Mardi Gras!!!!

If you know me, you know Tuesdays are my least favorite day of the week. I used to call Tuesdays “The Devil’s Day!” That’s part of the reason I do my arm day on Tuesdays—if I can do my least favorite exercise day on my least favorite day, I can do it any day! Don’t ask me the logic…it’s mine. It makes sense to me.

There is one Tuesday that’s special to me—Mardi Gras—Fat Tuesday. I could skip every other Tuesday but not Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is the beginning of my favorite holiday season: Easter. For me, Mardi Gras means the start of something, a renewal. Lent is a time to start over. A time to refresh my life and renew my self-discipline and self-control. I am not Catholic, nor have I ever been, but I participate in the spirit of the traditions of Lent. I even went to Carnivale the year I lived in Greece. While it wasn’t as crazy as Rio’s, or even New Orleans’, my friend Jimmy did get beat up by little kids with bats…haha. Oh, good times.

I love tradition. Every Fat Tuesday, I go out to dinner for my last meal. The last three years, including today, Emily and I have gone out to dinner because we were roommates and friends. I wear a special Mardi Gras outfit (pictured). Sometimes, I do my eyeshadow in Mardi Gras colors, and I listen to Dierks’ “Mardi Gras.” If you’re going to celebrate a holiday, you might as well celebrate it all the way. I love the Spring, too. I love watching the flowers bloom and feeling the warm breeze on my cheek. I love that the sun stays out longer. Spring makes me happy!!! Easter makes me happy!!!

One year, when I lived in Utah, I ate a diabetic diet. I wanted to support Hannah, so I researched the diet a diabetic should eat. Every day for 40+ days, I wrote down everything I ate all day, and I counted carbs, and when I got close to the max number, I stopped eating. It was difficult. I had never realized how many carbs are in everything a person eats. I struggled some days. I give major props to everyone who lives with diabetes each and every day of their lives. 40 days was hard enough. I can’t imagine a lifetime.

This year, like every year, I am giving up soda. Unlike previous years, I am giving up all caffeine. Normally, it’s just soda. About two weeks ago, I realized that I was drinking coffee and energy drinks pretty often. I don’t even like coffee, but people would offer it, and I would drink it. Two years ago I had given up energy drinks totally because I was drinking them every day, and my mom sent me a picture of a man with half his brain missing because he had drank energy drinks every day. The chemicals in the energy drinks destroyed his brain cells. The picture freaked me out, and I stopped drinking energy drinks that day. I don’t know why I started drinking them again. I don’t even really like them, except the Monster Ultra Black. I am a sucker for cherry. I don’t need them. They don’t give me energy. So, I am just putting chemicals in my body that I don’t need to. So, hopefully, after Lent 2019 I never drink another one again.

I will admit:  I don’t have very many food struggles. I gave up condiments in college, and while I still eat mayo on occasion, that’s the only one. I don’t want a dry sandwich, and chicken salad (pasta chicken salad if you’re Aunt Lori) needs mayo. I had replaced mayo with hummus for a couple years, but I found hummus is a fickle food. It’s just too inconsistent to be a substitute. One day a week I don’t eat meat. I haven’t done so for about 4 years. Thanks Amin for the suggestion. I don’t eat after 8, unless it’s the weekend. But soda, is a vice. I don’t need it. I can give it up. But, I like it. Cherry Coke Zero is my favorite (I was going to drink one today before Lent started, but I forgot). It’s better in the bottle than the fountain, but it’s hard to find that way. The gas station and Walgreens by my house have it in the bottle, though. I drink soda because I like it. I know it’s bad for me, but I still drink it. I drink it when I am stressed. I drink it before I go to bed. Soda has no food rules. Well, I try not to drink it until after 11 am, but that doesn’t always happen. Some days I drink a little. Yesterday, I didn’t drink any until seven at night. Other days I drink a lot. But, I don’t need to drink it at all. So, every Lent I give it up to prove to myself I can, and I don’t need it to heal stress or anxiety. I don’t think I will ever stop drinking soda totally because I like it, but I could greatly reduce the amount I drink, that would be great. I would be really happy with myself.

This year, unlike previous years, giving up soda will be tougher because I expect the next 40+ days I will want a soda or two while I am writing Chapters 1-3. And I am not just giving up soda, I am giving up all caffeine. I love drinking tea first thing in the mornings on the weekend, so I will have to change my morning routine. I know I can do it. Honestly, the worst part will be when I go out because it’s habit to order a soda. I will just have to remind myself I am not drinking it. Water will be my best friend, haha. It’s funny, the bartender where we play Music Bingo, sees me, and he automatically brings me a Diet Coke, no ice. He knows me so well, haha. I already told him last week the next time he sees me that I will not be drinking it. He asked me, “all soda, or just Diet Coke.” L I don’t look at it as giving up, even though that’s the terminology I used. I am gaining so much by not drinking soda—control, discipline, health, etc.

And this year, I am going to keep track of two things during Lent that I never have before. 1) I am going to see how much money I saved not drinking soda. I don’t know how exactly I am going to figure it out, but I will, somehow. 2) I am going to keep track of my weight. People tell me all the time that I would lose weight if I stopped drinking soda. I never feel like I do. My scale is at my parents’ house, and a couple weeks ago, I weighed myself; I was excited because I’ve met my goal weight, which I set a few months ago. My dad joked that I should set my goal weight lower. I don’t think I have weight to lose, but I want to see if not drinking soda makes any difference in my weight. I weighed myself Sunday, so I know what I started at, and we’ll see what I weigh Easter Sunday after Lent has ended. I will report back if there was any weight difference.

So, here’s to Mardi Gras and my 2019 renewal! I am hoping that things will go smoothly. I know with my new positive outlook, they will. I am also hoping the focus on self-discipline will help me focus my energy on my dissertation, so I can reach all my goals. By Easter, I want to have a draft of Chapters 1-2 ready to bring to Minnesota!!!! I can do it. I will do it!

I am so excited for the next 47 days, and what this year’s Easter season has in store for me. Thanks to Dierks’ “Mardi Gras” I am making these lyrics: “Gold confetti in her green eyes!” my mantra. I am ready to share the excitement of life with everyone in my life! I hope you can see the happiness through my eyes!