I wake up in a panic

No desire to start my day

Thinking of last night

Oh God, what did I say?

Do I have an alcohol problem?

I chug a glass of water

On the table beside my bed

I recognize hangover symptoms

Starting with

My pounding head.

Do I have an alcohol problem?

I head int...

On my last Halloween as a drinker, I went to a costume party dressed as Janis Joplin. But of course. At this point, I had been exploring my relationship with alcohol for a few years. I was exploring periods of not drinking. “Sober experiments” as I called these alcohol time outs. Then I would also h...

Dark coffee alone with the windows open and the chilly autumn air breezing in.

Reflection in quiet, feeling content, at peace.

With myself.

Satisfied and full. 

Not desperate or seeking.

A last minute decision to do a hot flow yoga class on Sunday.

A new instructor. 

Never been done befo...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. You can support and donate to a variety of options to fight against breast cancer. There are pink ribbons, lip gloss, blankets, shoes, stickers, t-shirts and more. 

The most well known good that you can purchase to fight against breast cancer is alcohol....

I didn’t want to go to yoga yesterday. 

I love yoga. 

I really do. 

And yet, I didn’t want to go. 

I know it’s good for me. I always feel better afterwards. I pride myself on being a yogi.

I like to do it at least three times a week. Four, if I can. 

Sometimes I do that. Sometimes eve...

I’ve been embarking on some lofty home projects. 

I wallpapered a statement wall in my primary bedroom. 

I chose a bright and bold floral pattern. It was a risk. It turned out awesome.  

I am cleaning out and getting rid of old furniture. 

I put a pile out on the curb and notified Facebook...

As you embark on a sobriety or moderation journey, building a toolkit to keep you motivated and inspired can help you reach your goals. Recovery-related books, AKA ‘quit lit,’ can be great for seeing how others have navigated similar experiences, gaining tips that can help you along your journey, an...

The promise of a new school year has a freshness to it that rivals January. September is the real start of the new year for me. It is a freeing idea, that we can start again. We are brand new in every moment, never the same as we were in the moment before. This gives us the freedom to evolve and cha...

As a former ‘Party Girl’ turned Certified Recovery & Life Coach and seasoned international traveler, I am excited to share my tips for how to stay alcohol-free on vacation. 

Let me start by saying, vacations are so much better when enjoyed fully present and sober. I know this might be hard to belie...

Last week, I had dinner with some of the sober babes that I met on a sober hiking retreat in Sedona, a month ago.  Most of us live in Chicagoland. From the larger group, four of us were available to get together. We picked the most central spot for dinner. Lucky for me, that landed close to home. 

Yesterday I met Mt. Evans of Colorado up close and personal and accomplished a big goal of mine = to climb a 14K mountain. 

Climbing a mountain is a big feat. 

Climbing a mountain of this elevation is a big feat. 

Climbing a mountain at this elevation, as a 46 year old woman from Chicago, wa...

I used to be gone drinking every Memorial Day. It was tradition. I was pretending to have so much fun in pools and boats. Some of it was fun. Some of it was not. I am not faulting the company that I was in. I thank the hosts so much for their generosity. The problem wasn’t with them, the problem was...

What happened to my friendships when I got sober?

Navigating friendships and finding people to support you in sobriety can be one of the most challenging parts of getting sober. 

How did my friendships change when I ditched the drink?

I lost people and it hurt.

I have long, complicat...

May is the busiest month of the year in my house.

I think this is true for many families, especially those with kids.

There are all the end of the year extras that completely fill our calendar. 

We have award ceremonies for academics, sports tournaments, and more. 

It's the final push for eve...

I used to do a lot of drinking when I got home from time away. 

I had a sunken feeling of being home. It felt like Sunday Scaries on steroids. I never knew what to do with myself. I didn’t know how to end the “good timing”. I didn’t know how to transition back to real life.

I didn’t really wan...

I had such a serendipitous experience on spring break. We stayed in Naples, FL, for the first half with family, and in Treasure Island, FL, just the four of us (meeting our Chicagoland neighbors for dinner one night) for the second half of our stay.

We had a hotel on the beach for the second hal...

I was inspired to take on the 75 Hard Challenge after seeing some of my Instagram friends do it. I started on a bit of a whim. I didn’t think much about it and just decided to do it. 

It is a big undertaking and a huge commitment in some ways. 

In other ways, it was much the same as what I was alr...

At four years sober, looking back I can see how my whole life revolved around alcohol. 

St. Paddy’s Day is, of course, a huge drinking holiday. All I needed in the past was alcohol to make it a success.

So much so, that it was my first night  out just 6 weeks after my first daughter was born...

In an alcohol obsessed society it is so hard to be sober.

As a child growing up in small town Wisconsin I had no alcohol free role models. 

Every adult I knew, minus two family members, drank beer. 

It was my understanding that the two people in my family who no longer drank beer “were a...

I fell to my knees the morning of February 20th, 2018 and surrendered to my husband. 

I was crying, miserable, terrified. 

For the first time in my whole life I said the words that seemed impossible to me,  “I need help.” He held me and we cried together. 

I made a very wobbly decision that...

It has taken me a long time to admit this, I was addicted to alcohol.  

To my inner circle, my addiction looked like drinking too much, too often.

Getting drunk too fast.

Passing out too quickly.

Getting sloppy, slurry, while the people around me were just starting a buzz.

To me, my addic...

New Years Eve has always felt like one of those days where you are supposed to be having more fun than you actually are. 

I have done almost every kind of New Year's Eve you can imagine. 

I have been in a sequined dress in the middle of the biggest party in downtown Chicago. 

I have been asleep i...

I distinctly remember a few holidays past.

One Christmas, many moons ago, I had 2 young, toddler-ish girls.

It was 1 pm on Christmas Eve and we had already completed everything I had planned until we opened a few gifts after dinner. 

I was bored out of my mind.

It was supposed to be ...

I was a woman who could do it all, until I couldn’t. 

I am a 40 something Mom, married to a wonderful, dependable guy. 

I have the privilege of raising smart, kind, talented, and athletic teenage girls.

I am a doer, a go-getter, a highly motivated seeker.

At times, I can be highly competit...