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.

Goddess of.. Jetting Off to France!

The day has arrived, I'm leaving tonight on a jet plane! *Cue nervous laughter*

First time flying by myself and I'm going across the pond.. which has left me feeling nervous. Not so much for the flight but for all the possible "unforseens" that go along with travelling to a place you don't really know yet.

I wish my momma was coming with me, she always knows what to do in any given situation. She's my security blanket, you know?

To me, this feels like another step towards become a woman. The kind of woman my mother is.

Free, independent, self-sufficient, well-rounded woman.


It's exciting, it's terrifying and it'll change me -- which is exactly why I'm doing this.

Countdown: Leaving today!

Goddess of.. Pinch me, I'm dreaming!

Wow.

That one word hardly sums it up. I am one step closer to this incredible trip, exactly one month from today, I will be in Paris. Can you believe it? I sure can't.

Pinch me, for I am surely dreaming. 

Monday, I booked my first-class train ticket to visit Andrea (@francehappened) in Strasbourg!

Monday, Nick made reservations for us at the Vila Joya Restaurant, the ONLY two Michelin Star restaurant in Portugal (which offers an exclusive and intimate fine dining experience overlooking the Algarve coast). It was HIS idea.. I die. This deserves a new dress.. possibly new shoes too.

Today, I booked an oceanview room at the Memmo Baleeira in Sagres, Portugal for Nick and I!

Also, I'm trying to set-up a surprise for him when we get to the hotel. I'm trying to coordinate to have them prepare turn-down service and a bottle of champagne waiting for us in our room upon arrival.. we'll see if I can make it happen (since we're arrive at the hotel around 1:30am :S).

Cheers,

Goddess of.. The White Dinner Event!

** Don't forget to enter my latest giveaway : CLICK HERE **

The Dîner en Blanc (White Dinner) is this incredible event that originally started in Paris and has been going on for many years now (since 1988). It's going to be the 3rd year in The City I believe.. and my first year participating. Another thing I can cross off my 30-before-30 list, yay!

It goes as follows:

• Dress in all white, prepare a picnic dinner and await notification at 6:00pm revealing the secret location for this glorious event bringing together a flash mob of 3,000 people all dressed in white.
  
  

Dreamy, right?

Okay, I leave you with just one more shot... my outfit-to-be for the big night!

It may look a little grandma-ish like that but the cardigan is optional and the dress is fitted.

I've got my picnic basket :) and cooked up a storm!

It's happening tonight, so excited!

Goddess of.. 26 candles for moi!

Today marks my 26th birthday so I thought I'd do a year in review:

- The biggest change by far has been to go from no job (not even an interview in sight) on my birthday last year to finding a job I love and getting promoted twice since January! I had a change in responsibilities and a (big fat) raise of 12% in January & just last week :)/

- Another significant change that's been years in the making, is going from living at home with my mom to finding my first apartment and signing a lease. I'll be moving in on July 1st and I am terrified/proud/excited/&-terrified-some-more.

- From single to finding "the pockets I want to put my hands in" (credit to ChelseaTalksSmack for that delicious quote). I've found a great guy (The Aussie) who treats me really well, and shows that he cares in everything he does for me / with me. It's not perfect, but he is by far the sweetest guy I've known :)

... 25 years old was a year of low lows and high highs :) Who knows what 26 has in store?!

Cheers to another year, bloggies!

Goddess of .. Writing a 50,000-word novel !?

Well, there's a blog post title I never thought I'd write.
Holy moly, I actually just signed up for NaNoWriMo without fully realizing what it entailed.

So, uhmmmmm.. for those of you who, like me, don't know what 

National Novel Writing Month 

(NaNoWriMo for short) is: 

It's a pledge I just took to write a 50,000-word novel, over the course of 30 days.

That's right, the challenge is to write roughly 1,666 words a day, for a whole month .. and it has to amount to something potentially readable. I might as well pledge to give up sleeping and eating, because I don't see how I'll fit that into my schedule.

The busier the bee, the more honey you'll get.. right?

Okay, I just made that up, but you catch my drift.

Help me pick a topic / idea.

Please.

P.S. This is going on my 30 before 30 list. Woah!

Goddess of .. Where in The World Wednesday - Volume 2 !

The lovely Jessica @ Classy in Philly started a feature called :

the Where In The World wednesdays !

(click here to see Jessica's destination for this week)

"Basically, each week I will post a new picture of me in some place I've traveled to (or if not me, a photo I took at a place I traveled to).

If a lot of people participate, it will be a fun way to see where some of our favorite bloggers have traveled! It doesn't have to be recent, it doesn't have to be somewhere foreign or tropical. Just anywhere you consider traveling!"

I haven't been posting this feature regularly yet because it seems like all my good travel pictures are not digital. Can you believe it ? I haven't been traveling to very interesting destinations since cameras started using digital formats. HAHA.. not funny, lol. Mama needs a vacation. Anywho, it might be a while before I decide to scan pictures of my trips to France, Italy or Greece .. so until then, it'll mostly be pictures of little trips around the good 'ole U.S. of A.

Today's feature : My parents offered to take me on a roadtrip accross New England when I turned 18.. and aside from the constant bickering between my parents .. I remember I got to live one of my biggest dreams at the time : Surfing !

I remember being sooooo sore the day after .. my abs and arms were ripping apart but it was an amazing experience and I'm so grateful I got to try it.

In fact, I even added "try surfing again" to my 30 before 30 list .. I loved it so much !

Hahaha, good memories .. Wetsuits I look so dorky !

My 30 before 30 list

30 things I want to do before I turn 30 years old

(deadline : May 9th 2015)

1. Go parasailing

2. Learn to bake a chocolate mousse cake

3. See the Grand Canyon and / or Bryce Canyon

4. Try hot (bikram) yoga - Did it twice, 17/06/2009 and 18/06/2009

5. Become fluent in spanish - Currently intermediate level, under study 01/04/2012

6. Swim in the Pacific ocean

7. See a musical on Broadway

8. Become a lawyer - Did it, 28/07/2009

9. Go to a (gun) shooting range

10. Learn to drive standard

11. Try surfing (again)

12. Go to a nudist or semi-nudist beach - Did it in Portugal, 28/10/2011

13. Spend a holiday in another city - Easter in Philadelphia, 10/04/2009 to 13/04/2009

14. Have sex in a car- Did it in Portugal, 30/10/2011

15. Do 200 hours of volunteer work in 365 days - Currently working on it, related posts

16. Go on a roadtrip

17. Ride a mechanical bull

18. Climb an active volcano - Did it twice, Mount Vesuvius (Italy) in 2000 and Nea Kameni (Greece) in 2001

19. Pour liquid soap into a public fountain

20. Write a 50,000-word novel in the span of 30 days (NaNoWriMo) - Starting Nov. 1st

21. Go on a business trip - Did it, 09/06/2011 - 11/06/2011

22. Attend the Dîner en Blanc (White Dinner) event - Did it, 18/08/2011

23. See a ballet in Paris - Did it, 22/10/2011

24. Meet blog friends in real life - Did it, met Cheryl of Starbucks Break. Did it again, meet Andrea of France Happened on 24/10/2011.

25. Fly to Europe by myself- Did it, 21/10/2011 - 02/11/2011

26. Fly to Asia by myself - Did it, 27/01/2012 - 11/02/2012

27. Move to another country

28.

29.

30.

"The indispensable first step to getting what you want out of life is to decide what you want."
~ Ben Stein ~

Inspired by Suz @ 30 Before 30 List
- Thank you for the inspiration and for making me want to better myself !