Archives for October 2014

After my recent trip to Spain and Portugal, I knew I needed to give my good ol’ body a break. A detox, if you will.

There was lots of chatting over sangria.

And tapas.

And wine.

And paella.

And sangria.

…and wine.

One of my friends asked on Facebook if anyone wanted to join her for Sober October. And while the responses were quite entertaining, it got me thinking…

I can do that. I want to do that.

Well you know what happens when Caroline sets her mind to something, right?

Oh? You don’t know?

I decide to train for a half-marathon in 3 months.

Or go vegan for about a year.

Or find an obscure bar in Bangkok I heard about even if it takes us over an hour and half to find.

Or jump in the water with elephants because I. want. to.

Or learn Spanish again.

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#Mexcellent #Epcot #latergram

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Or complete an olympic-distance triathlon.

No wonder I needed to drink…

I’ll be honest, I hesitated posting this because of the stigma around the word “sober.” I could carefully craft a blog about how I’m doing it to raise money for charity (I know there is a great cause) or to help me lose those last 10 pounds.

But the truth of the matter is, I want to be healthier and I want to see what not having that glass of bless-your-heart wine after work will be like. I want to take myself out of my comfort zone and find another outlet rather than kicking my feet up and having a beer when I’m stressed. I like waking up early and refreshed on the weekends and going for a run. With my half-marathon training just starting, there’s no better time than right now! I’ve been trying to lose weight and this should help a bit, so added bonus!

I got an emergency project that I worked on through last weekend and this past week hasn’t exactly been relaxing. I thrive on busy weeks at work, it’s when I feel I do my best writing. But that means I’ve desperately wanted a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon when I get home just to…chill.

But I didn’t.

Next week, I’m going to the USA vs. HON men’s soccer game and you know what? I’ll want a good ol’ american beer.

But I won’t.

Because it’s SOBERTOBER, y’all.

Care to join me? Even if you have had alcohol during the first 10 days, why not join me now? Try it out. Everyone is doing it…

Yeah.

I just peer-pressured you into not drinking.

That just happened.

So…whatdoyasay?

 

Find out how I did:
Sobertober Update
Sobertober Conclusion

I went to pull out the giant bin of holiday decorations and…

No.

Just no.

I have no interest in it this year. I can’t entirely put my finger on why other than it doesn’t add much to my life…and only adds something more to dust. It just seems like fluffy shit to me now. Maybe it was something I used to feel the need to put up to fill some void. I don’t know.

The hubster is doing is psychiatry rotations this month. Perhaps he can offer some insight.

You guys, this is weird! I LOVE October. Halloween is my favorite. Shit man, I even wrote 2 blogs, 2 years ago that are STILL getting hits today.

• Halloween Candy Corn Decorations
• How to be creative and cheap on Halloween!

I still love October, I still love Halloween.

I’m a pretty insightful person and if I were to narrow it down to a reason, it probably is that I don’t give a fuck anymore about how cute my decorations look to other people. At least right now. Prior to moving to Florida I spent a lot of time looking for more work and filling the time in-between with projects. Some of those projects were crafts.

Have I ever shown you my dream craft room?

Oh wait. That’s not it. That’s my dream dresser.

Moving on…

I still love whipping out the craft drawer from time to time, but I just don’t feel the need to put things up for show. Is it a show? Who would it be for other than me and guests? Perhaps traveling to impoverished areas of the world reminded me that having perfectly arranged autumn leaves will no more contribute to my life than another Starbucks Grande Ice Coffee with soy milk (no sweetener). Maybe I’ve been Pinterest-ed out. Sure, you have lots of cool things pinned that you put up for the holidays, but that still doesn’t cover up what an empty, mind-numbing person you can be.

Yeah, I said it. You’ve thought it, too!

I can still feel the Halloween spirit without my sparkly skeleton hanging on the wall. I’ll still watch The Great Pumpkin on ABC and force the hubster to join me regardless of whatever game is on where they grunt and bash their heads together in helmets.

Last year, we were in Thailand and Cambodia for 2 weeks during December. I put up one lone, small, white, bomb-diggity Christmas tree in the middle of our dining room table and you know what? It felt so relieving!

Perhaps living in Florida contributes to it. It’s October and was 93 degrees today. It still doesn’t register in my grew-up-in-Michigan-and-wore-a-snowsuit-under-my-Halloween-costume mind.

I felt a bit guilty as I put away the decoration bin today. So one thing survived:

See. I’ve still got the Halloween spirit.

Just make sure to keep them straight as you dry your hands after pooping.