Massive Screaming Relief

I promise reams and reams of fascinating weight loss/diet blogging will come soon.

But first I must celebrate the very fabulous news I just received. (From an exterminator, no less.)

I. do. NOT. have. bedbugs.

YAYYYYYYYY!

There is a serious epidemic of bed bug infestation in NYC these days and I have been living in abject fear that I will catch them. Or, transport them home unwittingly on my shoe or something. Yesterday the BF saw what looked to be a bedbug on his shirt in the closet.

OOOOOOOMG! Major freakout, total screaming fit, much distressed blabbing on the phone to building management, and STRESS.

Tonight the exterminator came. It's not a bed bug! I do not have an infestation!

Really and seriously, I thought I was going to die of shame and distress. I swear that my apartment is not a pigsty. It's just that NYC is really really really under siege by these bloodthirsty monsters. It's disgusting, and gross.

Another massive relief: I put on the jeans that as of June were way loose on my stomach but tight on my hips and thighs -- and they are still fitting exactly the same as they did earlier this summer! Relief! Relief! Relief! I have gained some weight, but am still about the same size I was in June.

My nephew left this week, we had a lovely time. He's adorable -- when he's not being a horrid teenager.

We went to two art parks in upstate New York. We rode bikes, he went to his theater camp every day, we answered phones at the pledge drive for our PBS station, and much much more. He tasted wine and said he got drunk, but I don't see how that's possible: he sipped an amount equivalent to a hummingbird's intake.

Now it's back to being all about me, and I must admit I'm ready for it. All the big freelance projects are done, one last small interesting one for the BBC: a walking tour of Manhattan.

If you were here in the city, what part would you most like to walk around and see?