So I'm back ... I hope. I had a looooooovely summer and a long post-summer blue period.

My oldest sister who lives in New York and my mum who lives in Barbados came to visit and it was just like old time. James and I took them to Devon where his family had rented a cottage for part of the summer and we had a lovely visit there with them for a few days before heading back to London. Dee then took Mummy off to Paris and Barcelona for two weeks and when they got back we spend another few days together exploring London and shopping before Dee had to fly back to New York. I begged her to quit her job and stay, but she just looked at me as though I had two heads and went off back to her life. The upside was that I had my Mummy all to myself then, and boy did we have a blast ... a revolving door of chatting, sightseeing, shopping, eating and then off to Istanbul, Turkey for more of the same.

Much too soon it was time for her to return home and it was harder than ever to see her go after spending a month and a half with her. I tried the "why don't you move here and live with us" routine on her too and she too looked at me as though I had two heads and one was smaller and a different colour than the other. I don't know what's wrong with moi. I just want the days of mummy and me again. They weren't all a bundle of laughs mind you, but there was a certain sweetness and comfort to them. Adult life has its charms but .... oh well .... By the way don't you just love the black and white of mummy and me. I wish I had that dress and those shoes in my wardrobe now. She was such a looker, my mum. Could definitely give Betty Draper a run for her dinero.

James and I celebrated our 10th anniversary of togetherness and 1st wedding anniversary this week with a day of indulgence. We started with an fabulous exhibition at the V&A called Shadow Catchers and then moved on to a leisurely lunch at Hibiscus, then on to the Tate Britain for a look at the work of the artists nominated for this year's Turner prize. The highlight of the day for me though was getting our very first fish pedicure at Aqua Sheko. I must admit that seeing and feeling those fish attacking my feet with such frenzy freaked me out much. The sensation is like having your feet tickled by a million popping bubbles. Once I got over that I was eventually able to relax and get into the experience and I gotta say those little buggers are very efficient. My Flintstone feet felt as smooth as silk at the end of the session. After the fish attack, we finished our evening at the cinema with popcorn and an action flick. It was a very lovely day.

Okay now to business. With all the action happening around here, I haven't been able to weigh in with my counsellor. I know I must have put on some weight because my clothes are tighter now than at the beginning of summer, but I'm not too bothered by this because I know I'll be able to drop it all again now that I'm back to regular programming.

I've been having a very busy summer. First with summer school, both teaching and taking classes, and then visiting my Dad in Dresden (Germany) where he's on his penultimate assignment with FIFA before retirement.

Beautiful city, Dresden is. It has rebuilt itself from the ashes of total destruction in WWII and subsequent Soviet occupation to become an elegant, vibrant city with a very high quality of life. This was my second time visiting my Dad there and the first with my husband. Lots of walking, visits to churches, museums, galleries, a FAB opera house and sitting in cafes chatting and people watching. Happily I was able to sample the delicious Saxon cuisine without going overboard, which I am really really pleased about.

At my last weigh in I had dropped a further 2.5kgs (around 5lbs) to bring my weight to 71.5kgs/158lbs.

In other news I have started a vegetable and herb gardening venture on my patio. I got a bunch of seeds and am attempting to grow lettuce, tomatoes, sweet peppers, dill, basil, parsley, etc. I think I've started a little late in the season, but we'll see how things go.

I see from my comments, I've won a few awards during my absence. Thank you to everyone who has given me an award. I will be around to your blogs today to thank you personally and will honour the suggested guidelines in my next post. Meanwhile, I was tagged by Journey Beyond Survival a while ago and the question was:

What are 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire?
First this is a ridiculous amount of money, more in my opinion than any one human being needs or should have, so I would have to give most of it away.

1. Bank 100 million and plan to live off the interest
2. Give 5 million to each family member, 2.5 million each to my friends and 1 - 1/2 million to random people who I know are having a hard time = 100 million approximately
3. Select 10 - 20 issues I feel strongly about and finance their improvement = 800 million approximately.
4. That's it.
5. Ditto
   

What 5 things would you do if you were a billionaire?