Foreign Fashion

Two years ago I graciously accepted the polka dot tights that Karlo brought me back from Germany. Of course I never wore them, but I figured it wasn't a big loss and he wouldn't even remember buying them for me. But then last year he came home from Japan with a God awful 100% silk old-Japanese-lady outfit. Not only was it ugly and ill fitting, but it was very expensive. Actually everything in Japan is both expensive and ill fitting. Trust me, nothing in that country fits me because I am some sort of bizarre freak of nature there. Women just don't grow as tall as me in Japan. I couldn't bare to wear the entire outfit, but one day I did reluctantly put on the top and sport it to work. I was uncomfortable all day thinking the sleeves were too short and wondering what people were thinking. That was when I decided to enforce the "Please don't buy me clothes from foreign lands (unless you're in Italy)" rule. The next year Karlo went to Sweden and came home with jewelry. Yeah, my rule was working.

But not for long. This year Karlo went back to Sweden. I truly don't expect gifts when he travels. Well, except for gummy bears. He positively is not allowed to go to Germany and not buy me gummy bears. And this past trip did include Germany and I did get gummy bears so that should have gotten him off the gift-buying hook. But for some reason he didn't stop with the bears and was compelled to buy me clothes in Stockholm. He was so excited about his purchase he wrote to me to tell me he got me "something way cool." I couldn't imagine what it could be.

Well, that photo says it all. Check me out! I have to say, this purple Prince-like jacket was much better than the Japanese outfit (and no Tina, you're not getting a picture of me in that). I wore this outfit to one of the Sting concerts and that day is going down in history as the most comments I ever received on any outfit in my life. There wasn't a single person I could walk by at work that didn't have something smart to say. Most of the comments involved pirates, crying doves, and little red Corvettes. But seriously, as much as we joked about the outfit I do think it's quite cool and I'm very happy to own such a unique piece of wardrobe. The greatest part is that Karlo had two of our coworkers with him when he was shopping and they all agreed that the jacket was "totally Paula." At first I wasn't sure what to make of that comment, but the guys insisted that if anyone could "pull off wearing that jacket" it would be me. I will take that as a compliment.

And to put the icing on the cake, I bought this pair of cool patten leather purple pumps to go with the jacket. These replaced those other disastrous purple shoes. I can't wait for Tina's comments on this post . . .