Daily Archives: April 20, 2011

By some miracle this morning I actually turned my light on when my alarm went off the first time. I didn’t really go back to sleep, but I definitely wasn’t awake either.

I had a smoothie in a bowl for breakfast this morning. I told myself it would be just like eating Pinkberry for breakfast if I added some cereal toppings. That was a big fat lie, but it was delicious anyway.

In my mix: spinach, strawberries, chocolate protein powder, vanilla yogurt. Cereal on top (way too much cereal, I’ve gotta say. It was about a cup and I really couldn’t).

Today I’m making quite the announcement on my blog at TheDomesticEmpress.com. It doesn’t really impact the readers of this blog very much, but there will be a few changes happening in the coming weeks. Or months. You know, whenever I get around to it. So check it out if you want to see me be awkward (and totally silent) in a YouTube video.

Day 3 – My Views on Drugs and Alcohol

Oh boy.

I say that because there are so many things that come to mind. I just cringe a little bit thinking about this subject and all I could say. But I picked one and stuck with it.

My view on drugs is pretty clear: I don’t use them. I mean, of course, illegal drugs. Anything prescribed to you by a physician and used according to the prescription is perfectly acceptable. Taking someone else’s prescription meds? Not so much.

When it comes to alcohol, my stance is basically the same. I generally do not consume alcohol.

Let me explain. I never intend to drink alcohol ever again. But I will eat foods that have been prepared with alcohol. And having alcohol at my disposal, I personally have even used it to cook/bake with. Now I won’t go out and buy alcohol to cook with because I don’t actually want to get in the habit of cooking with it since I see it as something unnecessary that I don’t want to spend money on. But if I’m at my parents house and it’s available and the recipe calls for it, I sometimes use it.

But I didn’t always feel this way. You probably already know that I wasn’t born a member of my church. I chose to join it over two years ago and when I did that I gave up drinking. I chose to stop. I won’t go into all the reasons why I made that choice, but I will say that it was a personal one – something I decided was right for me as an individual.

At first my friends were pretty cagey about my decision to stop drinking. Let’s be clear – they’re not out at the bars every night, and as we’ve gotten older the amount of time they spend actually getting drunk has seriously diminished. But still, we go to happy hour from time to time, it’s pretty much the norm to have a drink with dinner if we’re all out, and every now and then there’s a party where no one has any obligations the next day and everyone decides to just have at it (I say we because I’m present, not because I’m participating). I would describe this as pretty average for a group of young professionals.

But since I was one of the people in my group of friends who was always ready to party, I think it was hard for my friends to understand why I would decide to stop drinking. After all, I didn’t have an addiction problem or any medical reasons for stopping. They were also really worried about what I would do while they were drinking. I can’t tell you the number of times people said “It’s not fun to watch other people drink, why would you even want to hang out with us while we do it?” or “I don’t want you to be mad while we’re drinking” or some variation thereof.

But here’s the reality of the situation: It’s only “not fun” to watch other people drink when you didn’t get to choose not to drink. For example, if it’s your turn to be the DD and you’re stuck not drinking while everyone else parties (aka sulking/feeling sorry for yourself) – not fun, and if you weren’t planning to be the driver until you showed up and your pre-designated driver was already drunk, then yeah, you might even be mad about having to change your plans. But if you decide not to drink, you can still have plenty of fun hanging out with drunk people and not drinking.

And no, I don’t sit around casting judgment on people who decide they want to drink. After all, in the past I have been the one yelling for more shots. How can I turn around and judge people for making the same decisions as me? I make a choice not to drink just as much as you make a choice to drink. One of those choices is right for me, the other one isn’t. It’s up to me to decide what I do, and you get to decide what you do.

The only time that line gets crossed is when your decision might take away someone else’s opportunity to decide. Like if you want to drive drunk. Not gonna happen on my watch. I also will not drive a bunch of drunk girls to the beach to skinny dip in the middle of the night. Not that I’m ever asked to do that.

So that’s where I stand. Now it’s your turn: What’s your favorite (non or alcoholic) drink?