That Dreadful Coffee Addiction

So about two months ago I decided I needed to cut my addiction to caffeine, needing coffee every morning just starts getting irritating after awhile. I decided that the easiest, well, fastest, way to do this was by stopping completely for at least four days and then not having it more than once within every three days, enough to allow me to drink it if I want but not often enough to make me feel like I need it. I figured this should be easy enough, I had to quit like that when I was traveling this summer because we weren't allowed to have caffeine on the farm in Spain where we volunteered. That hadn't been too bad, so why should this time be any worse?

Well, lets just say that the guys at work weren't necessarily joking when they kept trying to give me chocolate every day at work that week. I never got too much of a headache but I certainly felt fuzzy enough and I must say, my craving for sugar went way up. After that week though, I was fine, didn't need coffee in the morning, didn't get headaches with out it, life was good. Except for that fact that coffee still tastes delicious...

My trick now was if I felt the need for caffeine at home, I'd make some tea, not enough to have too much of an effect, but still something. If I still wanted coffee I'd buy it while I was out or have it at my parents, that way it was a special occasion thing that cost money. This worked fine and dandy, except for the fact that this morning...I turned on my coffee pot...oops. I have opened the dangerous door to my coffee cravings again by proving how easy and delicious coffee is when all you have to do is plug in the pot, dump in the water and coffee, and press start.

As wonderful as this cup of coffee is that I'm drinking right now, I will keep from sliding back into the world of caffeinated beverages every morning, afternoon pick-me-ups of coffee, tea or soda and the pounding headache if I oversleep and go right to lunch skipping the coffee. Maybe to fool myself I will buy the stripped version of everyone's favorite caffeinated morning beverage called "decaf." It tastes the same, but no caffeine, it's like giving a dog a bone that's merely flavored like meat, but is in all reality just dry crunchies.

Reminiscing

I've started reading a new book today and it's been taking me on a nostalgic trip from this summer. I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert recommended and given to me by a friend. It's written in three parts, like Gilberts year of travel was. The first section is her four months in Italy living in Rome and traveling around learning Italian, eating amazing amounts of fabulous food and meeting new friends. So many of the places, foods, phrases, customs, artists, museums, etc etc etc she mentions are so familiar to me from just the two weeks I spent in Northern Italy and I didn't even make it down as far south as Rome (which really isn't that far south at all).

It all makes me want to start planning my next trip so I can do everything and see all the things I wanted to see but wasn't able to. Of course I'd do this knowing full well that all it would do is open up new doors to places I want to go, things I want to do and foods I want to eat. There are so many places to go see too that it seems I should be going somewhere new before I start repeating myself in my ramblings.

For now though I will have to satisfy myself by finding the most authentic pizzeria I can, opening a bottle of Chianti (I never knew how much I liked Chianti until I spent 5 days in Florence), and sampling the gelatto at one of the very few places in Madison that serve it.

Alaska Pics

So upon finally finding my camera I have now downloaded my pictures from Alaska this summer. Who would've thought to look in the compartment between the seats in my car for my camera, apparently not me. So now that I have them downloaded I've sorted through and uploaded the good one's to my Picassa Album so be sure to click the link at the side of the page. There are some envy worthy pics of places I'd like to be right now!