ME vs ME!

I have declared 2012 as the Year of the Personal Challenge. It’s ME vs ME, and only the strongest will survive! Or get a trophy! Or whatever.

Rather than doing a list of resolutions for the year, I’ve decided instead to focus on making myself better in as many ways as possible. I KNOW. How much better can I get? Not much. But I’m going to try.

Now, I’m not talking running marathons or entering bikini contests (you’re welcome), but just pushing myself to step up my game in as many ways as I can.

I have already mentioned some of my challenges here, but I want to elaborate on my plans. I’ve talked about my weight loss journey already, so we’ve got that. I also mentioned how I’d like to spend LESS and get MORE while shopping for my family. I’m planning to do a weekly round up of what I spent at the grocery store and how far I stretched it. Hopefully I can see my mistakes by spelling it out, and some of you gurus out there can help me get on track.

Another challenge I’ve issued for myself is through the web site Goodreads.com, and that’s to read 100 books in 2012. I have no idea if this is possible, but I’m going to try. I’ve always been an avid reader, and one huge benefit of nursing Simon for the past year has been that I’ve used that down time to read my guts out. After Paul won big on Jeopardy! this year, we both allotted ourselves some fun money to blow on ourselves, and one of my purchases was a Nook, and I basically can’t live without it. The order of importance of things in my house for me are : 1. Family 2. Keurig 3. iPod 4. Nook 5. Food. Seriously, I would choose the Nook over food. Except Nutella. Almost nothing comes before Nutella.

Moving on.

So with the help of my friends and readers, I would love to open a book discussion. I’ve tried to start a book club here locally, but I’m a schmuck and it never works out nobody shows up, so I’m taking it to the internet now. If you look to the right ====> you will see a “badge” with my current reading selection. I hope to review most of the books I read, or at least give you a “Hey, that sucked don’t bother” or a “Ohmygodmylifeisforeverchangedbythisbook!!!” so you can thank me for that.

So that’s the plan. Keep pushing me to better myself in ways that are meaningful, admit when I fail or need help, and brag like hell when I succeed. Like obnoxiously brag. You’ve been warned.

So what are you reading right now? What’s the last book that blew you away? Disappointed you? If you need some new ideas, check out what’s on my shelves!