Think no bra, shirt tucked into the skirt. And what a great skirt it is. I can imagine packing it for a long week away and never taking it off. I also love the booties from J. Crew. Too bad they are over $200 (on sale) and suede, which isn't the most practical of shoe materials--certainly not worth shelling out that much cash for. Regarding the bag, I am actually having a handbag dilemma in this very moment. There are two at work I like--a gray Kenneth Cole very similar to this one and a gold Michael Kors signature tote. Both are adorable and practical. Both will be less than $60 on employee shopping day (down from over $200). Decisios, decisions.... Because of the figure definition a wrap skirt provides and because of the wonderfully cute footwear, I'll call this one, "And What a Bootie It Is."
Speaking of decisions, convinced that she is suffering from some kind of relationship karmic retribution, Carrie decides to try to make right with Natasha. (Anyone see a train wreck coming?) After the latter ignores Carrie's calls, Carrie ambushes her while she's on a lunch date. After apologizing profusely and getting nowhere, Carrie realizes that Natasha's forgiveness is one thing she will just have to forget about. Samantha meets a nerdy college boy who shares her name. Feeling it must be fate, she gives him the first-time experience she always wanted. However, the good deed turns bad when the boy becomes obsessed with her. Charlotte spends the weekend with Trey's family and finds herself madly attracted to the gardener. In a moment of passion, she kisses him. When Trey learns about the incident, he tells Charlotte he's fine with it, though Charlotte decides it's best if the two separate for a while. Miranda dates a hot detective but feels she's not pretty enough for him, even though she wants to think it's divine karma at work, finally giving her the perfect man. At dinner, she drinks away her insecurities, leaving the guy thinking she's an alcoholic.
I am all over this one. Carrie wants to know if relationship karma is real, and I am here to tell you that it most certainly is. Every time I have hurt someone in some way, I have had a similar hurt done to me somewhere down the line. Every time I thought it was the other person's fault that the relationship ended, I was somehow immediately shown in the next relationship how I was really no better--maybe even the same, in fact.
Two cases to illustrate this. The first was with Travis. As I've said before, we broke up when I cheated on him with the Peruvian man, Billy. It was one of--if not the--worst thing I've ever done to someone. I even waited to tell Travis that I was seeing Billy until I got back to the States, partly because I didn't want to tell him over the phone and partly because I wanted him to still water my lawn. It was terrible. I have also said that Travis forgave me and wanted to stay together. I hurt him even further when I said I wanted to break up, because I loved Billy more than him. That was not my proudest few months.
Travis, however, got the last laugh when Billy broke my heart two months later. Instead of being angry or smug, though, Travis called me daily during that time to see how I was doing. He remained my friend through it all, God knows how, which in a way made me feel even worse. Here was someone I treated horribly but who still treated me lovingly. I didn't get it, but I did tell Travis at the time that I thought Billy breaking up with me really was what I deserved. I still think that's true.
The second case of relationship karma happened more recently. I had just been dumped again, this time by Brad, and I was so angry with him. He had been so gung-ho about everything right up until the drunk phone call where he ended things, that I had really gotten my hopes up about thinking things could possibly work out. However, after that call, I started to think of all the ways he wasn't good for me: he was emotionally distant, ambivalent about our future together, not emotionally demonstrative at all, and in no hurry to get back into a serious relationship. I didn't think about the fact that he had just come out of a 7-year engagement or just wanted to take things slow. I just thought, "What a jerk."
However, when I met Hank, I found myself acting the same way Brad had acted. I was emotional, but I was also angry about my past relationships failures, negative about how things between Hank and I were going to work out, and expressed a lot of fear about marriage and commitment. Hank, on the other hand, acted more like I had acted with Brad--positive about how things would work out. It was like the universe was trying to teach me that old Biblical lesson about removing the log out of your eye before removing the speck from your brother's eye or something to that effect. I didn't have to be angry at Brad. I didn't have to think he was a jerk. I could just understand that there was a part of him in me too--just like there's a part of all humanity in one single person. When I realized this, I was a little more able to have peace about my past relationship with Brad and compassion towards him and myself.
Our past relationship affect our current ones. How we act in one most certainly carries over into the next. That's not to say we can't change patterns or choose our actions or what happens to us, but it does mean that we should treat others the way we wish to be treated. Our kind actions may not ever pay off, but they sure can't hurt anything. That said, we all do the best we can.
I hope you'll be back. I will.
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