I'm really (really) gonna miss red wine. For 365 entire days I will miss it...or at least I think I'll miss it the whole time. I should admit that when I came up with the idea to go a full year without drinking, I had just finished off a bottle of Zinfandel. God no, not White Zin. I'm talking deep, red, dry, full-bodied, spicy, delicious Zinfandel. I was lying in bed (room spinning a bit, my cheeks flushed, big smile on my face), thinking about my upcoming 25th birthday. Undoubtedly my girls and I would (and still will) go out to dinner and drinks and follow it up with lots more drinks. The next day I'll want to do ANYTHING to feel better which will most likely result in eating a Mr.Z's Cheesesteak or the leftovers of the one I got on the way home the night before, and we will all laugh and text trying to remember what exactly we did the night before (between puking breaks to the bathroom). I'm not saying this isn't fun, I've loved every single one of my birthday celebrations, but 25 sounds and feels a little special so I want to do something different for myself in my next year.


Everyday there seem to be countless articles and news stories about individual people accomplishing amazing things, thrown in between Miami zombie attacks and what happened the night before on The Bachelor. I don't aim to invent a time-travel machine or solve world hunger, but I would like to see what I can learn about myself and others through awake, alert, sober eyes. Before anyone starts hating, I'm not doing this because I think I have an alcohol problem, I don't think that at all. I'm doing this for the following reasons:

1. I'm tired of being tired.
2. It disgusts that liquor, wine and bar food consistently equal MORE than my rent on a monthly basis.
3. I want to see what I can learn, explore, and do with countless more hours on my hands.
1. Read more
2. Progress past disc 2 on my Rosetta Stone Spanish
3. Learn more about Buddhism
4. Cook more 
4. I want to be healthy - I know the older I get the harder it's gonna be to get rid of this extra cushion thing I have going on - EW! 
5. I want to prove to myself that I can do it (Birthdays, holidays, happy hour - all sober...weird! Not to mention living in a drinking town and friends that really know how to lay on the pressure.)

Those are my top-of-mind reasons, although I'm sure I'll be adding more along the way. 

July 9th is my official start date, as my birthday is the 8th. I'm calling it my birthday present to myself - although based on friends reactions you'd think I'm sentencing myself to death. "What?" "Why would you want to do that?" "Don't fool yourself!" "You're not gonna be any fun." At least my friends are honest! I'm aiming to blog at least a little bit everyday so I can look back and see what was fun, what was challenging and the changes I noticed along the way. I thought some family back at home might enjoy the journey with me...so here we go. Oh wait, it's not July 9th yet, I'm gonna enjoy some red wine while I still can.