Woke up late (for me) at around 9am and that was only because my friend Adele rang to check on the plans for tonight. People are getting used to me doing the 'rise at 5' so expect me to be up now. I intend to get back into that routine again next week because I get so much more done in the wee hours of the morning and that sets me up for the day.
Took Bella to the groomers for her monthly wash and tidy-up. She never looks impressed to be going lol. I always feel really mean cos when we get out of the car at the place she starts shaking bless her. I know she isn't a big fan of baths so that is probably why. You do feel mean though but I just have to comfort myself in the fact that she is in good hands and is going to look much better after. She looked gorgeous when I picked her up but sadly she went straight to mums for the night so I didn't have to leave her home alone.
I went to the shop before anybody arrived and bought some 0% alcohol wines and fizz as well as some 0% ciders. I haven;t posted about this yet but I have been drafted up blogs about my decision to go completely sober. I wanted to get tonight out of the way before I made it public but as I am typing this after the event and it all went well I am happy to post them now. So HERE is the first post about my decision to stop drinking.
Viv arrived first at Derker tram stop, so I picked her up and let her get settled in. Sharron wasn't too far behind and even though she originally said she would make her own way to mine, I know she probably wouldn't find it. When she arrived at Derker she rang me and so I picked her up. I made us all chicken and mushroom pasta with garlic, herb and cream cheese sauce and stirred it into some spaghetti. Even if I say so myself it was pretty tasty.
Alexa came later dressed and ready to go so only Viv and Sharron had to get ready at mine.
I was thinking we may end up drinking while getting ready which is why I got stocked up with 0% alcohol drinks so I could 'fake drink'. I figured it would be easier not to tell anyone and just look like I'm drinking so I wouldn't get grief or pressured to have a drink. It's usually other people that have the issue with you not drinking. By the time we had eaten and everyone was getting ready there wasn't really time to have a drink so that was easy enough.
We got a minibus and then picked up Adele and Mike on the way. Not as many people had turned up to the First Choice Reunion as they were expecting so it was a nice size group and easy to chat with everyone. It was so good to see everyone but just felt like we had been together last week and we just kind of picked up where we left off. Lucily the bar sold 0% Gordons Gin so I had that with tonic all night and told the bar man "when I order a Gin & Tonic, I want that, so I donb't have to make a hing about it in front of people".
I had such a good night and didn't feel like I was missing out on anything not drinking. Nobody noticed I wasn't drinking and the only time it got mentioned or the whole "don't be boring" was said was when Claire tried to force me to have black sambuca. I just made my excuses and said it gives me heart burn and I was sticking on gin.
One thing you do notice when you are not drinking is just how loud and drunk other people appear lol. In my mind I was thinking "oh God that's normally me lol". We got a taxi home at about 11:30pm and then I put some pizza in the oven and made us all a brew. Gone are the days of after party's and carrying on drinking. Me, Alex and Sharron just wanted a cup of tea lol. I'm Viv would have been happy to crack on with ore wine if everyone else was but as it was she just had a coffee. We went to bed about 1am and then at 2am I eventually had to go into the girls room and ask them to be quiet cos me and Lex could still hear them talking loud lol.
Great night all in all and didn't miss the booze at all and certainly won't miss the hangover tomorrow. :-)