Play it.

I looked into accordion lessons, but they're a tad expensive. And since I'm only ever planning on being a hobbyist accordion player, I think I'll just rely on YouTube videos (like this one) and my own ear.

 Banana Republic top (hooray for 30% off of sale items!), gifted jeans, Madden boots, F21 earrings

OK, I know I really run the risk of embarrassing myself here, but I'm going to take that chance. Last night I took some time to learn a few bass notes and chords on the accordion and sat down with my trusty beginners' book. Here's the result of my 30-minute accordion (self) lesson (feel free to laugh):

Give Up Giving Up

That's right. I'm not giving up nothin' this month (don't please excuse the double negative). Why? 'Cause it's my thing and I can do what I want. That's pretty much the only reason. I figure I shouldn't just arbitrarily give something up just for the sake of it, so I'm skipping it all together. Oh, sure, there are constantly things I'm trying to reform in my life (hello, pile of clothes on the floor), but those are on-going, and possibly always will be. So I don't feel so bad about skipping one half of this month's challenge.

As for the accordion playing, I pulled that big box of an instrument out this weekend and was relieved to find that I could (relatively) easily play the melody lines of every song out of my accordion book with ease. That's 'cause I learned to play the piano as a little tyke. 

I gotta say, whenever the hubs and I have little tykes of our own, I'm going to put them in piano lessons, at least until they have the basics, then they can do what they want. Having piano knowledge as a base for all of my musical endeavors has been invaluable to me, and I know it's been the same for my brother, too. (He took lessons as well, though was less-than-thrilled about it at the time. Now? He has a degree in sound design and is a pretty amazing musician and composes some beautiful stuff. Eventually maybe he'll let me share some of it on here.)

I'd say it's paid off for both of us rather well.

Gap blouse, Seven for All Mankind jeans, Banana Republic shoes, F21 bangles, belt & earrings 

So, the right hand won't be too hard to get used to on the accordion. But the left hand is another story. There are about a bazillion buttons (bass keys and chords) on the left side of the instrument. Although I can locate "C" because of the little divot in the button, the rest are rather difficult to figure out.

The good news? There was an accordion player at our church on Sunday (yeah, our music is pretty awesome) and I approached him about lessons. He doesn't give regular lessons, but he said he could do a session or two. I figure I just need someone to get me started, because this one might prove a bit difficult to maneuver on my own.

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.