I’m in Atlanta now visiting my son and my little grandchildren and I’ve begun shopping for clothes to take back home.  I live in a very small town that’s a tourist destination so my options are really cheap stuff or hugely overpriced luxury items.  So I try to come to the US during the change of season sales.  I missed it this time but there are a few things available that are really cheap.  I bought some summer knit shirts for $3 at Wal-Mart yesterday.  I was quite impressed!

But..  the big news is in the jeans department.  I’m short and the option for petite jeans isn’t available in NZ, so I always shop for jeans and slacks when I come back to the states to visit my family.  My first visit to the outlet mall I bought size 16 and just knew that they’d fit.  I’d been wearing 18 or 20 before, so I assumed a 16 would fit – maybe a bit tight.

Well, wouldn’t you know, they were too big.  I now have 5 pair of size 12’s.  I put them on and danced around the room with a huge grin on my face.  How good is this??

I’m headed to Australia at the end of November to get my  gastric band adjusted so maybe I should buy some size 10’s?  Just to have something smaller to wear.

I am so stoked about the weight loss.  It’s not a piece of cake but it’s the best tool I’ve ever had that doesn’t hurt.  No hunger pains, no constant ache for food.  I know what I can eat and eating more makes me throw up.  Can’t get better than that.  (nobody wants to throw up so I don’t push it.)

Most of you know that I’m currently living in New Zealand but I’m also an American.  I’m visiting my mother and sister in Rhinebeck, New York and have had the best time walking through the falling leaves along the Hudson River.  I haven’t done this in YEARS!

I needed to exercise a lot because we also went to lunch at the Culinary Institute of America and my god.. what a place!!  Everything tasted so good – even ordinary things were cooked to perfection.  It wouldn’t do for me to live near here, that’s for sure!  I’d be walking by the river morning, noon and night!

Then to make up for eating at the Apple Pie Cafe at CIA, we went to Ferncliff Forest and climbed the observation tower.  I was exhausted by the time I reached the top.  I didn’t know they could make so many stairs and make them so steep!  The view over the fall foliage and the river was nothing short of spectacular.

I’m staying with my sister but I’m in New York to see my elderly mother who’s close to falling off the reality wagon.  At first she refused to see any of us but now she’ll see only me.  I guess because I’m from so far away, there’s the risk that she’ll die before I get back to the states.