New

Well, I can add another accomplishment to my name. This past week, my car decided to have one more system failure (the airbag system) and the garage told me it would most likely be astronomical to repair. I had it! So, yesterday, despite the rain, a good friend and myself journeyed 2 hours away and I traded in my car on a 2008 smart car. It's one I've wanted forever and I did it. It's mine. No one else had to be a co-signer. No one else's name is on the registration. It's just mine. On the car I traded in, the wasband was originally a co-signer (I refinanced and it was in just my name) and he was still an "or" on the registration (thankfully he was listed as an "or" and I didn't need to contact him in order to sell it in). I am excited about my purchase and am proud of myself for doing what I needed to do.

A good friend of mine went with me and he was a great help in the entire process. Any other time I have gone to look at a car it was with the wasband and he just took everything for what we were told - he didn't negotiate at all and was just okay with whatever they told us. My friend helped me through the subtle art of negotiation and getting what you want when it comes to buying a car. I learned a lot in going through the process and I got the car I wanted out of it! =)

One thing I will say about my new car is I seriously hope that I don't have near as many issues with it as I did with my other car. Granted, I don't know much about cars but the little I do know is they have a lot of moving parts that can potentially break and cause problems. I'm just hoping that because it's a newer car than the one I had that it'll be in better shape. I guess only time will tell.

Okay, okay. Enough about my car.... If any of you are wondering about the challenge that I issued you as well as myself, I didn't do so well with complimenting myself... I hope you, dear readers, did a better job than I did. I tried and I did better with it towards the end of the week when a good friend of mine asked me to text her daily with my self-compliment and she helped to hold me accountable. Why do I find it so difficult to find something good to tell myself each day? I don't find it difficult to compliment family/friends so why is it so difficult when it's directed to the person I see in the mirror?

I think part of the challenge, at least for myself, is to look past the initial "flaws" I see when I look in the mirror and attempt to turn them into positives. Turn the "flaws" into the things that make me unique. Maybe that will be my challenge to you and to myself this week - - find one thing about yourself that you see as a "flaw" and turn it into something that makes you a unique individual! We'll see how we do come next week...

{Something I forgot to write!! Last weekend my troupe got to perform at one of the largest belly dance festival on the main stage! We got a lot of compliments from our performance overall. I also had one of the belly dancing "legends" approach me afterwards and tell me that they couldn't keep their eyes off of me during our performance - that I just emoted joy and passion! Yay!!}