He Shared His Big Day with Me!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right folks, it was his big day, but he selflessly decided to share it with me!!!  and I am now the proud FIANCE of Mr. Fabrice Claude Saint-Elie JD!!!! Saturday was an exciting day.  I started the day ironing Fab's graduation regalia.  He was sooooo excited that he got dressed about an hour and a half early.  I tried to get him to take off his shirt until it was time to go so he wouldn't get it dirty but he refused...LOL.  He was just so anxious... so I let him be while he shaved, brushed his teeth, and ate leftover spaghetti with his black collared shirt on.  Fortunately, he didn't spill anything...phew!

While I was ironing and getting ready for the day Fab walked into his bedroom and pretends to grab something from under the bed.  He gets on one knee and pretends to ask me me to marry him.  Of course, this was a joke and I brushed it off with a "yeah right" and he says "Is that what I'm supposed to do? Do guys still get down on one knee or is that corny?"  I replied "noooo, that's corny.  I wouldn't want you to do that because that's not you.  I wouldn't want you to ask me in a way that's not you.  That wouldn't be your style."  He goes "yeah, you're right.  That's not me at all."  Now, I never would have imagined that he was fishing for information.  I totally thought that was just a random question.  We have random conversations about marriage all the time (he'd probably say they're not random because I always bring it up...hmmm...maybe. LOL).  I had NO CLUE whatsoever that he was planning on asking me to marry him later that day.

Now, let's rewind back to Friday evening.  Fab's family arrived to Jax around 5 o'clock and we all headed over to the Florida Coastal campus for a Graduation Open House put on by the school that allowed graduates to give their family a tour, talk to the alumni association, and take pics in graduation regalia with family.  Here is one of our pics...

As we are walking to the car after the Open House, Fab gets a mysterious phone call.  He answers the phone "This is he" and walks off to take the call away from me and his family.  It was really weird, but I assumed it was work or school related.  I asked him who it was when we got in the car, and he said to just trust him but he couldn't tell me.  I was confused, but determined not to make a big deal out of it so I left it alone.  I now know that that mysterious phone call was from my Dad!!!  He had called my dad to ask for my hand and my dad was returning the call.  Can you believe it! How incredibly amazing and charming is that! it is not every day that you run into a 28 year old with good old fashioned values (at least not in CA).

Now back to graduation day.  My mom called to congratulate Fab on his big day. He grabs Nala, the family dog, and "takes her on a walk" while he's talking to my mom.  Turns out he was also revealing his plans to my mom!  At this point, I am frantically running around trying to get dressed so we can head over to the arena for graduation.  I still have no idea that within the next 4 hours Fab would not only officially be a lawyer, but he'd also become my fiance!  Here is a pic of my future hubby crossing the stage for his big moment after being hooded, and a couple pics from after graduation with his family and friends.  I am still completely clueless that my own big moment is less than an hour away...

Now, the next picture captures the moment just after the discreet ring pass off... Fab and his mom slipped off into the arena (or so I thought). I noticed them walk off and I assumed there were just going to the restroom.  Hehe...sure fooled me!  He's got my ring tucked safely in his pocket with his beloved blackberry...(side note: Doesn't mom look proud!)

 

So graduation was over, and we were all floating on cloud 9!  It was time to go celebrate!!! but Fab had even more excitement planned for me in the next hour or so.  The graduation ceremony was much shorter than anticipated so we pushed our dinner reservation up from 7:30 to 6.  Fab's family and friends headed over to the restaurant but Fab insisted on stopping at the house first to change.  When we got there, I ironed his shirt, and he changed. We were on our way out the door (so I thought) and I grabbed my purse to refresh my lip gloss.  I was on my way to the bathroom, gloss in hand, when Fab walked up to me and said "This is weird. I've never done this before." I'm thinking to myself, what is he talking about? So I said, "Honey, we gotta go. I'm trying to put my lip gloss on." So I walked past him to the bathroom and he followed behind me and grabbed my arm.  When I turned around, he whipped out the ring and looked me dead in the eye....

"Noooooooooooo..."

That's right folks, in shock, the first thing that came out of my mouth was "noooooooo" as in "no way"  followed by "are you serious? oh my God? are you serious?"  to which he replied "are you telling me no?"  "oh no, I mean yes! YES!!! of course!" Lol.  It was all pretty surreal, and I'm smiling at the screen as I type this.  So, he goes to put the ring on my finger, and he goes for the right hand, so I say "no, no, wrong hand, its the left" Lol.  So my fiance slipped my engagement ring on my finger and gave me a big kiss, and I literally skipped around the living room in circles giggling! smh.  I was (am) so elated... Well, I'm not sure how, but we managed to get out of the house and on our way to the graduation dinner after snapping a couple pics of the ring, which I promptly mass texted to my friends and family from my slowly dying iphone which was already below 20% battery life.  As you can probably imagine my phone was dead before I finished my salad at dinner...

Fabrice, I LOVE YOU!!!! Thank you for making what was supposed to be your special day, our special day! I can't wait to spend the rest of my life you!!! *smooches*

After Dinner, all the young folks went out to celebrate at the Ritz bar! Shout out to my new sister, Audrey, and to Fabrice's childhood best friends (from left to right) Kashel, Kandis, and Kristin! Thanks for coming out to celebrate our special night! We love you all!  And shout out to Audrey's boyfriend, Trevor also known as "Bro" in the 2nd picture below, where you'll also see Fab comforting me in my "I'm so happy" tears of joy moment in the middle of the bar... smh.

Fab's Big Day...

...not to be confused with "our" big day *wink wink* (he's gonna kill me..Lol)  Okay, the day that my boyfriend has been working toward for the past three years is finally within reach.  I can't tell you how many times I had to remind him how close he was to the end over this past year.  I think the time went by so incredibly fast.  I guess I think of time in terms our our relationship, and I can't believe that its been almost a year since Fab and I first began to form a friendship on Twitter.  AN ENTIRE Almost a YEAR! (Fab informed me that I was lying exaggerating on the timeline)  Today, I officially started preparing for my semi-annual conference at work.  It made me think of a conversation I had with Fab on Twitter from the conference last July. By then we had become pretty good friends on Twitter.  He had just returned home from an internship with Congress in DC (a time he describes as the most horrible and wonderful experience of his life).  One month later, he entered into his LAST year of law school and a new relationship with a girl he met on twitter...Me!  Throughout this year, our relationship has grown and I find myself loving Fab more and more.  I came into his life at the end of his law school journey but I feel like I've walked these last few steps right by his side, and I AM SO PROUD OF HIM! 

So, for Fab, the excitement of graduation has kind of been tempered by finals and a 25 page paper (the AWLR). To be honest, he's been more stressed than excited over the last couple weeks, but he turned in his AWLR and knocked out 2 finals this week! So he's beginning to really taste it now! Every morning, Fab sends me a good morning email with a witty subject line --- "Good Morning (XXX edition)." He's 3 hours ahead and its usually about noon for him by the time I get settled into things at work. He usually just gives me the run down of his day and says something silly to make me smile. The subject line of this morning's email was "Good Morning (I accidentally murdered my sports law final edition)" and for the 1st time in the last couple weeks I could hear the excitement kicking in. In the email he told me that he received his cap and gown today and the "doctoral hood made him happy as hell." Well it apparently made me happy as hell too, because I was smiling at the computer screen reading the email. haha! Here are some pics of his cap and gown and his invitations (which he ordered late and just received last week... smh.. he is going to kill me)

I'll be heading to Jax next Thursday to watch Mr. Fabrice Claude Saint-Elie Esquire walk across that state and accept his Juris Doctorate and I am so very excited... excited for him because I know how hard he's worked and the sacrifices he's made during this time. It's been a long road...a fun road, but a long road. I have to admit that I am also excited for what this means for US. #SelfishPlug Lol. Now that law school is over, we can begin planning our future. I'm crossing my fingers that the days of "loving long distance" will be coming to an end soon. Granted, he's still gotta pass the bar and all but we are so much closer than we were!!! and that is something to be excited about!

I LOVE YOU!!! AND I'M SO PROUD!!!  SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!!!

p.s. Next week, I'll be needing some help picking out my outfit for the graduation.  Fab's sister Audrey is something like a paparazzo (Fab loves to remind me that paparazzi is plural.  I hope this makes him proud) so I have to be picture perfect on Fab's big day!  I'll be posting pics on my "fashion" blog, frugal FASHIONISTA so folks can vote!

Shoes (Continued)

Shout out to my honey! I am wearing my new boots today, and they are FABULOUS!!!! Don't they look HOT!!!

Shoes...The Way to a Woman's Heart...

Boy oh Boy! That man of mine is so sweet!  Today I came home to a UPS delivery notice.  There was a package left for me on the back patio.  A package? I wasn't expecting anything.  I opened the patio door to a huge box addressed to "Eboni Saint-Elie" (a freudian slip apparently, because he says he didn't mean to address it that way *wink wink*)...Instantly, a smile spread across my face, and I thought to myself, "Are you kidding me? OMG, no he did not send me another gift!" Mind you, a couple weeks ago he sent an Edible Arrangements fruit basket to my job, followed by a big box full of gifts the next day (books, a gift card to target, a gift card to VICTORIA SECRET!!! three volumes of my favorite manga series -- Naruto, and digital picture frame loaded with all the pictures from his Winter Break here in LA!!!) How freakin' thoughtful is that!?! So imagine my surprise, when I realized that he was sending me yet ANOTHER gift!!!


Let me give you the back story. Saturday mornings are our special time to catch up.  We usually spend hours talking about everything under the sun on Saturday morning.  Last Saturday, Fabrice happened to call me while I was in the middle of a little online window shopping.  I had just run across a pair of SUPER CUTE Nine West boots on sale.  Being the true cyber couple that we are, I quickly sent him the link on gchat to get his opinion, and he replied "Naw, don't get those.. they're not even hot.  They're wack... Besides you're already spending a lot of money this month on Vegas (i'm taking him there for his 28th birthday) and those look like all your other boots."  So my excitement quickly deflated and I decided to pass on the boots.  What I didn't know was that AS HE MUTTERED "THOSE ARE WACK," HE WAS CLICKING "ADD TO CART!!!"  


So today, he keeps asking me when I'm going home, and if I was planning on going to the gym first.  So I'm thinking to myself, what is he up to?  he is plotting something over there... so I asked him on gchat, "What are you plotting over there?"  No reply, so I said "oh, it must be a secret plot because you are not replying...hehehe...I love it when you're sneaky. it turns out well :)"  A few more minutes pass and he finally replies, "Naw, no plots. I wanted you to measure my coat that I left in your closet. Wanted you to measure the waist.  I saw a black one the other day that's on sale, but wanted to see if it needed adjustments or if it was the same."  And guess what, I FELL FOR THAT RANDOM STORY!!! Can you guys believe that? smh...well, he was definitely plotting, and I was so surprised!  Is he not the most thoughtful man ever? And you know what he said when I called him to say thank you?  "I just wanted to make you smile like you're doing right now... you sound so happy."


THANK YOU HONEY!!!! YOU'RE THE BEST!!!

Meet The Parents...Our First Thanksgiving Together

Thanksgiving 09 was quite memorable!  I met Fabrice's family for the first time, and I can honestly say they were great!  Of course, when you meet  your significant other's family for the first time, a little bit of anxiety is inevitable, right?  What if they don't like you? or even worse, what if YOU don't like THEM.  It may sound crazy, but the latter is much scarier to me.  I hate to sound brash, but honestly, it would be easier to brush off someone not liking me, than the other way around.  I figure it's easier to work on building a relationship with someone over time if the onus is on me.  But if I don't like someone, I likely won't even want to try, and that would inevitably be detrimental to any relationship.  Not that any of this matters, in the case of the Saint-Elie family.  I truly ADORED every one that I met, and I had a fabulous time!  There was lots of laughing, good times, and good eatin'! His family welcomed me with open arms, and made me feel right at home instantly!  And I could not have wished for a better Thanksgiving this year!

Fabrice's family (except him) are all vegetarians, so it was my first (I hope not the last) vegetarian Thanksgiving!  Now, I do enjoy vegetarian food.  My mom is a vegetarian, and I'm usually the only one she can drag out to her vegetarian restaurants.  But of course, for the average American family, Thanksgiving means overindulging in turkey, ham, roast, and all the meat-filled sides your heart desires.  I have to say, I enjoyed my Thanksgiving dinner SO VERY MUCH!  The food was phenomenal. I should probably should have taken pictures.  We had two different types of quiche, a SUPER YUMMY onion tart, two types of vegetarian meatballs, a vegetarian roast with a mushroom gravy, cabbage, carrots, macaroni and cheese, and bread from Mr. Saint-Elie's bakery.  I am sure I'm missing something, but everything was sooooo flavorful. Oh, and Fabrice's dad made a PHENOMENAL apple tart, that just about knocked my socks off!  So all in all, I guess you can assume that I did not miss the meat.  Fabrice is looking forward to Christmas with my family next, and it will definitely be quite the other extreme.  Our family tradition is gumbo!  I'm sure he is going to love it, as much as I loved all the yummy dishes at his family's home.

Anyway, I know this is a couple weeks late, but this Thanksgiving, among many, many, other things, I am thankful that I met such a wonderful man.  He came into my life so unexpectedly, and has been such a blessing thus far, and I am looking forward to sharing many more holidays with him in the future!

How It All Started...On Twitter - Part III (The Final Chapter)

It's been a while since my last post. I just haven’t time to write. I know I'm supposed to be able to blog with ease from my iPhone but I really don't like typing long messages on that thing, and let's be honest, my life is not complete without a real spell checker... So anyway, my original concept for this blog was actually to talk about how Fab and I work through issues as a long distance couple, but I thought it would be fun to share our story first...When I started I had no idea it would take 3 posts to tell the story! Anyway, his will be the final chapter of our little romance...how we actually met and how we became an "official" couple... IN PERSON!

August 5

After spending countless hours on the phone, and g-chatting, and tweeting, and texting, and emailing, we began to casually talk about how we'd like to meet in person, and when that might happen. I, still lacking patience pants, decided that I'd just take the lead on this (noticing a trend here?). We now have an ongoing joke about how I "invited myself to Jax." I didn't see it that way at the time, but in retrospect I have to giggle because I guess it’s true. Fabrice had casually mentioned Labor Day being a good time to try and make arrangements to meet in person because we both had that Monday off, but with classes just starting for him, coming to LA was out of the question. Well, that was my cue! I jumped on it and started looking for flights to Jax. I said to him "Well, that’s no problem, I have tons of PTO at work, I'll just take a couple days off and come to Jax" and that was that. I started looking for flights, and I asked him to email me his class schedule, and viola! I don't know if you all have been keeping track of the timeline here, but this was LESS THAN 2 WEEKS after our first phone conversation. Wow! I didn't even realize how fast it all happened until I just typed it out.

Meanwhile, a childhood friend of Fabrice's, @trniii as I knew him from Twitter was coming to LA with his wife for a family wedding. He arranged a "Tweetup" with me and some other "Tweeps" (Twitter buddies) at a local bar for Happy Hour. Fabrice mentioned to @trniii that he and I had been talking on the phone, and if I'm remembering this correctly, his initial response had been “WTF? Isn’t she in California?” followed by a snicker. Now, I wasn't there, but I am assuming that Fabrice had to play it cool with @trniii, and he had no idea how much Fabrice and I were talking or how close we had become, but he did tell him that he liked me, and that I was really cool. Well, as any friend would be, @trniii was skeptical, but he told Fabrice he'd check me out and report back, and that if he and his wife liked me, then Fabrice was in trouble! So the big "Tweetup" day finally arrived. I was very nervous about meeting @trniii because I knew he'd be giving Fabrice a report on me. I toiled over what to wear, and Fabrice doesn't know this (I guess he does now), but I actually bought a new dress. hehehe. So I arrive at the bar, and meet @trniii (Theo) and his wife @cherrocks81 (Cher). We were discussing playing instruments and Theo decided now was the time to begin the interview process. He casually mentioned Fabrice in the context of playing the Rock Band video game, "Oh, my friend @masterluke103 is the master of Rock Band" I casually replied with a smile, "Oh, I know, he told me"...I think by this time Fabrice had started texting me. Unfortunately, I am a chronic text smiler, so I totally gave myself away. Theo asks me "Who are you texting? This is a tweetup!" I looked up with the biggest grin and of course my cover was blown, and he say laughing, "I know who yooou're texting". Well, the details after that are a bit blurry, but I do remember a very simple line of questioning, "What do you like about him?" ..."Everything?"..."Really?"..."Yes"..."Well, seriously, what are you doing? He is in Florida. Are you going to visit him? Are you going to move?..."Yes, and if things continue how they have been yes, I will move."..."You're going to move where?"..."To wherever he is"...To this, he replied stunned "Wow! You’re serious. How often do you guys talk, do you talk every day?"..."Yes, every night." And that was it. I guess he had asked all the questions he felt were necessary at the time. What I didn't know (and this is the part that I probably shouldn't be telling, sorry honey!) was that while we were there, Theo received a call from his "Dad," but of course this was Fabrice and Theo was actually giving his initial report right there while I was at the table! Can you believe it! Well, to this day, I do not know what Theo told Fabrice about me, but I guess it must have been good because he didn't run for the hills after that...

August 24

So after meeting Theo, Fabrice and I continued with our normal routine, and we were learning more and more about each other, and becoming closer every day. It was clear that we were now officially dating (but without titles), and we both wanted our friendship to go to the next level, but we both had apprehensions about taking that step before actually meeting. The funny thing is that the apprehension didn't really have anything to do with our feelings for each other. It had more to do with the us not wanting to have to explain to our friends how we could possibly be in a relationship with someone we had never met except in real life...Nonetheless, we didn't quite make it to our Labor Day meet up to make things official. On the afternoon of Aug 24, on Gchat, Fabrice was recalling a conversation he'd had with Theo. He had asked "So how are things going with Eboni"..."Things are great, the more we talk, the more I like her"..."Relationship?" to which Fabrice replied with a cyber sigh, "I don't know how this happened to me but, yeah"...On the other side of cyber space a huge kool-aid smile spread across my face, but I let him continue the story without interrupting...I think we may have even ventured off into a few other topics of conversation before I brought it up..."So I noticed in your conversation with Theo, you said that we were in a relationship...Soooo, are we?" In true Fab fashion, he replies smartly "Duh" and that was that.... he had just made me the happiest girl in LA (I'll grab another barf bag). So that was that, two weeks before we would meet, we made our relationship official. Of course, I was ready to tell the world, but it was strange... Our entire relationship had developed right under the noses of our Twitter friends and while some people had caught on to the flirting, no one knew what was really going on. We talked about it, and decided that we'd keep it on the low until we actually met. Again, we just didn't want to have to explain things to people. So in true cyberdating fashion we decided to announce our relationship to the world via a picture posting on Facebook from my first trip to Jax which wouldn't be for another couple weeks...

September 4

So finally the big day came, September 4th, and I was going to meet Fabrice. I was so excited, and I spent HOURS preparing... hair, nails, new outfits...I tried on every outfit before I packed it...Ladies, just think of a first date to the 10th power! Fab and I had exchanged a million pictures by now, but what if we didn't look the same in person? Or what if we had no chemistry in person? We were both anxious and I swear it was the longest flight ever...Finally, my flight lands, and the pilot announces that we can use our cell phones. I text Fabrice and excitedly tell him I've landed, and wouldn't you know it, I was early...Oh, wait, I have to back up a second and tell you that instead of flying into Jax, I flew into Orlando... It was cheaper, and Fab thought it was a quick drive, no more than an hour... Boy, were we wrong! Turns out that there are two airports in Orlando and the one I flew into was a little over 2 hours away, but that’s not all. He had set an appointment with the cable guy, and of course the cable guy shows up LATE, and just as he was walking out the door heading to the airport. Once the cable guy left, he had to put air in his tire! When he finally gets on the road and heads the wrong direction on the freeway. Well he eventually got headed in the right direction, but needless to say he was very late. When I landed, he was still about an hour away. The funny thing is we hadn't figured out that he had the wrong airport yet, so he thought he was much closer than he actually was. Even funnier, is that in one of our numerous getting to know you conversations I had gone on and on about how waiting at the airport to get picked up was one of my ultimate pet peeves, and how in my opinion it was SO inconsiderate to have someone waiting after they'd been traveling for hours." Quite naturally, he was freaking out. When I called him, the first thing he said was "I am so sorry; I didn't want this to be how this trip started." The crazy thing is I was so excited, that I didn't even care. It was actually kind of a relief. I went in the bathroom, and fixed my hair, brushed my teeth, and refreshed my makeup. Then I sat down at a restaurant and ate a late lunch. By the time I finished he was there...So I picked up my bags and headed to the curb outside of baggage claim. I had butterflies in my stomach standing there on that curb... I had to be waiting for like 3 minutes but it felt like forever, and finally I saw a white Honda pull up (he had told me what his car looked like), and out jumped a very handsome Fabrice with a big smile, and the cutest dimple in his right cheek. He was just as handsome as he was in all the pictures and I loved his smile. He came over and gave me a big hug, and he just held on for a minute. He didn't kiss me though. We recently discussed that this was an awkward moment. Do we kiss? Do we not kiss? We had been cyberdating for about a month and a half now, but this was still our first time meeting....so he decided he'd just give me a hug, and I was okay with that. He grabbed my bag and threw it in the trunk, and I jumped in the passenger seat. He hopped in the car and before he pulled off he looked at me and smiled, and I looked back and smiled. "Hi" I said, and he replied, "Hi, you really are tight as tight as your pictures" and that was it. I had officially "met" my boyfriend Fabrice, and I was loving what I saw.

Besides that awkward kiss moment, we were instantly comfortable with each other. It was like we'd been dating forever, which I guess makes sense. We had been dating over the phone for over a month, and in that time we probably learned more about each other than the average couple who started out by going on a few dates and talking on the phone once or twice a week. Since we couldn't see each other all we could do was talk, talk, talk. Obviously, this has its downside, but in retrospect, I credit the long distance nature of our relationship for how close we are now. We both agree that what makes our relationship so special is that we communicate with each other so well, but I don't think we can take all the credit for that. I am sure that a part of that is just due to us not having a choice. Anyway, the 4 days I spent in Jax were absolutely delightful! I enjoyed getting an inside look into his life...his favorite movies, rock band, and his favorite restaurants...We laughed, we played, we shared pictures... I cooked, which I LOVE to do....Oh and of course, before we could even make it home from the airport, we kissed. After that first weekend, if we had any doubts about our compatibility, we didn't anymore. We were both convinced that we were perfect for one another...Oh, and by the way, as planned we did announce our relationship to the world by posting a pic on Facebook and changing our relationship status...Lol, in 2009 it doesn't get anymore serious than that! Fabrice even surprised me by tweeting a pic of us (the main pic for this blog, actually) from a restaurant...Twitter went wild...What? When did this happen? hehe... its funny because every once in a while someone new will pop up and say "Hey, wait a minute, I didn't know ya'll were dating."So this is where the hard part begins...After all it can't be all rainbows and butterflies, right? How does a happy couple make a relationship work on opposite coasts?

How It All Started...On Twitter - Part II

So by now, I am sure you're wondering, how did we go from flirty tweeting to real life friendship to full blow relationship.  Well, here it goes...Part II

July 22, 2009

Well, on the evening of July 22, @masterluke and I were engaging in regular routine of tweeting and flirting.  He had returned to FL after a summer internship at the Capital  in DC, and was enjoying a late night game of beach frisbee with some friends from law school.  It was about 1 am on the east coast.  I tweeted that 1am beach frisbee sounded like a lot of fun, and he replied with the defining flirty tweet...He replied telling me to come to FL anytime and we could have our maralade party and get in a game of late night beach frisbee.  In retrospect, Fabrice and I always joke about whether or not this was a real invitation -- Me: Of course it was..Him: Ummmmmm no comment...Lol.  Either way, I saw this as my invitation to see what all this flirting was all about.  I worked up the nerve to send @masterluke103 a direct message (a private twitter message), "Random Question: what is your real name Lol"...but wait, that wasn't enough, so 30 minutes later I sent another one "Here is my email address so we can plan our marmalade party :)"... as I'm typing this, I realize that I could have been perceived as a little desperate! Phew! I'm glad everything worked out.  So, I waited...no response! I was so confused.  As Fabrice is now well aware, I lack patience pants, and I wanted an immediate response! I texted Gyll and told her that I had sent @masterluke103 a direct message but he had not responded.  She replied, be patient, he probably didn't get it yet, but I wasn't listening.  I was lost in my own thoughts, "oh shit! why did I do that? He is gonna think I am crazy, or too aggressive...maybe he has a girlfriend...omg, why did I do that?"  But, in the meantime, he and I were still tweeting and flirting back and forth, so I thought to myself that maybe Gyll was right, so I tweeted "Hey, check your DMs."  Sure enough he had not seen them, and a few minutes later, he replied back with his real name, his email address, and his phone number.  I quickly sent him a text to make note of my number, and we chatted via text for just a few minutes.  We both played it cool, and he politely asked when would be good time to call.  I replied "anytime after 5," and that was it.  We said good night, and that was the beginning of our real life friendship...

The very next day, he called.  When the phone rang, I was driving down La Cienega, on my way to Hollywood for a party with a couple friends.  I answered the phone, greeted by a pleasantly surprising deep voice, and a very well spoken Fabrice (as I now knew him). I don't know what I expected him to sound like, but this wasn't it and I liked it.  He asked if it was a good time, and I replied that it was perfect.  I had arrived at the venue a little early, and was lonely waiting for my friends out front.  So we chatted for a few minutes about LA's nightlife, and exchange all the normal "getting to know you" banter.  in an effort to not seem to desperate, I cut the conversation short, telling him that I should probably go so I could pay attention and look out for my friends, but I would definitely give him a call tomorrow.  Tomorrow came and went, and so did the day after that.  I actually took an impromptu trip to San Diego to visit some friends.  Finally two days later, I was lounging by the pool (in my new swimsuit), when for no apparent reason, I began thinking about my new friend Fabrice.  I wondered what he was doing, and remembered that I was supposed to call him.  Instead of calling, I decided to send him an email with a picture of me lounging by the pool in my swimsuit (I know, ladies...scandalous! Lol).  There was nothing in the body of the message, just the picture, a subject line that read "Hi from the pool!!"

He replied with a picture of himself lounging on the couch "Hello from the couch..That's a sexy picture.." and alas, it seems that our cyber flirting had just taken on a new form.  From there we began texting back and forth, and I told him I'd be heading back to LA late that evening, and would give him a call if it wasn't too late there on the east coast.  In the meantime, I asked if he had facebook, and told him to find my profile, which he did.  Finally, a couple hours later, I arrived home and before I could even drop my bags, I dialed his number.  What happened next set the tone for a great friendship, and and even greater relationship... he made me smile, and i haven't stopped smiling since (I'll hold the barf bags!).  Okay, but really, he did the sweetest thing, and it was so simple.  He simply paid attention.  He had been checking out my pictures on facebook, and he says "So, I have a question for you, is your favorite color green?"  Wow! I know that seems like a small thing, but to me it meant that he'd actually paid attention to the woman he saw in the pictures.  Well, from that minute, I knew that I liked this Fabrice guy.

We stayed on the phone until the wee hours of the morning that night, and every night after that (he even fell asleep mid-conversation once or twice). We'd talk on the phone until 5 am most nights, but only because he had set his phone to automatically reboot at this time everyday.  This was amazing considering that neither one of us like talking on the phone.  We talked about everything under the sun...religion, school, relationships, friendships, comic books (he's a big fan, and he's turning me into one too!), movies, our goals, our dreams.  You name it, we talked about it.  We seemed to have that perfect balance of commonality and diversity of opinion, but it never led to a disagreement.  It was like we had a mutual understanding and appreciation for differences of opinion. He introduced me to all kinds of new things (I'll get into that later).  His dry wit and cynical sense of humor proved to tickle me even more "in person" than it had on twitter and he kept me giggling and smiling profusely.  We laughed and joked around for hours everyday.  We'd email, and chat, and tweet, and text all day, and even after talking all day, we'd still spend our nights talking on the phone until the wee hours of the morning, only to wake up the next day and do it all again.  I found myself longing to talk to Fabrice, and the best part was the longing was mutual.

Looking back on it, we are both baffled by how it all happened.  Even with all our flirty tweets, neither one of us expected anything more than a good long distance friendship to come of it.  We couldn't have been more wrong...

To be continued....