Anna, I agree that honesty is important, but I also think there is a time and place to tell my friends what's going on. For example, I'm meeting a friend tomorrow night at a concert, and if (not when, but if) she says, hey why aren't you drinking, I'm not going to get into some heavy or awkward conversation with her right then and there. She only knows me as a drinker, so it might be strange that I'm not drinking.
Honestly, I'm sure she's not really going to care if I drink or not, and I know that if someone doesn't want to hang out with me b/c I don't drink anymore, then they're not they type of people I need to be around.
This post was more just asking for suggestions for me to bridge the transition of being a drinker to not. I'm not ashamed of anything.