52 Things to do while your waiting to hear back from your insurance company.

1. Read a book. Currently reading 3 books, "Bandwagon", "My Booky Wook 2" and "Clive Barker: Books of Blood"
2. Finish "Bandwagon"
3. Keep practicing band food techniques/rules (chewing thoroughly, small bites, no water 1 hr before/after, etc.)
4. Compile coupons for band foods/items (soups, gas x, etc) Did this a couple weeks ago, but will be collecting more beforehand.
5. Go over your MANY reasons (pros) of why your having this surgery, again.Always, can't wait! Super excited, nervous, anxious, etc!
6. Continue reading band blogs and lapbandtalk.comEveryday.
7. Watch fall tv showsAll the goodies, including new ones (New Girl, 2 Broke girls, Ridiculousness, Death Valley) and all my old faves (Parks and Rec, Criminal Minds, Jersey Shore, Dance Moms, etc)
8. Watch movies
9. Continue to have multiple dreams (that you remember) every night, weird ones.Super weird ones, pretty much every morning (during my morning pee) I remember them, but then I forget when I wake up again.
10. Daydream about your future (a healthier, skinnier version).Ever since I can remember.
11. Continue going to the gym 4-6 days a week.
12. Paint nails, again and again.
13. Play with Bella (chinchilla)All the time, I love her!
14. Have lots of pre-band sex
15. Try various protein supplements/barsI'm eating Atkins right now (mainly because they only have 1g of sugar, but wow, they def. aren't as good as my luna bars. :(
16. Arrange post-op helpThis has been arranged for quite a while, my mom and my awesome bf with be splitting their time with me :)
17. Make a list of everything you will miss about being fat (should be pretty short)I will not miss a damn thing!
18. Read magazinesAlways reading something (I read Cosmo, Glamour, Teen Vogue, Marie Claire, Rolling Stone, People, US Weekly, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Fitness, etc)
19. Think of comebacks/answers for when people ask me "how are you doing it?"
20. Buy somethingWe were just in Philly, so we bought quite a lot and I just got new shoes and bought groceries of course
21. Do nothingOne of my fave past times
22. Pack your hospital bag
23. Continue being positive Everyday goal. :)
24. Think about new recipes
25. Buy a food scale
26. Make a list about everything you will LOVE about losing weight Everything! Good and bad.
27. Go dancing!
28. Hang your post-op "I will fit into this" shirt out
29. Spend time with family and friends
30. Cuddle
31. Read another book
32. Compose a list of last minute surgery/post op questionsI only have 2 right now, but I think I feel pretty confident in everything else
33. Go to workEveryday M-F
34. Continue to try and eat more fruits/veggies
35. Play with iPhoneEveryday
36. Check weather, multiple timesEveryday
37. Go to PA Ren Faire
38. Teach myself some chords on acoustic guitar
39. Visit a dear friend and her adorable kids
40. Stretch more
41. Print more coupons
42. WorkAgain, everyday.
43. Reflect on life
44. Take a bubble bath, or two
45. Buy a bento box
46. Drink waterAgain, all day, every day.
47. SleepEvery night
48. Nap. Occassionally.
49. Hear back from insurance
50. Go to final nutritionist appointment about post op info
51. Work on a list/informational directory of a food nutritional label for myself and bf.
52. Schedule and have surgery!


Woo! It's only been about 9 days since they submitted it, luckily I'm probably about half way through this list. :)

Survey

A
- Age: 26
- Annoyance: Myself mostly, and rude people
- Animal: ALL of them. :) But mostly my 2 year old chinchilla Bella
- Actor: Johnny Depp

B
- Beer: Eh, Woodchuck Amber
- Birthday/Birthplace: Dec 18th, 1984 and Harrisburg, PA
- Body Part on opposite sex: Eyes, butt, hands 
- Been in Love: Yes
- Been bitched at: Yup and I do it right back
- Believe in yourself?: I try to, but it's really hard some days.
- Believe in God: No.
- Before weight: Still there, 276

C
- Car: I have a 98 VW Beetle, but I would like a Kia Soul, Kia Sportage or Mercury Milan
- Candy: is good, but evil.
- Color: Purple
- Cried in school: Yup
- Chocolate/Vanilla: Chocolate
- Chinese/Mexican: Chinese!!
- Cake or pie: Cake
- Country to visit: Back to Italy of course. And I would like to go to England, Germany, Poland, The Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Greece, Croatia, the list goes on and on.

D
- Day or Night: Night
- Danced: LOVE it! 
- Do the splits?: No thanks
- Eggs: Dippy :)
- Eyes: Mine are hazel

F
- First crush: Some kid in like 3rd grade
- First thoughts waking up: I don't wanna!
- Food: Chicken caesar salads, fish (all kinds), sushi, broccoli, cauliflower, ect.

G
- Greatest Fear: Failing the band
- Goals: Tons, but weight wise: to be happy with myself, be healthy and I see that being around 160
- Get along with your parents?: Yup
- Good luck charm: Life

H
- Hair Colour: Brown
- Height: 5'5
- Happy: For the most part, yes
- Holiday: All of them
- Health freak?: Trying to be
- Hate: I try not to hate, but I do dislike liars, cheaters, rude people, dis respectfulness and of course, my weight 


I
- Ice Cream: is a HUGE weakness of mine
- Instrument: I want to teach myself acoustic guitar

J
- Jewelry: love jewelry
- Job: Currently: secretary II at an insurance company

K
- Kids: None right now, but I would like 1 or 2
- Kickboxing or karate: I haven't tried either, but kickboxing sounds fun
- Keep a journal? Yup

L
- Longest Car Ride: Probably just PA to Ocean City, MD
- Love: is awesome
- Laughed so hard you cried: Yes
- Love at first sight: No

M
- Milk flavour: fat free
- Movie: I love so many movies, mainly comedies and horror
- Mooned anyone?: Yup
- Marriage: Hopefully soon
- Motion sickness? Yes :(
- McD’s or BK: Burger King icee's or McD's iced coffee

N
- Number of Siblings: 1 brother and 2 step sis'
- Number of Piercings: 3, used to be 4 last week. First holes in ears, right cartilage and right nostril, had my left side monroe, but it closed up last week
- Number: 10

O
- One wish: Just to love myself completely

P
- Place you’d like to live: Italy
- Perfect Pizza: Cheese with banana peppers, yummy!
- Pepsi/Coke: Pepsi

Q
- Questionaires: Eh

R
- Reason to cry: None right now, maybe just out of my own selfish frustrations
- Reality T.V.: LOVE it: teen mom, jersey shore, kardashians, ect
- Roll your tongue in a circle? Not sure

S
- Song: WAY too many to list, mostly trance/dance/techno, pop, rock, alternative
- Shoe size: 10
- Salad Dressing: Balsamic, light italian, bleu cheese (i know!), ceasar
- Skipped school: Not really, i might have lied a few times and said I was sick when I wasn't, hehe
- Smoking: Never and no way
- Sing well?: Probably not
- Strawberries/Blueberries: Both

T
- Time for bed: Depends, week nights: 11 usually and weekends: whenever
- Thunderstorms: love them! but can be scary
- TV: love it

U
- Unpredictable: life

V
- Vegetable you hate: mushrooms
- Vegetable you love: broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts
- Vacation spot: italy, beach, ect.

W
- Weakness: ice cream, trance music, candy
- When you grow up: I guess I am already
- Which one of your friends acts the most like you: Probably Mandy
- Wanted to be a model?: Never

X
-X-Rays: a few

Y
-Year it is now: 2011
-Yellow: color

Z
- Zoo: DC or Philly, only ones I've been too
- Zodiac sign: Sagittarius

BYOC. A little late.

1. If you were a character on Friends, who would you be and why? 

I never truly got into Friends, so I have no idea. 
2. If you weren't in your current career what other career do you think you would have done?
Well, I don't really consider where I'm currently at, a career. I would still love to be a reporter for a local paper or magazine or even work in the same company where I am, but in communications.
3. What did you want to be when you grew up when you were 6?
Probably a vet or ballerina.
4. Do you think everyone only has one soulmate or true love? Or are there multiple people for everyone?
No. I think we probably have multiple people for us out there.
5. Repeat question. Summarize your week in real life and in blog land.

Real life: Still holding around 276, which sucks, but it is what it is. Working on finishing up "Bandwagon", about 50 pages or so left. Only worked 3 days last week, which is always nice. Our department was taken out for lunch at Bricco last Wednesday, yummy!


Blog life: Still going pretty strong, haven't really had a chance to comment too much, but I do read everyone's updates. :)

Quick update.

I received an e-mail today from Highmark, in response to my question about my lap band pre-determination. They def. got it last week and it can take up to 30 days, I'm praying it takes less, yay!

World Keeps Turning

It sure does.

Got back from our trip to Philly yesterday. It was fun. We did the zoo, Mutter Museum, Phillies game, Penn's Landing, ect. ect. Our hotel room (The Latham Hotel) was very nice, HUGE king bed, nice bay window, nice modern bathroom; it's still under construction, as they update it to be more accommodating (gym, restaurant, ect). And we had pretty perfect weather.

I have to say I did rather well with eating and not going overboard. I didn't snack, I tried to get fish/salads as much as I could and nothing fried. I didn't get as much water as I normally do and I could definitely tell, especially when we walked for about 6 hours on Sunday. Legs are still sore!

I think I actually lost a lb or two, which is good, since I was up about that much last week. I'm already freaking out about my pre-authorization for the surgery. They said they would submit it last week, but I can't find anything on Highmark's site and I haven't had the chance to call them yet, so I e-mailed customer service, so we'll see. I don't know if I can wait til October, it's gonna kill my nerves, but I also don't like wishing time away, life's too damn short.

Not much else going on, back to work tomorrow, booo! Really not looking forward to it, but it's one day closer to another weekend, yay!

Ciao!

Philly

My nails for the game Sunday. :)

Cramps.

Obviously, I loathe being fat and unhealthy. But being those right along with having your monthly friend do not mix well. :/

Just had to get that out, feeling like I have an extra 20 lbs. on top of all the other extra weight sucks. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow, as we leave for Philly in the evening.

BYOC

Figure I would give this a try...


BYOC – Bring Your Own Crazy. We answer 5 questions in an effort to get to know each other better and to give our blog brains a break. Copy to your own blog and ENJOY!

1. Do you drink coffee? Decaf or regular? Cold or hot? If not – what’s your go-to morning drink?

Rarely, if ever. I really have had caffeine in general since age 12/13. I had some issues that we could not (no matter how many tests I had done) could figure out why I was having chest pains and palpitations. So, every now and then I try and have an iced mocha or a Barq's root beer (LOVE root beer) and I don't seem to have any issues, except once maybe. Weird.

My go to morning drink: water with ice at work or just water on the weekend.
2. What are your top six characteristics in a partner if you could hand pick them. And just for kicks – if you’re in a relationship – after you make the list of six – does the person you are with possess all five?

Silly, great sense of humorRomantic
PositiveAbility to show emotions
Trustworthy and loyalWillingness

I def. think Brian has these qualities. He's so silly (did not know this at first) and I love it, always seems to happen at the moments I need a laugh the most. He can be romantic at times. He def. has the ability to show emotions (not the typical hard headed, macho man). Trustworthy/loyalty is a hard one for me, but he has it, it's just something within me that I am constantly working on. And willingness, is just the willingness to keep trying in life, willingness to fight for what you believe in, ect.
3. I’m going to pick a person – not knowing if this person even exists in your life – and you try to describe this person in 5 short words or sentences:

Maternal grandfatherLoved his grandchildren (ie - me)
Was reserved and observing
Just recently passed (June)Was a military man and involved in multiple warsHad 4 children (2 girls (one my mom) and 2 boys)
4. What’s your signature item? Color? Piece of clothing or jewelry? Accessory? You know – that one thing people know you will ALWAYS have on?

Hmmm, well, I always wear 2 rings (as of now), my claddagh ring (green stone) and a turquoise/silver ring of my late grandmothers. I don't know how signature that is. Colorwise, all chubby/overweight/self-conscious people now black is your friend, so I would say that has been my color, but I have slowly been breaking out of that. I love purple, pink, blues, green, red, ect. And my glasses.

5. Repeat question: Summarize your week in real life and in blog life.

Real life: Work Mon-Thurs 730-4, had my last nutritionist appointment today, getting a manicure/nail at tmrw evening, leaving for Philly on Thursday evening until Monday evening. :) 


Blog life: Just got back into the swing of things and trying to hold myself accountable, esp. since they are submitting to insurance and things are becoming set in stone for surgery, it's becoming more real, not that it wasn't, just CLOSE, I've waited since 2008 to have this surgery, researched (and still researching) till my eyes fall out or my poor brain can't hold any more information. I'm getting to the end of the "Bandwagon" book by Jean McMillian and so far, so good. I def. recommend it for anyone who has had the surgery or is getting the surgery in the future. My journey truly started on lapbandtalk.com, I stalked it forever and finally joined and posted some intro stuff. And so my journey continues....

Update.

Last nutritionist appointment today = success, minus the almost 2 lb. gain. She advised they will submit to insurance today or tomorrow and will know in about a month. Yay! It's crunch time and the weighting game. :P

This weekend is our trip to Philly from Thursday to Monday. Can't wait! Zoo, mutter museum, food, lots of walking, sightseeing and resting. Sunday is Brian's 28th birthday and we're going to the Phillies game that evening (watch for us on ESPN @ 8). Packing is the worst part, always afraid I will forget something. And then leaving our chinchilla Bella at home alone for about 4 days. :/

Zumba rocked tonight, I really pushed myself, chest was tight, sweat everywhere!

Tomorrow I'm getting a manicure and some Phillies nail art for the game. Then planning on hitting Zumba from 8-9.

Ciao!

Almost there

I have my 6th and final nutritionist appointment today. I'm nervous, excited and overwhelmed. Now, we play the waiting game.

Last nights support group was great. My surgeon, Dr. Matthew Davidson was the speaker and I was so tuned into him; he spoke of attitude and positivity. I loved every minute of it. And then I met some great ladies who have had the surgery already and it was nice to talk face to face with others going through the same things in life.