14/40 Days

Fourteen days ago I started my Lenten practices. Here’s an update on how they’re going so far…

I will not be spending ridiculous amounts of money on fancy coffee drinks when I can easily make my own. This one is going amazingly well so far, for my wallet, my waistline, and my peace of mind. Since I’ve been traveling for the past couple weeks, I would drink coffee that my friends had made, or I’d heat up some water and have my Starbucks Via. While I was in South Carolina, I bought a coffeemaker on sale at Target. My friends taught me how to use it. Today I bought fair trade coffee to make in it. I came home and unpacked the coffeemaker, set up a nice spot for it on the counter…and then realized I had never bought filters! That’s okay…I have several packets of Via and de-lish caramel macchiato flavored creamer.

The only sweets I will eat are those that I made myself, or that someone close to me has made themselves. Also going fabulously! I LOVE this rule for myself! It makes me think a lot more about what I’m putting in my body, and where it comes from. You can read about my spinach brownie experiment here. Last weekend, when I was with friends in DC we made “Monster” cookies…delicious oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate goodness. Not sure what I’m going to try next! But I’m definitely eating much less sweets because of this rule. One thing that makes me feel like I’m cheating is that my morning granola has chocolate in it. I blame this on Virginia for buying the granola (although I can’t blame her for the fact that I bought it at the grocery store upon returning to Chicago!). But I figure, I’m eating ½ cup for breakfast. I don’t eat it all day long so that I can eat a “treat” – that’s when it would be cheating, right?

I won't be using plastic bags at all. I stopped to get some groceries in South Carolina and forgot to bring reusable bags. The groceries were: a baguette, Brie, ½ gallon of milk, bag of spinach, turkey meat from the deli, and creamer. I can tell you that I must’ve looked pretty ridiculous trying to carry these awkwardly shaped items to my car. I can also tell you that I don’t mind looking ridiculous.