It’s easy. It’s effortless. It’s harder to make things not work.

E. and I have only been dating for just over three months now, if you can believe that one. Referencing our time together, we’ll occasionally talk about “the early days,” as if that was way back in 2007 and not, you know, March 2013! But the pieces of our individual puzzles fit together so completely (our baggage is a matching set, if you will) that it simply feels like…

–Erg! Bleh! That cliched word!–

…Destiny.

After an amazing few days in Lake Como celebrating my friend K.’s wedding, we’re now in Paris to celebrate my friend Melanie’s upcoming 30th birthday. We arrived two days ago, and I’ve already had so much that I’ve been dying to blog about (particularly the ending of our Como trip, the Avenue Story luxury apartments we’re staying in here in Paris, visiting my old Parisian apartments on Rue Nicolo, and a delicious meal at Restaurant le Murat in the 16th arrondissement) but of course our best-laid internet plans went south, and so we were web-free. Never an easy pill to swallow when trying to blog on the road!

So, yesterday E. and I checked into our Avenue Story apartment: a two-floor rental on the Rue de Bac literally steps from the Seine and around the corner from the Musee d’Orsay. Avenue Story is designed to give you all the luxury of a hotel (complete with concierge) plus the comfort, space and amenities (laundry, kitchen, etc) of an apartment. Here are the digs. Our Rue de Bac apartment has a billiards table, fireplace, two bathrooms, stupendously high ceilings, and views of the Louvre across the Seine. Next level.

“Hey, Mel wants to meet us for a drink,” E. said around 3pm, and off we went. I’d decided I was in need of a haircut, so I’d stopped in at Jean Louis David that morning (next door to our apartment) for a bangs trim and blowout, and while I was there, they did my nails, too. It was a moment of spontaneous pampering that felt super indulgent. With my fresh blowout and nails, E. and I walked along the Seine to Shakespeare & Co., where we met Mel and then went next door for a glass of champagne.

Buzzing on champagne, we then walked around the back of Notre-Dame…

and across the bridge to the Ile St-Louis, one of my favorite spots in Paris and the site of a very famous ice cream shop called Berthillon…

…not to mention a delicious sorbet shop called Glaces Artisanales, featuring beautiful, artistic sorbet creations.

Ice creams and sorbets in hand, we continued through to the other, much quieter side of the Ile St-Louis, walking down the steps along the Seine, where it was practically empty. The only two clusters of people we saw: two girls in their 20′s on a bench, and then two musicians lounging by the bridge with their instruments.

“Musicians by a bridge in the rain! Ha! How very French,” I thought.

E. handed his camera to Melanie and asked her to take a photo of the two of us. We posed for one before E. said, “Wait, hang on a sec,” and approached the musicians, asking them, “Excuse me, do you know how to play “Yellow Ledbetter” by Pearl Jam?”

That would be my favorite song by my favorite band.

I looked at Melanie, who was now pointing the camera at me and grinning from ear to ear. I said to her, “Wait? What? Oh my God, is he…?”

And then E. proposed.

Here we are, moments after we danced to an orchestral rearrangement of “Yellow Ledbetter” and then he got down on one knee. (Yes, we have the whole thing on video!)

Only three months?

When E. asked my father for his permission, my father told him how he knew my mother was the one on their second date.

Their friends thought they were crazy.

They were married three months later.

When you know, you know!

You’ve all been there with me over the years–seeing my highs and lows, doubts and fears, hopes and dreams–and I love you for your support.

I’m SO excited to share the next leg of this journey with you: Fiancee Jolie! Time to wedding plan…hooray!

Our boat driver provided us with a handy map illuminating the parts of the lake and the noteworthy villas on it. Note George’s place in the lower left-hand corner:

During our three-hour tour (thankfully less ill-fated than Gilligan’s), we saw dream houses:

And the boat took us to a small island with a cafe, where we had more champagne (a common theme) and snapped this pic of the girls:

I wanted to post some photos yesterday of our remarkable hotel Villa Giulia, across the lake from Lecco in Val Madrera, but the internet was down. (Minus one point!) We’re about to go visit the town of Brescia, so I’m running out the door (another common theme!), but more to come soon!

There are a couple cardinal rules for avoiding jet lag, namely: drink buckets of water, reset your clock to the local time zone, and nap at your own peril. Despite how exhausted you might feel, its better to slog through the day like a drowning zombie rather than taking a “nap” mid “afternoon” (read: while it’s actually 2:45 am back home), only to wake up 7 hours later feeling like a truck has run itself back and forth over your body.

E. and I arrived in Italy today, taking the train from Milan Centrale to Lecco, and then cabbing it to our hotel Villa Giulia overlooking Lake Como. That’s us above, pinching ourselves for how stupid lucky we are to be enjoying this view in person right now.

My friend K. is getting married here at Villa Giulia on Saturday, and E. and I spent the entire day with her in Lecco today, drinking prodigious amounts of prosecco and doing our damndest to avoid those alluring but deadly naps. Right now, it’s only 2:30pm in LA but it’s nearly midnight in Italy and holy HELL do I feel terrible. To bed! More updates tomorrow. Can’t wait to share photos and stories with you all: it’s stupendously gorgeous here!

Despite traveling so much these past couple of years, it’s been more than five years since I’ve visited two of my favorite spots: Paris and Italy.

Both are a bit bittersweet to me. The last time I visited Paris, it was two months before Mama Jolie died. To make matters worse, my connecting flight was through Houston, where Mama was in the hospital at MD Anderson, and it didn’t occur to me until I was at the airport that my sick mother was only miles away.

Would that I had planned in advance, scheduled a later flight, and spent the day with her. It remains one of my life’s biggest regrets.

Italy, meanwhile, was where my mother and I finally connected on a personal level as adults, during a week spent in Rome when I was 26. She and I drank red wine and smoked cigarettes together on the Via Veneto, had champagne at Harry’s Bar just outside the Borghese Gardens, sat on the Spanish Steps and shared secrets about our teenage years, and ate pasta and fried artichokes in a quaint restaurant in Trastevere. Mama Jolie was diagnosed with cancer a year later, while I lived in LA and she was in Atlanta, so I look back on Rome as our last significant time together.

Today, E. and I are off on Delta to Europe, stopping in Atlanta to see Papa Jolie for a few hours, before flying to Milan for my friend K.’s wedding. We’ll be in Lake Como for five days, and I’m beside myself with excitement–though I’ve been up, down, back, forth and all over Italy, I’ve never made it to that particular part of the country. We gleefully anticipate stalking George Clooney. (Rather, I gleefully anticipate stalking George Clooney during the pre-wedding Champagne Boat Cruise the bridesmaids are taking. E. will be back at Villa Giulia on Lake Garda, where the wedding party is staying, George Clooney-less. I’m sure he’ll manage.)

After Lake Como? Paris! Eii!

More updates to come…

Though E. and I met online, we were at Columbia at the same time (where I was a Barnard gal): our paths constantly crossed, we were at all the same parties, we had the same friends, we frequented the same handful of bars. So naturally, when back in New York City, a trip uptown on the 1/9 to visit the old Morningside Heights ‘hood was necessary.

The day we were back at Columbia, finals had just finished and the campus was prepping for graduation. Seeing the gauzy blue banner stretched over College Walk proclaiming “Congratulations to the Class of 2013!” made us–he a graduate of the Class of 2000, me of 2002–feel very, very old. Indeed, all of the students looked like middle schoolers: how it is possible, we wondered, that we were ever that young ourselves?

It was a gorgeous day for a stroll: blue skies, warm breezes, the sun bright against our faces. We checked into our respective haunts: Hamilton Deli (“Ham Del”) for E.’s favorite chicken cutlet sandwich; The Heights for the strawberry-banana margarita that sustained me through my senior thesis.

Next up: a trip to Fraternity Row–113th and 114th streets–where we visited E.’s old apartment and I snapped this picture of the Delta Gamma and Sigma Phi Epsilon houses. I practically lived in the SigEp house during my first three years of college, and I actually lived in the DG house in 2001–plus made some of my current best friends there. If you were to sum up my college experience in a single photo, it would be these two connecting brownstones on 113th street.

A few of the other personal must-visit stops: the Columbia Spectator, where I was a staff movie reviewer at the nation’s second oldest college daily (I once interviewed Madonna in person!), Low Library to see Alma Mater and the Owl hidden in the folds of her robes and, of course, the stunningly dramatic Butler Library. We also took a trip across 116th street so I could point out my old Barnard dorms and check out the brand-new, architectural-award-winning Diana Center.

Morningside Heights is truly one of the most beautiful, community-oriented areas of New York, so I’d encourage you to check it out the next time you’re in the city and are looking for something off the beaten path. When you’re at The Heights ordering your frozen strawberry-banana margarita, tell Feras that Nadine sent you.

Roar, Lion, Roar, for Alma Mater on the Hudson shore!

Naturally, with a peach colored dress, you’ve got to consider the unmentionables: namely, your underwear. I am the type of girl who will accidentally wear hot pink briefs under a white dress and then be confused as to why people are snickering at me, so I’ve had to make a concerted effort (read: not be an airhead) when it comes to matching everything.

Enter Wacoal, who’s just introduced their Smooth Complexion lingerie in six different styles (including a bra, briefs, bikini, and hi-cut panty) and with four skin perfecting tones (White Swan, Natural Nude, Praline, and Coffee Bean) that are designed to match and visually blend into your skin. It means that, no matter how sheer the dress, you won’t have the VPL, “Dude, I can totally see her underwear” effect that we all so dread. Once I decided to wear the attention-grabbing peach dress, wearing the Wacoal Smooth Complexion bra and briefs underneath in my shade (White Swan) was a no-brainer.

So, back to this party. It was chockablock with beautiful people lounging on chairs, sipping cocktails, and looking spectacularly bored. Everybody–and I do mean everybody–was clad in black. I entered in my pretty peach dress and within seconds a photographer for one of the agencies approached and asked to take my photo. Fifteen seconds later, it happened again. Zut alors! Sacre bleu! What is zees? Have I suddenly become photo-worthy?

No. No, really, it’s just the dress.

The following morning, I Googled my name and the party, and voila! There I was, on scores of different sites, looking glamorous and glossy and well-lit, indeed. But most importantly? No VPL! No see through dress! No hot pink panties wrecking my visual game!

Just the beautiful peach dress, my happy/dorky smile, and nothing else to distract, and God and Wacoal intended it.

While this post was sponsored by Wacoal, as always, all opinions remain my own.

One of my favorite makeup brands Jouer is launching at Blushington Makeup and Beauty Lounge in West Hollywood. If you’re in the area, stop by this Saturday June 8th from 4pm-7pm to get makeovers and champagne! It’s right next door to the Weho DryBar, so you can make a beauty day of it.

Man. They’re really making Pippa sing for her supper, huh?

From the announcement on VanityFair.com:

“I first went to Wimbledon when I was eight years old and already a very keen tennis player,” says Pippa Middleton in her first dispatch as Vanity Fair’s newest contributing editor. “During this first trip I acted on my childish tennis dreams and bought myself a postcard of the women’s championship trophy, on which I wrote, ‘I will win this one day,’ with my signature below.” The 29-year-old sister to the Duchess of Cambridge says she was quite a tomboy growing up—so much so, that she once told the whole Middleton family that “if I had to get married, it would be in my tennis whites—shorts with no pleats or frills.”

Her attendance at a Vanity Fair luncheon in London in May (below) now makes a hell of a lot more sense. Not that Vanity Fair wouldn’t be breathlessly inviting her to everything, anyway.

Pippa is already writing for Waitrose in-store magazine (roughly the equivalent of writing for Whole Foods), and published her first book Celebrate: A Year of Festivities for Families and Friends last year. It’s all a bit beneath the sister of the future Queen, but since she’s not on the Civil List, something’s gotta pay the bills. Better freelance work than the British public!

And lest you forget, here’s the time I ran into Pippa at Harrods in London and then totally stalked her. Enjoy.

Congratulations, Mary: have the best time in Montana in August! Hopefully the Lift & Fix and White Ice will keep you cool in the heat. I’ll be emailing you to get your mailing address, so keep a look out.

Thanks to everybody who entered. I’ll be having another giveaway soon!

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It’s difficult to imagine Queen Elizabeth as anything but a cute, wrinkly old granny: doesn’t it seem like she was born 80? In fact, Elizabeth was only 27 when she was crowned Queen back on June 2, 1953, and earlier today all the royals gathered at Westminster Abbey as Queen Elizabeth celebrated the 60th anniversary of her Coronation.

The gang was all there! William, Harry, and an increasingly-pregnant Duchess Kate…

Kate wore peach Jenny Packham and a Jane Taylor hat…

Meanwhile Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were allowed out of the attic the royal family keeps these two locked in, with their uncle Prince Edward in tow. Beatrice looks especially pretty–almost Hitchcockian.

Cami P. Bowles was there, too. Every time she’s in public with the royals, I feel like she’s all: “I KNOW, you guys! I can’t believe I’m here, either!”

Autumn Phillips looked slightly bemused, a departure from her normal sunny self (she’s Canadian, doncha know)…

While Sophie Wessex upheld the proud royal tradition of shiny, unflattering tights…

And Princess Anne was like, “Seriously, let’s get this over with. I have horses to ride.”

Three more years (and seven months) on the throne and Elizabeth will top Queen Victoria‘s record as the longest reigning Monarch in British History…

September 2015, Lilibet: you can do it!

Royals! They’re (not at all) just like us.

E. is obsessed with their Facial Fuel line; we’re both loving Kiehl’s Skin Rescuer barrier-repair moisturizer; I swipe E.’s Facial Fuel Cleanser (it’s tingly and refreshing!) on a nearly daily basis; and I’m currently using the new Kiehl’s Skin Tone Correcting and Beautifying BB Cream SPF 50 with Vitamin C, which I discovered last week and am now addicted to.

Seriously, the bathroom looks like a Kiehl’s store.

I try to spread the beauty love around with brands, but something just popped into my inbox that’s too good not to share. Kiehl’s is partnering with Marvel to create a Captain America Limited-Edition Comic Book set in Kiehl’s East Village flagship apothecary. The Kiehl’s Captain America comic will include “characters from Kiehl’s past and present” as well as “the legendary Avenger in dramatic conflict with Cobra, a sinister mercenary attempting to steal artifacts that may have been used to transform skinny Steve Rogers into the muscular Super Soldier.”

Meanwhile, you’ll be able to pick up the brand new Facial Fuel Heavy Lifting Anti-Wrinkle Moisturizer For Men, launching alongside the comic book, both in-store and on Kiehl’s.com. The limited-edition Kiehl’s Captain America comic book will be available complimentary with any Kiehl’s purchase, beginning June 4, 2013.

Captain America isn’t my favorite super-hero (that would be Superman, obviously), but I still dig the partnership. Fun!

When we pulled up to the valet at La Costa, you’d be forgiven for thinking we had looted a Best Buy: in the back of E.’s car was a giant printer, a big screen monitor, two laptop computers, a tea table, several posterboards, a bag of index cards and highlighters…and a box of alcohol including Macallan, La Crema pinot noir, Belvedere vodka, vermouth soaked olive juice, Coke, and rum.

Apparently, we are now “known” around the resort–ostensibly as “the writers,” but I think more likely as “that crazy alcoholic writing couple who carted their entire office with them.”

The resort itself is stunning: 400 acres of rolling green hills, Spanish-style architecture, restaurants, pools for both kids and adults, and one of the best spas in the country. It’s also home to the Chopra Center, with meditation, yoga, ayurvedic spa treatments, panchakarma detoxification, and all the zen you can holler “Om” at.

Our VIP Emmy’s package included two nights accommodation in a suite, plus golf and spa. Just one small problem: neither E. nor I golf. We both elected to have massages instead; problem solved!  My masseuse Pam gave me, quite literally, the best reflexology treatment of my life. Seems like reflexology is something La Costa takes seriously: right by the spa pool and adorable herb garden is a reflexology path. “Hey! That looks fun!” I said. Famous last words. I hobbled away fifteen seconds later as if I had walked over a beehive. Perhaps my insides benefitted…but the soles of my feet nooo likey.

The food is sublime (grouper with fried oysters was to die for) and the spa was lovely, if not quite as OH MY GOD NEXT LEVEL as, say, The Boulders in Scottsdale. But our one major quibble with the rooms is the lack of privacy–there are sliding wooden doors partitioning off the bathroom, which basically means you can hear everything, and I do mean everything.

Still, it’s been an amazing mini-break–and we’ve even managed to do a bit of writing! I will finish this damn book if it kills me (and it just might).

If you’re in SoCal and want to experience La Costa for yourself, they’re offering an amazing deal during the month of June: $179/night midweek and $229/night weekend for a package including breakfast for two, a $45 daily credit toward a spa treatment and a $90 daily golf credit.

Now, this is not to say that BB creams are not lovely and wonderful and possessing of complexion-improving properties…but c’mon. At the end of the day, they’re tinted moisturizers with a few extra goodies thrown in.

So, when it comes to BB creams, I’m less interested in the kitchen skin aspect that so many of them seem to tout (“It whitens your face! AND it has vitamins! Oh, did we mention peptides? It totally has peptides! PLUS it does your laundry!”) and more interested in what it’s actually supposed to do: make your skin look better.

Either you’re a tinted moisturizer girl or you aren’t, and I simply am not. My skin is too ruddy, my pores are too large, my memories of being young, smearing tinted moisturizer all over my face, and then wondering why my skin still looked like a pizza are too painful. Now that tinted moisturizers have grown up and gotten all fancy and gone to BB Cream Medical School and now insist you refer to them as DOCTOR Tinted Moisturizer, BB MD, thank you very much–even though you still remember the time they got drunk after losing at beer pong and ate an entire package of frozen chicken fingers at 3 am and then had crumbs all over their lap as they cried about that guy who never returned their text–you are expected to be impressed.

But the only thing that impresses me–not the fancy new moniker, not the reported claims, not the hype–is the coverage. Does it make my ruddy complexion look as creamy and unicorn-sparkly as regular foundation does? And will I be a grease-covered oil-slick by the end of the day?

The answer to both of those questions is usually “No,” and “Yes,” which is why I was excited to find Boscia BB Cream SPF 27.

It’s lightweight but still has satisfying coverage (I use the “Light” formulation), and it hasn’t made me break out, even a little bit. When I put it on, I forget about it, which is high praise. If it’s 97 degrees outside, thereby activating my Rudolph nose, the coverage isn’t enough for me. But for all other times, it’s a damn good alternative to my beloved BareMinerals, indeed.

As I wrote in yesterday’s post, lately I’ve been all about barrier-strengthening creams that help protect your skin against environmental aggressors. One of the lines I’ve recently discovered is called LIFTLAB, which features patented Cell Protection Proteins® (CPP™) to combat skin-damaging inflammation caused by exposure to the elements. These Cell Protection Proteins® were first discovered in the Arctic–they’re the reason plants and marine life can thrive in harsh sub-zero conditions, apparently. (Speaking of harsh sub-zero conditions, you know what I’m curious about? How do people sleep in ice hotels? Why do people sleep in ice hotels? It baffles me. But I digress.)

LIFTLAB GIveaway – Lift& Fix and Icy-Cools White Ice

LIFTLAB has a product called LIFT & FIX™ High Potency Solution, which strengthens the skin’s barrier to heal redness and sensitivity while protecting against smog and pollution with anti-inflammatory ingredients like Abyssine 657, NAB Arnica Extract and Sym Glucan. Clinical trials show that CPP™ applied before sun exposure reduces redness and irritation caused by UV rays by 95% within 72 hours. Impressive.

I’ve been using several of the LIFTLAB products off and on the past few months (including the creamy PURIFY & CLARIFY Daily Cleanser and Detox Mask) and I’ve really liked them. Seems like the editors at Allure are also fans.

Want to try LIFT & FIX for yourself? They’re giving away one tube to Jolie readers, along with a set of Icy-Cools’ WHITE ICE™ ice cubes–they’re reusable ice cubes filled with purified water to chill your Mojito (or non-alcoholic beverage, I suppooooose, if that’s your bag) without diluting it.

Simply comment below and tell me what you’re most looking forward to this summer: it could be a movie (like Before Midnight, which I’d been anticipating all year and just saw last night–Celine & Jesse forever!), a vacation, the completion of a goal you’ve been chasing, anything! We’ll pick one US Jolie reader at random next Wednesday the 5th. Good luck!