SUNNY-ISMS
WHAT IS LIFE? AND JUMPING IN THE KIDDIE POOL
YOU’VE GOT WHAT I NEED
On Friday night, I arrived at Simon's apartment with bags in tow. We had a party weekend ahead of us! And lots of gifts to dull out.
Seldon and her boyfriend, Thomas, were hosting a housewarming party on Friday night in their brand new apartment – where he was serving up his signature grilled cheeses from his shop Maison ToTo. [sidebar – I was in the middle of making friends when I heard across the blaring 90s playlist “AC!! AC!!” I looked up to spot a grinning Simon holding a grilled cheese high. He motioned for me to come over to taste what he has been raving about for weeks his favorite new sandwich. It was better than anything I've ever tasted. Thomas’s individual ramekins of Crème Brûlées were next… and I was first in line. Someone! Pass me a spoon and show me a lounge chair – a food coma will follow promptly after!]
Selden couldn’t have looked any happier. She had been determined to get this apartment since before she even stepped foot in the space. She just “knew it was mine” she had said. And it was. She called the landlord daily until he moved her to the top of the list and gave it to her. She was the last one to see it out of 20+ couples, yet she won out! Why? Persistence. She is a force to be reckoned with and honestly I have used her triumph to encourage me with my apt saga excuse moi, I mean story. Now just a story. Because in comes a greenlight…
At her party I was introduced to Cyndee. She is an expat New Yorker as well and has just moved to town. She is currently renting an airbnb and actively looking for a spacious apt in the wait for it… wait for it… Le Marais for ooooop, wait for it… wait for it… April 1st.
GREENLIGHT!
I showed her my place on Monday, just before Boog arrived (more on that later) and she loved it. I introduced the idea to my agency explaining all the good this would bring. A. the owner wouldn’t go a day without rent. B. the agency wouldn't have to waste their time searching for a new tenant - I have done that for them. C. Cyndee would have a home by April 1st so could stop stressing, and D. I wouldn’t have to pay for the additional week and get to leave at the end of the month clean and clear. Win Win Win! [As I type, Cyndee is sitting in the agency’s office pulling a Selden. Determined, and waiting until they approve her and say yes! She’ll get it! I just know it!]
FÊTE
The day after this soirée, Simon and I hosted 11 friends for a birthday fête for Helen, one of Simon’s very best friends. She is a dream. The whole day was filled with laughter, smiles, skinny cigarettes, birthday wishes, the best chicken Simon has EVER made (lucky us we had left overs – the perk of being the hosts!), pecan pie, bottles on bottles of wine, and friends from all over France. It was one very very special day!
She received a book about Peter Beard and nearly lost her mind with excitement. I found this all too ironic because Boog (Sunny Melet), who was due to arrive the following day, was family friends with him. Therefore, I have been around his work for most of my time in NYC by way of the Melets. Yet haven’t heard mention of this artist in years and now.. Same week that Sunny is coming to see me – Helen get’s the book. The world. Grows SMALL.
SUNNY-ISMS
Monday, by 4:30pm, Boog was in my arms. Before she came, I had gone to cancel my internet and tv account and consider adding a phone account. Wow! French number. Yes please! I don’t know what I’ll do without my 917. But hoping Virizon will pull it together for me and put it on ice while I adjust to having a new area code… in my new country. Stand by. For now, I’m still USA.
Cydnee, who I met at Seldon’s a few nights earlier, came to look at the apartment. And before all of this… I had an interview with a recruiter. Simon’s friend Cyril did me a great favor to meet with me about my experience and brainstorm avenues to explore. He gave me the greatest confidence. He told me, as many other people have too, that I need to see speaking English as an advantage, and not focus on not being fluent in French yet as the disadvantage. He told me I should be considering art, culture, luxury, and possibly tech industries as these are all in Paris and also heavily influenced by English speaking brands. I’m coming for ya - highend!
When Sunny buzzed my door it was like a squeal started and didn’t stop radiating the whole three days she was here.
We got her a snack at Evi Evane and then walked down to the Seine where we sat for hours catching up about travels, family, and boys!! With a capital B O Y S. Boog is popular with that particular gender. Of course she is! She was named right afterall. A ray of Sun for everyone who has the pleasure of knowing her. So boys ummmmm they’re like moths to a Sunny flame. Led right to her.
She was shocked when she learned my young age. She thought I was 29! Haha kills me. I was taking her to school when she was 5 ½. She’s 21 now. If her math was correct, that means her parents would have trusted a 14 year old to take her at 7AM every morning on two metros, three transfers, and one bus… Through central park and across 5th Ave… to keep her entertained by playing endless rounds of Gem Shop while shielding her ears from the crazies who would randomly yell anything that came to mind anytime it came to mine. They would have trusted this 14 year old to keep her smiling all the way from Tribeca to the Upper West Side every morning until she is delivered safely to Rudolph Steiner (with a likely chance that she’d have to be walked into her class since due to being tardy.) A 14 year old doing all of this?! Hmmm. Not a chance! But if she wants to continue thinking I’m 29 – and I continue to look the part (What?? She said I DO!) – no problem there.
Each morning when I would take Boog to school I would write down Sunnyisms the things she would say that made me want to eat her up. She was edible! Still is.
Her mother’s favorite is when I told Sunny that she was a Fashionista. Her response. “I know! I’m the best fashion easter.” There was also the time when we were riding in the bus and I spotted the most beautiful woman. Before Sunny and I got off at our stop, I asked the lady “Does anyone ever tell you that you look like Jessica Alba?” (She did. Dead ringer!) The lady said no and yet immediately sat up straighter. When Sunny and I hopped off the bus she took my hand (always to cross the street. Ahhhh she was such a boodle!) and looked up at me asking “Anne Caroline? Why did you tell that woman that she looked like Jessica Alba?” I said “Because she did! And now, for the rest of the day, she is going to feel so beautiful because I told her that she looks like a famous actress.” I saw the wheels turning in Sunny’s little mind.
It wasn’t two days later - change scene - we’re in the subway and she sees a very heavy homeless black woman riding the train. She looked sad and in need of a little sunshine. Sunny didn’t miss a beat. She went straight up to her and said “Excuse me. Has anyone ever told you that you look like … wait for it … wait for it… Jessica Alba?” AHH!!! My boog! I had taught her how to give a compliment and more than that - I had taught her what a compliment means to the person receiving it. The woman, nor Sunny, had any idea who Jessica Alba was… yet they both felt so proud. THE most precious Sunny-ism of all time.
WHAT IS LIFE?
This trip. My sunnyisms go something like this… “what is life?!”
She said this no less than 100 times per day while beaming mid-story. The phrase would sandwich a good tale about how her hotel would work out just in time when she thought she didn’t have a place to stay, or how she would get picked up (hitchhiking! Ahhhh! Don’t worry all you parents. She promised me that she ONLY does this in groups of two or more.) in just the right time before nightfall or a storm, when she met (one of her many) Thomas or another poor soul who didn’t have a chance but that she “just fell in love with” for the day. I mean “what is life?!”
What is HER life?! I’d say with complete confidence.. Pure and utter FLOW. Truly. She was having a call with her mama the night before she left. They were discussing a hotel for the Brimfield vintage show and trying to figure out how they could all split it etc. She sounded a bit stressed on the phone. When she hung up all I heard was “Anne Caroline!” when she handed the phone over for me to read the message she had just received she said with a HUGE smile, “what IS life?!” A woman who she works for through Free People offered for her to have her “extra room if she wanted it” in Brimfield. Sunny. My sweet Sunny girl. Her life is one avenue of GREENLIGHTS with a melody of WHAT IS LIFE?!
Another Sunnyism that stayed with me all the livelong week… I’m drowning in the kiddie pool.
Backstory. I was carrying unnecessary stress over the last few days. Little things: getting to my hair appointment on time, the apartment situation, organizing job interviews around my mini vacations with Simon, or my parents coming to town etc. She said “Anne Caroline, you’re drawing in a kiddie pool - not the deep end. You’re getting your haircut today and I’m worried about a boy not texting me back. We have kiddie pool problems - we are not starving, we are not in danger. We don’t have deepend pool problems. So just stand up - it’s a kiddie pool!”
My boog! From Fashion Easter to Phrase Guru. She’s so right!! Our lives are kiddie pools.
I was telling Simon this story and he smiled and said “Se noyer dans un verre d'eau” (you drown in a glass of water – very same meaning here in France). He understood Sunny instantly. And not just with this phrase.. But in person!
Proudest moment yet… When we met up with Simon for drinks at Bar du Moulin (our favorite spot) and my two Ss got to be together. They were in love - naturally! Instantly! They talked about their travels mostly and they both wildly impressed me. I want to travel more! I want to see the world as they have. I am so proud of both of them. They went, they saw, they learned, they can talk about it now, and share commonalities with strangers. It’s SUCH a gift.
When we left, Sunny said – “Simon is one of the smartest men I’ve ever talked to.” I loved this moment because I feel the same. His intellect is the most attractive thing. I could listen to him for days talk about … well anything. If he doesn’t know it he listens and learns, if he does know it, he explains and gives extra details, and if he isn’t sure, he researches. And sweet enough - Simon said the same thing about Sunny. She was so well versed in everywhere that she had traveled. She knew the history, the way the countries were and are now, in addition to her favorite people there, where they are from originally, who their families are, what they do etc. Simon was very impressed with her. As I always have been too. The most attractive thing about Sunny? “Her curiosity,” he said! I agree!
Sunny left this morning. I walked her to the bus stop just after we went to Ladurée for a chausson aux pomme pour moi and several macaroons pour elle. We walked to the stop JUST as the bus was pulling in. I mean, what is life?!!? And when she hopped on she turned quickly to ask me for cash. (took me back to ummm everyday when she was little and would forget her metro card and have to beg the driver haha) I had nothing on me. The driver had seen me taking her photo like a proud mama - so he winked at me and then smiled at her and told her that she could take a seat. GREENLIGHT.
I miss her already – my sweet little, go with the flow, what is life?, kiddie pool drowning Boog. She is one special girl to me! With one special talent and vision.
LARK
Ironically, hours after Sunny got on the bus and I was home packing to make my big move. (So excited! The Uber has been scheduled and I am about to be Rue de Levis bound for good!!) – I received a text from Larkyn. My old roommate and bestie in NYC. She, her husband Jim, and the original Brooklyn Boodles, her two precious girls, were in Paris for 7 hours. I stopped everything… didn’t even run a brush through my (hummmm newly cut and styled – thanks to David, my new very favorite hairdresser) locks and sped pedaled over to their restaurant for a quick smooch.
Her girls are beyond PRECIOUS and so big. I can hardly believe she’s a mother of two girls at those ages. We laughed, I pretended to know what characters Austen and Evan were telling me they were for halloween, I counted all of Evan’s fingers 100 xs – a precious game she wanted to play, and I taught Austen how to double-check-kiss as the chic french women do.
It was the best day and all again too ironic. Because when I would be out of town for vacation etc. and couldn’t take Sunny to school (many many moons ago in nYC), Larkyn would for me. Sunny left today – Larkyn arrived. The world. Grows small.
DINNER QUESTIONS + FILM REVIEW
I made Simon a pie a few nights ago from the leftovers of my dough (I had made the pecan pie for the birthday party - no leftovers there. They ate it up! But there was dough!). It was delicious and fancy!! I took a page from my Southern Chef Erica’s book and jazzed it up by adding lace on the top. I was so proud. He was impressed. He came in from a very long site visit outside of Paris.. To a new lady. He loved my new haircut and made over the meal I had made. I can’t wait to live with him and have these moments all the time! Laughing and happy.
My mamee (grandmother) used to say that different classes had different questions around the dinner table. She always got away with saying things that I’m about to type.. Because she didn’t mean harm… she just said things that came to mind even if they were wildly inappropriate (but hilarious) as this…
When dinner is served, the upper class question is – “How does it look?", the middle class question – “How does it taste?,” and the lower class question “Did everyone get enough?”
So inappropriate to say out loud - but such a true statement! And last night? Well… I brought it all. We raved about the pie’s look. Then Simon moaned as he ate because it tasted so good - as he got enough by taking seconds. (He and I both would have taken thirds had we not removed it from the table’s easy access point. Ummmm right in front of us!).
Simon and I went to Dune II on Sunday. I hadn’t seen the first one – so when I walked in, Simon warned me that “there's a style of person who comes to this.” hahahah he meant nerd. I pointed out – we were fitting right in on the FOURTH row. We were glued to the screen. Best movie I’ve ever seen. If you haven’t gone yet, do yourself a favor. Stop reading this and go to the nearest cinema NOW. The costumes alone are worth the popcorn hangover.
WRAP UP
I had the best week! Parties, Sunny, Larkyn, Movies and meals and laughs with Simon, Haircut at the Bulgari Hotel - with a sneaky steam and sauna hour (with the most epic shower I have ever taken in my life. Felt like heavy mist - but lots of it), several impromptu visits to see Simon at work, and finally … my move that is happening today.
EN ROUTE NEXT WEEK
Next week, Simon has asked me to join him in Deauville - where he has a conference for a few days. So excited. We are taking one day to explore together - and then the next, he will be working to “save the planet” with his renewable energy conference, and I will be walking or biking every square inch of the area! I will return to more unpacking in our apartment, have my final apartment inventory walk through for my current apartment, and we will end with another birthday party for Simon’s friend, Roba – where famed chef, Alain Passard, will be making us all dinner from his garden. Unreal!
At the end of this week I texted both Bob and Pam, and thanked them for giving me their daughter. She was my gift in NYC - brought me such joy. And now all grown up? She’s still radiating those shiny SUNshine rays. They both reminded me that it wasn’t just them who raised her. It was her community and that I was a major part of it.
I am proud to say… as of now… She is my best work! I am SO PROUD OF HER.
As we used to say.. “When it’s really Sunny out, all you need is AC.” Still applies today!
I sent Simon this photo an hour ago. His response “OMG.” My response… “are you regretting your invitation? Haha” His… “not. at. all!”
We are so happy. I am expecting him any minute — where we will load me up and catch my UBER. Rue de Lévis here I come.
Until next week — xxo ac