Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras! 

Today is Fat Tuesday, which means a few things.

1. I have an excuse, if I so wish, to eat lots of ridiculous junk food and have a couple drinks (even if it is a school night).

2. I am pretty much guaranteed to have at least 1 party going on down the street from me, which inevitably means that my poor pups will spend the better part of the night barking their little lungs out.

3. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.

The problem with #1 is that I also have boot camp tonight and somehow ingesting 5,000 calories after killing myself for an hour is NOT appealing what-so-ever. Instead, I have challenged myself to make a deceivingly delicious Cajun meal that will not demolish my calorie goals. I will also be whipping up a few cocktails and possibly a little homemade dessert.  DISCLAIMER: This will all depend on how mean my coach is tonight, we may end up with cereal...

I live within a single city block of a college campus.  All my neighbors are college students.  They like to party.  A lot. On any holiday and for any reason.  Oh well, I liked to party too.  Maybe I'm just jealous. Either way, I wish they made puppy earplugs so that my sweet babies would not freak out at every hoot and holler.

With Ash Wednesday comes a whole other set of rules. I must go to mass, I must either fast or abstain from meat for the whole day, and I must spend the rest of the day stressing over what sacrifices I am going to make to remind me of The Sacrifice that Jesus made on Good Friday.

In years past I have almost felt bad for the things I chose to give up for Lent.  They always seemed a bit self serving in one way or another.  I'm not saying they weren't sacrifices, because they were, but they always seemed to have an underlying purpose that was not spiritual in any discernible way.  One year I cut out carbs. Difficult for someone who looooooves bread and french fries? Yes.  Also a way to force me to diet so that I could reach a weight loss goal? Yep. Another year I gave up snacking between meals....same reason, different year.

This year I am determined to come up with something that will help me grow as a person.  I want to honor God by pushing myself to go outside my comfort zone and really dig into how I can change, be it spiritually or emotionally.

Anyone feel like sharing their Mardi Gras plans or Lent goals?