Thank you all for checking in on me and for all your wonderful supportive comments. Sorry I've been away for so long. I taught my last class for summer school yesterday and now I am FREE from teaching until mid-September!!! Yeah!!! I love teaching but I also LOVE my breaks from it.

Now I can focus exclusively on working in my studio for the next two weeks until my niece arrives on the 30th August to spend a month with me. She's been coming to visit me during the summer since she was 5 (she's now 8) and I love having her.

Things have been going really well on the food and exercise front. I have been working out consistently for about 1 hour 5 days a week doing a combination of stretching, weights and the elliptical trainer. I'm trying to make that hour of exercise at the beginning of my day as non-negotiable as my daily meditation and so far so good. My food was a little rocky at the beginning of the month but things settled down last week and I now have a good rhythm going there as well. I haven't gotten on the scale recently but I love the way my clothes are fitting again.

Well that's all for now, I'm off to do some visiting since it has been way too long since I've visited my favourite blogs.

I have just had an appointment with the nicest, kindest, most compassionate, most caring, most efficient, most beautiful doctor I have even met in my life. LOL!!! REALLY!!!

As mentioned before I have been very angry and bitter about my health care. I have a great dentist and eye doctor but have had seen a bunch of cold, incompetent, 'I don't know a fuck and don't give a fuck about you' doctors since we moved to the UK. I kept trying to find a better one in my catchment area, but each was actually worse than the one before.

Then last week, as mentioned in a couple of posts back, I got a recommendation at that weight management meeting I went to and immediately made an appointment for today. I went along this morning. First the receptionist who registered me was warm and friendly, which for me was a good sign since down to the last woman, at all the other practices the desk staff were cold and awful. Then the nurse that did my intake was also warm and friendly ... ohhhh ... I'm on a roll I thought. But none of that could prepare me for this doctor...when my appointment came up, I was escorted upstairs into Dr. W's office.

The minute I entered, she made eye contact, smiled, got up, walked from behind her desk came to me introduced herself and welcomed me. I was floored since the most I've ever gotten in the past is a terse good morning from behind a computer. On top of her warmth and courtesy, she was drop dead gorgeous. She is originally from Greece, is probably in her mid 40s, is about my height but very slim, had a beautiful head of short thick dark glossy hair, a beautiful face and complexion and was dressed like one of the characters from Sex and the City. Not inappropriate, just trendy and hottttt!!! I SWEAR I am not making this up. The overall effect was so stunning that I just blurted out, "oh my God you are SO beautiful and you look amazing!!!

Anyway, she allowed me to talk about all my concerns and issues regarding my health and weight, addressed each one in turn. She examined me physically, ordered blood work, told me she would be in touch if my blood work turned up any red flags and asked me to make an appointment to see her in a month. I have had good doctors before, mostly in the USA, but this woman is head and shoulders above anyone I've ever met. She was caring and compassionate in her response to me, firm when she needed to be, gave me good solid information and has positioned herself as my advocate and support in relation to my weight loss efforts. I was so relieved to find a doctor who cared and was so overwhelmed by her thoroughness, efficiency and compassion that I actually burst into tears towards the end of our session and thanked her a million times before I got out the door. Poor woman, I'm sure she now thinks I'm a basket case ... which come to think about it may not be far from the truth.

Anyway, I now feel so much more confident about my health and am actually optimistic that eventually I will beat this disease of obesity and have a fighting chance of avoiding heart disease, hypertension, diabetes etc.

I got on the scale this morning and I was 85kgs. That's up 5kgs from when I last weighed two months ago. Yikeees!!! NOT GOOD!!! Nevertheless, I'm not going to get on the pity pot. I'm moving on.

Taking into consideration my lifestyle, I've restructured my food to have my heaviest meal in the morning, a moderate lunch and light portable dinner. My exercise routine for now consists of stretching, light weights and the elliptical for half an hour 5 days a week. I'm also going to weigh myself once a week ... every Tuesday morning. Maybe this will keep me more focused.

On y va!!!

I've been having a great last couple of days with my food and exercise on track. I'm really giving thought to the things the workshop facilitator talked about regarding lifestyle changes, as I try to figure out what my short term goals are going to be. I think I've been approaching food all wrong. A structured food plan might have worked very well for me in the past but I'm a different person now and I need to think about how I can deal with food differently.

I'm also rethinking my approach to exercise. Instead of just trying to motivate myself to jump on the elliptical trainer every morning, I'm thinking of a goal I can work towards relating to my fitness level which would motivate me. I have some ideas but I'll have to wait until the weekend to research them.

I went to the weight management group at my local library and it was really really good. The facilitator was fantastic. She talked about how important it was to look at weight loss as a lifestyle change. I have heard this tons of time but what does it really mean? Well, she encouraged the group not to focus exclusively on making changes to our food and exercise but also to look at other areas of our life that need to be managed, areas that may be affecting our ability to achieve our weight and health goals. I though this was brilliant because it's often stuff that has nothing to do with food or exercise that destroy my efforts.

We were also encouraged to start out with a long term goal (we know mine is to achieve and maintain 55kgs.) and then make short term goals that we can achieve day by day week by week that will lead to our long term goal. We were all given a little packet with among other things a sheet to record our goals and indicate whether we've met them or not. We meet once a month, weight and talk about our success and challenges and the facilitator gives us tips and suggestions on how to move ourselves forward. In between the meetings there is email support. There is also a free low impact and two free walking groups which come along with participating.

I think I'm going to try this and see how it works out. The facilitator really gave me some great tips on how to get myself moving more and has helped me to look at my goals differently.

By the way, yesterday and today are fantastic foodwise. I've been doing my own version of a cleanse and my body is thanking me. Also got back on the elliptical trainer. Yeah!!!

Another benefit of going to the meeting is that I got a recommendation for a new GP from two of the women in the meeting. I have been positively bitter about my experiences with doctors since we moved to this area almost two years ago. Hopeful this change will be the start of something new and wonderful.

I can't believe how long I have stayed away from this blog and your blogs. My goals are the same though: To Return to My Ideal Weight of 55kgs. I've gotten mighty distracted over the past two months though. Yikees!!!

My food has been rather 'rich' and I haven't been exercising so undoubtedly I've regained some weight though I don't know how much because you know how much I hate to face the scale. I am still wearing my UK 14 trousers but it isn't loose like it was a few months ago.

Nevertheless, it's time to move forward again, so here I am. I've planned a nice easy week focused on detoxing and cleansing and 1/2 hr daily on my elliptical trainer. James brought home a brochure from the local library advertising a free weight care programme and support group. I might check it out. We'll see ....

I haven't been back to New York since I moved to London with my James a few years ago. At the time of our leaving I had had enough of New York and was happy to move on, but you can't really live in a place for a significant length of time without it becoming a part of you and you a part of it and over the past few years I've been quite nostalgic for certain aspects of my New York life.

This New York visit was not nearly long enough for me to do all the things I wanted to do, but it was certainly a Fabulous trip. I:

chatted endlessly with my sister:

basked in the beautiful spring weather,

New York is at its most gorgeous in April and May and for my entire week there the sunshine was brilliant and the air cool and delicious.

marvelled at all the changes that had taken place during my absence,

There has been a lot of construction going on in New York since I was last here. Seems as though all the little pre-WWII 5 story walk ups and other buildings from the 40s are being replaced by luxury apartments which only the very rich can afford. A very good hospital used to stand in this spot just 3 years ago.

This brand new African Burial Ground Monument commemorates the story of the African Burial Ground, a 6 acre cemetery for free and enslaved Africans dating back to the 17th and 18th century, which only came to light in 1991 during excavation of the site for a new federal building.

New bus stops with seats and new electric bus. 5 stars!!!

indulged in my favourite New York treats (with moderation I should add, no blow out binges for me),

I'd been dreaming of a good old fashion New York diner breakfast for a long time. So I stopped off at the Mansion Diner and Oh My God: THEY'VE RENOVATED. Same layout but brand spanking new everything. It was so early I had the place to myself.

Sorry, but you haven't had a Bagel until you have had a New York Bagel!

So many to choose from!!!

treated my tired and calloused feet to a deep massage and pedicure,

What's a visit to New York without a pedicure. New York has more nail care places per square block than any other city in USA or Europe. I've been going to this tiny one around the corner from my apartment for years.

Ahhh! Now I'm ready to paint the town.

took some long walks down memory lane,

This is the first place I lived when I moved to New York ... well the second if you count the few months I lived in my friend P's grandmother's basement apartment until I got myself set up.

I woke up at dawn on Memorial Day and took a walk through Carl Schultz Park which borders the East River. I used to start my morning with a jog along this river at sunrise for many years. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place.

Citigroup on Wall Street, where James and I met 9 years ago.

Brooklyn Bridge as seen from South Street Seaport, where we spent many an evening after work eating ice cream, chatting and watching the sun set.

James old apartment building in Battery Park City.

savoured all the things that make New York so New York,

Ah, the New York City Subway!!!

I just love New York townhouses better known as brownstones. I used to fantasise about owning one before I realised I'd need to be a millionare.

Harlem, one of the most important social and cultural centers of African life in America.

That dot in the distance is Lady Liberty herself !!!

The Chrysler Building is just spectacular, day or night!!!

Love this sculpture!!!

This one too!!!

Look, there's still debris in his briefcase from when the World Trade Center fell around him!!!

This photo by an old teacher of mine Jeff Mermelstein shows the same statue above in the aftermath of the WTC disaster.

caught a terrific exhibition at the Studio Museum of Harlem called Flow. It showcased the work of emerging artists from Africa,

saw an incredible performance of the New York City Ballet,

took advantage of the super strong ££££ to indulge in some retail therapy (which in my opinion could only really be considered therapy if I had a personal shopper do all my shopping for me),

went to the opening of an En Foco Exhibition,

and then ... all too soon it was time to say au revoir ...

Stay tuned for the next post when Nona discusses what she is doing to lose 25kgs before she turns 90 ....