It’s probably the latter. But still, I can’t help but think that there are certain shopping experiences that really would be made easier if they could be done with some booze in hand…

1. Swimsuit shopping. Bring on the shots. If it were up to me no woman would ever have to endure such a horror sober. Take a shot of tequila before trying on any one piece. Two for tankinis. Three for bikinis. By then, they’ll all look great.

2. Holiday shopping. Holiday shopping is super stressful and extra annoying because you don’t even get to keep any of the stuff that you spend so much time picking out. You’re giving it all away. So next December get your peppermint mocha or eggnog spiked before you start your shopping.  I think it will go a lot more smoothly…

3. Lingerie Shopping. Similar to the swimsuit shopping experience, except the lingerie doesn’t stay on for nearly as long. Go with wine for this shopping experience. Take your girlfriends and have a little bit of a fashion show, and sip some red wine as you do. It’ll relax your nerves for when you buy the lingerie… and for when you use it.

4. Shopping for School Supplies. With book prices these days drinking while book buying should be mandatory. For every $50 you spend, take a shot. For every $100, chug a beer.  Do it before you head out on a Thursday night and you’ll kill two birds with one stone- school supply shopping and pregaming.

The possibilities for such occasions are endless. Tell me ladies, which shopping experiences do you wish you had a drink in hand for?

So I’m 3 weeks into my bright college years, and in between realizing that I have Spanish homework to do at 1 in the morning and figuring out how trash piles up so quickly when clearly I took out the garbage like, a day ago, there are plenty of Solo cups and pregaming parties to keep my thoughts occupied.

In the past year, I passed through the rookie stage of drinking. You know, getting over the fact that drinking isn’t such a big deal after all (I know some may beg to differ, which I totally respect, but step off for a sec, darlings) and then advancing into classic teen movie, drink up mode. It was like I was Cady Heron (a la Mean Girls) being de-innocentized, except minus The Plastics. There were chill house parties, high-ish quality alcohol bought by nice older siblings, and then classic senior year, I-don’t-give-a-f**k debauchery. Getting to a stage of happy drunk was part of the whirlwind of senior year and really, part of the fun. But I was good about it – no blacking out and never even vomiting.

So coming to college, I was under the impression that it would be the same, but something about drinking here just doesn’t feel settling to me. The glowy halo of happiness that surrounded drinking just totally disappeared.

I know, totally weird, right? Because, like, obviously drinking is much simpler here. There aren’t quite as many repercussions when you get caught, alcohol is pretty much readily available, and the number of boys who you would willingly drunkenly hook-up with has gone through the freakin’ roof.

But for some reason, after 3 weekends worth of pregaming and taking LMFAO seriously (shots! shots! shots!), I just don’t know if drinking is as worth it in college.

I mean, I don’t want to stumble around being known forever as That Girl. Also, both my roommate and I are mistaken for drunk when we aren’t drunk at all just due to our normal personalities, so I figured that adding drinking on top of that was unnecessary. And who needs the extra calories of a few cans of beer? Not I – the dining hall fries are good enough for me.

So I tested out this whole not drinking business last weekend, and surprise, life was perfectly grand. I had a Hollywood caliber night minus a Lindsay Lohan caliber hangover the next morning and I honestly don’t feel like I missed out on much. Debauchery? Check. Dancing? Check. Dudes? Check. I’ve got everything I need.
I’m not saying that I don’t condone drinking – I do, but I’m just not feelin it right now. And I’m not sue I ever will.

Alcohol free for the rest of freshman year? Maybe.

You know those hermits you hear about that live in caves, hunt wild animals, and never cut their beards? Well, whenever I come home during a break from school, I give them a run for their money (minus the wild animal and beard parts – I like my meat cooked and my face fuzz-free). When I’m home, I hang out with my family and might make it to lunch with some friends a few times, but that’s pretty much the extent of my human interaction. As an only child, constantly being around (drunk) people at school can drive me absolutely crazy, so I love coming home and locking myself away for however long I can manage to.

With that said, last night I ventured out for my high school best friend’s birthday dinner. My mind, which had been reacquainted with constantly being with sober people, was blown. The champagne guzzling started at the dinner table and turned to shots as we headed out to a sweaty, packed club where there was so much grinding I was tempted to go home and get an STD test. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun…until everyone got super sloppy and my role turned from dancing queen to babysitter-to-the-sloptarts.

It got me mad.
And it got me thinking….

Would You Rather have your best friend get so drunk on your birthday that you have to take care of her all night OR have every single last one of your friends be busy on your birthday, so you spend it alone?

Things to consider: Puke on your birthday shoes, annoying drunk people, eating cake alone on the couch while watching Teen Mom.

Mama needs a cocktail.

In this new series we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer for a month as she takes on a personal challenge. This month we’re following Lauren from University of Michigan. She’s going sober for the month of February and will be sharing her ups and downs with us each Saturday. Last week she almost dropped the ball (and downed a bottle of wine). Let’s see how she handled her final week.

It’s here. My final sober weekend. Even though this month has flown by and been not only easy, but totally productive, I am at the point where I am truly glad it’s over. For the most part, going stone cold sober hasn’t really been as challenging as I expected it to be. But that all changed on Wednesday. I don’t know if it was the playlist was I listening to or the stress mounting, but I hit a wall and for the first time in 25 days, all I wanted was a giant cocktail.

From that point on, being sober was no longer the cakewalk it had once been. I found it increasingly difficult to go out to the bar with friends and be the sober one. I watched them knocking back vodka sodas and Jager bombs and my mouth literally watered. When they reasoned that I’d been “sober long enough” and I should “just have a f**king drink” already, I actually considered it. I mean, I went long enough, right? But then I chugged my Diet Coke and realized that giving up now would just be pathetic. What would I think when I looked back on this personal goal and remembered that I threw in the towel with 2 days to go…. for some crappy vodka drink. This moment – when things finally got challenging – this was the part that would really prove something. This was the most important time of the entire month.

So I didn’t have a drink. Instead, I left. My friends were hitting the annoying-drunk stage and I couldn’t handle it so I went home early and caught up on some Chelsea Lately. Was it a bad night? No. But am I ready to be back in the social scene again, Miller Lite in hand? You betcha.

And my body is ready, too. I spent 8 of the past 10 days sick in bed with what I think is a foreign strain of Ebola. I was coughing. I was dripping. I was miserable. I don’t think I’ve been that sick in years and I believe deep in my core that it was my body begging me for a drink. It sorta put a damper on my plans for February (I couldn’t work out, I couldn’t cook, I couldn’t do anything on my to-do list but watch a lot of really bad movies on DVD), but I guess it did make sobriety a lot easier. I mean, the only thing I wanted to drink was chicken soup.

Now I’m better. I even woke up at 8am this morning to hit the gym, pick up some groceries and clean my room. I feel great. I lost 5 pounds this month (a combination of the lack of empty beer calories, the lack of late night eating and the fact that I have been able to work out on the weekends), I’ve accomplished things that were on my t0-do list for months (like sell old stuff on Ebay!), and I’ve had the energy to go out and do fun things (like see the museums and meet friends for movies) that I was always too hungover to accomplish.

I’m really proud of what I did this month and while I will not be going 100% sober any time soon, I will be making some changes to my lifestyle. I now know that I don’t need to be drunk to have a good time, I don’t always need to go out when everyone else is, I can have a drink without having ten, and I tend to spend a sh*t ton of money when I’m drinking. Seriously, I saved so. much. money this month.

I am glad I took this challenge. I am glad I succeeded. I am really glad I can fit back into my favorite skinny jeans again. And I’m really, really, really glad it’s over.

Who wants to join me on Monday for a beer and The Bachelor?!

In this new series we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer for a month as she takes on a personal challenge. This month we’re following Lauren from University of Michigan. She’s going sober for the month of February and will be sharing her ups and downs with us each Saturday. Last week she tackled the bar scene sober. Let’s see how she handled week numero 3.

Another week.
Another drinkless week.

And it almost wasn’t that way. On Monday my friend’s parents were in town and took us out to a nice dinner. I was looking at the menu deciding between steak and fish (these decisions are incredibly difficult when all you’ve eaten for the past 3 weeks is Easy Mac and Chili) when the waiter began pouring wine around the table.

I was so excited at the prospect of free alcohol that I completely forgot about Sober February. It wasn’t until the cup of wine was at my lips that I woke up and realized what I was doing. Quickly, I put it down, apologized to my friend’s parents for wasting wine and explained my situation.

They, like everyone else I’ve encountered in the past three weeks, applauded my decision. Even bartenders and waitresses don’t give me crap for going sober. In fact, I’ve inspired four of my friends and the hot bartender I met last weekend to follow suit next month!

And it really hasn’t been that hard. Besides that near miss on Monday, I haven’t even really craved a drink, let alone a sloppy, drunken night. And trust me, that shocks me. Whereas I normally spend my Thursdays counting down the minutes until I can let loose and drink away all that stress (because college is stressful…right?), I’ve actually enjoyed spending this week entirely in.

While my friends went out and partied their faces off last night, I stayed home, cooked myself a deeeelicious stir fry dinner, did some laundry, cheered on my fellow Wolverine Ice Dancers (go blue!) then watched a movie (17 Again…I got it for free On Demand – don’t judge!). I caught up on the stack of magazines sitting on my floor and, obviously, spent a little time perusing Facebook photo albums of the weirdos I knew in high school. It was just the de-stresser I needed, only without the copious amounts of alcohol I usually depend on.

And unlike that first weekend where I felt like I was missing out on whatever was happening in my favorite sweaty basement bar, I didn’t even want to be out. Let’s be honest – all of those drunken nights are the same anyway, so I don’t really need to take part in all of them. That is a revelation I never would have come to had I not completely removed myself from the situation, but one I am so, so, so glad I had. It’s not that my friends pressure me in to doing anything – it’s that I always pressure myself and I end up running my body into the ground. Now that I know I can skip out on a few of the “epic party nights” and be OK with it, well, maybe I’ll spend some more time doing “me” things in the future.

Today I’m gonna take my well-rested self on a much needed Target run. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to drag myself out of bed on a Saturday and engage in some serious retail therapy. (Normally I get there, feel hungover and leave with a Propel.) And with all this money I’ve saved (at least $30 per week!) by not drinking, I am most definitely going to let loose.

Wooo sobriety! It feels so good I almost don’t want it to end.

In this new series we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer for a month as she takes on a personal challenge. This month we’re following Lauren from University of Michigan. She’s going sober for the month of February and will be sharing her ups (like feeling great last weekend!) and downs with us each Saturday.

It’s official: I’ve been 100% sober for a full two weeks! (I’ve even opted out of using mouthwash!) While that may not be such a big deal to some people out there (ahem, mean commenters, ahem), I am really, really proud of myself. Especially after the week I’ve had.

My first week of this challenge was pretty easy, breeezy Cover Girl. The weekdays flew by and then I was back at my parents’ house, where the temptation to drink was pretty minimal. But since then, I’ve survived a steakhouse dinner without wine, a Super Bowl party without beer, and two very serious nights at the bar without shots, shots, shots, shots shots.

On Thursday night I hit a low key bar with a few friends. They sipped on some beers and I sipped on some Diet Cokes. We were all having a great time – talking, catching up, giving guys the eyes across the bar. I really didn’t miss drinking at all, especially when I only spent $3 the entire night (unlike beer and vodka, Diet Coke has free refills at the bar!). But it wasn’t totally smooth sailing; LMFAO came on the jukebox towards the end of the evening, which, as we all know, makes you want to drink. Or chug. I was starting to cave. I was having a hard time remembering why I was doing all this. Seriously, Had Ke$ha or Miley come on next, I probably would have had to run out of the bar screaming. Instead, I took a little sniff of my friends’ SoCo Lime shots, grimaced, and instantly felt better about my decision.

I woke up on Friday and felt great. Not only did I hang out with friends and have a great time, but I didn’t feel like total hell. And I was really proud and happy to know that I can indeed stay in the social scene, even if I’m sober. That knowledge made me feel good and took away my nerves for last night’s adventures.

Because while Thursday was a test, Friday night out with my crew is akin to a Bob and Jillian Last Chance Workout. Minus the sweat and the puking. OK, maybe just minus the sweat. These kids take their partying really seriously and know they can always count on me to do the same. They are the reason that I hadn’t made it home before 5am ONCE during the month of January. They are the reason I often do nothing of substance from Friday to Monday. They’ve perfected the art of peer pressure (by throwing a little Jewish guilt into the mix) and I didn’t know how they’d handle Sober February. Plus, how much fun could I have if they were wasted/dancing on tables/punching me (which the guys like to do when they’ve had a few…)?

But I wanted to hang out with them and I really wanted to see if I could handle it sober. So I went. We met up for dinner at 6:30… and I didn’t come home until 3 a.m. And I did it all without a lick of alcohol (even though my girl friend did offer to let me “suck her ice” out of her vodka soda… every time she had one). I drank water, I danced, I joked… I even took a shot. Of Diet Coke. Which my friend got for me so I didn’t feel left out when everyone else was throwing them back.

It was a seriously great time! I was shocked. I mean, I thought I would have fun hanging out with everyone, but I never thought I would have had as great a time as I did. I never even got annoyed by the drunk people around me; instead, I kinda enjoyed looking at the drunk world through sober colored lenses. And, seriously, Erotic Photo Hunt is SO MUCH easier when you’re not seeing double.

The best part of my night, though, was coming home, stripping off my skinny jeans (which are definitely feeling looser already!), and being able to close my eyes and go to sleep without the room spinning. Well, that and the late night pizza slice I picked up that I was able to actually taste, savor and enjoy. Mmmm mmm gooooood.

At first, it was easy. After chugging rum out of a flask last Friday night and inhaling two giant slices of pizza after a few too many margaritas on Saturday night, I was more than excited to stay away from the hooch for a little while. I walked around my apartment in a hungover haze on Sunday, unable to do much besides watch a Millionaire Matchmaker marathon on my couch all day.

“Remember this feeling when you wanna go out and party,” I told myself as I made yet another cup of instant coffee.

Since I normally don’t drink much on weeknights (after that time I had to give a presentation in class and I was still drunk from the night before), it was smooth sailing for most of the week. Even the daily IMs from my guy friends asking me if I was still sober (OK, betting me that I wasn’t still sober) didn’t bother me. After all, being sober on a Monday wasn’t anything new to me.

But then Thursday hit and I felt like a Pavlovian dog, salivating for booze. It didn’t help that I was listening to my iTunes and every single song that came up reminded me of a bar. First Ke$ha, then Journey and then, to dig the knife in a little deeper, Madonna’s Like a Prayer (only my favorite drinking song of all time). I cursed Steve Jobs.

Lucky for me, I had to be up super early on Friday to head back home for the weekend. That meant I couldn’t go out to the bar with my friends and risk tempting myself with the delicious smells of stale beer and Jager. And by that I mean “try to stay sober while my annoying friends take shots and be annoying drunks.”

I got quite a few drunk dials both Thursday night and last night (“Come drink with us! Don’t do this dumb challenge!”) and, I admit, they did make me sad that I was missing out on all the fun, but waking up on a Saturday without a hangover has made it all worth it. It is 10:30 am as I type this. I’m fully dressed, sitting in a coffee shop sipping a delicious mocha. I have a million things to do today and, unlike most weekends, I have the energy to do them, My head doesn’t hurt, I didn’t make any dumb decisions last night (except maybe eating that 4th chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven), I didn’t spend a ton of money, and I will not be wasting my day in a t-shirt and underwear scrolling through my phone trying to find someone to run to the corner and pick me up a Powerade.

It feels great! I’m on a total high, but I didn’t need any illegal substances to get here – just some sleep (a full 8 hours, baby) and some hydration.

I’m not gonna lie, though: I am a bit nervous about this weekend. I have a fancy family dinner for my dad’s birthday (the type of meal that would go swimmingly with a few glasses of wine) and, gasp, the Super Bowl tomorrow. Which I will be watching with my guy friends. Who usually prefer me drunk (I guess I’m more fun that way?). Eating chips and my mom’s famous guac without a nice, refreshing beer (or, more appropriately, a cheap, disgusting Milwaukee’s Best) will be my first real test of this whole sober thing.

But I guess that will be just be the test I need to prepare for my Single Girl Valentine’s Day next weekend, what is normally a three-day chocolate and vodka bender.

Wish me luck!

It’s not that I haven’t been invited to these parties before. I nearly went to one during the first few weeks of freshman year, but decided last minute not to go when I realized that my denim mini skirt was about three inches longer than anything the other girls were wearing, and that, considering drinking really wasn’t my thing, I probably wouldn’t be comfortable.

Yeah, I know. I’m from a city that has more bars than traffic lights and go to a school that was ranked number one on Playboy’s list of top party schools, yet I don’t drink. Or party – in the traditional sense, anyway.

I’m not opposed to drinking,  I just never really saw the point and never liked the taste. Apparently, that’s not the point either, but I digress. I’ve been around friends drinking and had just as much fun without the liquor as they seem to be having with it. Hell, sometimes I even end up acting a bit crazier than they do. Like last year’s end-of-the-semester/good-bye party for a friend of mine who was studying abroad in the spring, where I had cranberry juice instead of sharing the wine and vodka. By the end of the night, I’d joined in the crazy dancing, given my friend (who’s gay) a lap dance, and was cuddling with said friend on his roommate’s bed. I also go out dancing most weekends and after about three hours of shaking my bon bon, the only drink I want is a tall glass of water.

But, like I said, I’m not opposed to it; I’ve tried it a few times, usually with the same results. It often just tastes like really bad medicine to me and I can’t see why I should choose that over my favorite fruit juice or water. I can have just as much fun as anyone else without the booze, and, as I like to remind them all later on, I remember everything the next day.

With some friends, this isn’t a problem. We can hang out with some people drinking, some not, and no one will care; everyone has a good time, and that’s all that matters. Others are apprehensive about drinking around me; they almost seem to think that I won’t approve of their choice to “indulge” (as my semi-formal date put it). The worst, though, are the people who give me a hard time.

“What do you mean you don’t drink?”
“You just haven’t had the good stuff. Try (insert drink here).”
“Just wait, one of these days we’ll get you drunk.”
And when I started at UM, I received countless renditions of: “So, are you a raging alcoholic yet?”

Even my “sober buddies” from high school eventually started drinking and now go on (and on and on) about how lame my life and weekends are because I don’t get drunk, and all the fun I’m missing out on as a result.

The worst is that I’ve been dealing with this since the first time in high school (or maybe middle school, as sad as that is) that I turned down a drink. People never seem take no for an answer, no matter how polite or forceful I may be, or how many times I say it. And my refusing the drink is always some sort of personality flaw, a problem with me that they need to fix. I need to “loosen up,” “give it a try,” “have fun,” “just cut loose and get totally sh*tfaced.”

I really don’t understand why my deciding not to drink is viewed as this horrible thing. It’s not like I sit around and refuse to participate in anything my friends are doing just because I’m sober; when I’m around and friends are drinking, I’m fine. Actually, I’m more than fine. I’m fun! But while some friends have learned to accept that, others consistently are trying to “fix” my “problem.” Because, obviously, I’m atypical for a college student, and being so is this horrible thing that needs to be corrected.

But really, it’s unfair. Do I go around telling people to stop drinking? Or pulling away their cups? No. I laugh, I dance, I hang out and have a good time. In fact, the only times I’ve every done that is when people needed it (usually when they reach depressed drunk/projectile vomiting/their fifth drink on a school night). Otherwise, I have my cranberry juice, clink glasses, and have a good time.

And maybe take a few pictures.

Got some college questions? Unsure of a decision? Need to pad that resume? Just wanna chat it up with some really awesome chics? We’ve got the girls for you. Hit them up in the comments or shoot them an email with the subject “College Q&A”!

Question:
I don’t like drinking but I feel like that’s all there ever is to do in my college town on the weekends. What are people supposed to do in college who don’t like to get wasted every night? And how are we supposed to find friends when all they ever do is go out and get drunk?

GPA Girl:

Wow, do I ever feel your pain. In my experience, there are lots of us non-drinkers out there, especially at the beginning of undergrad, but as time goes on, it becomes harder and harder to find people who want to do things other than get trashed. Not to mention that people who don’t like to drink are usually introverted, so it can be harder to find them and befriend them in the first place. Sigh. The deck is stacked against you, girl. But here is some good news: I managed to find amazing, incredible, awesome friends in college even though I didn’t drink a drop. Most of my friends did drink occasionally, but they shared my lack of interest in getting blasted at large parties every weekend. 

Since it’s basically impossible to tell who drinks and who doesn’t just by looking, I recommend you go all out and try to make a bunch of new friends of all types. Find these people in your classes, at your extracurriculars, or even in the larger non-college community. Most people don’t drink EVERY weekend, so in your mix of new friends, you should have at least one or two people available at any time whom you can contact and ask if they’d like to hang out. You can do plenty of things with these friends: snag a lounge and have a movie night, do one of those boxed murder mysteries, study together, go out for dinner or dessert, play games, do sports, work on art, etc. Just play to your (and their) interests.

And to finish, here are two more quick snippets of advice: 1) Don’t act elitist about not drinking or give people the impression you think drinkers are stupid, and 2) Try going to a party sometime. You don’t have to drink, and you might meet fun people there whose goal is to have a good time rather than to get totally drunk. Good luck!

Party Girl:
I’d like to offer you some advice, but I don’t think I’m the best woman for the job. I’ll leave it up to the other two to guide you on this one. If you do decide you wanna try a little saucin’ sometime, hit me up. I have plenty of advice, tips and tricks to share.

Busy Bee:
I absolutely love this question because I am in the same boat as you – I don’t drink either. Now, many college girls might say “Wow, that’s crazy. Alcohol is the best!” and some might say, “Finally, college girls who are sober!” It doesn’t matter what your views on drinking are, but that you create the college experience that you want. So, what is it that I do instead of drink? I have my best friends who don’t drink either. We have fun by heading out to restaurants for dinner, hitting the drive-thru right after, running around town gossiping about the latest news, hitting up local parks to relive our childhood, watching the latest chick flicks, embarking on spontaneous adventures, and creating new memories. You see, people in college who don’t drink every night, we throw our own dress-up, singing, dancing, and crazy sober parties. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s possible to have your own version of fun.

You need to start out by seeking out that one friend who doesn’t drink and then you’ll find yourself attracting more people of the same crowd. After a while, you’ll have a creative group of alcohol-free friends. Can’t seem to find a sober friend? Try seeing what your school or town has to offer. Maybe there is a monthly movie night on campus (great place to meet like-minded sober people!), or maybe you could join a student group that interests you and meet people there. Just branch out a bit and get involved with as many different things as you can; you’ll have your own circle of sober friends (and great friends) fast.

And girl, I’m proud of you for not falling to peer pressure standards. Do what makes you feel comfortable!

Bye bye booze

In this new series we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer for a month as she takes on a personal challenge. This month we’re following Lauren from University of Michigan. She’s going sober for the month of February and will be sharing her ups and downs with us each Saturday.]

When I told my friends I would be giving up alcohol for an entire month, I got one of three reactions:

1. Why would you do that?!
2. I bet you $100 you don’t make it.
3. Why the hell would you do that?!

When I told my family, I got these reactions:

1. “Bullsh*t.” – Mom
2. “Why would you do that??” – Dad
3. “It’s a good thing your friends are still drinking; I doubt anyone would like you if they were sober.” – Brother

You see, I am a party girl and everyone knows it. I am incredibly responsible, hard-working and focused when I need to be, but when I let loose, I really let loose. My friends can always count on me to not only join them at the party (flask in hand), but to be the party. They didn’t call me Drunk Lauren freshman year for nothing. 

And that’s exactly why I decided to take on this challenge. Since I got to college and took my first sip of alcohol (which was Jungle Juice served from a garbage can, mind you), I have not gone an entire month without drinking. Usually pretty heavily. I spend my weekends (which often start on Thursday nights) in a perpetual cycle of drunk, hungover, feeling a bit better, then drunk again. It’s exhausting, it’s expensive and I know it’s the reason over half of my jeans don’t fit anymore.

I want to go sober for a month to prove to myself that I can do it. I’m also curious to to see how much better I can feel, how much money I can save and how much weight I can lose. (That last one isn’t really important, but I’m curious to see if cutting all those empty calories out/not being too hungover to hit the gym on the weekends makes a difference).

I know it’s going to be hard. Drinking, as much as we don’t like to admit it, is central to our social lives. It’s what we do. So what am I going to do now that I can’t partake in the drinking festivities? If I want to see my friends at all during the month of February (which, obviously, I do) I have two options: learn how to go out and not drink or try and convince all of them to do some alternative sober activities. Neither of which will be easy considering my friends’ favorite pastime is Beer Pong.

But I’m going to do it, despite the fact that not one person I know believes me. When I put my mind to something – even something as difficult as this – I do it. Of course, I wasn’t totally into this decision last night as I was taking my last O-Bomb for the month and dancing to Ke$ha on a stage. But seeing as I spent my morning moaning in my bed until someone brought me a Gatorade and a bagel and have now taken 40-minutes to string my thoughts together into a coherent post (a task which would normally take about 5) , I’m actually looking forward to the next month of sobriety.

I can’t wait to see what February brings!