Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Spring is here : )

And with it, plenty to do.  Which is probably why I haven't posted in a while.  But, I'm happy to update that I've been doing pretty well with this month's challenge, no major slip-ups since the beginning of the month.  I haven't even opened the box of shortbread cookies my mom sent me in the mail (I think she forgot I gave up sweets this month...love ya mom!).  That's okay, it will be my motivation to make it through to the end.

Is anyone else taking on this month's challenge? If so, let us know how you're doing! If you haven't, it's not too late!

Erin

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Just thought I'd take a little study break to update you on how poorly I've been doing with the new March resolution.  Ever since I accidentally had a thin mint at my cousin's house last week, things have kind of gone downhill...sigh.

But today is officially the first day of Lent, which means I really am going to try to do better.  No more thin mints (or any girl scout cookies...did I mention that I LOVE girl scout cookies?) or ice cream, or cinnamon scones. 
Maybe typing it all out will help me stick with it...

Anyways, hope everyone is having a happy March so far :)

Love,
Erin

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

A New Month

Wow, I can't believe how bad I've been about posting this month! I guess things got busy at the end with midterms and all that...but now spring break is here along with a new month.

But first, some parting thoughts on February:

Being without Facebook for 28 days was not easy.
But I can't help but agree with the saying...sometimes ignorance really IS bliss.
It was nice to see my friends and actually get to hear about their lives, without having already seen their latest status update or pictures posted.
It feels good not to be so preoccupied with other people's lives, to just BE in your own present moment.  I know I struggle with that on a daily basis, always thinking about how I can make my life better/more exciting/more organized.  It's good just to be content.
But...
Facebook is good for a lot of reasons too.  Keeping in touch with friends, wishing happy birthdays, organizing events, making new friends.  Like anything else, it's what we make it.


So, goodbye February, hello March!


In true resolution style, this month is going to be all about "guilty pleasures."  A big chunk of March is during the season of Lent, so we thought this would be a good month to focus on giving up our own little vices.

My guilty pleasure? Sweets, without a doubt. (My long-term relationship with ice cream could probably use a little break)
What's yours?

-Erin

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

How I feel without facebook on a given day:

-- peaceful
-- glad
-- out of the loop
-- annoyed
-- tempted
-- proud
--curious
--determined.




Thursday, February 10, 2011

Who knew ten days could feel so long?

It feels like I haven't been on Facebook in decades. I was hoping to get something really worthwhile out of this experience, but after ten days, I'm honestly just feeling kind of detached.  Oh, and the whole reading the newspaper everyday is going really great; I pick up a paper each day and find a new spot on my desk for it to sit for three days before I recycle it. Ugh. Amazing that I had time to check Facebook three times a day, but I can't find ten minutes in my schedule to look at the paper. I feel so lame.

On a lighter note, I did get to see my lovely friend Upma today and she showed me a little sympathy for my withdrawal symptoms.  She recommended reading another blog by a guy who tried a 30-day Facebook fast as well.
Here's some good quotes from him:

"Generally speaking, communicating via Facebook is a shallow experience. You read streams of brief messages from a variety of people, but the messages don’t contain much depth. Most are trivial and mundane. Some are clever or witty. Very little of the information you’ll digest on Facebook is memorable and life-changing. Using Facebook can still give you a feeling of connectedness, but the long-term benefits are negligible."

"You can call it social networking, but it’s not really a social experience if you’re actually alone sitting at a computer. Real socialization is face to face."

"Being active on Facebook had the effect of filling my social bucket. But it was essentially a false fill, like drinking salt water instead of fresh water. Instead of providing a real sense of connection that satisfies, it made me think I was out there being social, but I’d still be 'hungry' afterwards."

At the end of the thirty days, he decided not to go back.  You can read the rest of his thoughts here. (Thanks, Upma!)

As for me, I doubt the transformation will be as impressive, but we'll see.  It can only get easier from here, right?

-Erin

Friday, February 4, 2011

I've successfully made it four days without Facebook!

Okay, so four days isn't that great of an accomplishment I guess...it feels like much longer though. What did we do before Facebook?
 Anyways, I've decided that in place of my daily Facebook visits, I'm going to try to read the newspaper everyday.  There's so much going on in the world that I'm unaware of...four days ago I probably couldn't give you in any accurate details of the struggle erupting in Egypt, but I could tell you what my friends' latest status updates were, or who just changed their relationship status to "single."  Kind of backwards if you ask me.

How is everyone else doing with the February challenge?

-Erin

Monday, January 31, 2011

It's February!!

We've officially made it through the first month :)

As promised, I worked SO hard these past seven days to make them the best of January.  Overall, I think I was pretty successful (Okay, so I may have said something about Nicki Minaj having a rather large backside...besides that, spotless!).  I think it really has showed me how much time I spend (waste) talking about other people.  It definitely wasn't easy though.  Thoughts about January, anyone?

So, it's February. And I've just spent the last hour mercilessly Facebook stalking. Why, you ask? Well, we've decided to go with a little alliteration for this month.  That's right, it's February without Facebook. 

I'm a little afraid that this is going to scare some of our followers away...but I hope that you all will join, even if it's just for a day.  I waste so much time on Facebook. Especially now that I'm in college. So as difficult as these next 28 days may be (see, it's a short month!) I think it will actually be good for me to get some work done. Ideally, anyway.

Is it crazy? Unrealistic? Impossible? Maybe. A challenge? Absolutely. But who doesn't love a good challenge?

36 minutes in....happy February everyone!

-Erin