Wednesday, August 16, 2006

"You must risk something that matters." ~ Tom Waits

Although I have no pictures to support it, I had a very fun day today. I met Tahmineh by the fountain on Saint Michel and we hopped on a bus for an afternoon of shopping and lunch. We talked about Paris and her marriage and the way we want to raise our non-existent kids. We talked about jobs and family and life and clothes. We laughed and ate and tried on shoes. It was a perfectly lovely girl kind of day and I was grateful to her for indulging me.

After looking for a pizza place that was of course closed for the month, we finished our errands at Galeries Lafayette and made our way back across the river to Le Bon Marche. Le Bon Marche is my new favorite place. It is basically, for all intents and purposes, a department store. But not just any department store. A department store in an all out Parisian sort of way. (This is similar in kind to Galeries Lafayette but on a not SO giant scale.) Let me just say, there is an entire floor dedicated to food. We sat in the cafe and ate the special of the day, which was a delightfully tasty grilled shrimp dish. Our topic of discussion somehow veered towards our best worst boyfriend and semi-stalker tales. All giggled out, we then poked around the market, ooing and ahhing over the massive displays of desserts and breads and cheeses. I could have spent all day there. We (ok, I) decided that I was in need of a chocolate éclair (Note: Tahmineh’s husband swears they are the very best in all of Paris and I felt it my responsibility to research such a claim. I would like to officially agree with Vassilis for the record) before we proceeded to scoot around the neighborhood for more shopping and browsing.

She took me to Conrad’s where I found way too many things to fall in love with…Things that even if I could afford, I would have had no way of getting home. Though both points somewhat saddened me, it made the decision making process quite easy which is always a relief for indecisive shoppers such as myself.

We then made our way down to a shoe store that was having a major sale. After much debate, we decided there were two pairs of platform sandals that Tahmineh couldn’t and shouldn’t live without. She used her birthday money from her parents and enthusiastically treated herself. All of that walking and shopping and trying on meant that by the time we passed Amorino’s, we felt we deserved some ice cream to celebrate our successful day. Two scoops later (I ventured out and tried the caramel with the chocolate this time) we parted ways having had a really good time bonding and hanging out.

I came upstairs for a few minutes and then got a call from John who was out and about and offered to meet up for a drink. The weather was rather drab so I walked in the rain just down the way and found him outside of the McDonald’s, right where he said he’d be. We took cover in a café with a tabac (so he could buy cigarettes), which naturally led me to by best, “I’m going to give you a hard time about smoking” pitch. That was fun for a minute but then we moved on to a deeper discussion regarding cravings. This led to John revealing what was really on his mind, which turned out to be s’mores (which he pronounced schmores therefor taking me a minute to translate properly.) He was all jazzed about the concept of going to the store to get marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers and then making “schmores” in the fireplace. That plan fell apart quickly as soon as he realized that they don’t really have graham crackers here in addition to the fact that the stores that sell the marshmallows were long closed by then. Instead we decided on ice cream (yes that’s right, that’s twice for me today) and stopped by Amorino’s (yes, again) to fulfill our cravings.

We came back to Xander’s and opted for a movie. We chose “Friday Night Lights” which neither of us had ever seen, but we both ended up enjoying. I think I like sports movies a lot more than I’ve ever admitted. They get me excited about whatever game is the subject of the film by showing me all the heightened moments. I feel such a part of the action that for a second I actually believe I love watching football. I become so emotionally invested in the struggle of the athlete that I find myself involved in the inner-drama of the athlete’s heart and mind. Basically, I am tricked into thinking that this is what it’s like to watch sports in real life when logically, that is so not the case. Anyway, it was fun and we had a good time with our ice cream and impromptu movie night. John left right after and I actually felt tired at a decent hour. I think I read a page of my book before quickly drifting off to sleep.