Shop- Part Deux

My post below about the beautiful champagne gift set from Piper-Heidseick and Christian Louboutin really got me thinking last night as I read about the Official Launch of Le Rituel on facebook and twitter.
Drinking champagne out of a crystal stiletto and not just any stiletto, the coveted, red soled Louboutin. Talk about glorious excess! You can practically hear Edith Piaf singing some classic French song in the background, as I imagine sweeping around my home, slipper of bubbly in hand... Of course, the $500.00 price tag is a little harder to swallow, especially in the current economic climate when many families, like my own, are tightening their belts and going without a lot of those little extras we grew accustomed to in previous years. Sometimes, it is hard to remind ones self that things are tight when you are still using the expensive jar of La Mer that was purchased when the going was still good. Becoming a single mom and then starting a new, young relationship came with it's own price tag and sacrifice. But as I looked, read and drooled over the picture below, I found that it represented a lot more to me than just another extravagance. It reminded me of being a child before a birthday or Christmas, when no gift on your wish list seems out of reach. The naive bliss that if you wish just hard enough, that perfect present may very well appear. Wanting something not out of necessity or practicality, but simply because it is very pretty.
Now as I sit, balancing bank statements and paying off debt, I can't help but feel a little silly for wanting something for myself that will serve no purpose in my day to day life as a housewife and mom, except maybe to make me tipsy midweek, celebrating nothing in particular. Make me forget, for just a couple of hours, the many simple pleasures in my life, replaced by fantasy, whimsy and yes, probably Edith Piaf playing loudly.
Dreaming is a beautiful thing, pushing us through those harder days with the small promise of rewards, big or small. The luxury of that reward could be a bubble bath in candle light, listening to romantic jazz or drinking very nice champagne from a glass slipper like a modern day Cinderella. Most likely it will be the bubble bath, but it is still so nice to dream. I remember reading somewhere a quote that said "Anyone who lives within their means, lacks imagination." Hmmm, my imagination will be running rampant as I picture the Le Rituel set in my display case, but I will stay within my means, for now. I guess, after all, it is the thought that really does count.