February 21, 2007 @ 5:59 am | Filed under: It's a Girl Thing

***Update on the Update:

I bought the bag on eBay! It is coming from Hong Kong but should arrive on Thursday. I’ll post a picture of the real thing as soon as possible! Thanks to all who either posted a comment here or sent me private emails regarding my hunt for The Bag. I can’t believe you all went to your local malls in search of it and spent your precious time googling it online for me. Your friendship overwhelms me!

***Update on The Bag:

As of this morning, Friday @ 5:58a.m., I’m now bidding for The Bag on eBay. Seventeen hours, thirty-three minutes left. What time will that be, anyway? (This simple computation involves math, doesn’t it? Y’all know I don’t *do* math. Who knew I’d have to do math in order to get The Bag? Ah…the sacrifices…)

I’m one of those women who resist fashion trends and changing fads, opting instead for more classic styles that flow from one season right into the next. But on those rare occasions when I see something I love and finally decide that I must have it, inevitably…it’s too late.

I went to buy The Bag yesterday afternoon. For those of you who’ve been following my infatuation with this Coach purse, you know how much thought I put into this upcoming purchase. I weighed the pros and cons and staged a fairly lengthy debate with Me and Myself on whether or not a handbag was worth the kind of money tagged on this one. When all was said and done and all of your comments were factored in, I knew this was a purchase that I would treasure for years to come.

In an effort to make it feel more like a reward I opted to wait for this quarter’s royalty check. My final deal with myself was that if this check was a certain amount, then I would, indeed, spend a portion of it on this purse. Last Friday the check was in the mail and, let me just say, I did my own little happy dance all the way through my house, waving it in the air.

For we writers, payday comes but twice a year and those little tell-tale sales reports that come attached can sometimes mean the difference between future publication and "well, let’s wait and see how sales are next quarter before we release another." Thanks to YOU, my very faithful friends and readers, this past quarter was the best I’ve seen yet. The numbers just served to further buoy the renewed burden and excitement that I’ve experienced these past couple of months.

So, with the allotted money in the bank, I walked into the department store yesterday, already anticpating walking back out with my precious purchase. I walked around and around the Coach section, searching every shelf, every nook and cranny. The sales woman approached me and I’m sure she glimpsed the concerned look in my roaming eyes.

"Can I help you find something?"

"Yes," I turn to her, but in the pit of my stomach I already knew the answer, "I’m looking for the Coach signature medium tote in the blue…"

Her expression said it all. "We are sold out. From what I understand all our stores’ inventory of that bag is depleted."

"Will you be restocking?"

She shook her head as I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that The Bag would not be coming home with me tonight. "That was our Fall ’06 version. Our Winter version – the bag in punch color – is already sold out as well. Right now we’re awaiting our Spring signature bag. Maybe you’d like to check back?"

Uh, no.

I want the bag in blue.

I went on eBay last night and, wouldn’t you know it, it seems as though I’ve waited too long there as well. Where as a month ago, there were three or four listed there, last night there was only one. It is in Hong Kong.

HONG. KONG.

Somehow, after the shipping and insurance and all that – I’m not feeling the Hong Kong transfer so much.

This morning I remain the woman who always manages to try to catch the fashion train right after it has pulled from the station. My plea to you is this. I’m putting out an APB on The Bag. If you happen to catch a glimpse of it anywhere, will you let me know?

Oh, you want a reward? Okay, let me think. How about this? The first person who can locate The Bag that leads to my ultimate purchase, I will send you a box of premium chocolates and you will hereafter receive a FREE copy of each of my new releases.

Sirens on. Lights flashing. Let the search begin…