Goddess of... Recover & Discover

If you read the previous post, you're caught up on the years 2011 to 2016 for me, relationship-wise.

Recover

I think the first breakup of your "adulthood" is hard, really hard. You suddenly realize that maybe you don't have it all figured out and it's not going to turn out as planned. That's when you think "Plan A" is over and enters "Plan B".

I had been focusing on being a team player, building something as a couple. I had forgotten who I was (my hobbies) and had put that aside for the benefit of the "unit"... even though Nick never asked me to.

Thankfully, one thing I was smart enough never to put aside, were my friendships. I always made time for my friends over the years and they were there for me when I was broken. At some point, after some time of being broken, I realized that I had a lot of people around me who loved me and I didn't love myself nearly as much.


Discover

So about "Plan B", which probably should've been "Plan A" all along: To focus on "Project Me".

Develop a person (body, mind & soul) so interesting, you can't help but fall in love... with yourself. I think that a lot of my "issues" in life are based on my poor self-esteem. The struggle is *very* real, still to this day.

Over the past year and a half, I've been working on a personal transformation. To rediscover who I was, who I am, who I want to be. I've reconnected with my self, my friends (they're even more present in my life now), my passions, my hobbies.

Who I was : Naive, artistic, loving, generous, sweet. I've reconnected with my artistic side, going to the museum a lot (with others AND by myself), taking art classes for the first time in 12 years. As for my youthful innocence, it's harder process. I don't trust as easily, if at all. Any advice?

Who I am : Independent, interesting, curious, well-rounded. I don't let others in as easily anymore, I don't accept a lot of help (if any), I am responsible for all the bills & chores. I get a lot of satisfaction from doing things on my own, I always have... I'm an only child.

I'm well-rounded in the sense that I try a lot of things, I have so many different hobbies, and I try restaurants, bars, music, art, etc. I don't really have a speciality, something I excel in. I've been rediscovering my main interests: art, food & travel.

Who I want to be : All that I was, that I am and more. I want to be confident, self-assured, but I'm constantly afraid of being perceived as cocky or full of myself. Over the years, I've struggled with self-esteem and I decided it was better to be 'invisible'... than to be seen as cocky. I have to find the right balance now, and understand that it *is* possible to be confident without being seen as obnoxious.

I saw a shrink recently for the first time and all the commented on this was that it was "interesting". I asked for practical advice but she didn't really help me in finding solutions. I don't know why I'm like this.. but I'd like to improve. If you've got any tips, I'd love to hear it.

Later my Bloggeroos,

Goddess of... 5 years later.

It's now been probably 5 years since I last posted.

Things have changed.. So much. And yet, I'm back because that same feeling is still there.

The feeling that somehow, something is still missing.

The last time I wrote, I had just moved to Europe (Paris!) to be with my long distance boyfriend, finally. I dropped off the face of the blogosphere (do people still say that?) soon after as I settled into a blissful, busy, interesting, fascinating life in Paris. We travelled everywhere, I played "wifey" while working from home and cooking meals for us.

We lived in Paris for a year. After which he lost his job (it was the European economic crisis in 2013 after all) and my long distance contract with my job in Canada ended. Out of work and out of possibilities for employment in Europe, we headed back to Canada after a 3-week euro farewell trip in Andalucia, Spain. Over our entire relationship, we visited 13 countries together.

Back home (May 2013), we moved back into our respective mothers' houses until we could find jobs here. I found my job in August and he found his in January 2014. We rented a place by February and moved out of our moms' places and back into our couple life. Except that it was all real now, the novelty of the long distance relationship and the yearlong honeymoon in Paris was far behind us.

I hated his furniture. He hated mine. Yet I loved him deeply and wanted a life with him. We found a middle ground, (where in retrospect I think neither of us were fully happy). We lived in this middle ground we called life for 2 years until we bought a house together (January 2016). The house sealed the deal for us, we were nearing 5 years together and we were gonna raise our family there.

Except that once again, we couldn't agree on anything (wall colors, a new couch, Internet providers, etc). Everything was a constant battle. I always put up a fight, but I always ended up caving in before him. My battle for his love was lost a long time ago.

Probably dating back to June 2014. We took a weekend trip to Chicago, where we had a public fight in the street. I had followed him around everywhere he wanted to go that day, but he wouldn't come in to Marshall's with me for 5 minutes. And so we fought. That night, he said it for the first time : "Maybe we shouldn't be together anymore".

This was the first of many MANY times he would say it over the course of the next 1.5 years. He even yelled it at me, on the eve of the day we were due at the notary to sign the house purchase. "Buying a house with you is a mistake", he yelled.

For so long (1.5 - 2 years) I always managed to calm him down, talk him off the ledge. He never took back his words (in all of our time together, he apologized a total of 1 time). I tolerated this for so long that it started to feel normal. This was our dynamic. He would threaten a breakup, and I'd do anything to prevent it. I loved him.

Finally, two months after we bought the house..
Two weeks after we came back from a trip to Mexico..

March 12, 2016. We were at a fancy fundraising event at the ballet. After freezing me out during the first act, it was during the intermission that he finally said it : "It's over. I want to break up. I don't love you anymore."

I tried to talk him out of it, except this time... It didn't work.   - The end -

Fast forward to today: July 12, 2017.

I'd love to say I'm over it. But I don't think so... And so I thought maybe blogging about it might help.

Goddess of.. Berlin, Marseille, Milan!

Three months in to the big move to Paris and life is good!

I've been working from home for the same company I was working for before, except that I'm now a freelancer (social media & web marketing consultant). It's been great and has allowed me the flexibility to work from anywhere.

Lolita came to visit, about 2 weeks after I moved, in early September. We went to Berlin together for 4 days and it was SO fun. We hadn't travelled together for a while, so it was really nice to do so.. especially to a city neither of us had visited before. I loved Berlin, the food, the sights and all the freedom (i.e. drinking in the streets ;) was fun).

About a month after we moved, Nick was assigned his first project and it was going to be out of town. In Marseille (south of France) to be exact. I was a little bummed at first, not for him obviously this is great.. but selfishly, I didn't know anybody in Paris yet and he'd be gone Monday-Thursday (or Friday) for the following 9 weeks.

Fast-forward to the end of November, and this week is his last week in Marseille. In retrospect, it was alright! I was mostly bummed in October but I did visit him twice.. once for a week in early October and then, for 2 weeks around his birthday in November. Compared to all the time we spent apart last year, this really wasn't bad.

Plus, the time I spent in Marseille was pretty fun. It was much warmer there and we were staying in a really nice hotel right by the beach. We haven't had a real routine of "life at home" but that'll come soon enough. Until then, we enjoyed the warm days & the sun!

Nick had his first long weekend off in November, and we jumped at the chance to travel a little bit. We set our heart on Milan (with a daytrip to nearby Bergamo), Italy. It really didn't disappoint. We're both food & wine lovers so Italy really feels like home. Plus, the whole "aperitivo" thing in Milan is genius.. it's happy hour but with a large buffet of italian appetizers. It was really fun to see how competitive the bars get about who has the best buffet... we tried several -- All yummy!

We took a tour around Milan one morning before I had to work, to see all the main sights and get the lay of the land. It was incredible, we visited the Scala Opera house, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the incredible Duomo (Cathedral), the Castello Sforzesco (Medival castle), & the painting of The Last Supper by Da Vinci. We also went back to the Duomo another day to climb up to the roof, what an amazing experience!

Our daytrip to Bergamo was equally amazing (except for le rain). We took a 45-minute train ride that brought us to the center of the Citta Bassa (Lower town) of Bergamo. It was easy enough from there to walk to the Funicolare that took us to the Citta Alta (Upper town). It's a really charming, lovely town.. with lots of bakeries, places to eat and beautiful duomos (churches). We also decided to hike it up (ALL the way up) to the San Vigilio castle. The castle itself wasn't the most impressive thing, but the view from the highest point in the city was worth the painful hike in the rain without an umbrella. My bad :/ I forgot the umbrella at the hotel that morning. Don't worry.. I paid for my sins with a nice cough & cold the following week.

And now we're back in beautiful Paris for the last few weeks before heading home for the Holidays. To be honest, I'm also looking forward to being with my mom & friends for almost a month. It'll be nice to catch up on all the things I've missed!

Take care bloggaroos, I'll update you soon!

XOXO,

Goddess of.. The Beauty of Paris!

Here's a collection of images from my first week now living in gorgeous Paris ♥

Goddess of.. In the City of Lights!

Wow. Here we are.

Over a month has gone by since my last post.. and so much has happened since.

We moved out of our (my) apartment in MyCity and moved in with my mom. We lived out of our suitcases for the better part of 3 weeks. We went to dinner/drinks/parties with friends & family, and tried to make the best of what little time we had left. I worked full-time until the day before our departure.

Then, we packed it all up for good. I had a carry-on and a suitcase. My life fit in 30kg's worth of luggage. Scary thought for a materialist such as myself. Although by achieving that (selling all my furniture, giving away most of my clothes & packing what little was left into 30kg), I can hardly consider myself a materialist anymore.

Saturday night, 7:35pm was our scheduled flight time. Obviously, the plane was late. We ended up leaving at 11:50pm. The wait at the airport was kinda unbearable. I was glad to get an extra few hours with my mom and bestfriend who came to the airport... but the goodbyes were prolonged and it was harder that way I guess.

In any case, we managed to board the plane without too much crying on my part. We had horribly tight seats and an overall very uncomfortable flight... but we made it to the City of Lights!

We took a cab and got to our apartment, where our new landlord showed us the ways of the place. We got settled in and unpacked everything in the first few hours. Then, we took a walk around the neighborhood and to Place de la Concorde, where we admired the sunset over the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.

It was glamourous and more! This place is so fabulous and I feel so blessed to be an "insider" now. Well, maybe not quite yet but I can't wait to know this city well.

Goddess of.. Moving On Out!

Life is passing me by these days. I'm moving out of my apartment, and moving to Paris. It's official now, well, it shall be truly official when I get my visa in a couple of weeks.

Since I came back from vacation, I had a million things to do for my visa. I sent in my application last Wednesday.. and then, I needed to start packing.

I'm moving out this Sunday, as I'll be working during the week (official move-out date is July 31st). Thankfully, I've managed to sell most of my big pieces of furniture (bed, sofa-bed, dining set) but we'll be moving the rest (bookcases, nightstands, leather chair & ottoman) along with lots of boxes this weekend. I guess it's really the ideal scenario, but my mom is seriously stressing me out. "Yes, I know I'm last-minute. No, I cannot turn back time. Yes, I will be done on time."

The good news is: Nick is here. He's helpful and loving.. that's everything I need. Don't get me wrong, my mom is loving too, but just a little stressful right now.

We're dropping items at 3 spots (my mom's, Nick's mom's and Nick's dad's place) and I feel bad about invading everyone with my boxes.. but really, I don't have a choice. Paying for storage would come up to about $1,000+ for a year. I just hope I can minimize the number of boxes.. it's hard to purge when you moved just a year ago and purged back then too.

I'm starting to hate "stuff". I'm really glad I made a serious effort not to buy too much of it in the past year.

We'll be spending the next few weeks at my mom's and at Nick's mom's place.. until the BIG move.

Blog you later,

Goddess of.. Heading to Greece!

It's so exciting: I'm leaving on Wednesday night! Headed to Paris and then, we're off to Mykonos.

It's Nick's graduation trip from his MBA, that will be taking us to Mykonos for a week of fun in the sun. I haven't seen Nick since my birthday, so about 2 months now! I can't wait to see him and hang out with him. We've promised to have fun by the beach and just party with his MBA friends. It'll be an amazing trip and I just can't wait to go.

We also have his graduation ceremony in early July (back in France) and hanging out with some of his family who will be flying to France as well for the event. It's exciting!

In other news, we'll also be visiting an apartment in Paris, as Nick got a job offer there starting this Fall. It may be earlier than we planned, but visas pending, we should be moving to France at the end of August. WOW, someone please provide me with a paper bag.. I'm hyperventilating.

Could this be happening?

Goddess of.. Weekend of Rugby Fun!

 My weekend in southern Virginia was great!

On Thursday, I spent a few hours in Washington D.C. after my flight landed. I went down to the Washington monument, the Tidal Basin and then Jefferson memorial.. where I was hoping to see the coveted cherry blossom trees in full bloom. Alas, they hadn't bloomed just yet. It's too bad because it was the big parade that weekend, for the Cherry Blossom Festival.. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was disappointed.

It was pretty chilly and windy that day but I walked around for bit and then, headed to Dulles Airport to go pick up Nick at 7pm. It was so wonderful to see him, to be with him again :)

We got to our hotel and had some wine at the bar, we talked for a long time. There's nothing like talking face-to-face... Skype is great but there are some fun silly bits of conversation you miss out on when you're not physically in the same room.

The next day, we drove down to Danville,Virginia (about 4.5 hrs) and we had a lot of fun. It just works well that way for us, road trips are a good time to relax and chat. When we got to Danville, the team had a practice scheduled and we all went for dinner afterwards.

The team of guys is really fun and they're all super nice to me. I had met some of them in Singapore when I went to their practice but hadn't gotten to know them too much.

Saturday, they played 3 games and they did especially well in the first one. Later on, everyone started getting more tired and it started being scorching hot out on the field. I got a sunburn on all my extremities: my nose, hands and feet... Good thing I was wearing 3/4 sleeves and pants. Although I did look like a jackass with my sunburned "gloves". Oh well! Poor Nick got hurt in the last game of the day. He was holding the ball when someone hit him and his middle finger got pulled back. His hand swelled up, it hurt a lot and he wasn't able to make a fist :(

Sunday, Nick couldn't play but we both got dressed in the official "tour kit": berets, striped shirts and a red scarf. Since their school's main campus is in France... the team's tour kit is stereotypically French. We cheered the team on and they won another game!  

Nick got a bandage for his poor hand and since then, the swelling has gone down a lot (he says) and he's almost able to make a fist now. Phew! The medics had told him that it could be a ruptured ligament or tendon... and that could require surgery. I think he'll make a full recovery, but we'll see how he is when he comes to visit next week.

He's flying in on Apr. 30 and will be staying for 10 days. He'll be here for my birthday! I'm so excited :)

Goddess of.. MBA Rugby World Cup!

Tomorrow's the day!

I'm headed to Washington, D.C. where I'll hang out during the afternoon and meet up with Nick at night when his flight comes in from Paris. Woohoo :)

We'll stay the night in Washington before driving down to Danville, VA on Friday where the rugby games and excessive drinking will begin!

Can't wait to turn my brain off, see my boyfriend, drink many beers and cheer on this rugby team for a weekend. Wahoo!

Catch you later bloggies,

Goddess of.. I'm In Love (Recap)!

If you're still following my adventures, you may have been disappointed in the past few months. Actually, it's been quite a while since I blogged.. and I have no great excuse. Time flies, I guess?

Apologies, but I'm here now and I've got some incredibly exciting things to share.

First of all, I'm in LOVE.

Truly, madly, deeply in love with Nick, ever since my trip to France & Portugal with him this past October. We had a amazing time in the Algarve (southern coast of Portugal) together; eating wonderfully, exploring deserted beaches, biking around to local attractions, sleeping in and not sleeping at all too *wink wink* (crossed a few things off my 30 before 30 list -- YAY!).

The trip had its load of challenges; cancelled flights, delayed flights, re-booking new flights, losing a day in the process, finally driving to destination from Lisbon rather than Faro because no flights were flying out due to bad weather, re-booking the car rental to Lisbon.... but once we made it to our hotel, every moment spent together was pure gold. And even when all that crap was happening to us, we never lost patience at each other, and Nick was calm, reassuring and sweet to me.

Then, I had to return to Canada, while he stayed in France. That was hard, but we've decided to do the long-distance relationship thing until he graduates in July.

He was going to visit over the Holidays, so I invited him to stay with me for the 2 weeks that he was going to be in town. He immediately accepted and said he couldn't imagine not being with me the whole time.

Less than 2 weeks after I came back from France, I booked my plane ticket to go visit him for 2 weeks in Singapore, in January. (Yeah, I really love him that much).

Two months later: December 20th came and I awaited patiently (NOT!) for him at the airport, my heart beating a million miles a minute. He showed up with a big box of LaDurée macarons and two bottles of champagne for us, and most importantly, a huge smile on his face. *Ensued crazy-in-love public display of affection at the airport arrivals*

We spent the Holidays together, met each other's families, exchanged Christmas gifts and celebrated New Year's Eve together. Oh, and we said our first "I love you"s... I was over the moon. His Christmas present to me: a Christian Dior travel-themed silk scarf (gorgeous!) and a plane ticket to go see him in North Carolina (mid-April) for a rugby tournament. He spent all his traveler's miles to get me the ticket... I was speechless. Speechless and in love.

NYE came and went. Then, January 1st came around.. I drove him to the airport where he boarded his flight to Singapore, where he was moving for 2 months (his MBA school has 2 campuses - France & Singapore).

The first week without him was definitely the hardest, the apartment felt so obviously empty. I stared at the clothes he left in his drawer, his toothbrush in our bathroom. It was silly, but over the 2 weeks he spent living with me in this apartment, the place had undergone one big transformation: it had become our apartment.

Finally, on January 27th, I boarded my flight to Singapore! Roughly 30 hours and a pain-in-the-ass-Qatar-layover later, I landed in Singapore, where the reunion with Nick was oh-so-sweet.

While I was in Singapore, Nick showed me around his neighborhood, the school campus, and I explored the city (mostly) by myself when he had classes. I even attended a few of his lectures and classes with him, on social media.

We went out to dinner and visited attractions almost every night.. and had a blast together. We spent some afternoons by the pool when he didn't have classes.

The weekend I was in Asia, we took a flight out from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (about 30 minutes). We stayed in an amazing hotel, enjoyed the hydrotherapy pool, the 5-star restaurant, the sky bar and the beautiful suite with a view of the Petronas Towers.

We visited Petaling street (chinatown), Katsuri walk, the Central Market and had dinner in a very questionable-looking Chinese restaurant (although it was the nicest one around) where the food was actually DELICIOUS. Sometimes, the sketchiest looking places are actually a gem in the rough.

Oh, and FYI as a side-note if you ever plan to visit, there's virtually no toilet paper anywhere in Malaysia, except for hotels. Not in restaurants, nor in public restrooms in subway stations. It's a bring-your-own-roll kind of situation, ladies.

The next day, we set out to visit the Batu Caves (limestone caves) which are also an Hindu temple. It was Thaipusam festival (a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community) and the cultural experience was incredible! The memories will definitely last us forever. The chanting, the smells, the music, the people.. it was amazing.

We went back to Singapore and had another beautiful week together. I cannot emphasize enough how every moment spent together is precious to me. It's a cliché for a reason, it's true.

Reluctantly, I returned to Canada around mid-February and he stayed in Singapore for a few more weeks. I may or may not have soaked his shirt with my tears at the airport. Embarrassing, but I just couldn't help it: 9,000 miles is a very long distance to put between two people who love each other. I cursed the Earth for being so big, I cursed time zones for existing. But I boarded my flight anyway and returned to work, because that's what grown-ups do.

On March 1st, I found myself at the airport again. This time, to pick-up Nick who was landing in from Singapore (for a weekend, before returning to France). We spent the weekend together, ate breakfast in bed, watched movies, visited his family and friends, etc. It was perfect, if you leave out the fact that we both suffered from a nasty cold that weekend. But all phlegm aside, it was really fun and relaxing.

And here we are now, on March 24th. Five months later and still in love. From 3,500 miles away, while he's in France now. This past Monday, he had a dozen roses delivered to me at work.. just because. I died.

We've made the decision to live together as of July this year, wherever that may be. He's applying to jobs worldwide, more specifically Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Stockholm, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, etc. He also applied to positions in My City (we're both from here), so we might move or we might stay put. The future is undecided for us right now but I feel we'll do just fine. After all, we've been together for 5 months, and in 5 different countries. We've got a case of wanderlust, that's for sure.

The next step, is the weekend after Easter when I'll go visit him in North Carolina / Virginia, for his rugby tournament. Obvs, I can't wait!! And then, two weeks after that, he'll be in town for a week just around the time of my 27th birthday. I'm thrilled that he'll be there and I'm planning a party with him and my friends.

The light at the end of the MBA tunnel, he graduates in July. The students are planning a grad trip to Mykonos, Greece and I'm probably going to go with him! I will attend his graduation, be crazy proud of him and jump for joy at the thought of finally being together full-time :)


.. and that's why I've been 'too busy' to blog. Please forgive?

Goddess of.. Just The Beginning!

I have yet to update you on my AMAZING trip to France & Portugal! Paris really was just the beginning of an incredible adventure.

After my 2-day stay in Paris and my reunion with Nick, I headed to Strasbourg to meet with Andrea (of @FranceHappened) for a few days.

She greeted me at the train station, hosted me at her place and dedicated two days to showing me a wonderful time in Strasbourg! We walked all over the place, saw all the major attractions, ate great food and lots of pastries :) I had an amazing time and look forward to showing her a great time in My City when she visits (sooner rather than later, Andy? :D).

My only regret? Not being in Strasbourg right now to see the Christmas Markets :) But at least I ate some of the traditional cookies "bredeles".. and I didn't have to withstand the winter cold!

Holiday smooches, XOXO

Goddess of.. Romantic Moments!

The ballet finished on time, at 9:45pm. My heart was racing at the thought of seeing Nick for the first time in months. Three months, lots of emails and Skype conversations had led me to this very moment, in Paris.

People were still clapping away when I quietly exited my theater box. I was the first one to leave, that may have been a tad impolite (on premiere night) but I had someone waiting outside for me. Someone I hadn't seen in months. So I walked out of the opera house during the 3rd standing ovation.. my heels clicking on the marble floors. My legs were shaky and the stairs seemed to go on forever.

I finally stepped out of the opera house and.. more stairs. So I focused on not breaking my neck, and when I lifted my head up to see if I could spot Nick anywhere... he came running up the stairs, straight at me!

{What follows may make you sick to your stomach, because it was straight out of a movie. 

And even romantic comedies are not THAT good.}

He picked me up, we hugged, we kissed (clumsily at first because of the excitement) and we didn't let go for 10 minutes. I was shaking, I was giggling. We were kissing so incredibly passionately, it was probably too much PDA, even for Paris, ze City of Love. But honestly, when you haven't kissed someone you really want to kiss in 3 months... it comes out a little strong when you do finally get your hands on them.

At that point, other people were starting to exit the Opera house as well.. and 15 minutes later, I realized there may have been a few people looking. "Oh well, too bad", I thought to myself. When we stopped kissing, we hadn't even said "Hi" to each other yet. We couldn't let go of hugging just yet. He asked, still shaking "Sooooo oo how was the ballet?" and I just told him to "Shut up" and proceeded to continue making out with him for 10 more minutes.

We eventually left the opera house and he had borrowed his roommate's car to come to Paris. The car was double-parked in front of the opera house (a very busy spot of the city) for 20-25 minutes before he told me that he came by car. Once again, we thought "Oh well, too bad". We drove around, found an indoor parking and walked back to my apartment for the night.

We shared wine and macarons (from La Durée, so good!) together while watching a bit of tv.. and it was a perfect evening, finally together. The following morning, we had brunch on a little Parisian terrace at Café du Centre, sitting side by side, hugging & holding hands. The food was exceptionally good.. and the company? Even better.

Goddess of.. The Best Vacation Ever!

Oh bloggies, words will never be enough to describe what a dream come true this vacation was.

Flying to Paris on my own: Short & sweet, and exciting as hell! I was pretty proud to make all these dreams come true for myself.. and knowing I did it without (financial) help from anybody, was priceless. Arriving upon Paris, the view was incredible: The sun was rising, there was fog covering the city and just the tip of the Eiffel tower poking out of the clouds. A true sign of the amazingness to come!

My apartment in Paris

1st day in Paris: I got to my rented apartment and it was wonderful! The host greeted me with an espresso and we chatted for a bit. I grilled him with a few questions about Paris, sights to see, etc. His place was exactly as pictured: modern, clean and well located!

I took a nap and then, went on to visit the Pont des Arts (The bridge where people tie "love locks" and I saw Zac Efron!), the Louvre Museum (incredible!), the Jardin des Tuileries (gardens by the Seine river), walked to La Durée to buy macarons (they were delicious, worth the 30-min wait!) and headed back to my apartment to change before the Ballet (and my reunion with Nick).

The ballet was incredible, about 30 female and 20 male dancers, in gorgeous costumes by Christian Lacroix (indian inspiration, russian inspiration, classic tutus, modern kind of cirque-du-soleil costumes, etc). The Garnier Opera house itself is something to see and the 6-people boxes in the theater are very luxurious (red velvet on the walls, a lounge chaise, make-up mirror, etc.).

Of course, I tried my best to focus on the present but my mind wandered at the thought of being reunited with Nick in about 2 hours. I looked at my watch repeatedly. I had e-mailed him when I arrived in Paris and he said he'd wait for me on the steps of the Opera house at 9:30pm. My heart was racing but I kept a calm exterior.