I did it! I did my first 30 Day Instagram challenge. I’m dipping my toe back into social media. I’m on Facebook A LOT with my clients so to even think about managing a Facebook profile of my own makes me want to take a nap. I’m not 100% certain I’ll remain Facebook-free but I have been playing around on Instagram (yes, I know Facebook owns Instagram. Moving on…) and thought I’d participate in a little challenge for myself. I found I love getting a peek into my friends’ points-of-view. I actually like some of the marketing materials from brands I follow (gasp!) and I was generally inspired by the platform: snap a pic, load, adjust, hashtag your way out, post.

I decided to do continuous 30-day challenges for all of 2016. Whaaaat? I know. I’m excited. I have each 30 days all planned out because I’m a serious sucker for a to-do list. Give me a list, baby, and it is SO OVER. I won’t share all my juicy little challenges except for a few: I have plans for 30 Days of Food, 30 Days of Fitness, 30 Days of Giving, etc. Come follow along on my Instagram account here: @clairedeberg to see all 30 #red days AND keep up with my current challenge: #30daysoffashion

Until then, enjoy some of the top grams from my #30daysofred challenge:

Here is a #TBT (which stands for “Throw Back Thursday” where you post images from the past). This is Harold when he is a teeny tiny one sitting on our #red leather shag area rug. I mean…

Here is our big #red YMCA that Harold and I visit every. single. day. of the week. I pick Harold up in the afternoon and then we head to the Y where he plays with his Y buds and I workout and then work at my computer. The people there are wonderful. Clark. Nathaniel. Jonathan. Tiara. Isabel. Becky. Love.

Darren got #red socks for Christmas and he tucked them into his new obsession which are Oofos. Have you heard of these? He’s a maniac about them. He got flip flops in the summer and now these. There’s nothing left for me to do but accept it. Oofos are here to stay.

And here we have one of my favorite posts. This is #red felt chord woven around the strings of my piano as it was getting tuned. Jim Sexton came to tune my piano which was LONG OVERDUE (I’m yelling that at my past self which allowed my sweet piano to get crazy out of tune). Now I can play my Chopin preludes and Bach Inventions and they actually sound lovely again and to-date no one’s ears have bled when I practice. 

What can I say about this picture? Let’s see: this is my favorite #red coat from Woolrich. Dare I say it is a vintage? It is was my mom’s coat. I have memories of her in this coat–walking out in the cold to bring kitchen scraps to the chickens or picking me up at school or shopping the aisles at Soderquist’s Market. Here I’m visiting my friends, Annie & Marin and Rosco. He and I were matchymatchy that day, so naturally…photo op.

Velvet got in on it, too, with her new #red collar she got for Christmas. Turns out she looks really good in red. In this picture we imagine her contemplating like this, “Where has all the grass gone? What is this land of white? Why does the small one with crazy hair want to ride me like a horse? Why haven’t they combed my beard–I look downright unladylike with my beard gone awry.”

And finally my loooooong-legged teenager with her #red fuzzy slippers from her Grandma. Biker shorts, slippers, glasses, fuzzy robe, black nail polish, bowl of ice cream. Teenage life is nice.

What’s the big revelation? What’s the big takeaway? Go out and create some challenges. Make some goals and meet them. Make them FUN. I certainly had fun and I had friends in on it with me (like the main pic above which features aforementioned small one with crazy hair and my dear friend, John Lynden snapped at John’s birthday party). I started paying a different kind of attention to my travels and my day on my hunt for all things #red.