A Fabulous New Coat!

I'm not much of a shopper. I used to love it but attempting to shop with a toddler in a pram, a moaning pre-teen and an equally moaning husband (he really hates shopping) doesn't really do it for me! Opportunities to shop alone are few and far between and never come around when I actually need them. Usually this doesn't matter too much. I'm pretty much a jeans and tee-shirts girl and this works fine until we have a 'do' to go to. With a friend's wedding coming up some serious shopping was required.

I already have a lovely black dress which I got from Monsoon a couple of months ago. My mate Pete kept an eye on Nipper while I dashed into the changing room. On the way there I spotted a lovely velvet skirt for Miss Muffett and bought it on the off chance since it was such a bargain at only £8. Luckily it fits and she loves it.

The problem has been in finding a coat. Now I wouldn't usually be thinking of buying a new coat just to go to a 'do'. I have (or rather 'had') a suitable, if somewhat dated, woollen coat but when I got it out of the wardrobe and dusted it off (literally!) it had clearly seen better days and a dry clean wasn't going to sort it out. Even Mr Earplugs agreed. The thing is though, I hardly ever need to wear a 'nice' coat and have had real trouble in justifying buying a new one. I'm usually out with Nipper in either waterproofs or an anorak (nice!).

I saw this one in the Boden catalogue:


A lovely coat and workable with both my jeans and perhaps a posh frock. It was a bit pricey but I had a discount voucher and free returns so I ordered it. The model looks great in it. I looked like a sack of spuds! I sent it back and remained coatless.

Yesterday we had a lot of bits and bobs to sort out so decided to 'coat-spot' on our trip around town. I tried a few on but none were really doing it for me. Then we spotted this in Marks and Spencer's:

It's the most gorgeous, long, chocolate brown, soft velvet coat. Completely unsuitable for daily use - but then I won't use it daily! I tried it on and it looked lovely. Mr Earplugs declared that he wasn't sure it was worth £130 (ouch!) but a passerby said 'yes it is, it looks fabulous!'. And with that the coat was mine! When we got to the till we found out there was 20% off and I had some vouchers to use up too, so a fantastic buy.
(I think hubby may have been feeling a touch guilty as earlier in the day I'd told him that Mel's lovely hubby Olly had given her roses twice in one week and I've only had flowers twice in 8 years - so thanks Mel!).

However, I'm left with a slightly niggling feeling that I really should have bought something a bit more 'sensible'!

(Photo's from the Boden website and M&S Website).

A Fabulous New Coat!