Well, I’ve been trying to refrain from smoking at all, but – geez – it is tough. Last week wasn’t too bad – I smoked maybe one or two a day and had a day or two where I didn’t smoke a cig at all. Even better, I didn’t even crave one – score!

But, then, I went to a Halloween party last weekend where I buckled and smoked about ten cigarettes in one night. I know, bad girl, Kelly; but honestly, with all the liquor, I just let myself go with the smoking…again. There’s something about needing a smoke with my vodka soda, or my glass of red wine that I just can’t seem to shake. Am I the only one?

After my lovely smoking binge of Friday, I tried to calm down the rest of the weekend. And I did. I smoked only one or two cigarettes a day for the rest of the weekend.

On my way to work on Monday, though, I almost put my car in park and asked the guy in traffic behind me, who was smoking a cig, if I could bum one. Then I realized how crazy and pathetic I would have looked, so I stopped myself. I didn’t have a cigarette that morning, and I didn’t have one for the rest of the day. I made a conscious decision to either go big – and do it as close to cold turkey as I can until I can finally withdraw myself from the cravings – or not do it at all. And not doing it at all is not an option.

I know what all of you non-smokers must be thinking: it’s such a disgusting habit and can give you cancer, so why do people smoke in the first place? I know you’re right, but it’s more than just a bad habit to me. When I’m stressed, a smoke calms be down; when I’m out for cocktails with my girlfriends, a smoke feels great with that dirty martini; and so on.

But, I will prevail. I will keep trying and keep you informed. If you have any tips on how to kick this habit and go cold turkey, fill me in. I want to be done with cigarettes by Christmas – sort of, like, a present to myself. Think I can do it?

Well, we all – even the smokers like myself – know smoking is a bad habit. I have been smoking on and off since I was 14 and, not to date myself, with almost 10 years of smoking under my belt, I have decided it is time to try and kick the bad ‘ole habit once and for all.

Because quitting is really effing hard, I am going to share my journey with and you, CollegeCandies. I hope this inspires you to join me…and inspires me to stick with it. Smoking kills thousands and thousands of people each year and I don’t want to be part of the statistics.

So, week one, here is the progress to date:

After smoking a pack every two days, a few weeks ago I decided not to buy packs anymore. Translation: I’d only mooch my cigarettes, which I hate doing. I figured this would cut my daily intake drastically. And it did, for a few days. Then, one weekend after having a few too many cocktails (my prime time to smoke), I caved and bought a pack… and proceeded to smoke the entire pack in one evening.

Not so good for me considering I’m an avid runner who huffs and puffs on my daily run like I’m a 400 lb. man.

Then, I tried another option: limiting myself to two – four cigarettes a day. Some days, if I didn’t need them, I wouldn’t have them, and others, I’d reach my limit and learn to hold off.

As of today, October 30, 2008, I have smoked three cigarettes total. Not too shabby. When I want more cigarettes than I allow, I drink a glass of water, chew gum, or listen to music to take my mind off of it. So far, so good (kind of).

Tomorrow, I hope to smoke two, and will continue to allow myself two for each day, for the rest of this week.

The weekends are when I cave, especially if I’m out with my smoker friends…and cocktails. Any fellow smoker will know how natural it feels to have a drink in one hand and a smoke in another.

Wish me luck on my week journey to smoke free livin’! I’ll report back next week and give you the 411 on my progress. Any tips on how to kick this habit are greatly welcome, ladies.