Tempting Tuesday: Going Without and Giving Back

I found this pic by Googling random acts of kindness. It's too cute not to share.

Last Friday, the wonderful Amber West posted a challenge on her blog, A Day Without Sushi. What can you give up for the next few weeks in effort to donate to charity? The idea is giving up a daily pleasure in order to help those in need without breaking our budgets. Post about what you're giving up and which charity you're donating to.

Amber took the time to put together the following list of charities that take text donations, but if you'd rather donate to a different group, no problem.

CHARITIES THAT ACCEPT TEXT DONATIONS:

Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital:
Text KIDS to 27722 to give $10

Susan G. Komen – Breast Cancer:
Text KOMEN to 90999 to give $10

Elisabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation:

Text HIVFREE to 90999 to donate $5

The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children:
Text NYSPCC to 50555 to donate $10

Make sure you link your blog here as well. And if you don't have a blog but still want to donate, post a picture of whatever you're giving up on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #gowithout.

This week, I'm giving up something vital to my existence: my afternoon enormous Diet Mt. Dew and Special K protein bar. I need to cut back on the pop, and I'm spending about $3 a day on the two. By cutting them out, I can easily donate $10 or more to the American Diabetes Association.

What can you give up? I chose the ADA because my mother suffers from the disease. What charities are near and dear to your heart?

#Row80 Update 7-24-11

Happy Sunday, everyone! This has been a pretty good week. I finished my run-through of Light and Dark and was really happy to see the last third of the book was much stronger than I thought. As I said on Twitter, it doesn't suck. Yay!

All the chapters are ready to go to the critique partner, and I'm about halfway done with her changes. I'm in good shape to have the first full edit done by September.

As for The Prophet, I took more notes and started character worksheets. Have to say, I'm really excited about this book, especially the villan. As dark as Light and Dark's bad guy is, The Prophet will trump him. He's even more twisted and disturbed.

I've also been doing well with my blog posts. Exceeded my goal of at least three this week and gained several new followers. The SheWrites Blog Hop has been a lot of fun and a great way to meet new bloggers.

I want to give some shoutouts to my blogger friends this week. Huge thanks to Tiffany White at Tiffany White's Ooo Factor. She gave me some great linkage in her Friday post, and I can't thank her enough. If you haven't been to her blog, check it out. Tele-Tuesday and What to Watch Wednesday are two of my favorites.

If you're still deciding on Google+, check out Amber West's A Day Without Sushi. Her post on Google+ is full of great information.

One of my favorite posts this week was from Jenny Hansen at More Cowbell. Remember to appreciate the little things in life and not get caught up in the stress of the writing world.

Last but not least, drop by my good friend Catie Rhodes blog, Full-Tilt Backwards Boogie. Her freaky Friday posts are always full of shivers and chills.

How did you guys do with your #Row80 goals this week? What were some of your favorite blog posts?