Oh yeah, I was going to put a link to my new blog here. I almost forgot.



http://brighter.net/



Now maybe someday soon I will have time to make a layout for it. And add some content. And stuff.



Riiiight.



bye!!

I am going to be freezing up this journal. It was a somewhat difficult decision to make. It is clear to me that I am at a turning point, again, in my life, but this time it is a relatively sane, healthy point:) There I go, succumbing to the easy trap of labelling everything in my past as insane, which of course it is not, but it makes for an easier-to-wrap package so I'll leave it be.



Anyway, I am setting up a brand! new! blog! on my personal site. This was always my M.O. with personal writing on the Internet and I'm going back to it. I will post a link to it here once it is done, so hopefully my LJ friends and I can still link to each other and keep up with each other's online lives.



My new blog will definitely have less of a recovery focus. This journal has served me so damn well over the last year and I am eternally grateful for everyone who has written in with support, and even those who have just been silently reading it. It's time for me to make some more proactive changes in my life. Last year it was all about changing myself on the inside. This year seems to be more external and geographic.



More about that on the new journal, though. I'm not shutting this one down at all; too many people have contacted me with recovery issues and stories of their own through it. I'm really happy that others are able to relate to some of my trials and tribulations. It was, after all, my whole point in writing here to begin with. Sure, other aspects of my life crept in here and there, but I think I did an alright job of keeping the focus on the recovery from alcoholism. That recovery is a lifelong process, but the intensity of the first year is definitely lessening.



I got into recovery to embrace my life, not to have my recovery take it over.



all the best,

jacqui

assez de travaille, mais alors...



so many things i am supposed to do. this is a boring entry. there are tulips and irises and these are apparently not only my favorite flowers ! approximately four letters halfway written. three things i am supposed to buy for my lovely blonde one without letting her know.



everything else i was supposed to remember just flew out of my head between my eyelashes. i'm sleepy. and disjointed, apparently!

Apparently it has!



Today is the one year anniversary of my sobriety. This past year has been the most rewarding and challenging experience of my life, one that I never thought I would encounter, and definitely not one I had ever imagined that I would succeed at. Yet, here I am, one year into it, and my life is not just good, it's amazing. Hard work does pay off sometimes.



I am in San Francisco today and tomorrow to celebrate. I have a lot of things to write about, but not much time. This seems to be the theme of my life lately. Whereas in the past I would drink to fill up the time, now that I am actually present and giving back and participating life continually shows up for me. My life is full. Sometimes it overwhelms me. I have many areas to improve and grow, but this is what life is about: ever-changing, surprising, difficult, scary, thrilling, and lovely.

The trick is keeping the idea that the journey is the destination in the forefront of your mind.  It doesn't matter what are you doing next: what are you doing right now?



My friends have been so incredibly supportive and wonderful over this last year. I can't thank you enough. Can I?

I am hooked on www.yelp.com again. It's proven to be an excellent aide in helping me figure out good places to shop, eat and get some culture here in the city of angels. It's awesome. I'm writing tons of reviews and finding lots of fun stuff. My neighborhood is cool, too. Yay Los Feliz and Silver Lake! I am doing an okay job of dodging hipsters on fixies:) Stupid hipsters, stupid fixies!*



* however i must note that there are FAR, FAR MORE hipsters on fixies in the mission in SF:) hardly anyone in LA travels outside an automobile.