It all started...

It all started with a simple comment: "I wish I could find someone to meet me in Paris for a vacation." With that comment Susan put things into motion that had never even occurred to me as possibilities. Naturally I responded with, "I'll meet you in Paris!" Why not? Susan would be in Paris for a week of work, and she wanted some vacation time in the City of Light afterward. I had never been to Paris and had always wanted to go. First on the to do list: renew passport. With a little extra investment, that was quickly done.

We met two days after her meetings ended, and we started--where else--at the Eiffel Tower. It was October and chilly, and the fog made it pointless to go past the second level. But the view was still beautiful. It was Paris, after all.

Site seeing, cheese eating, and wine drinking for a couple of days and then--oh la la...look at him! He was tres beau, and after a few hours of flirting, Susan took one look at me and told the future. "You're moving here!" She said it almost breathlessly--like all of a sudden she knew it. The mental leap from vacation to total life change didn't take long. I thought about what she said for a moment and replied, "Hmmm...I might."

One year and three months later, I sit in my apartment in Paris and start my blog. Not to be with him, by the way. No, just to live in Paris! After all, I can. No husband, no kids, and everything else...well...

House? Sold.
Car? Sold.
Job? Quit.
Cats? Certified for entry and here in the apartment with me. Against their better judgment.

I've got enough money to stay for a year to a year and a half, and I'm planning to do some contract work that, with any luck, will allow me to stay longer. Who knows how long I'll want to stay. We'll see...

Right now, I'm well fed (more on that later) and happy. Dad, bless his heart, helped me (and the cats) make the move, and after 4 fabulous days, he's back home. I miss him, although as great as the trip was, I know he was glad to get home, & I know how glad Mom is to have him home. We ate such great food including a fabulous dinner that we made (well, we purchased a rotisserie chicken, but we made the rest), some melt-in-your-mouth caramel du sel Laduree macarons, sinfully rich ham & cheese crepes at a surprisingly delicious creperie in my neighborhood, and a dinner or two out at random restaurants that turned out to be wonderfully delicious surprises!

We did the Louvre, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the Tuilleries, Jardin du Luxembourg, Angelina, and other sites around Paris, and we were so cold that it was always nice to come home to my toasty apartment. We packed a lot into four days, and there's still so much we didn't do. I can't wait for both of them to visit me. I hope they're coming in May. The weather will be better, and maybe the metro will be less packed! Oh the things we'll see, the things we'll do, the things we'll eat! I have plans, boy do I have plans.