Growing up, I sprained my eyes a lot from rolling my eyes.

It’s something I still do to this day.

Funny enough, I never got offended when someone rolled their eyes at me, and I still don’t mind it.

My thought has always been that once you get that good eye-roll out of your system, you can move on from whatever’s annoying you.

If anything, an eye roll now makes me more persistent in what I’m trying to drive home, and for the last several years it’s been making sure everyone around me drinks enough water.

It’s funny and ironic that the same people (rolling my eyes at you, Mom and Dad) who would get so mad at me for the gesture that would get me grounded are doing it back to me, and it’s not because I borrowed a car and left the volume up or without filling it with gas.

It’s because in a way, my life’s mission is to make sure everyone’s hydrated.

My passion for daily water intake hit a high several years ago when my grandfather’s health began to decline.

He was always more of an iced tea drinker, and that’s fine, but I could feel the eye-rolls when I’d ask that he drink even a small cup of water when I saw him.

I don’t need to go into the benefits of drinking water, but there is one big problem I’ve found with it: it gets boring.

To help keep my interest in making sure I drink enough water throughout the day, I’ve collected an impressive display of water bottles. While I enjoy a lot of beverages close to room temp, I prefer sipping on cold water. It doesn’t matter the time of the year, either.

Every water bottle I’ve purchased, from the “Chug it like it’s wine” 32-ounce bottle to the 128-ounce monstrosity that I carried around for a bit, there’s always been the issue of the water not staying cold enough.

With the insulated mug movement, I finally caved this year and found a cheap off-brand, and it’s been one of the best purchases of 2024, costing a whopping $11.

This thing has kept my water glacier-cold even leaving it in a hot car all day when my significant other and I went to Put-in-Bay in July.

Now that I have the perfect water “bottle,” I can finally infuse the ice cubes to keep the taste from getting too dull.

My favorite idea came from Pinterest I think well over a decade ago, and it even had my grandfather on board drinking water for about a week.

It’s easy and tastes like a less sugary version of lemonade: lemons, strawberry and fresh mint.

With the “holidaze” coming up, substitute cranberries for strawberries. It’s a great, easy option for entertaining.

I find that I like to make what I call “my” water with ice, and I don’t have exact amounts for anything. I approach it as “This is how I’m feeling today, so I want a little more mint” or “I want more sweetness,” so I’ll add strawberries.

All of that being said, I don’t go overboard and solely drink water. There’s a balance of how active I am that day, what I’m eating and my thyroid medication (my endocrinologist is still adjusting my dosage, so I like to make sure I’m drinking plenty of water).

And sometimes a milkshake or fountain pop sounds so much better.

Now excuse me so I can go roll my eyes at something with my cold water thermos in tow.

Ashley’s favorite water

Ingredients

A gallon pitcher of water with some ice

1-2 lemons

Handful of strawberries

Few sprigs of fresh mint

Directions

Cut lemons and squeeze into the gallon of water. Add the rinds.

Cut strawberries and add them into the water.

Using your hands, take the mint sprigs and break the stems and some leaves in half. Add to the water.

Stir and enjoy.

Note: I’ll add water to the pitcher throughout the day, but I don’t keep it longer than that. I’ll make a fresh pitcher the next day.

Share your favorite recipes and memories with Features Editor Ashley Fox at afox@tribtoday.com.