Is it really summer? 2013?

I looked around my apartment when I got home last night and was disgusted. Admittedly anal under normal circumstances, my apartment was so grubby that I just grossed myself out.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, mostly to do with the apartment search. We are (knock on wood) about to sign a contract on a lovely apartment in Prospect Heights, a gorgeous Brooklyn neighborhood. This, after getting screwed over on another Manhattan apartment, and then pulling out of another deal at the last minute, and finding out the original buyers of this apartment got cold feet and we were next in line in the bidding war, all in a matter of two weeks.

Coupled with being gone the past few weekends (Sweetlife!)...

(Girls weekend at Canyon Ranch, Miami!)…

and constant presentation mode at work...

... and I’ve been totally out of touch. Thus the absence in blogging (thanks again, El, for reaching out to make sure I was okay!) and the gross state of my apartment (now rectified).

But I've also slowed down the blogging as it’s been over two years since I returned from Paris. I still think about it and pine for it all the time. But life has changed. I look at blogs of all the expats there now and it makes me smile. It makes me wistful. There’s a whole new era of Paris bloggers who are loving life in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate). I’m going to share a profile of some of them in the coming weeks. In the meantime, check out one of them, Carin Olsson of the impossibly gorgeous Paris in Four Months, and enter for your chance to win a copy of Paris, My Sweet.

And don't forget: this weekend marks the unofficial start to summer. Live it up! Love it up! It's going to be brilliant!