Goddess of.. New Boots, New Dress, New Shoes!

Preparing for an upcoming trip always makes me want to change my whole wardrobe because nothing ever seems good enough for the TRIP OF A LIFETIME!

However, I love to travel and I wanna do it as often as possible.. which is why I can't change everything every time. This time, I've decided to get a few new pieces and I thought I'd share them with you.

First purchase, a pair of Nine West boots for the France portion of my trip.. where it will probably be a little chilly. I wanted comfortable (for walking) booties with heels and since that's hard to find, I opted for wedges which are about halfway between flats and heels in my opinion. Taa-daaaah!

Nine West Peekaboo Wedge Booties

Second purchase, I wanted a dress for the night that Nick & I will be going to Vila Joya, the 2-Michelin-Star restaurant in Portugal. I wanted something that would take me outside my usual comfort zone, preferably very sexy but still classy. I opted for a black Zara dress, open back and lace. It doesn't look like it in the pictures, but it's pretty va-va-voom on me (you know, because mamma's got curves ;) and all). After booking my ticket for the opening night of the ballet in Paris, I decided I will wear the dress for that event as well (with tights and a black blazer). 

Zara Trafaluc Lace dress

I bought these funky tights that have a faux tigh highs with garter belt. They're totally opaque which is great and warm :) for my night on the town in Paris. Couldn't find a better image, sadly.

Sisi black & white garter tights

Last purchase (but not least!), I was hoping to find some sexy heels to go with that dress (and to class up any other dress I might wear to dinner in Portugal). I went in to Steve Madden looking for the UNITYY heels or something similar.. and was surprised to learn that Steve Madden now sells Betsey Johnson shoes! And I decided to go for a pair of peeptoe Betsey Johnsons:

Betsey Johnson Caseyy Peeptoe

Shopping for this trip definitely wasn't cheap (Nine West Booties, $170; Zara Dress, $70; Sisi tights, $10; Betsey Johnson Heels, $115) but I'm glad I got more expensive shoes this time around (as opposed to what I usually spend on shoes). I've been wearing the booties this week and so far, they are extremely comfortable and easy to walk in. And that, ladies, is money well spent in my book.


Countdown: 5 days

Half of my suitcase is already packed.. so exciting!
Nick & I set up our romantic rendez-vous in Paris, after the ballet in front of Opéra Garnier. *sighs*

Ciao bloggies,

Goddess of.. My Parisian Fantasy!

Your dreams? My dreams? Our reality.

Or something to that effect, I think John Lennon actually said : "A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality."

I've been dreaming of Paris for years. As a child, I went to Paris a few times.. I was very lucky to travel a lot with my parents when I was younger. For years, Paris has been my dream city. I have a (un)healthy obsession with the Eiffel tower, striped clothing (marinières à la J-P. Gauthier), macarons and countless other typically-french or Parisian things.

On my upcoming trip, I have 2 days in Paris upon arrival. Mainly to deal with jet-lag and make sure I'll be top shape when I get to Andrea (of @FranceHappened) in Strasbourg, 2 days later!

Simply three things on my to-do list :

• Visit Le Louvre (the only big attraction I haven't visited).
• Eat macarons from La Durée or Fauchon (or both). 
• Attend the opening night of a ballet at Palais Garnier  (w/ costumes by Christian Lacroix).

And then, I was talking to Nick last week:

him: "So you're arriving in Paris on the 22nd?"
me: "Yes, around 9am I think.."
him: "Okay, because I'll meet up with you after your ballet :)"
me: "Oh wow, really? You're not gonna be swamped with school?"
him: "I can take saturday night off. I originally wanted to go to the ballet with you but you said you bought the last ticket before it sold out :("
me: "My god, you're so sweet! I didn't think of inviting you since I know you have 4 exams in the following days.. but that's amazing!"

* And then I blushed like a little girl *

me: "I'm looking forward to seeing you :D"
him: "Me too :D and we can go to that bar you wanted to go to afterwards"
me: "Yay!"

So I guess I'll be seeing him sooner than I thought! Did I mention how excited I am?

Countdown: 10 days


Just to clarify, that's a countdown to my trip.. not to the end of my dry-spell. Although... ;)



P.S. If you like Paris too, reading this will be like porn for you:
http://fathomaway.com/postcards/romance/my-parisian-fantasy/

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.. I'm Going to Portugal & France! + Giveaway Winner

It's a done deal, girlfriends. The boy (we'll call him Nick) booked our plane tickets to Portugal yesterday and this morning, I booked my flight to Paris. Such exciting (yet terrifiying) adventures, don't you think?


The Skeptic in me still doubts that this is happening but the Romantic in me is researching the best beaches, romantic hotels, fun bars & gourmet restaurants. I've only taken one vacation with a boy in my lifetime: my ex Miguel and I went to Florida in 2007. It was fun & exciting with a side of bickering. But this time, it's completely different.

Everything is new and exciting. I've spent very little time with this guy, yet we like each other a lot and want to get to know one another. Sure, this could be a disaster (says the Skeptic) but it could also be a vacation I'll never forget & the start of a great story, the kind you only see in the movies (says the Romantic).

It could also be somewhere half-way in the middle, neither mind-blowing nor totally disastrous (says the Realist). We'll see :) only time will tell. But either way, I'll get to visit Portugal & France!

Also, I CANNOT WAIT to meet Andrea of @FranceHappened, it feels like it's gonna be one of those love at first sight stories.. because let's face it, she's incredible!


I leave you with an excerpt of adorableness from the boy: 

Nick: Ummmm how light do you usually travel lol? I need to know if you'll need checked bags.
Me: I wanna travel light but I don't know if I can fit absolutely everything in a single carry-on. Maybe, if I put everything in my suitcase and just hold my passport/boarding pass in my hand? Could be doable.

Another e-mail later...

Nick: So we're booked for Portugal! I got us 1 checked bag each (I think I can manage without hehe, the second one is just in case you go a *little* overboard ! :P )

Oh wow, it's cute how he knows me (or all women). The extra luggage will be awesome and I'm glad I didn't have to ask. He's taken initiative with every step of this booking process and I love that!

And now, for the Eden Fantasys Giveaway Draw

*Drum roll*

The lucky winner is:

Send me an e-mail at aritza.goddess@gmail.com and we will contact you to give you your prize!

Goddess of.. Grand Gestures: Romantic or Foolish?

Remember a few weeks ago, when I said (see post):

"ROMANTIC -- I met a gentleman through online dating two weeks ago. We really hit it off. There's just one thing.. I met him exactly 2 days before he was moving away to Europe & Asia for the next 10 months. We've been keeping in touch through e-mail but it sucks. I'm thinking of going on vacation to Europe, maybe in October.. and who knows, we may meet up somewhere. Could be über romantic :)"

Well, him and I are still e-mailing back and forth. We also Skype about once a week. Honestly, I'm surprised we're still pen pals.. I was expecting him to get bored of this or to simply lose interest. But he hasn't and I haven't either. The first time we talked on Skype, I was talking about wanting to take a vacation in October at some point.

 He mentioned I should go to Paris, meet up with him and we could go somewhere together. I thought that was really nice but wasn't banking too much on it. Wednesday night, we made another appointment to talk on Skype. After chatting for about an hour, he brought it up again: "So you know when we talked about you maybe coming to visit in October?".

I paused, held my breath and braced myself for disappointing news. I figured the following words would probably be something along the lines of "Turns out, I can't get away from school" or "Sorry, I planned something else".. but instead he surprised me: "I was thinking it'd be really nice if we could go to Portugal or the south of Spain".

I breathed out, I was excited, I said: "Wow, that'd be awesome!". Which was probably the understatement of the century but whatever, I was playing it cool. I told him I'd look up flights to Portugal on Thursday.. and report my findings. So Thursday, we discussed travel dates & time. Last night, when I got home, I uncovered a missed message from him on my computer, dated from Wednesday night after our chat: "There's no way to describe how much I would like to kiss you good night right now. Sweet dreams :)".

It was really sweet, because he hasn't mentioned anything about kissing me or missing me.. we talk and we're just kind of pen-pal friends. So I thought it was really cute that he didn't tell me during our chat but rather wrote it afterwards.

Today I asked for vacation days at work.Vacations days were just approved by my boss. I'm good to go. E-mailed the boy to tell him.

I'm excited, I'm terrified. I'm going to France and to Portugal? With a boy? Oh my god.

And the very pretty cherry on top? I might get to meet up with gal-pal Andrea from @France Happened!

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.. The Great Yoga Challenge of 2011!

In a constant effort to get my mind off residual breakup feelings and the lack of P-in-V on this side of the fence, I set up a challenge with my good friend & co-worker, Bunny.

Despite some of our friends' scepticism, Bunny & I started off by doing yoga at a lululemon store on Sunday morning (bright and early at 9:30am) two weeks ago. And then, we had the idea to set up the Great Yoga Challenge of 2011 for ourselves.

A few months back we had purchased a 10-yoga classes Groupon deal at a local yoga studio. Said Groupon deal was expiring at the end of July, so in a panic.. we decided to set up this 5-yoga-classes-in-5-days challenge .. to ensure we wouldn't lose the entire deal we'd paid for.

For 5 days in a row, we were gonna do 1 class of yoga per night (all different types of yoga). Tuesday, we did Hatha Flow yoga. Wednesday, we did the Budokon-Yoga fusion class. Thursday, on the hottest day of the heat wave that was hitting The City, we did Hot Yoga. On Friday, we did Yin Yoga. Sadly, the teacher cancelled the Saturday class so we were unable to complete the 5-in-5 but still managed to do 5-in-6 days if you count the Sunday class we had done at Lululemon.

Yoga helps make the little voices in my head shut up. Yoga makes me feel serene, free, loved, worthy & empowered. I need yoga right now and I think everyone could use more yoga in their life.

This past week, we decided to do a repeat. Yoga on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night. Maybe we didn't manage to do the 5-in-5 but we did 4-in-4 .. for 2 weeks in a row. We both feel super empowered, more fit and definitely, more serene.

Cheers to yoga everyone! Try it out sometime :)

XOXO

Goddess of.. Home Stretch: T Minus 5 Days!

Less than a week until I move into my new place and begin a brand new phase of my life!

I'm packing boxes.. and uncovering hidden/forgotten things all over my house. Some bring a smile to my face, others make me want to curl up in bed and cry. I text my friends to remind them of forgotten moments.

I guess I'm hopeful though: Starting a new chapter and I have a clean slate in my new place to forge new memories.

Can't believe this is finally happening.
The day is almost here!

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.. Found the Apartment, Signed the Lease!

I am so unbelievably excited!!!

This day has been such a blessing :)

First, I visited an apartment in the coolest part of town last night and I fell in love with it. It's right next to one of the biggest parks in town (kind of like our "central park") and it's just perfect for me!

And today, well I got my bonus at work. I exceeded my objectives for the first quarter this year and got 6 on 5 for most things. Which means I got an even higher bonus than it's generally possible!! Wooot woot!!

That money's gonna come in handy, considering that I also got a call today from my future landlord telling me that I got the apartment :) !!! They had several applicants / offers but I was first and I guess they trust me to be their quiet & adorable new tenant.

I am dying with excitement, I could pee my pants (but I won't). And I'm sorry if this post makes absolutely no sense, but I had to put pen to paper (or rather keyboard to screen) about this.

Goddess of.. Social Media Marketing?!

As you know, I've disappeared. I haven't really been around the blogosphere since I got my new job (last August, time flies!) and I've missed blogging regularly.

I've been doing terribly well at my new job, not to brag. I just mean that I feel extremely comfortable in my work environment and my ideas are always welcomed with open arms. It's been a growing, learning and super rewarding experience thus far.

I got my first pay rise in January, not too shabby (12%!) and they also acknowledged my work with the company's Facebook fan page. Apparently, I have a gift for handling social media and I managed to grow the company's fanbase on Facebook from .. 2,500 to 25,000 fans in well.. 4 months. I'm super proud of myself because I love the company and I think it deserves to have all this attention from the general public.

In the process, I am learning so much about marketing and social media in general. I've really gained a huge interest in the matter and I am hoping to take more classes, attend conferences, etc. If you hear of anything interesting happening in that area.. please think of me and let me know?! :)

Also, I'm thinking of going more tumblr than blog.. what do you think?

Love you,

Goddess of.. My Insta-Life This Week!

Sweet treats make time fly by at work

Homemade cupcakes are so good!

Currently reading

Out with coworkers

My new phone is here!!

Tofu and veggies

Goddess of .. Gotta Have "Faith" Giveaway !

Dearest bloggies,

On behalf of 2011, I would like to welcome you to this fresh new year. I trust that you had some fun over the holidays? Not too hard on the liver? Haha, who are we kidding.. Holidays are out to get your liver, every. year.

I wish you all a wonderful New Year and don't worry, I come bearing good news :)

I've got a Grand Giveaway to help you to start the new year with a BANG!

I've teamed up with the very nice folks at TheirToys (they sell Vibrators and other fun adult goodies) to offer you the ultimate gift that keeps on giving.

Ladies & (some) Gents, let me introduce you to your new bestfriend:

The lovely, charming and ever-so-penetrating  

Faith by Evolved Novelties

{retail value $19.99} 

Faith is a waterproof, true multi-speed, battery powered

(get rechargeable batteries, you'll save a fortune ;) *wink wink*)

massager/mini-vibrator and it comes with its own storage case.

Four words, kiddos (but not really children, 'cause that would be inappropriate):

Maximum intensity, minimal noise.

Click here, to see their other Mini Vibrators.

 .......................................................................................

TheirToys

Giveaway Rules

To enter this giveaway :

1. Follow my blog (through Google Friend Connect)

For additional entries :

- Follow me on Twitter (1 extra entry)

- Be my friend on Facebook (1 extra entry)
- Blog / Twitter about the Aritza & TheirToys giveaway (2 extra entries)

That's a total of 5 possible chances to win, so get on it.. Stat !

The giveaway is opened from Monday, January 10th, 2011 to Friday, February 11th, 2010.

The winner will be announced on Valentine's day!

 .......................................................................................

THAT'S NOT ALL:

TheirToys was kind enough to offer all bloggies to
"Get 5$ OFF + FREE shipping on all orders over $25".

 Simply use the PROMO CODE: aritza5off (all lower-case) 
Promo code expires on 2/11/11.

Good luck, Bloggies !

P.S. Please note that I am not receiving compensation for doing this giveaway. I simply asked TheirToys to do a giveaway as a "Thank you" to my loyal followers.