To drink or not to drink?

That's the question I asked myself several times this weekend!

So, we headed down to NYC on Friday afternoon because we had a concert that night. We set up at a friend's house, had brought our own healthy dinner. Before the show, we met up with friends at a bar called Valhalla. It was awesome! The beer list was out of this world. But I know, even without Paleo, how beer affects me. Still, as all our friends ordered drinks, I felt an incredible urge to get a delicious cold beer!

Now, I am not a beer lover, per se, but a really tasty one, I do like! I like white beers, hefes and the like, and this was a German bar with a number of good hefeweizens. But Chris was the ultimate supportive boyfriend and partner, and neither of us drank. (Also, turns out two of our friends were not drinking at the time either, so that felt like we had a camaraderie). Walked with everyone to the venue and proceeded to party until 3:30 AM (the show was loooong, the main act didn't even come on till 12:45)... not a drink to be had! I snuck some Lara Bars into the show for us, which we snacked on at around 2 AM. No street food for us :)

The next day, we had brought some meat and fruit and a nut "oatmeal" mix I had made, which tided us over. Our friend wanted to bring us up to a place in Westchester to go on a mild hike. So we got a little over 2 mile hike in around a lake and up an old quarry on our "party weekend"! Lucky to have friends that don't force unhealthy eating or living on us, but instead, offer up healthy activities. Very cool.

There would be a BBQ on Saturday before the next concert we were going to see. We brought sweet potato chips (just sweet potato and oil, no added salt!), greek olives and marinated garlic, and chili lime shrimp so that we would have Paleo friendly foods. At the BBQ was a strawberry spinach salad with balsamic vinagrette, and other assorted foods that were delicious and healthy. So surprised and amped about that. We had a great, filling dinner. Didn't eat any hotdogs or drink any beer, though.

Took the subway to the event, had a REALLY awesome time. This band, Brother's Past, is so good. We danced and danced and they played so well. Again, we only drank water! Actually, Chris got club sodas with lime so he could have a little something different. But still. I couldn't believe how many hours we were out, chilling with our friends and dancing and partying and neither of us sipped a drink. I feel very proud.

We made the decision when we got back to our friend's house that we were staying at at 3 AM that we wanted to drive home that night.... hahahaha. Wow. We were riding high and really excited, so we gave it a try. We got pretty sleepy towards the end, but we made it home safely. We really wanted the comfort of our own bed. We slept from 6 AM to noon! Now we are chilling out and going to have an easy day. Supposed to be rainy around here, which I think will be very soothing.

Weighed in today, 131.4. So a little less than when I left! It might be a little artificial, again, because we did dance and rage and stay up very late all weekend, I might be a little dehydrated. Though, it is just nice to come home and see a loss after a party weekend in the city.

All the right choices were made: no alcohol, healthy food in good portions, and even a little added exercise besides the city walking and the all night dancing!

I never thought I could make decisions like these. It felt so easy before to just go along with the social norms, get drunk and stupid and eat whatever was out there. Those were still really fun weekends, but the price? Maybe a little too high.

Also, it amazes me how supportive close and even not so close friends are about our decision and dedication to choose this life. I love that I am not losing any of the flavor or fun of LIFE just because of FOOD!

I am a little run down and sleepy now, but so happy :)

Peace and love, my friends!