Friday I begged for suggestions on how I could get through the weekend without goin’ crazy on the vino. I had already planned some defensive yoga.

Your Tips:

1. Plan in advance and make compromises with yourself, e.g. “I will have X and I don’t need Y.” (Melissa)

2. Remember that booze and stress don’t mix well. Kate writes, “Less stress, however that is accomplished, makes it easier to take pleasure in the finer things, without overdoing it.” Amen sister.

3. Order a drink you know you’ll drink slowly (mentioned by Kate and Yasmin).

4. And finally, Yasmin writes, “If it is that enjoyable, maybe we should allow ourselves the indulgence - as long as it isn’t more than once a week it really isn’t going to hurt, is it?” Agreed! Trouble comes when it turns into three or four times a week…eek!

Yasmin also reminds me I need to fess up about how everything went. Most of your tips came in after the Trouble Days, but did I at least follow my own?

Well, the Friday night party was canceled by weather. Simple enough. I had a great self-lead yoga session with a new ITunes purchase, Yoga Groove.

Saturday was one of my favorite days in recent history, but it involved neither yoga nor much moderation! (No stress either!) I started the day with an hour long hike in the mountains of the least smoggy LA I’ve seen in ages. (See photo.) Then I did hours of athletic housework (laundry, ferrying things to the garage, etc) which lead me to skip yoga. OK, not so good.

At the dinner party, I did do some Melissathink: I pretty much skipped appetizers and didn’t pig out on dinner, but did have a small slice of key lime pie.

Trouble came in the form of good wine and champagne, and then some major midnight Kettle Chip snacking. Sigh. Potato chips are something I NEVER buy and aren’t really tempted by, in general.

Sunday was back to health and large quantities of cauliflower.

So was it a “healthy” weekend? Arguable. But you know what? I did have an active, energetic day and a great night with friends. In some regards it felt like balance. Except for the mild hangover.

So I’ll add one tip to the list: If you can’t keep yourself to one drink, at least keep yourself to one type of drink.

I’ll try to put the yoga-before-dinner into action on another social night - I think it’s a theory worth testing.