mardi gras

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone! (I know...it doesn't sound as good in English.)

To celebrate, my building bought doughnuts for us. Ok, Mardi Gras may not be the reason, but it's appropriate. I actually forgot about Mardi Gras and Lent until this morning when the news reminded me that not only was it Super Tuesday, but also Mardi Gras. At which point I thought: "Oops! I haven't even thought of something to give up."

And I think I may have posted on this dilemma last year too. My only real vice is coffee. While I could conceivably go for a day without coffee, maybe two, forty days would be pushing it and quite probably pushing it for everyone around me.

So...I'm thinking of giving up chocolate. I used to not eat a lot of chocolate, and I still don't. I tend to prefer my chocolate in liquid form. And for my birthday I received peppermint hot chocolate from Williams Sonoma and a tin of Trader Joe's sipping chocolate. And both are heaven.

But for Lent it's also acceptable to do something to help make you a better person. You don't necessarily have to give up something. I'm thinking I may try to work out every day. Not anything hardcore every day, because that would be overkill. But include yoga or walking in with the hardcore stuff. I have actually increased my work out times and I do feel better. Much better. And I've noticed that as I've started doing yoga more, those other little vices (like the chocolate and the occasional drink) have declined on their own. They haven't gone away of course.

While working out every day may not be feasible in the long term, because there are days where life just gets in the way, at least forty days should help institutionalize working out and making it more of a habit.

Maybe we'll see how that goes. And by putting this out there publicly, I am to be held accountable for it. I'll keep you posted on how I do. I do have a vacation coming up in a week, but there will be a lot of walking, probably at the beach and then in downtown Los Angeles. I think this could be very possible.

Anyone else giving up something or adding something to their lives?