Need vs Want: The Coach Edition

I tend to be a very rough and tumble person. My husband has been known to affectionately call me his little tornado. Things seen to go missing/break/fly across the room/end up in very odd locations (cell phone in the freezer comes to mind) in my presence. I'm really a terrible stereotypical girl, perfect examples:

1. I've recently begun taking impromptu make up lessons from a girl at work. I diligently take pictures of my face/eyes for her critique - whenever I actually put on real make up.
2. Did you know eye primer is a fantastic and amazing substance that with some work instantly fixes all of your make up woes? Because I didn't.
3. I own fewer shoes than my husband. My shoes are also often in a bedraggled state because I bought them at Payless. I looked for the lowest priced ones I could aesthetically abide and then I wore them until they died. I usually have one black pair and one brown pair that are on a rotation of sorts for work ad nauseum. That's it. 2 pairs. 
4. I have recently made a new addition to my wardrobe - blouses. I didn't have them before and I'm choosing to call the new things in my closet blouses because it makes me feel special and refined - not because they were actually labeled 'blouses'. 
5. Does it involve dirt? sweating? hard work? contact sport? I'm in.
6. I'm almost always the strongest girl in the room - residuals from turning into the Hulk during my college athletic years. I also don't hide this fact and am usually the first person to volunteer to help lift heavy objects. I become quite ruffled if the response I get hints at all that my strength is being doubted. 
7. I should not be trusted around fabrics that cannot be stain-sticked and machine washed. 
8. I dress for warmth. My office must think that I assume we have a uniform: I wear dress pants and our branded thermal coat almost every day. 
9. Hair. Ugh. If you're ever told that 'short hair is so easy!' Slap that ignorant advice spouter for me. It's a LIE. I have to shower in the morning to actually get my hair to look nice. I consider this a hardship. 
10. I have never gone more than 3 days without damaging nail polish. I also went 8 months once with the remnants of one pedicure on my toes. It was from a special occasion and I just couldn't be bothered to remove the tattered remains. 
11. Can someone please tell me what accessories are, and what one does with them?
12. In the last 2 years I have walked away from every purse I have owned somewhere in the mall. Someones looking out for me because I've always gotten them back. Because of these incidents I am under a self-imposed penance of only using a wristlet as I cannot be trusted with purses. 
13. It was an easier mental decision to spend money on a computer game than it was to go buy a new, much needed, pair of shoes (see item #3).
14. My husband has been known to look at me and tragically sigh at my appearance. He tries to hide it - but I see that tell-tale shoulder shrug and the pitying look in his eye. That's usually when I make him pick out a new outfit for me. 
15. I swear like a sailor.
16. I hate most chick flicks.

I'll stop there. I actually amazed myself a little bit at the proliferation of examples I was able to come up with without hesitation. The purpose of this little exercise in self awareness and feminine failure you might ask? It provides a substantial foundation for my biggest personal oxymoron:

In the space of my mind where I envision my best self I'm absolutely fabulous, proper, polite, quiet, witty, subdued, organized and impeccably dressed. I never spill, I'm always perfectly groomed and my fashion sense is to die for. This is the me that I would love to be happy being. That me also is swimming in my favorite brand - Coach. 

I could wax eloquent about how much I love this brand, how much walking into their one of their stores gives me a very dramatic sense of euphoria. I scour their websites, I visit their stores, I track my favorite lines (omg you guys - their new lines coming out are the best I've seen. I die.), and I dream in fabrics of softened leather and canvas with perfect stitching. I think it is appropriate to say that if some of these bags were people, restraining orders would have been obtained by now. 

The funny thing is, however, that my thrifty side always wins. Sure, I'll go in and chat with the sales people and walk around with my newest obsession for an inappropriately long time, but when I leave I'll be leaving alone having just placed my new best friend back on its shelf. I'll plaintively say good bye and depart with promises to return for another trip around the showroom floor. It just isn't our time, friend.

Today, however was different - yet similar all at once. I have been researching (read: stalking) Coach Weekender bags for a year, ever since I saw this on a friends blog early last January:

Gorgeous isn't it? My perfectly poised and polished self is already envisioning our fancy and fashionable weekend trips. My practical self is thinking, "that's a hell of a carry on. Won't we look nice in the airport?"

That, and an exhaustive across-brands search, led me to this:

Hello, Handsome. Coach's newest line, Legacy, offers modern twists on vintage flair and their past forays into gaudy brand displays have been left behind for the elegance of understatement. This bag doesn't need you to know that it's high end by screaming "LOOK I'M FROM COACH" in big ostentatious patterned prints of C's. You just need to know it's fabulous - and you do so by observing its clean lines, solid hardware, the grain of it's softened leather, the strength of the reinforced handles, the minute and perfect stitching. It's perfect. It's what I've been looking for. It costs over $600 dollars.

Duh. It's Coach. It is from the new Legacy line and is a flagship example of the direction they appear to be going with this collection and hopefully, if I had my way, with the rest of the brand. I didn't have any sticker shock, I knew (research!) what the ballpark would be before I even crossed the store after my eyes locked on it like a homing missile. So, as with many other expensive desires, I placed it back on the shelf, stalked the hell out of it online, and visited often. 

Today was another one of those visits with high hopes and very low expectations. The difference being that we were visiting one of the outlet stores so I had even lower expectations. Garish displays of branding everywhere!!

Imagine my surprise when I found a full leather duffle (slightly bigger than a Weekender) on ridiculous clearance calling my name from a top shelf. It was wonderful. I put it on and insisted on visiting every other item in the store with it slung over my shoulder. I managed to take out at least four customers with  oblivious turning and had all the salesmen eyeing me oddly. I was convinced. I needed it - this was my bag. I smiled at it...... and then went to put it back. 

On my way back to the shelf however, my eye was caught - once again by a top shelf. A weekender that I had previously overlooked sat resplendent in all of it's sensibly travel sized glory. A furious comparison began between my first selection and this new contender. The latter had the high end impact with the leather - you can't beat it, it's the best fabric they have - while the former was mostly comprised of one my lesser favorites - coated canvas. It gives the material a sheen and a bit of a plastic look. The canvas bag, however, had its perks - it was the right size, and the price was right. With the sales they were running it was under $120 dollars, down from it's original priced of almost $450. 

Walk away? Go with the dream? or compromise for sensible, still beautiful, reality?

I'm not sure if you'll be surprised by my choice - because I was. I didn't shoot for the moon, but I didn't walk away. Allow me to present my brand new beautiful Coach Men's Tattersall Tartan Weekender:

Simple, elegant. The coated canvas may not be my favorite fabric, but it's practical. It would be impractical to assume that I would suddenly be this fictitious Miranda of feminine success that I dream of who never spills, never damages her belongings and isn't hard on everything she owns. That's not reality. The other part of truth here is one that I really had to think about before realizing it was fact: that dream bag in the second picture? I never would have bought it. I'm too realistic, too practical and too sensible to blow that amount of money - even on something I want as badly as that bag. 

So, I may not be the quintessential woman, but between my natural tendencies and my absurd self-portrait I think I've learned that I can find a happy medium if I'm willing to compromise on both ends. I'll likely never be able to keep track of everything I own, my irresponsibility will lead to something else getting broken and I secretly still want to stay home some nights and play my dorky computer game as opposed to being social. However, perhaps I can wear nice clothing and lift heavy things all at the same time.

Much like that bag above there will be compromises, and I won't get everything I want. The outcome of this particular mental bargain has given me a gorgeous bag with the perfect functionality and the amazing ability to allow me to lay my head down tonight and not give a single guilty thought to the amount of money I spent today - I've had $20.00 shoes that I've lost more sleep over. I've done the research - I know it's money well spent.

The final clincher on the decision was when I ran my hand over the label on the front of the bag and smiled as I realized for the first time that every solid brown part on the bag was not, as my eye led me to believe, coated canvas. It was gorgeous soften leather. The perfect balance, indeed.