I would have posted this earlier, but DS2 has been really colicky and I've been too tired to stay up. Before he left on his trip, DH bought me an Arby's roast beef sandwich, which was my #1 craving throughout this pregnancy, but I didn't realize until after I ate it that the bun has milk and soy in it and DS2 is allergic to both. So he's been having a big reflux flare with colic for the last several nights. Since he got up again and now I'm wide awake at 4 am, I'm just going to stay up and share my birthday story with you, since you all were so nice to post happy wishes on my birthday thread!

As you know from my milestone birthday thread, I've been looking for a special gift for my 40th birthday. I finally decided I would love to get a red Chanel classic flap purse, especially after seeing it on Kelly on Angie's recent blog post. But I knew these purses were hard to come by, and very expensive. DH OK'ed it, but still, it is a huge chunk of change. DH and I were going to go to Chanel on Saturday and go out on a dinner date in the city, but when we took the kids to the county fair earlier that day, I lost my purse. We were packing the car and about to leave and I thought it was in the stroller but it wasn't. I ran back in and incredibly, I found it! I had left it on a rocking chair in the baby tent (they set up a tent for babies where you could nurse them and change their diapers). It had been sitting there for about half an hour. Thank goodness no one had taken the purse and everything was still inside! But DH was so mad at me, he cancelled our dinner and we stayed home. We made up before he left for his trip, and he said I could go look while he was gone, but he teased me and said, "Don't you see the irony in buying a $5000 purse when you can't even keep track of your current one?"

I was sick with a cold and barely made it through work the day before my birthday. (I got some strange looks from some of the patients when they saw I was sniffling and coughing, but what could I do--there is no one else to cover and I can't cancel because the patients have already prepped and scheduled their procedures, so unless I'm deathly ill I have to come to work!). Plus the baby was up all night and my sister who is visiting from out of town helped me out and took the baby for about an hour and a half during one of his crying spells. She said that was her birthday present to me, staying up with him and letting me sleep at 3 am on my birthday!

Fortunately I had the day off work for my birthday. I was so tired, but I still had to get up and get the two older kids off to their camps at their two schools (#2). But I felt better enough to go shopping, LOL! I decided I needed to wear something nice to go to Chanel, and black and white just in case I found a red purse. So I wore an outfit entirely from White House Black Market--white blouse, B&W chevron skirt, B&W bib necklace, black pointy flats, and red purse (#1). My sister and niece (#9) went downtown with me and first we stopped by Neiman Marcus to look at their Chanel selection. They only had a black/white/red colorblocked classic flap in the jumbo size (#3). It was cute, but way too trendy for such an expensive purchase!

So then we went to the real Chanel store (#4) (with a detour to return the Brooks Brothers trench and try on some Burberry trenches, but I'll save that for another post). They had a red patent leather classic flap, which was very pretty and very tempting, but in a medium size, which turns out is very small and barely holds anything, so it's not very practical for me. She said the wait list for a larger jumbo size in that red patent was 15 deep and they were only expecting 5, and she said the people on the list were "regulars", so they just leave their credit cards on file and whenever a purse comes in that they want, it gets charged to their card. Sheesh! So there was really little hope of getting one. Besides, I was more interested in getting a caviar leather, which is much more durable. The patent and lambskin versions are pretty, but difficult to care for and can get damaged easily. I don't want to always be worried about carrying my purse, I want to use it! She did have a jumbo classic flap in red caviar, but the red changes every season and this current (fall) season it's this yucky brownish burnt siena color (#6). Not what I would call red at all! She told me if I didn't like their current red color, I'd have to wait for another season and that their previous season's red was all sold out.

Then I saw this very pretty red purse (#7). It looked very similar, but it wasn't a classic flap. She said it was called a French Riviera flap, and was from their Cruise collection. She said it was "only" $2700, as opposed to $4900. It is fabric lined instead of leather lined, and has fewer pockets. Also, there is no back pocket and no inner flap (the classic flap has both an outer and an inner flap closure). It was in caviar leather, with silver hardware, similar size to a jumbo, and the perfect red color. Basically, it had everything I wanted, except for not being the classic flap. But it was $2200 cheaper! It felt like the perfect size, both on me and to hold all my stuff (#14). I could wear the strap as a double (#10), single (#11), or crossbody (#12). I like the easy access of the single flap and the front pocket.

So I decided to get the French Riviera flap instead! And a red lipstick and lipgloss to match my purse (#23)! I was so excited I impulsively hugged the SA (#16). Hahaha, how embarrassing. She was a bit taken aback, but very nice. I suppose most of the customers there are more blase about their latest Chanel purchase of the week. She was going to package up my new purse in the box, but I was on Team Wear and wore it right out of the store (#17). So she carefully wrapped up my lowly WHBM purse in the pretty Chanel box. I've gotten lots of use out of that purse, so this upgrade will definitely see a lot of action. After we had lunch, we went to pick up the kids from the nanny at the park and I took them to soccer (#18-19), so it already was pressed into service for MOTG. We had dinner at home and DD gave me a card that she wrote, and one from DH to me. And they sang Happy Birthday to me. And the cat promptly chewed the camellia off the Chanel bag. So it was a busy but fun and exciting day!

So, if you've made it this far, what do you think of Miss Scarlet? Keep or return? She said I have two weeks to return it if I change my mind. On the one hand, I'm a little worried I may regret not holding out for the "real deal", the classic "it" bag that everyone thinks of when they think Chanel. I could call all the other stores or search the used market (which is a little risky because you might end up with a fake). And I'm not sure how the other Chanel stores would respond to being cold called, whether they would take you seriously or not. But on the other hand, there is the significant savings with this version, and that is nothing to sneeze at! Even at $2700, that is more than I've ever paid for any item of clothing in my life, including my wedding dress ($600). Since DH approved the $5000 purse, I could pocket the savings, or using girl math, put it toward a Burberry trench. Plus, I feel like this style might even be easier to use than the double flap classic style...you can open it one-handed and access the front pocket more easily. I took some more pics of the inside (#14, 20-22). It has fewer places to stash things than the classic flap, but overall may be more usable. I don't know whether Chanel aficionados would look down on me for having the "bargain" version, or whether people might think I have a fake. But on the other hand, it might be nice to have a slightly different one than everyone else...like "OK, I am not a sheep." This is a big big purchase for me (my biggest ever), so please weigh in with your honest opinion. If you really think it's important to get the real 2.55 classic flap I could consider looking harder, but otherwise I'm inclined to keep the cheaper one...I feel like I got a deal!

Thanks for sharing my special day with me and for your comments and advice! This has been lots of fun and so helpful...I am so lucky to be to have all of you sharing this whole fashion journey with me every step of the way! Forty is off to a fab start!