Today kicks off a month of clean livin'

P and I are list makers: Books we want to read, trails to hike, future travels, future lists, before-we-dies, things to organize, things to throw away, things to teach Gus to ensure he is a genius. We like our lists. We also like challenges: Feats of strength. Feats of patience. Raising a toddler.

The Lenten season is upon us, and a few podcasts, blogs, and TedTalks have brought inspiration. Because we're not up to THAT big of a challenge, we're taking Lent in 30, and we're attempting what we're calling, "30 days of clean livin'". We made lists of the things we want to avoid and the things we want to add and the things we want to alter to be the best us-s we can be. Our plans aren't identical, but in general you'll find us flossing and yoga-ing and gargling salt water and keeping gratitude journals and taking our vitamins. There's no Facebook and no gossip and no refined sugars and no meat. It's not all austerity. There are allotted units of caffiene and alcohol. There is cheese. There are things to look forward to like family Sundays and mandatory naps. But there's absolutely no peeking at PopSugar, no matter how much you want to see what someone wore to the Oscars.

I share our folly not to boast but because we're weak, weak people. We're not sure we'll do it if we don't tell. And to keep us as honest as possible, we've traded lists and risked some cash. If I break a rule, P gets all my March fun-money (and if you know how strictly we budget these days, you'll know that these are some special pennies). I just know he's going to spend it on INXS CDs or some sort of WWF t-shirt, and that will slay me. I cannot cave!

And when the days are up and success is achieved, our reward is enlightenment. Ha! Whatever. Our reward is probably a pork knuckle at the local pub. But at least we'll be able to reflect on what we missed and what we didn't. And analyze energy levels and moods and have a baseline for moving forward. Being somewhat "older" parents of a crazy toddler has made us think a bit (desperately) on health and energy and keeping up with a tiny. So, here's hoping this helps.

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As a final meaty meal, we savored something glorious. Chef Ruth, who also once lived in Singapore, voluntarily came over and cooked us (shlepped a rice cooker, chickens, and more across town...that Ruth is amazing)--cooked us in our very own kitchen--a Hainanese Chicken Rice lunch (who does that?). It was gorgeous. The chili sauce was her own and garlic and ginger were used in abundance. To top it off, there was rojak with homemade yu tiao. Every bite of every thing was beautiful and fragrant and demanded seconds. She used the chicken rice recipe in the link, and it was spot on. Thank you, Ruth.