My husband, Ralph, had to be in Dallas on business last week, so I tagged along. It’s always an adventure, as we are always looking for new places to discover. I suggested Italian for dinner, so we drove to the upper Greenville area, to a great place called Prego’s Pasta House. As it turns out, Prego’s seems to have quite a following. They’ve been around for years and the locals flock to this place. I can understand why. The food was some of the best I’ve had in some time.
A cute couple came in and they were obviously long time customers, as everyone greeted them cheerfully, welcoming them back. She was wearing a wonderful hat. I mentioned to Ralph that I really liked her hat a lot.
As we were getting ready to leave, we walked by this couples table and Ralph, who never meets a stranger  said, “my wife really loves your hat!”. She laughed and said, “oh really, it’s a Helen Kaminski hat. I got it at Neiman’s. You can get this hat at Saks Fifth Ave. too”. We continued to talk a bit and then she insisted that I try the hat on. Feeling a tad awkward, but she insisted… I tried it on and of course it fit perfectly. I handed it back to her and had some nice chit chat.
We left and as the valet was bringing our car around, Ralph ran back inside for something and the nice couple we had been talking to called Ralph over to their table again. The lady insisted upon Ralph taking her hat and giving it to me. Ralph brought it to me in the car. I was shocked! No way was I taking that hat from the sweet lady! That was just over the top!
I ran back inside to see the sweet lady and return her hat to her. She would not have it! She said when she realized we didn’t live in Dallas, she wanted me to have her hat.

As we were talking, another lady, Sabrina, from Miami Beach, FL., approached us. She said, “I’ve been watching you all and listening to your conversation. Do you all know one another?” We said, “no, we just met.” Sabrina looked at me and said, “I can’t believe she just gave you her hat! I love this. I love paying it forward. That is what my company is all about.” As it turns out, Sabrina is a former Super Model and has been seen on the cover of magazines like Sports Illustrated! She also is a singer/songwriter and actress. The list goes on and on of her accomplishments. Sabrina gave me a card with her t-shirt business promo on it. I had no idea who she was until I went to her website much later. She was a very nice, un-assuming type of person, with a super sweet heart. Sabrina and her business partner Christopher, own a t-shirt company. See their tees at http://www.sabrinabarnett.com/ and learn more about what a great lady Sabrina is! Their t-shirt company prints bejeweled uplifting messages on their stylish tee’s that impower women. Christopher came over and said he was mailing Mimi, (the hat lady) a t-shirt for being such a wonderful “pay it forward” kind of gal.
I still cannot believe a perfect stranger gave me her expensive hat!