Update!

Well hello again! I just completed an Allure magazine survey and that inspired me to come back and tell you how I'm doing! I've been five years smoke-free and sober for a month. In that month I lost eight pounds and I look five years younger. Since I got married three years ago I tried to drink wine in moderation, and even after last I posted I was still experimenting with it. I failed enough times and realized alcohol is too much of a depressant to be worth it. Now my anxiety, guilt, and fear are permanently gone again. Thanks for coming back and welcome beautiful newbies!!

This morning's smoothie:

2 cups local watermelon if you can get it!
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
Juice of one lime

Peace, love, and transformation!!

Well, I missed you!!

hello!

Day two, after a week here and a month there and a couple days there since October 31, 2014. I'm not beating myself up, I am just made the decision to be sober again after a year and some months thinking if I should have a glass of wine here and there or just quit overall. What is really best for me from my mind and my body really, is to quit completely. There is a book by Jason Vale that opened my eyes called kick the drink easily! That is a brilliant read if you are struggling with alcohol. Even after one drink (which has turned into four or five occasionally) I'll still feel guilty the next morning. I hated spending nine dollars to $15 on a glass of wine. And then thinking what it does to my body, I even get tired after one drink. Honestly now, I have a better sense of well-being being sober. I know I have flip-flopped, which is easy to do. Heck, it took me seven years to quit smoking! And I am well over two years quit now. Today's lesson is not beating yourself up, but keep going and know what you want in the long run. There than plenty nights where I think I would have more fun having a drink, or I want to relax. But really it's not worth it for me.

On a brighter note, I am doing yoga every day and I received Zumba workout in one of those subscription boxes which is totally over-the-top fun. I recommend you do some kind of fun exercise every day. And don't forget to do what you love meaning hobbies, dancing while cleaning, etc. I am now 123 pounds. Before I quit drinking in 2011 for the first time, I was 148.

Listen to your body. That is the key to having of the film life. Don't eat if you're not hungry, eat if you are. Put whole foods into your body. Yesterday I made a really good siba noodle and pork tenderloin salad, however I ended up having four servings in two hours. And now I feel a little sluggish and my eyes are slightly puffy. I can say for now I don't feel bad because HEY, I'm not drinking! But from here on out 90% of the time I will listen to my body for now which will turn into 100% hopefully in a month.

Peace, love, and no beating up!

~SG

Im starting a book.

I’ll open a new blog called How To Really Quit Drinking. Today. On St. Patrick’s Day. How perfect! I expect at least 100,000 hits tomorrow. Also working on a full book. Believe you me, I am an expert now on quitting research, personally and professional articles. Thing is, if you followed ths blog from day one, I found a crapload of quit-smoking articles, books, and movies. Alcohol? AA. That was about it. This Atheist had to dig deep to find educational material on the effects of alcoholism. Don’t get me wrong, AA was exceedingly educational, I just wanted other outlets and honestly, scare tactics. With smoking you are bombarded by photos in ads  of people with holes in their throats, pictures on Truth.org with black lungs, rotting teeth, and mouth sores, and eve the Bodies touring exhibit has a black foot. Please one person tell me a PSA they’ve seen of a gross body part due to alcohol abuse. A fatty liver, please, or outrageous behavior in a bar. Seen those ads or commercials? Ah there are the crashed car due to drunk driving, yes. We do have that. And the threats of being arrested if you are under age or also driving, but are those as strong as the smoking ads? I quit both drinking and smoking at once, but it wasn’t easy. I have a plethora of personal experience in how I finally did it on my own and I can’t wait to share it with you.

On the anger book (never post stuff like this on FB by the way, I became very discouraged by my ‘friends’ who said they’d be happy to punch a stranger), well I’ll be blogging and working on that lso. Stay tuned!

Love,

SG

Anger Management

I have been inspired by the road ragers, annoyed movie-goers, mall trampers, and the like to write a book. Since childhood I have been saddened and frustrated that people  "don't care" for strangers and don't treat them like their own family members. Yes I mean that. My husband received a nasty letter on his car right after Thanksgiving when it was about four inches over the line. If it was this angry person's own grandmother's car of course the letter would never come to mind. Also hubby's friend was confronted yesterday by perturbed stranger because he said he was talking too loudly at the bar they were in. My other friend butted in and almost got punched. Because our buddy was talking loudly? COME ON!! Is it harsh to say that we just don't care for people we don't know? Really attitude can make or break a person's day. Can we teach this in schools? Does it have to be posted in the media? What can we do? Yes it matters because everyone wants to be respected. And more situations I hear of or experience is really making my blood boil. People die from arguments. Stress an kill or harm one's health. This is an issue no one is taking action on and yes we should. I just need to figure out how to structure the book. On the alcohol note yes getting pissed off can also lead you to drink.

Love,

SG

I'm alive...

and more than well! I got married in October! Smober since January with one relapse shortly after my last post in July however all is well. I do have some internal "stuff" I'd like to share but this year has been the best year since I can remember.

I do feel anxieties now and again even on the Citalopram but exercise (the rebounder, Pilates, and yoga) melts it away. I am reading Gabrielle Bernstein's book "May Cause Miracles" and that is huge. I catch my self doing the stinkin thinkin then I do her meditations. I still feel 'lazy' sometimes and I would, like you, do something I love making money from it as a full-time job. All I have to say is go for it. I'm thinking of writing a book based on visualizing what food you eat is doing inside you. I'm hoping that would help America's obesity epidemic. There are already plenty of food effects mood and beauty diet books out, but none I've seen about grossing yourself out by picturing what that pizza is going through your body or your stomach pstretching from pounds of junk food. Maybe I'll just do that right here or start another blog. Or website.

Writing here is total therapy for me, and I already feel better from my current negative thoughts. The common ones most peeps have like, "I'm not good enough", "I'm lacking interest", and "There's too much competition." Like Bernstein says you have to believe in miracles, and many have come to me in this best year of my life! I'm in an art gallery and sold two pieces already, I got married to a diamond in the rough, I now just have the occasional five ounces of wine with food and I am completely grossed out by smoking, I'm the fittest I've ever been and dropped any physical self-esteem issues, and I know I am pretty damn cool in general. That secret is to eat well, exercise doing something you love, and know that only you have access to your mood. Don't stew, just turn on the switch.

Love,

SG

Appreciating.

Go through your closet.


I was tempted about five times to buy this pencil skirt online only to figure out I have one that I "had to have" last Christmas and never wore. What also is amazing is moving your clothes around. My blacks were in the back (yes I color coordinate) and whites in the front. Guess what color I wore the most? This is helping me weed out clothes to eBay it up ( a term coined by my bf, which the relationship has never been better and is honestly the #1 thing keeping me somber) or take to the consignment shop. I already made about $150 from the shop and $111 on eBay. People eBay it up for a living. Since I am unemployed and have a ton of good crap I never use.....

I am going to Costa Rica with a good friend for a week yoga retreat. I have been yogaing it up 43 times as a studio challenge and I haven't looked better. Between yoga and 85% raw eating, I feel fabulous.

I'm also going to smoothie it up again. Annoyed yet?

Http://www.radiantsmoothies.blogspot.com

Love,

SG

Seven months in seven days! 15 pounds lost.

The cleanse and no denim

Well the bentonite clay cleanse worked! I lost an inch off my waist and I slimmed down all over in just a week. I highly don’t reccommend eating a huge bowl of brown rice and pesto afterwards though. Im in bed nursing my fuzzy head and sour stomach now. It makes me want to stick to raw, energizing foods.

I am addicted to Gwenyth Paltrow’s website Goop.com and she had an article about wearing absolutely no jeans for a week. I had fun doing it and when you quit a bad habit it’s helpful to keep yourself beautiful like trying new outfits in your closet, new makeup, or new hairstyles.

Love,

SG
Six months and 15 days