Day 214: Be Surprised.

 Illustration by Fifi Flowers
After a long day at work where the office is buzzing with everyone getting ready to head home for the holidays next week, I stopped by chez Sylvie for a noisette and to decorate the restaurant's Christmas tree with her. While sipping my coffee and going through her box of heart-shaped ornaments, we shared our Christmas plans with each other. While I'll be in New York, she will be closing the restaurant for the last week of December and the first week of January to spend the holidays in Bretagne with her family.
The stuffy and packed metro ride home on this cool Monday evening had me looking forward to my quiet night in, with each stop bringing me closer to the silence and tranquility of my apartment. Unfortunately, my fantasy of nestling in a vanilla bubble bath with a glass of red was quickly shattered when I realized that my night wasn't over just yet - I had an apartment to clean. I have been putting this off for a week and with the excitement of my mom in town, going out to dinners and holiday functions, my apartment has become a bit of a dumping ground. I had a linty carpet to vacuum, piles of espresso cups and vin chaud stained glasses to clean, baguette crumbled-counters to wipe off and piles of papers and clothes to sort through. Good times.
I walked up my six flights of penis banister stairs, leaned on my front door while fishing for my keys in my exploding work tote and before finding them to let myself in, I fell into my apartment - I fell in because my door was already open. Oh no, now what? Has Katie come to my apartment to do more damage? Is there a thong that she forgot to steal?
I walked in with my heart pounding, fearing the unknown. Why the fuck was my door unlocked?
Because my apartment is microscopic, I quickly learned that I had not been robbed again this year as an adorable Sébastien stood in my sparkling clean apartment with my Christmas cinnamon spice and eggnog candles lit, making it smell like a holiday dream. He did all the things that I needed to get done, and did them better than I would have. My dishes were clean and piled up in the dish rack, my clothes were folded on my made bed (I swear that my pillows looked fluffed), my carpet was vacuumed and everything was in their neat and tidy place. This just made me melt, where is this guy from? The planet of perfect men? He left work early knowing that I normally skip the gym on Monday night, snuck in with his key and to cross one thing off of my already heavy to-do list.
I have to say that I have never had such a kind and thoughtful boyfriend in my entire life. MF used to call me bordélique if I left a dish in the sink which used to irritate me to no end because on a whole, I'm quite tidy but even if I wasn't, who needs that kind of constant criticism with the man you are sharing your life with? It's exhausting.
Since the apartment was already clean, it freed up the hours I would have spent cleaning, so we took our last Vespa ride of 2011 through a sparkling Christmas themed Paris to the 11th where I treated Séb to North African cuisine.
At La Bonne Franquette, we ordered a festive tagine of couscous seasoned with almonds, raisins, cinnamon and chicken, split a pichet of wine and capped our meal off with a piping glass of fresh mint tea. The days before heading back to the States are getting closer and I'm trying to absorb as much of Christmas in Paris as I can and enjoy the best holiday season that I've had in years.
La Bonne Franquette
151, rue de la Roquette
75011 Paris