Two for Tuesday: Candlelight & Vegetarian Update

I'm going to stick with Three Things Thursdays (instead of Tuesdays) and add Two for Tuesday because I like the alliteration :) Today's quickie post will be a brief update on our efforts to live by candlelight and eat only vegetarian meals.

Candlelight
I'm so glad the month of no artificial lights is over. I know I could have turned on the lights during April if I really needed to, but I like achieving goals I set, so I stuck with it for 30 days. I enjoy living by candlelight, but it's no fun doing certain things in the dark (e.g. shaving, some cooking, picking out clothes, or finding a small misplaced item). We're still making the most of daylight and candlelight as much as possible, but I won't hesitate to turn on a light when I really need it. While I can still shave, cook, and find misplaced items with candle light, it is inefficient because it takes longer to feel my way around or light more candles than to flick on the light for a few seconds. One thing is for certain, our eyes have grown accustomed to the darkness; we recoil like vampires when we turn on the lights. We've notice how bright and harsh artificial light is, so we'll continue using candles and only use artificial light sporadically. 

Vegetarian Diet
We are still going strong at 34 days with no end in sight. We haven't really missed meat, except for the occasional social gathering, so we don't see ourselves adding it back into our diets anytime soon. I do not know if it's all mental, or the amount and variety of exercise I've been doing lately, but I feel better and seem to have more energy. It could be that this diet allows me to exercise more and that is where I am getting the extra energy and good feelings.

The month of Jason cooking is also over, so I have to step back into the kitchen. I am actually excited about cooking again. I think all I needed was a little reprieve to re-energize, plus cooking vegetarian meals is not the same old same old. To avoid getting burnt out again, we're going to take turns planning meals every week and both help with the prep when cooking meals -- since a big portion of cooking vegetarian meals is chopping tons of veggies :)

Not only do I feel good physically, but I feel good knowing I am doing my part for the environment and fair treatment of animals. The food is also tastier and more diverse. This article, Meat Versus Miles: Why Less Meat is Better Than Going Local, showed up in my RSS reader this morning, and it is very timely. We are doing both, but sometimes we have no choice but to buy our stuff at Publix due to timing, supply, etc, so it's good to know that giving up meat is having that much more impact on the environment.