kittybenn Member

@JulieAL1969 - I'm a meditator, and I think you would like Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. I also like Joseph Goldstein. Tara has a podcast, and it's great. I love an app called Insight Timer. Tara, Jack, Joseph and others are on that app and it's free. Can't say enough good about it. You can search their guided meditations…

@dressagerider1020 Your post on being addicted to smoking was brilliant. It's one that I'm going to read over and over again. The thought you've put into pondering who you are and the way you want to live your life - amazing. Thanks for sharing that.

@SanDiegofitmom - I'm right there with ya. That was exactly my experience this weekend. I had no desire to move on to a second glass. I am thinking if I'm only having one glass, though, I'm not going to drink mediocre wine, LOL. Actually poured out a bottle this weekend after trying one sip because I didn't like it. I…

Oh boy, @JulieAL1969 I am jealous of those teas! They sound like they'll be interesting and tasty. I do hope your husband gets on the solidarity bandwagon for that event. But good for you for deciding to go, exercising your sobriety muscle and not worrying about it (at least I hope not worrying about it too much). My total…

@jkm0791 - Welcome and congrats on your success! Those liquid calories are really easy to overdo. We've all been there. For me, getting control of eating and drinking are like flip sides of the same coin. I'm not finding it too awfully difficult to moderate the drinking, and I'm thinking it may be because I've been…

@erikNJ - What an inspiration you are - I want to come to your house for Mardi Gras. And please tell us what drinks you're going to serve!

Had my (one) Friday glass of chardonnay. It was good . . . but somehow not as thrilling as I thought it would be, which mirrors my experience of last weekend. There's this buildup and excitement (Oh boy! It's Friday! I can drink!) that for two weekends in a row has been pretty anticlimactic. Had my glass of wine out at the…

@lightenup2016 - thanks for sharing all of that. Really useful and interesting. One of the best bits of advice I've ever read is from Martha Beck (I think!): Being fat is hard. Losing weight is hard. Pick your hard.

Got through Mon-Thurs just fine, happy to say. Today is supposedly a day I allow myself to drink, so we'll see how that goes. Need to really focus on just one glass. This week's alcohol-free drink experiment will be Trader Joe's Sparkling White Chardonnay Grape Juice. Just picked up a bottle while I was shopping for other…

@SanDiegofitmom - what a great way to put it. That is a thing for real.

So happy this a.m. to report that I made it through last night's boozy, emotional night with my girlfriends (they were having some serious work and family problems) while staying dry. I'm committed to not drinking Mon-Thurs and am thrilled I stuck with the plan. Drank my tea and diet gingerale and listened a lot, which was…

@Skyweigh - thanks for that. So encouraging!

@JulieAL1969 - I know what you mean. This is dry day 3 after drinking over the weekend. I'm getting together with some girlfriends tonight and we have always drunk wine in the past, me to excess, typically. So, tonight will be harder than the past two, when I had nothing going on. One of my friends lost her job yesterday,…

Wow, that's impressive. I'm going to steal that idea - nice going!

@louisepaul16 I'm wondering myself if my weekend drinking is just going to make it harder. I was dry all through Jan and then drank Fri-Sun. I found it a little hard to get back on track yesterday, but did. Just switched back to tea and it wasn't bad, but still it was a little tough. Just pondering what it's going to take…

Won't bore you with details, but things went completely off the rails yesterday at the Super Bowl gathering I went too. Wayyyyy too much eating and drinking. I'm not gonna dwell on it. Today's another day. My goal was to stay dry Mon-Thurs so here we go!

I've failed by what I call sticking my head in the sand and pretending things are just fine. I vowed about 20+ months ago to stop doing that. I log no matter what and stay connected here. I went all summer without making much progress, but logged, checked in to the discussion groups, etc. I believe that alone kept me from…

I love Chinese takeout, and typically use the Panda Express numbers. I make my own brown rice at home on the day I'm getting it and eat that rice instead of the stir fried rice that comes with the meal. Realize I'm prob missing the best part but it's better than not having Chinese food at all!

@WinoGelato - WTG n that wine dumping! Also, great tea suggestions, thanks! Somebody here recommended putting a Polar or some other type of club soda in a wine glass with a little fruit, I think it was. That sounded like a great idea for the "second glass of wine." Something about drinking it out of a wine glass would…

Sheesh, that is ridiculous. If anybody shoulda been sneering it was you. You are being super strong and pursuing your health goals and nobody should be condescending toward you. But I think it will prob be a valuable lesson in life: not caring what other people think of your drinking, but also your possessions, your home,…

@JulieAL1969 - thanks, I need a hug this a.m. You are prob right about tolerance. I continue to admire how you've hung in there. WAY TO GO!

@islandbeez thanks so much! I was surprised at my reaction. Mostly what I wanted to share with everybody who's staying dry is that you're probably not missing much, except overeating, being dehydrated and having a hangover. You can go out to eat without booze, you can socialize without booze, you can have fun without…

Last night was the post Dry January celebration. Had a great meal out at an Italian/Southern soul place (weird, I know, but good). Split two bottles of excellent red wine between three people, so I had 2+ glasses, maybe 3. Despite how good the wine was, I kinda felt like the experience was meh and that I could take it or…

@JulieAL1969 I love your random thoughts. You continue to inspire!

Love these drink ideas, thank you! Bought the Polar, and it's really good. Am adding a little grapefruit juice and slices of orange to the plain. The cranberry lime is exceptional, I thought. Bigelow French vanilla- yessss! Great suggestion, am loving it. And figured out how to cope with the Tazo wild sweet orange, that…

@salleewins I'm with you on the passion tea for sure. I'm drinking the orange, bc I don't want to waste it, but thinking about throwing a little stevia in, LOL. Publix has a BOGO on the Polar seltzer, so am getting that today. Have never tried it, but the suggestions to have it with orange and/or lime sounded really good.…

I did not know that, and that explains a lot. I AM craving sweets for sure. Getting by with Hershey's dark chocolate kisses and Trader Joe's mini dark chocolate peanut butter cups. I'm trying hard to limit quantities, but I have both every day. Guess we know where those alcohol calories are going . . .

@JuliaAL1969 and everybody else -- I agree, I could not have done it without this thread. I never felt alone. And now, it's the night of Jan. 31 and I can proudly say that the entire month was dry. I am so amazed that I've come this far. Maybe it was that epic New Year's Day hangover that inspired me to get headed in the…

@salleewins - I'm with you on this: "I can't keep bags of chocolate in the house or alcohol...." I think I'm replacing alcohol with chocolate, so that's something I'm going to need to work on, LOL. Love the french vanilla tea and other drink recommendations, so thank you. Some of the teas I've been trying are a bit too…