Social Media 30-Day Detox

My morning's usually start with laying in bed and scrolling through various social media channels. 

Instagram, Facebook, Strava.

Getting caught up and concerned with other people's lives at 7:00 a.m., wondering who worked out this morning? Who had a great dinner last night? Who is traveling the world or on a beautiful beach somewhere? Did anyone message me on the dating apps I recently re-downloaded? 

My nights usually end in a similar way - mindlessly swiping left and right in search of someone to send me cheesy pick-up lines and unsubstantial conversation.  Getting dizzy from the Boomerangs on people's Instagram stories and filtering and re-filtering photos of myself from the weekend, trying to figure out which one is worthy of a #tbt. The bright light from my screen keeps me up way past a necessary hour. 

It sounds ridiculous when you read about just how wrapped up in social media people become. You scoff at the idea that your self worth has somehow become intertwined with your followers and likes. It looks ridiculous when people stand on chairs to get the perfect boozy brunch snapshot.

But I'm willing to bet that you've been that girl walking and Snapchatting as she walks down the street  And I'm sure you've been that girl feeling bad on a Friday night, sitting in her apartment as her Facebook feed is flooded with friends having fun. The FOMO sets in, even though hours ago at your desk, you swore you WANTED a night of Netflix and Seamless by yourself. 

And don't even get me started on dating apps. Why do I spend HOURS swiping when I truly have NO intention of meeting up with anyone for drinks? 

28 days without drinking had me feeling empowered and looking for a new challenge - and so on July 1, with little fanfare, I deleted it all. 

Facebook. 

Facebook Messenger. 

Instagram. 

Snapchat. 

Bumble. 

Hinge. 

Buh-bye. 

The plan is not seeing these apps until August 1 and I'm really interested to see how it goes! 

Stay tuned. 

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Finishing 28 Days Alcohol-Free

After Las Vegas, I found myself in the final stretch of no drinking with a few days in Chicago. 

Can I just say how much I like Chicago? Honestly, I've never gotten to explore much of the city as my stays are usually very work-focused but it seems like a place I could easily live if it weren't for the freezing cold winters and mountains of snow. 

Homestead on the Roof

After all, our first dinner out was at a rooftop restaurant with the slogan, "literal farm to table." It was a beautiful night and the food was equally as aesthetically pleasing. Our hummus came out looking like carrots growing right out of the ground - but it definitely didn't taste like dirt! 

The rustic roof with string lights set a laid back vibe and we all split some appetizers from the produce-centric menu that changes daily and seasonally. 

A carrot salad with curry and frisee was texturally interesting while the salmon crudo fell short. The raclette, described as "adult grilled cheese" was, obviously, delicious. Melted cheese, how can you go wrong? 

When my entree came out, I exclaimed, "Oh my God, this dish is 'so, ME!'" Okay Lauren, you weirdo. 

I had ordered the Coal Roasted Eggplant which came with Quinoa Tabouli, White Bean Puree (I LOVE WHITE BEANS), Salsa Verde and Falafel. Just look at it. So pretttttty. 

Flywheel & Doughnut Vault!

Chicago kept the good vibes coming in the morning when I woke up and walked less than 10 minutes to a Flywheel class. I am always shocked when I leave Flywheel at just how much sweat I can actually produce. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite spin studios. 

Flywheel was followed with a stop at The Doughtnut Vault - a cute, tiny walk up window where I got a dozen donuts to bring in for coworkers (and mainly, for myself). They don't have a ton of different doughnut options, but I LOVED their buttermilk old-fashioned doughnut. It was sweet, simple and so cake-y and moist! Time and again I confirm my belief that cake doughnuts are FAR superior to yeast doughnuts and Doughnut Vault certainly kept me singing the praises of cake doughnuts. 

Doughnut Vault has two locations - 111 N Canal Street and 401 N Franklin St. 

After spin and doughnuts it was time to head to work on the right foot! I was then surprised with ANOTHER doughnut - a Biscoff filled one from Stan's <3 What a way to start the day. 

Other things that were great about Chicago 

• A second Flywheel class with coworkers because I accidentally bought 3 classes 
• Garrett's Chicago Mix popcorn - caramel + cheddar is a match made in popcorn heaven (although I've also been feeling the pickle-flavored popcorn from Trader Joe's!)
• A biggg group dinner to wrap up the events season at Howell's & Hood (the food was unimpressive but the company was great!) 
• A trip to the Ghiradelli Factory for a Brownie Sundae - the best decision I've made in life lately was subbing the vanilla ice cream for mint chocolate chip. 
• Taking a picture by the river 

La Pulperia

When I got back from Chicago, it was time to break the 28-day no alcohol streak with a boozy brunch to send Kayla off to Boston. There were tears - but also lots of laughs thanks to the best wait-staff on the Upper East Side - everyone should go to La Pulperia! Their cocktails are A+ (the Smoky Room is my favorite cocktail ever). 

HTML + CSS Class

But even though I was back to imbibing, I've tried to keep making time and space in my schedule for things that are productive, intellectually stimulating, and more of an experience than yet another happy hour. 

And something I've been wanting to learn for a long time now is HTML and CSS. 

I found a great deal via CourseHorse for a beginner HTML & CSS class from Noble Desktop . Normally these classes are quite pricey, but I was able to book a 3 hour course with only 8 people for under $40. 

I really enjoyed the class - just to be sitting and learning again felt nice and I was surprised to find that the class was all women! We had the choice between using a PC or a Mac (go, PC!) and while I'm definitely not a coding pro now by any means, I understand the concepts a little better. 

What I was surprised to find, though, is that there really aren't a ton a concepts when it comes to HTML and coding - it's a lot of, "and then you type this - because that's just what you type." And, "if you don't know the code for a specific thing, you just Google it." 

I still really enjoyed the class and would consider taking more in the future! 

And there you have it! Still to come, a Gotham City Writer's "Write In" and a Nuyorican Poet's Cafe Poetry Slam! Plus, rock-climbing, a 5K (my first race in 6 MONTHS!) and oh right, an Olympic Distance Triathlon -eeeeek. 

If you want to read more about what I learned throughout the 28 days of no drinking, read this post! Moral of the story - it really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! (But I'm looking forward to lots of summer cocktails!) 

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Month of Me: What I Did While I Wasn't Drinking

Going alcohol free for 28 days was a way for me to refocus on me, myself, and the things I'd been "meaning to do" for too long. 

The past month has been filled with worthwhile experiences, belly laughs, some great workouts, some relaxing days and lots of learning moments. 

A Trip to Buffalo 

After spending time in Buffalo last year for a work trip, I was excited to return this spring. 

The Healthy Scratch

All 8 days, my breakfasts and lunches came from The Healthy Scratch. I was overjoyed to have them nearby for healthy, nutritious food. I ate my smoothie with a spoon and added some granola on top and I found that it was super satisfying - usually when I drink my breakfast from a straw, I still feel like I need to eat something. 

The Buffalo food scene impresses me whenever I go, and we had some more delicious meals. 

The Mahony

Most notable was the discovery of The Mahony, located inside an old creamery building which creates a trendy vibe. The menu is diverse and unique - one night we went there was even live music. 

Chef's

We also ate at Chef's - which, though not my cup of tea, is a very historic restaurant in Buffalo that has been around since 1923! Their menu is like a mini history book - with stories about how they moved the oven from the bakery that used to make their bread to their new location and hired the head baker. And the story of how their famous dish, "spaghetti parmigiana" was created. Picture a pile of spaghetti engulfed in a glob of cheese. 

Sear

My favorite meal was probably the massive tuna steak I got at Sear. The black coconut sticky rice it came with, paired with pineapple puree, was summer-seafood heaven for my taste buds. (Though it would have been better enjoyed on an island somewhere). 

Another reason I love Buffalo is because of the Canalside walk along the water which I enjoyed on Memorial Day. 

Billy Joel Concert Turned Cooking with Callie 

When Billy Joel cancelled his concert due to an infection, Callie and I took to the kitchen to improvise a recipe based off of Hummasapien's Curried Cauliflower Chickpea Buddha Bowl. The fact that my food processor wouldn't turn on made for a less than ideal sauce-making scenario but Callie diced those almond so finely that we still managed to make it work. 

Anyone else out there arugula-obsessed? Raise your hand if arugula is your go-to-green (and leave me so recipe ideas in the comments!)

Baseball Game 

I will admit that I am far from a fan of America's Favorite Pastime. I usually go to one or two games a year and when I get there I'm just kind of like, "OK, now what?" Usually, the answer to that question is "BEER!" but a baseball game dead sober - that was something new to me. 

I went to a Yankees/Red Sox game with my friend Kayla and her dad and boyfriend and they are DIE HARD Sox fans. I even donned a Red Sox t-shirt since Kayla humored me at an Islanders game earlier this year. 

Admittedly, the baseball part of the experience was still meh for me - but Kayla's enthusiasm, her nicknames for all of the players, her method of sneaking in a tequila nip in her umbrella, the seventh inning stretch, the YMCA, the wave and THE SUNSET kept me smiling the entire night. 

Sushi Making Class 

I have been saying, "I really want to learn how to make sushi" for a LONG TIME. At least 2 years. I live in a city that has hundreds of cooking classes on the DAILY. No more excuses. 

Lana is one of my sushi-loving friends and when I finally found the class I wanted to take I knew she would be down. 

Cooking classes ain't cheap - easily $80+! But I found a deal on Groupon for CocuSocial and it was super affordable at $36 per person! 

The class was held in a lobby/snack bar area of a hotel in midtown Manhattan and was a very manageable size with no more than 16 or so of us. Most people were in pairs. It was super laid back, but I actually learned a good amount more than I thought I would! 

I also never expected to leave absolutely stuffed! We learned how to roll a salmon roll, a crab inside-out roll (with the rice on the outside) and a hand roll! Three different types of rolls which we devoured - that's a LOT of sticky rice. 

We were shocked at how sticky the rice was - it is NOT easy to work with and while you're supposed to keep your hands wet to make the rice easier to handle, you have to try not to get any of the water on the nori (the sheet of seaweed). 

I really liked the hand roll because it was like a sushi burrito - but when I poured the soy sauce into the roll, it just came flooding out the bottom. OOPS. 

After class, our instructor gave us some more information, like how to shop for sushi-grade fish, what makes it sushi-grade, and how to make the sticky rice! 

I highly recommend checking out CocuSocial and I definitely plan on taking more of their classes! (Dumplings, pasta, pie - they offer a lot of different ones!) 

Wedding & College Roommate Reunion 

You know those friends that you can go forever without seeing, and then you're together and it's like absolutely no time at all has passed? I'm lucky to have a lot of friends like that. As you get older, your friends are spread out across the map, everyone has their own obligations and plans, and you go longer and longer without seeing each other. But despite that, my college roommates and I had an amazing time at Kelsey's wedding. 

Dancing, reminiscing, eating, photo-boothing, Hamilton rapping and bug-drowning - it was a great weekend together. 

Broadway 

The musical theatre nerd in me isn't as prominent as it once was, but every time I sit at watch a show, I remember how much I love a good show tune. 

My friends and I went to see Waitress and while it wasn't one of my favorites, it was worth the $60 to hear "She Used to Be Mine" belted live. We just missed Sara Bareilles by a day (hence the discounted tickets), but Betsy Wolfe crushed her first performance as Jenna. 

There were a few songs that I could definitely tell were written by Bareilles and overall, the show was pretty damn funny. 

Catching Up With Friends 

Before most long work trips I try to fit in some time with friends to catch up before I hit the road. The week before the last work trip of the season, I grabbed sweetgreen with Kayla and got a manicure/pedicure with Jess. 

Could we have gone for drinks? Absolutely (it probably would have ended with me dragging them to Brandy's Piano Bar and ordering Tequila Cosmos...) But it was much more productive for my schedule to do two things I needed to do anyway: eat dinner and get my nails done, while at the same time chatting away. 

Trip to Las Vegas

I am not the biggest fan of Las Vegas. Admittedly, I've only ever been on work trips which tend to put a damper on the Sin-City Lifestyle but I also just think that's it's like being stuck in Times Square for a week - not something I would ever wish on someone. 

I tried to make the most of this trip though - ate a few good meals, gambled a whole $22 on Willy Wonka and Wizard of Oz slot machines (and won $35 on an Orange Is The New Black machine before my flight out!) and enjoying a Lush bath bomb in the luxurious tub in my Encore hotel room (they are absolutely gorgeous!) 

I used Postmates for my lunches all week in Vegas and pretty quickly my coworkers put me in charge of the healthy--but-delicious meal finding. It was so much easier than I had anticipated! I had great meals and highly suggest checking out the following places if you're trying to eat well in Vegas: 

SkinnyFATS

I ate the dish with the zucchini noodles and it was yum!

Protein House

Greens and Proteins 

I was so obsessed with my turkey burger in a cabbage wrap with JICAMA fries at lunch, that I ordered the Harvest Kale Stocked Salad for dinner! We also ordered the Greek Pizza on pita to share in the office and it was amazing. 

Fun fact - I never made it out of the Wynn/Encore hotel for a meal during the trip. But the fact that the Wynn and Encore's restaurant menus feature so many vegan and healthy options was fine by me! Each menu has a few items that list the calories and try to remain on the lighter side. 

My favorite thing I ate was definitely the buffalo cauliflower at Le Jardin. It was absolutely mind blowing - so crispy. And the vegan ranch/blue cheese sauce? WOW. Brynn and I could have had 4 more orders and skipped the entrees. 

I also really liked the kale salad at The Country Club  and was pumped to try the Impossible Burger meat in crispy rice lettuce cups at Andrea's (probably my favorite restaurant at the Wynn/Encore - order the broccoli!!!) 

Stay tuned, there's more to come including the final week of no alcohol!

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5 Things I Learned From Giving Up Alcohol for a Month

My month of me seems to have translated into a month without blogging along with the no running and no drinking thing - oops! 

But now that I'm on the other side of 28 days, I wanted to check in with a recap of the top 5 lessons I learned while going 28 days without drinking. To quickly answer a few of the burning questions: 

• Did you cheat at all? Nope, not even one rogue sip. 
• Did you lose weight? No, in fact I probably gained some since I've been working out a lot less and was traveling for work for 2 weeks and eating out constantly. Losing weight was never one of the reasons I wanted to do this in the first place.
• Was it hard? The biggest surprise of all was that, nope, it really wasn't difficult AT ALL. I can count on one hand the number of times I even came close to cheating.

Here are the top 5 things I took away from 28 days without drinking. 

1. Removing "Happy Hour" from your list of potential plans with friends challenges you to find other activities that you might normally miss out on. 

I'll be writing an entire post about all the things I've been up to - including a computer coding class, Broadway musical and sushi making class! 

I live in New York City, I travel constantly for work - there's a great big world out there and yes I love my favorite bars as much as the next twenty-something but there's so much more I want to learn and experience other than every citrus-y IPA (but I do want to try them all, eventually...)

When I texted my friends some of the things I wanted to check out - they were quick to say HELL YEAH and even thanked me for planning some out of the ordinary weeknight activities. 

2. No one cares. Seriously. 

If you surround yourself with somewhat decent people - they aren't going to sit there and try to force you to drink if you decide to pass. Sure they might joke or ask if you're sure, or purposely order your favorite drink off the menu - but they aren't going to sit there and be upset that you aren't drinking. Ain't nobody got time for that.

The only issue I had was convincing the people I was with that they SHOULD drink. I didn't want to put a damper on anyone's night just because I was choosing to sip on Pellegrino (I drank SO much sparkling water this month!) 

3. It didn't make me a homebody. 

I was still social, still enjoyed dinners out with people during my work trips, and still stayed long after the table was cleared watching games and talking - again, drinking lots and lots of water. 

4. I give alcohol too much credit. 

I had been under the false assumption that alcohol made me more fun, more social, more silly, etc. But I am still all of those things around the people I'm comfortable with - alcohol or no alcohol. At my college roommate's wedding, I was still one of the first ones from our group to get up and out on the dance floor and I was still one of the last to fall asleep because my friend and I were too busy rapping Hamilton to say goodnight. 

5. There's no " easy" month to cut alcohol out of your life. 

I said this in my last post - but, seriously. If it's something you've wanted to do - just do it. There's always going to be a happy hour or a party or a dinner that you're going to want to order a drink at. But I swear, it's not that hard to just be like, "NAH, I'm trying this thing and I really want to stick to it." 

If you want to do it, there's no day like today!

Final Thoughts:

What made it doable for me was the fact that I knew I was serious about it, I let the entire internet know about it (accountability at its best) and most importantly - the reasons behind it were genuine and important to me. 

I didn't go a month without drinking to lose weight, which is what most people assumed. I did it to make room for things that are more important to me and to prove to myself that I could. SURPRISE! I'm a pretty great, well-rounded individual with lots of interests and passions and the fact that I love margaritas and IPAs is really not what make me, me. 

I was honestly shocked at how easy it was, and while I did have an amazing boozy brunch to break the 28 days, I now also have a huge list of non-drinking-activities I plan to do this summer and I'm so excited! Rock-climbing, kayaking, maybe some trapeze? Continuing with computer coding classes, maybe an Excel class? And who wants to come make dumplings with me!? Walking photography tour of a neighborhood? Queens food exploring? Long bike rides! 

K and summer Friday happy hours - there will definitely be some of those, too. 

Changing Your Perspective for a Positive Mindset

And just like that, it's been 13 days without alcohol. Honestly, the first 2 weeks have flown by and there have only been a fewwww times I've been tempted to cheat. But I'm feeling very determined and know that I'll make it to the finish line. 

Today I wanted to talk (write) a little bit about perspective. It's crazy how big of an impact a small shift in perspective can make in your happiness. I'm groaning at how preachy that sounded - but stick with me.

Wednesday was a long day. I was out the door by 5:00 a.m., on a flight to Pittsburgh by 7:00 a.m., at a coffee shop working by 9:00 a.m., in a meeting by noon, back at the airport by 3:30 p.m. and not back through my apartment doors until 8:00 p.m. 

But as my plane descended into New York City, I looked out my window and below me, the entire city was sprawled out. A city inhabited by 1.6 million people - including little old me. It might take me an hour and multiple subway transfers and plenty of frustration to get from the Upper East Side to Chelsea on a Sunday - but from 30,000 feet up, the island of Manhattan looked so much simpler. 

I could see the Freedom Tower and Central Park all at once. I spotted the Empire State Building and the reservoir, and I thought to myself, "WOW Central Park is beautiful and kind of massive, I can't believe I run around that whole thing on the regs!" (Yes, I even use embarrassing abbreviations in my head, obvs). 

Then, as I sometimes do, I started to get a little teary-eyed thinking about the fact that I live in THE New York City. THE Central Park is my backyard. I could look down and point out where Harlem Hill is and Cat Hill and my favorite trees that arch over the reservoir loop. And I could point at MY apartment - or at least the general vicinity of my apartment. 

Something about being that high up, and looking down at my entire life/world from such a distance had me feeling really emotional. 

When I landed, and waited in the taxi line, and waited in traffic, and finally got back to my apartment (because NYC isn't EVER actually simple when you're in it...) I dropped my bags and bolted to the park for a walk around the reservoir at sunset. From looking at Central Park from 30,000 feet up one hour to being smack dab in the middle of it the next hour - I had a really ridiculous feeling of contentment. 

But the thing to remember about changing your perspective, is that it doesn't always mean going up 30,000 feet and literally changing your perspective. It's often a conscious and active decision that you need to make to view things in a different way.  

It's like an Instagram filter, for your life. 

Every day you have the choice to choose between Clarendon (a personal fave), Hudson, Valencia or Nashville (but let's be honest, no one chooses Nashville unless they're IN Nashville and trying to be clever). And every day you have the choice to filter your life to focus on the positives or the negatives. The "LIFE IS GOOD" filter or the "EVERYTHING SUCKS" filter.

Shall we go over some examples from my week? 

• I could have chosen to focus on the fact that I lost my passport and need to pay $200 to replace it in time for my trip to Canada. 
  
  I'm not suggesting that I choose to view this as a positive thing - it's not. But instead, I focused my attention on the fact that I luckily found a copy of my passport that will make filling out the application for a new one easier. Instead of harping on the pain in the butt that it's going to be to get it replaced, I gave myself a little pep talk that sounded like this: "Lauren, you're going to get it replaced because you have to. So why are you going to freak out? It's going to get done."
   
• I could have chosen to focus on the fact that the Billy Joel concert I was supposed to go to was cancelled last minute.
  
  Instead, I invited Callie over and we cooked a delicious dinner and caught up and then I laid in bed and lip-synced to my favorite Billy Joel songs and sent the videos to my friends so that they weren't sad we missed out on the concert. Because my rendition of Piano Man is essentially the same thing as Billy's. 
  
  Instead, I appreciated the fact that I got to bed earlier that night ahead of my 4:45 a.m. alarm for my flight. 
   
• I could have chosen to focus on the fact that my Cuisinart wouldn't start and Callie and I couldn't blend the almonds into the sauce we were making.
  
  Instead, Callie acted as a human food-processor and chopped the almonds really finely and we improvised and shrugged our shoulders and laughed and guess what? Our dinner still tasted delicious (we cooked these Curried Cauliflower and Chickpea Buddha Bowls from Hummusapien!)  

• I could have chosen to focus on the fact that my entire day was taken up by my work trip on Wednesday - leaving me super tired and not giving me the chance to exercise. 
  
  Instead, I used that spectacular landing as inspiration to get into the park for a 2+ mile walk on a gorgeous night!
   
• Wednesday was Global Running Day and at the moment, I can't run. I could have easily spent the day upset about my injury, bitter at all of the running posts flooding my social media channels, and angry at my legs. 
  
  Instead, I liked every running picture that I saw, went for a walk in the park, and thought about how running and the NYC running community has changed my life. Showing up to a Jack Rabbit group run 5 years ago is the #1 reason this place feels like home. 

So basically what I'm saying is that choosing to view your day from a positive perspective is just like choosing your Instagram filter. Make the right choice.

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