#ActuallyICan

Remember that the key is to set realistic goals and incorporate activities that bring you joy and fulfillment; why else are we here? January is a great time to establish positive habits that can set the tone for the rest of the year.

My anxiety was not totally unfounded. It’s a big deal “coming out” to a world of drinkers; especially since for so long (so long) drinking has just been part of my identity. And, shall we recognize the elephant here? We do own a wine bar, which ironically was dreamed up and put in to motion during my first 90 days of sobriety a few years ago.

I’ve drank pretty much concurrently, with the exception of pregnancies and the bouts of sobriety you’ll read on here, since I was 13. It was fun, then it was O.K. then it was just plain destructive. I had a physical health scare, on top of the decades of mental health scares, in late August and I decided enough was enough.

“Hello?” “Is this Katy Ripp? Yes, hello. This is your wake up call.” This is the call where we tell you that you cannot continue this way or you will die. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but slowly and painfully, you will die…without ever actually living. You’ll continue down this path, which inevitably leads to […]

For as long as I can remember every New Year’s resolution I have made begins with much hope, merriment and bravado. I LOVE New Year’s Day, so much so that I usually don’t go out on New Year’s Eve because I hate feeling like shit the next day. Which, given my love of a good party, it’s beyond ironic.

Today I spent it cleaning up my planner; filling in the important dates I have this month, this week and tomorrow, writing down my goals and then breaking them down in to bite-sized bits, writing out my monthly budget and playing in the freshly fallen snow with the dogs, cats and kiddos (< this is very unlike me).

I decided today that I am going to break these posts down in to categories since, otherwise, I’ll be all over the place with my thoughts. I suppose some days will have blank categories and other will be filled to the brim, but you get the idea.

The day started out like all the others this week; five minutes of guided meditation with my feet up the wall (on my handsome new DIY headboard by my husband), making my bed, spending five minutes with my planner, brushing my teeth and weighing myself.

One of my best friends is a farmer’s wife. Her farmer husband gets together with other farmer husbands to do God knows what on the first Friday of every month. We used to drink on these nights and chuckle about how adorable it is.