Whoops

So I realize the title gives it all away, but that is about all I can say about this month- Whoops. Whoops that I failed on the giving up of caffeine and whoops on never blogging. To give myself a little credit I stuck with no caffeine until June 22. So I guess I made it through the majority of the month. For those of you that do not know me I should fill you in on 3 of the best items ever: Chocolate, Coffee, and the best of all Diet Mountain Dew. Just for the record, I do not know how I made it 22 days.

Let me try and paint you a picture of the point of no return. I am leading a high school work camp trip to Savannah to roof. We meet early on Monday morning and naturally I had to wake up super early to pack. I make it to the van, deal with paperwork, and load up all the kids- with zero assistance from caffeine. Go me! I manage to make it though countless gas stations (how teenagers have such tiny bladders- I will forever be baffled) without a Diet Dew or a candy bar- its basically heresy. So we wake up the first morning and head to our job site to roof a house. At this point- I'm still doing good. We get off the roof around lunch and I notice this bag of sodas, and of all the sodas that could be in that bag- there are diet dews. But they are warm. So I am still doing alright. We get near the end of the day and the sodas have managed to find their way into the bag of ice. We hop back in the van after a 9 hour workday roofing a house in the heat and the dews are screaming at me....I cave.

So it was all she wrote... I had coffee the next morning, sweet tea at lunch, and all the chocolate I could find, including a few trip to the DQ. I handed over the challenge rather quickly. If I were to make excuses I would claim that unlike vegetarianism- I do not see any ultimate value or lesson learned in giving up caffeine. I am forever grateful that I was a vegetarian, but the no caffeine never changed me as a person. Oh well...until next month.

No Longer Running on Dunkin'

This month we are trying to go "caffeine-free" for 30 days. Six days in, and I'm already suffering. Let me just be clear...caffeine free means no tea (unless fruit tea), no coffee (no decaf either), no soda, and no chocolate. If we manage 30 days, it will be quite the feat.

There are several reasons why this challenge is hard for me...1) I can see a Dunkin' Donuts from my doorstep, and it is very tempting. Last week, I went in there for a bagel and managed to leave without a coffee for once. 2) I work really long hours. Most of my work days are 12-14+ hour days. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I was super crabby at work, and my energy levels were definitely depleted. Almost everyone at work lives on caffeine as a way of life. 3) I *love* Trader Joe's chai latte mix. At one point last month, I had three containers of the mix in my cupboard. You can have it iced or hot, and it's so delicious. 4) I come home from work sometimes and eat chocolate after an especially tough day. Or my co-workers and I sit in the staff office after a hectic night and binge on chocolate chips while we consider all the craziness that went down that evening. 5) Dunkin' Donuts are EVERYWHERE in the north east! Like I said, I have one I can see from my doorstep, I pass another on my way to work, and there are two others in my town. Their damn commercials make me crave coffee. Ughhh.


Unfortunately, I already have a confession to make...on Friday, I went to NH to get a new laptop (Hurray!), and I planned to see my 94 yo great aunt (she's awesome, by the way, she gave my family a 6' tall British solider one year for Christmas). In between those tasks, I went to the beach, and I can't go to the beach without ice cream afterwards. I was totally not thinking when I ordered my ice cream, and half way through eating it, I realized I was eating chocolate chips. Oops. AND then yesterday was Free Ice Cream Day at Friendlys, and I took a couple kids from work. The Reeses flavor sounded so good, and I could not resist (and the guy serving the ice cream was staring at me lovingly and I felt pressured to make a decision because our interaction was getting awkward). Sooo, I guess I have already screwed up this challenge because I had two scoops of ice cream which included chocolate.

The bigger challenge will be the no coffee, TJ's chai tea, or Diet Coke. Help meee.