>>- ask God to send me someone who turned out to be a gorgeous, smart, witty, stylish Italian-American girlfriend who is a fellow painter, loves good music, French food and wine, and good literature
You two ought to take a vacation down in Godzone next Summer (your Winter.) My kids' au pair Erica from 'Merica currently is touring the South Island with her mother and having a blast. Just remember to drive on the right/correct = left side of the road and you'll be fine! Plus it's not too far to a gigantic desert continent full of nasty critters and Australians if you're into that sort of thing. Plenty of space in our wee shack in Auckland if ever you're down this way.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1