Recap, y'all!

My coworkers claim I've been losing my inhibitions at work (after seven months???) and dropping the word "y'all" a lot more. I say they're full of it. I've never hidden my predilection for the contraction.

This time last year, I started the Give Up/Take On Project. It's been semi-successful. (Hey, a year's a long time!) No matter how good or bad it's been, it has been fun to choose something each month. Here's a quick recap:

October 2010: television (yep) & Bikram yoga (heck no)
November 2010: meat (yes) & couponing (sigh, no)
December 2010: complaining (pretty much) & barefoot running (ran a 10k in Guatemala!)
January 2011: slouching (well, now I have a desk job, so guess I should get back to this one) & making the bed everyday (I hear a made bed attracts bed bugs anyway)
February 2011: elimination diet (a lot of "give ups," and it worked, until I got my new job and just had to celebrate with food) & 30 for 30 (so well that I did it again!)
March 2011: Did I skip this one? I'm not sure. But I do know that March of this year brought new challenges with my new job.
April 2011: partial no-poo (worked and still doin' it) & bootcamp (ugh. I don't want to talk about it.)
May 2011: soda (check) & recipe learnin' (eh, not really. I guess I like it chaotic.)
June 2011: clothes shopping (I believe so) & exercising everyday (naw)
July 2011: sleeping in (kinda sorta) & reading (though I didn't finish a book in July, I have completed several since.)
August 2011: giving up (success!) & playing the accordion (yes. And more importantly, it motivated me to pick up my guitar again.)
September 2011: nothing. It just didn't happen.

You know what I see when I go back over that list? Not a lot of failures, but a lot of experiences. Whether I continued towards my goal each month or flaked out, it was still fun.

And starting this month, I'm going to switch it up. No more of the Give Up/Take On Project. I'm moving on, ladies and gents! I'll fill you in later this week.

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.

Blue Wall & June's Give Up/Take On

Yes, that title is about as creative as I feel right now. I've stuffed myself full of food today (much of it deep fried), and I think it's slowed my brain function down.

Yesterday, my friend and I went to IKEA and Target. She had her roommate's car to borrow, so we decided to go on a little shopping adventure.

You don't understand.

This is really exciting for me.

I wanted to buy everything in sight at IKEA, but I settled on a salad bowl, salad spinner, picture frame, and some lovely napkins. (Whoa, big spender!) At Target I scored some pretty sweet shoes, which will make an appearance later this week.

 Gap top (I got it on clearance) and flats, Old Navy jeggings, earrings and jacket, Banana Republic bag

And now for Give Up/Take on.

For May, I found giving up soda a little too easy. Which I guess is a good thing. When it came to picking some standard recipes, I didn't do so well. I did manage to make one enchilada recipe (this one) twice, once for a work party and once for some girlfriends (last night), and I think I could manage it without a recipe now. I guess little by little I'll find recipes that I want to repeat, but I don't have to force it in one month.

As for June, I'm going to make it a little more difficult for myself.

Give Up: Clothes shopping. After reading some of this blog--the blog of a woman giving up shopping for a whole year--I figured I can give up shopping for 30 days.* Plus, I need to chill out on the shopping anyway. I can use the moolah I save for a special surprise I'm cooking up.

Take On: Exercising every day. I was going to challenge myself to run every day, but I think my knees will need a break. I've had a hard time being motivated lately. In fact, I've gained a few pounds. I know that probably doesn't seem like much, but when you've stayed the same weight for five years or so, it makes a difference. So I'm challenging myself to exercise each and every day, whether that's running, strength training, group classes, or yoga. Starting tomorrow. Here we go.


* I reserve the right to buy a Giants t-shirt or something orange to wear to the Giants game with my company.