sitting in the pews. It left a bad taste in my mouth. With that being said and despite my religion issues, I decided it would be a good idea to give up a "vice" for Lent. I used to do this every year but fell off the wagon about 5 years ago. I figured I'd give it a shot this year. This goes along with my 9 goals for 2009. Things I want to do to make me a better person. So I've decided to stop talking about people. Anyone who knows me knows that talking about and making fun of people is my thing. It's what I do. It's how I get my laughs and kicks. But it's also not nice and I really need to stop doing it. And one day I'm going to be talking about someone and they're going to be right there. I've never been very discreet when it came to my trash-talking. My husband hates it. Especially since he says that I don't know how to whisper and that the person I'm talking about can probably hear me. Not good. And again - not nice.

I'm hoping I can stick with this beyond the 40 days. I am a nice person but I sometimes do not so nice things. I'm letting everyone know that I'm giving this up so if I slip up, I will be called on it. I tell my son all the time that it's not nice to talk about people. I think it's time I took my own advice.