In Which I am TOTALLY Overwhelmed...

Yesterday when I got home from work, I found a HUGE box waiting for me.  I've been getting packages for the last two weeks, but they were all things I had actually ordered.  This wasn't.  It was from Canada, and when I saw the name of the sender, I was extremely surprised!  She is one of my penpals, but we have never met; she had mentioned in a recent letter that she had "a little something" she wanted to send me, but this box was HUGE!!  The customs tag on it said simply "Hat".  Well, of course, I had to tear the thing open, being extremely careful in the process, as I had NO idea what kind of "hat" would be in a box this big. 

Inside the HUGE box was another box... a Victorian Trading Co. hat box.  OMG!!!!!  And the MOST INCREDIBLE hat was inside...

The tag in the hat says "Hopeless Romantic Hat", and it certainly is that.  A circular black hat (straw, I think) swathed in dark red sateen and black lace, with some fall/winter flowers on the front, a black ostrich plume, black and red lace ribbons, and a couple of feet of black net hanging down the back. 

I WILL post a picture, I promise, but unfortunately I cannot find one of this hat on the Internet or VTC's online catalog to post now, and it will be a little while before the pictures in my camera can be developed.  

In the meantime, the generosity of this gift has reduced me to helpless gibbering.  Thank you SO MUCH, Lynne!!!  I want to go out and hug everyone in the world, just because!!  But instead of doing that (which isn't really practical, after all), I shall address the most important issue of all:  WHAT am I going to WEAR with this incredible hat?????

I definitely hear a shopping trip calling my name...