THE CALYPSO NECK STRAIN
Everyone already knows about my Calypso St. Barth obsession. I featured them and their new Chestnut Hill store not that long ago, here. Lucky for me my husband supports my writing this blog and also reads it! Christmas included a stocking full of goodies that he noted from the blog, and Valentine’s Day included a gift from Calypso!
Important to Note: It is not lost on me how lucky I am that he understands my love of fashion and feeds my habit. I started working at 12 years old in order to buy my clothes and now I try daily to inject my own personal style into the sometimes fashion lacking world of corporate America. Also Important to Note: even if there were no gifts and it was just me and Alexis spending time together, I would have been happy. Gifts are so much fun to get, I won’t lie, but they are things.When people need things to replace an element of human connection that is missing, I personally find that just sad.
So, back to the story at hand. We went out for a low key dinner for Valentine’s day and he presented me with a Calypso bag filled with two perfectly pink boxes. I was overwhelmed….and this is where the story takes a hilarious turn! Every woman in the restaurant within sight of us turned their heads upon seeing the bag. Women who moments before were lovingly looking in their Valentine’s eyes were staring at me so intently that I turned red. Men were left hanging, mid-conversation, as their dates took all attention away from them. Alexis agreed to block me so that the stares would stop and that is when “The Calypso Neck Strain” was coined. No lie – these women started straining their necks from side to side to see around him. On either side of him all I saw were necks stretched to see past him. One guy nearby said “hey, can I borrow that gift for my wife?”, in that “I’ll have what she’s having”, When Harry met Sally, kind of way! We laughed all night at the different reactions – some of the girls literally looked angrily back at their dates (and their relationships probably are not longed for this world). Some looked annoyed (oh shut it and stop staring – no one is forcing you to be part of our night -you can turn your eyes away). Some smiled, as if we belonged to the same fashion loving club (and probably were a lot more secure in their relationships than the angry girls). The gifts were perfect – a caftan and a sarong for our upcoming vacation. I literally would have picked them out myself. Not only will I remember the laughs of that night when I wear my beautiful gifts, I will remember the coining of the new phrase, ” The Calypso Neck Strain”, which I am sure the amazing, sweet, helpful staff at the Chestnut Hill store – who helped Alexis – will get a kick out of!