Well I’ve finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, all 644 pages
of it. Now moving on to The Girl Who Played with Fire, all 724 pages of it… The first few chapters are really good and it
helps that the movie hasn’t come out yet.
My mistake with the first book was that I saw the movie first. While I thought the movie was good, after
reading the book I realized the book was MUCH better and the movie left out a
lot. I think that’s how it always goes
though… I have yet to find an instance where the movie was better than the
book. If any of you have, let me know
cause I’d love to read it and then see it!
Can you believe that it is almost the end of
June?!?! Quite sad I know; my summer is
going by so quickly and there is so much I still want to do but I seem to be
running out of time! As I mentioned last
post, Ed and I have taken up rollerblading!
Since I’ve had mine since high school, you can imagine how beat up they
are. Our last trek out, I realized that
I am in need of a new pair since I can’t even coast down a hill because my
wheels are so torn up. SO after a lot of
research and of course, waiting for coupons, I sucked it up and bought these
beauties! I am SO excited for them to
come! They got terrific reviews and will
definitely last!
As many of you know, a big part of my summer has
been devoted to losing the weight that I gained from my medications as well as
lack of time/motivation/energy that school takes from me. When classes finished for the semester, I was thrilled to be able to have my days
consist of eight hours of work and then nothing else – no homework, no class –
just being able to come home and do what ever I want. For those of you who have been where I am (or
are currently) in the never ending battle to lose weight, I wanted to share a
cool little tool that has been helping me.
Meet the newest addition to my weight loss
team – the Biggest Loser Slimcoach! It
may just be the best invention ever! I first
came across it on the show The Biggest Loser but didn’t realize it was
available for purchase until I saw it in the store one day while shopping
around Christmastime. Given that it was
so expensive, I didn’t purchase it. Instead,
I purchased a pedometer to keep me on track to my goal of 10,000 steps a
day. However, it wasn’t a great indicator
of the actual steps I was taking and kept falling off. Eventually I lost it and it ended up being a
waste of $15 but thankfully, it was only $15.
Ed saw this and instead surprised me with the Slimcoach. (I am so spoiled and will be the first to
admit it). Basically, it’s a pedometer
on steroids is how I best describe it.
You wear it on your waist and it tracks your steps, heart rate,
calories, steps and miles. After you
activate your device, you enter in all of your biometric information and your
goals. Based on the information, it sets
up a program for you. Each day you plug
it in to your computer and it updates the information and tracks your progress
on the dashboard. At the end of each
day, you want the circle indicates you have reached your goals for the
day. As part of your program, it sets
the amount of calories for you to consume (based on your goals) and sets a diet
plan for you as well. There is also an
online community that you can join so that you can talk with other people who
are also using the program! 
It’s only my first week but I’m completely sold
on it! The thing that I like best about
it is that it keeps me on track and holds me accountable. If I see that I’m not all green, it pushes me
that much harder at the gym or in what ever activity I’m doing. I also love reaching my goals for the day or
week – it’s a great sense of accomplishment.
So far I’ve managed to get green everyday and I hope to continue to keep
it that way by pushing myself harder.
The other important thing is that it isn’t some fad concept, in that, it
is something that can help you achieve a healthier, active lifestyle that is
more manageable and you will be more likely to stick with. I’m confident it will assist me in my quest
to drop my “prednisone pounds.” I’ll make sure to keep you posted, of course,
on how I’m progressing.
In other news, I think I’ve gotten all my
immunizations and appointments taken care of for the start of clinicals in
September. Let me tell you though, what
a pain in the you know what! The shots still
aren’t pleasant (especially when you have to get one in each arm on the same
day) and the tetanus still continues to be the worst shot EVER! I was a little nervous about getting my MMR
shot since we just got my levels back up to my normal range, but my doctor told
me to just monitor my temperature and note any strange symptoms. If anything, I have another check-up with my rheumy
in August so if something does come up, we will catch it rather quickly. I am continuing to feel great, which is a
relief since I’ve been off the prednisone.
I still need to take a nap most days but I am definitely taking
advantage of the extra energy and motivation!
I am happy that we are starting to get some
relief from the heat! The weather is
going to be absolutely gorgeous the next few days! Since I will be outside a majority of the time,
I’m happy that it won’t be so hot! I’m
thinking some pool time is in definite order!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and as always, thanks for
reading.
Till next time…
