The other day, a feeling came over me that I was forgetting to do something. You know that familiar sensation when a to-do list item is just out of reach from your mind’s grasp. It’s common for this to happen to me these days, between managing work and major house renovations and day-to-day life in general. Finally I looked at a calendar and realized what it could be this time.

I should be planning my next Paris-versary party. And I would be, if we still lived in Paris.

Let me explain.
Paris-versary (n): The festivity that ensues on the weekend nearest the calendar date of moving to Paris, marking another year of life in France and celebrating the friends that made it wonderful.

"We're still here," Michael said to me a month after landing in Paris. And on the first morning we woke up in our apartment. Again months later under the awning of a café watching the rain fall on a Saturday afternoon. And those words were certainly uttered that time we walked past the Louvre en route to a New Year's Eve party.

This Saturday we celebrated our two-year Paris-versary. And the one thing I kept thinking is, "We're still here." It's been our phrase to express the wonderment and amazement that we in fact call this city home. But it really hit me at our party, because we weren't supposed to still be here.

Part of the party spread...minus the late appearance of stuffed mushrooms and macarons

The plan was to move back to the US at the end of Michael's 21-month assignment. To make Paris a home base to travel throughout Europe as much as possible. Not to find a way to extend our stay, to fall deeply in love with this city.

Yet here we are, still here. And there was no better way to celebrate than with an apartment full of friends who have made this place home. I'm a firm believer that people make a place, and without all the incredible friends we have made throughout our time here, friends who have become family, Paris would never have become home to me.

So here's to still being here! Hope you will stick around to follow all that's to come :-)