August's Give Up/Take On (and Reviewing July)

I thought you deserved to see this:

That's my mom. And what my mom's face looks like when I surprise her with a visit from San Francisco. Read all about it here. It was a nice visit, though a bit short. Hopefully next time my parents can fly to SF and we can show them around. They've visited once before, but it's been about two years.

And now I bet you're wondering how July's Give Up/Take On went, right? The "Give Up" part went fairly well. I've spent several mornings running and others just doing things around the house. So I'd say that's a moderate success.

But the "Take On" is another story. I kind of just forgot what my Take On was supposed to be. Granted, I have continued reading (I'm about 1/4 of the way through "The Neverending Story" and nearly 1/2 of the way through the first book in "The Hunger Games" series), but I haven't finished an entire book yet. Can I be excused because I'm also reading a third book for a book club? Yeah, this is pretty typical of me: starting books and taking a long time to finish them.

And now it's August already. Want to know what the plan is for this month? Let's take a look.

Give Up: Ugh. I have a couple of things in mind, but I'm feeling kind of lost, and I don't just want to go with anything. So I'm open to suggestions from you. Hopefully this weekend I'll make a final decision. So, go ahead. Comment. Tell me what I should give up for August (well, the rest of August anyway).

Take On: This:

Yes. That's an accordion. An old one. And it still works. My grandmother gave it to me since she doesn't play it anymore, and I finally brought it back to SF with me. So I'm hoping--with the guidance of my "My First Accordion Book"--to have a ditty or two figured out by the end of the month. I'm excited. And a bit intimidated. There are a lot of buttons on that accordion.