Taking it as an opportunity to make my first public appearance in Paris, I chose to channel Timothée Chalumet and wore black bling leggings with a black turtleneck and black Balenciaga double breasted jacket in crepe de Chine.
Of course, to literally stand out in the crowd, I had on my latest Fendi Force Rockoko lace ups!
To be fashionably late, our groupie had a spicy Schezuan dinner just a napkin’s throw away from the Folies Bergere theater.
It’s the best Chinese resto in Paris if you want to sweat out your tongue. Our groupie consisted of beauteous Melissa Lopez, cross Atlantic homer Karen Cancio Litre, winning-est furniture diva Ria Augousti who had to fly back to Cebu pronto to replenish her stock in her posh Paris boutique, Élysée Palace insider Ina Mejía, Bali resorts owner Pauline Lepoutre, Lourdes Cruz and Gemmie Aquino-Dayrit who were visiting from Manila with Paris socialite gent Erwan Legouar, Pål Larsen and me.
Suffice to say that food didn’t stop arriving in our table until smoke was coming out of my ears from all those chili!
Getting on our taxi, we headed to the Pavillon Rive Gauche where the Don Papa Rum event was already heated up.
Thank God for charming Lee Mogene who saw me dealing with the burly black doorman asking for my pass sanitaire and just waved us in! They were just about to announce the winners and we had to go down the basement theater where a delightful mix of chic and upbeat Parisians were already howling for the names of the winners.
Founder and CEO Stephen Caroll made sure we had our drinks first, but of course! Poster boy and PR extraordinaire Matthias Cadeac d’Arbaud dropped his mike to give me a hug before the astonished select crowd. I had my moment of glory!
Merci Don Papa Rum for the thriller and for putting Negros Island in the global map. Yes, it was definitely an affaire to remember.
MY PRAYER. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. Psalm 33:8–10, NIV*