Cherry cheers.

I love the idea of mocktails. It's cutesy and silly (I mean, it's really just juice), but I love the way drinking a "mocktail" makes me feel slightly fancy. I certainly drink my fair share of actual cocktails, but in terms of regular old hydrating, I feel like I should lean toward the non-alcoholic beverage side.

I'm a chugger. I've never been much of a sipper - I'll often go to the kitchen, fill a small glass of water, chug it and move along. For that reason, I've worked hard to make all-day drinking (water!) a habit, which I'm pretty good about at work (the act of getting up to get it gives me a good excuse to stretch my legs). At home, though, I'm still more of a chug and done girl. To make things more exciting, I've spent the past year experimenting with different jazzing-it-up methods. For some time now, my favorite base has been Faygo sparkling water, cherry flavor. I love the fizz - tricks my brain into thinking I'm drinking Coke in a can. Or something.

Typically I mix some fresh lime juice and drop in a cherry or two. Recently I've been mixing a splash of V8 Fusion juice in (but just a splash - that's all you need to get the sweet). But a week ago a light bulb went off when I saw another blog post about mocktails. Nothing earth shattering, but it's citrus season, and it never occurred to me to add some fresh orange juice to my concoctions. Duh! I finally made it to the store Saturday after two weeks, and I bought a huge bag of oranges to experiment with - figure I can use all the vitamin C I can get! Besides, it gives me an excuse to bust out my vintage juicer.

Reminds you of why fresh-squeezed orange juice is so expensive....

For my new and improved orange mocktail, I combined the juice of one orange, a quarter of a lime, two cherries, and sparkling cherry water. Our new fridge even offers ice options, so I can get crushed and feel extra fancy.

Last night I made a double batch and mixed it up a little by dumping in some frozen blueberries. And everything tastes better in a Huge Ass Beer cup.

Here's hoping the hydration and OJ keeps up the healing process for me... Fingers crossed! What's your favorite method of hydration???