Welcome to the Tuesday edition of Carol's Corner. We had one beautiful day and now we're back to rain and more rain. And back in another flood watch for the umpteenth time. This is getting monotonous. Could we please have some summer here? Every one seems to love my outfit today. It's definitely one of my casual ones . I am so glad I bought these pants last fall along with another color. I use them quite frequently and make all kinds of different ensembles with them. I liked how I was able to bring all aspects of this together. Under the blouse is one of my Cami Shapers( a mainstay in my wardrobe). I used my blinged out silver belt and sandals to pull out the grey in my shirt. Ok, just learned something new while writing that sentence. Gray and grey are both correct spellings for the color. Gray is more widely used here in America and grey is more widely used in other countries. Always learning something. Back to my ensemble.

This is another set of jewelry that I made, and use it with a number of outfits. I like the combination of the pearls and the sparkle.

The BandCuff is perfect. I suggest that anyone who wears the FitBit invest in some of these babies. It will keep your Flex secure and provide some added color to your bands. I wouldn't be without them.

I've been trying to figure out what I should talk about in this edition, so I think I'm I'm going to talk a little bit about how valuable I feel my FitBit is to me in my journey to health and fitness. Back in September or so, I had never even heard of a FitBit or even an exercise tracker. I can't even remember how I first learned about it. I do remember asking my oldest daughter if she had ever heard of one and she said yes that her husband had one. I knew after learning a little about them that somehow I had to have one. So I hinted that I would like to get one as a Christmas present and she sort of hinted to me not to worry. They always come here on Thanksgiving where we have a huge spread at my son's house and she always distributes Christmas gifts to everyone then, so we always have our first taste of Christmas on Thanksgiving. Sure enough I got my hearts desire for this past Christmas. She had gotten her brother's and sister's families to go together with her to get me my FitBit. It's been me and my FitBit ever since. My Flex doesn't leave my wrist except for charging and to change the band. And since I am all about the accessories, I started googling to see how I could make my FitBit into a real fashion accessory. A black band for every day just wasn't going to cut it. I was able to find all kinds of choices on Amazon and EBay. Most shipped from China but were very reasonably priced, so over time I built up quite a collection. Then I came across a website called FUNKtional Wearables. I could go crazy there. They take Jewelry pieces and make them into pieces that can house your exercise tracker. I was lucky enough to get two pieces so far as gifts.

I received this beauty from hubby.

And this one from my daughter Jennifer. Now I just need a gold tone one. Check out their website. It's amazing.

So that's the fashion end of it, now onto the meat of it's importance in my journey. I never knew just how much I would enjoy this little gadget or just how much it would inspire me. I am normally a competitive person and have been one my entire life, and I think that is a good thing in my mind. I am totally against this stupid notion that everyone should be the same. That is just nonsense. Competition encourages excellence and that is what we all should strive for. And it is not just being competitive with others but also with myself. Every day my tracker makes me aware of how active or non active I am being. It pushes me to do more, to strive for more than I might have planned on. And when I am in a challenge, I am always in it to win it. I don't always win , but a good percentage of the time I do. To me there are no downsides to using an exercise tracker. It's a way to hold yourself accountable. My daily goal is 10,000 steps but on an average day I am way beyond that and strive for as many as I can. Having my FitBit has made me up my workouts on a daily basis, except for sickness or circumstances that make it impossible to workout. On my recent vacation I packed some of my workouts and my mom's laptop. When we stayed at Ft Belvoir we had a TV and DVD player. While there I worked out every day. When we were at our friends that we visited in West Va. I used my mom's laptop. We were downstairs and one room had a table that I put the laptop on and every night I worked out. And at my daughter's in Pa. I worked out every night in their living room . I never missed one single day and always was above 10,000 steps. There is no better motivator in my mind, because you always know where you stand and what you need to do every single day, to meet your goals. If you don't own an exercise tracker already, I urge you to get one. There are many types and many brands with all kinds of price ranges. I love mine and wouldn't trade it for anything. If you want a way to motivate you to move , this is the way to do it, I guarantee it. Exercise is the key for me to keep my health issues at bay and the Fitbit keeps me motivated and accountable to myself every single day. So whatever you need to do to get moving and keep moving do it, but as for me, my FitBit and I are attached at the wrist!!! Till next time God Bless.

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