Well the last day and a half has been interesting.

Yesterday was Sunday, and Kate and I both are off work today as well. We had nothing to do and nowhere to be, so typically days like these would be filled lounging around and sippin’ on delicious alcohol things. I would wake up, eat something unhealthy for breakfast (like a fried sausage kolache…oh my God they are so good), then wait around for lunch time so I could eat some ribs and mac and cheese and crack my first beer. We would get old beers out of the cellar to see how they taste, and give each other blind samples of Bourbon to test our palates and memory.

We haven’t done any of those awesome things in the last two days.

While I’m not craving booze, I’ve realized that I enjoy it very much and incorporate craft beer and fancy whiskey into almost anything I do. Yesterday Kate said something like “Hey, you should go through your old clothes and figure out what you want to give to Goodwill.” and my first thought was “hmmm. I should totally drink one of those fresh Roughtail IPAs in the fridge while I do that.” Chores suck without beer.

So what have I done instead? Well I’ve drank a dickload of water and tea. We’ve also cooked every meal for the last two days using new, healthy cookbooks Kate recently purchased (along with a delicious recipe from our friend Cas of Hearts2Tails fame). Healthy chicken tacos with low carb wheat tortillas, mini spinach and artichoke quiche, and a black bean and brown rice thing that Kate is busy whipping up now are all on the menu. There shall be many soups and sensible crock pot meals in my future.

Also, check this, I went on my first bike ride in almost 2 years! It was a short one, only 6 miles, but it was awesome to get outside and feel like I was spending my time in a productive way that will add value to my life and contribute to my goals.

Now, that’s all well and good, but don’t think for a second that when Februrary 1st hits I’m not going to tear it up. I will have made a trip to Colorado by then, most likely picking up some brews to stock the cellar, and Elk Valley will have released 4 new beers that I’ll need to drink. BUT hopefully this month-long experiment will let me see the other side of the coin so I can put things in perspective and get better at balancing my love of all things booze and my health goals.

So now here I sit, about an hour and a half from the OU bowl game, nervous and excited and knowing that I’m going to watch a Sooner game without a drink in my hand for probably the first time since I was 20 (except for some home games where I drink immediately before and after if I didn’t sneak something in). If they lose it’ll be my fault.

Also, I won’t be writing every day, probably more like once a week from here on out, but I had things on my mind after the first two days and wanted to get them out there. I’ve also got a couple of sweet whiskey reviews that I wrote last week that I need to publish too so the site doesn’t become saturated with things about NOT drinking.

You’re welcome.