Life is a learning experience, for sure.
On cue with my resolutions, on January the first, I threw out all of the carbs and sweets in the house and dumped the previous night’s leftover bubbly in the trash.
Done.
Over.
It was time to accomplish the resolutions I’d created.
The Goal
At the top of my resolutions was to accomplish Dry January. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t feel as if I needed to do so in the addiction sense…so please don’t worry about me! However, having finished two wine advent calendars (drinking a bottle every night in December), I felt that my body and habits needed a refresh. After all, there are a lot of empty calories in wine. And the hard truth……alcohol is a poison. I also wanted to prove that Eric and I could have a date that didn’t revolve around drinks. Honestly, we love wine. Wine-making is such an art and we enjoy everything about the whole learning process. Being such different people, our love for wine is one of the few things we share in common. I knew that Dry January would be the ultimate experiment.
My One Requirement for Dry January
Besides the obvious (not drinking), I had to come up with a fun way to continue our Friday date days without wine. I very much feared that our relationship would suffer without our Friday dates. Keeping our Friday day dates was a requirement! For those of you who don’t already know, most every Friday, Eric takes me to work. On the way, we have coffee at our favorite coffee shop in Princeton, Milltown Java. After school, Eric picks me up and takes me to the local winery. Sometimes, we even go out to dinner afterward. We do our best to preserve our Fridays as our special date days! Because I know that marriage takes a lot of work, I was up for the challenge.
The Date
This past Friday we did our usual morning coffee date. However, I planned something new for the afternoon segment of date day…
I made after-school appointments for the two of us in Raleigh. Raleigh isn’t a far drive from Princeton and I chose the Polished Nail Bar in Glenwood South because it looked a little glam. Something different, for sure!
Upon arriving, we were given numerous directions that I couldn’t quite understand. There was most definitely a language barrier. But all was good (I’d give it 5 stars!) After being seated in a relaxing chair, I was presented a glass of rose’. Holy crap. I’m not sure how that happened, but I wasn’t strong enough to tell them “NO”. I mean, that’s luxury and pampering. I wasn’t going to tell them no. I never turn down wine! Eric and I shook our heads and laughed, and toasted. We enjoyed every second of our pedicure date. I even let Eric pick the color! I held my breath for a few seconds and was very grateful that he didn’t pick blue, as the man sitting next to us had blue polish. No judgment here, although I was a little shocked. I’m more of a classic polish girl, myself. Kudos to Eric for choosing a pretty wine color. Have you noticed that all men seem to love red polish?
The pedicure led to drinks and dinner at Vidrio, my favorite restaurant. I’m never a cheap date! Vidrio was an easy walk from the salon. I just adore the artsy atmosphere! We were even able to snag the sofa by the inside fire because we were so early. We did a rose’ wine tasting and shared a charcuterie board. We laughed. We had great conversation. Because, after all, we tried something different!
Here are my thoughts on breaking Dry January……
Why does it have to be all or nothing? ( I am notoriously bad for that- I am an all-or-nothing person.)
Could I come up with a better plan to cut back on alcohol long-term? (No drinks during the week and only wine on Fridays?)
After having mocktails for the rest of the weekend, I realized that drinking, for me, is really about feeling fancy and having something in a pretty glass. (I’m ok with wine only on occasion. I would appreciate it more. Besides, after the first minutes of relaxation, I hate the woozy effects of alcohol. That is for sure a great discovery!) This weekend, I found a few alcohol alternatives. Check these out! The wines are actual wines made by Sutter Home, with the alcohol removed. All that I tried were very doable.
The mocktail recipe can be found here….
We forwent our traditional date night to try something new. (Definitely recommended!)
I can trust Eric to pick out things from time to time. (It’s so hard to let go of the control!)
Adventurous dates can be pricey. (Maybe we will make a new adventure to Raleigh a monthly trip.)
To Conclude
Life is so short. Plan to do fun things and create fun experiences because material things don’t last. Our principal had one of her neighbors lose everything in a house fire over the weekend. That could happen to any one of us. Although I love a good house project, it was a reminder to me to save money for experiences. Those can never be lost. Also, never give up on challenging yourself. Although I failed at Dry January, I found new, better ways to meet my goal. I learned about myself and we strengthened our marital relationship.
What more could you ask in life than to learn and make memories?
