#7 Don't Complain About Anything For A Week

Wow. I knew this one would be hard, but I had no idea. Don't get me wrong, I am not a complainer. I like to look at the bright side of things and stay positive...most of the time. But you don't realize what you complain about until you actually think about it and try to stop doing it. From the smallest complaints:

• Why isn't this light changing?
• The line here is so long!
• Gosh my feet hurt, why did I buy these shoes?

Yes. These are complaints. Don't usually think about it do you? We usually are aware of the bigger ones, but it's these smaller ones that we overlook. 

Well, I dedicated a week to no complaints, and I'll be honest, I had to start over quite a bit. Case in point: I started this goal Thanksgiving week. When did I finish? It took me a mere month later to complete one full week, but I am proud to say that I finished it before the new year. As hard as it was to realize that I was complaining over the little things, it sure did feel good to realize that these things were unimportant and not worth complaining about. 

You know what? Life is so much better without them.

#7. Done.

#21 Join a Book Club

I used to be an avid reader...and then life got in the way. Now as part of this challenge, I have decided to get back into the love of reading and join a book club. Why a book club? Because even though I like reading, I am not really sure what books to read. There are so many different genres, authors, etc. You get my drift, so I figure a book club can do the work for me and just tell me what to read.

The problem for me is that I don't have the time to actually GO to book club meetings (I know), so I went in search of trying to find one online. The ones I have found though have terribly inactive blogs or forums and it is hard to find a group that is still vibrant and active. I tried just going online to big sites like Oprah's Book Club, but they just list all of the books on the list and then you are left to find forums on people currently reading those books. Good luck to you.

So by nothing short of a miracle, one of the blogs I read decided to start a book club for the new year. Awesome! If you want to join in the fun, the blog is the Lady Bloggers Society and the January book is Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen. The positive about joining a brand new club is that at least I will get in on the forums while they are active. I hope this pans out for me.

Lastly, I needed a place to get a constant supply of books. The library copies are always so limited, and I love Amazon and my Kindle for Mac, but unless they run super cheap, I don't like buying books. So I found Booksfree.com. It is essentially the Netflix for books. Awesome. Only $10.99/month for 2 books out at a time, and I figure if I read at least 2-3 books a month, I am getting my money's worth. Check it out and join me in the quest to read more books!

#21. Done.

#63 Don't Log into Facebook for One Whole Week

Okay. So I did it. I can't say it was easy at first, but it definitely got easier as the week went on. Cutting out Facebook for me required a little more planning on my part since I have a food blog with a Facebook fan page and I also run a mom's group through Facebook as well. I may have cheated a little because I picked the week between Christmas and New Years where I would be able to take a hiatus and not receive a whole lot of flack from it.

As far as needing to know what everyone else was doing (and what they were having for dinner), that need left into about the second day. Facebook is kind of an obsession for a lot of people...I like to call it the Blackberry of the internet. You can get sucked in without a moments notice. Luckily for me, I do not play any games, so I had no farms to tend to, or restaurants to keep in business and I had just "cut the fat" if you will of my friends list. Kept it to the most important people in my life and the people I really care about.

I will say though that the toughest part was the week that I chose. Since it was the holiday week, I missed out on everyone's holiday activities and now if I truly want to know, then I will have to go profile lurking. BUT, it wasn't as bad (or as hard) as I thought it would be, and if it weren't for the groups and pages that I have on FB, I may not have immediately been back. Ha Facebook, I don't really need you after all.

#63. Done.

December Wrap-up and Forward to January

So begins a new year and challenges for me to complete. I have added some new ones to my list (read the Bible from Genesis to Revelations) and took out some that seemed a little mundane and boring (i.e. finish an entire coloring book?). For a little more fun, I decided to save $10 for every challenge completed (simply transferring it to a savings account), and with that saved money at the end of the challenge, I will buy a new pair of Christian Louboutin's and a designer handbag. Frivolous I know - but if you can't have fun for yourself, who can you have fun for? I added a counter in the sidebar to track my progress.

My December Goals:

• Achieve my goal weight (again!)
• Don't complain about anything for a week
• Try two new cookie recipes this Christmas

Other Goals I Actually Accomplished:

• Don't log into Facebook for one week
• Buy a new pair of eye glasses

What I Have Planned For January:

• Buy something from Etsy
• Write a living will
• Join a book club

Thanks for reading, follow along with me will you?