I’ve been wanting to post about this for a few days, but I wasn’t sure if it was real or not. After I stopped pinching myself a few times (maybe a face-slap or two thrown in for good measure), I’ve come to the realization that, yup, it’s real.
About 2 months ago, I did what I always do every month: I signed up for Elle magazine’s many, many sweepstakes. I’m a complete contest whore: as long as they don’t ask for any really intrusive info (I’ll give name, address, phone, and email address, but no household income, gender/sex, or — heaven forbid — my date of birth), I’ll sign up. Most of the time, though, I win things like a jar of cleanser (Obagi, at a local medical spa’s open house) or very small amounts of cash (P25 pesos during a religious trivia contest when I was in high school in the Philippines — in 1985 dollars, that was about $3, at least enough for a movie ticket).
In other words, generally, I’m a perennial loser when it comes to just about any contest I sign up for, big or small.
So anyway, when I got the email from a marketing rep at Hachette Filipacchi Media US, Inc. (Elle‘s owners), last week, I almost deleted it. I mean, how many times do you get email telling you that you’ve won some kind of sweepstakes? For me, at least ten times a day, usually of Nigerian or Russian provenance.
But something about it made me look twice. And a 3rd time. A 4th. By the time I stared at it for about a dozen or so times, I realized…wait a minute. This has not just my name, but my address. My real address. I dug around the Internet for the sender’s name and who the heck is Hachette Filipacchi and whaaaaa? And lo and behold, I came back to that contest I entered back in October or November. I had won.
I’ve been on cloud nine all weekend, especially after calling HFM’s New York offices on Thursday and confirming that, yes indeed, it was a legitimate email, and if I would return the IRS form and affidavit they had sent me, they can ship my new handbag right away. Not in time for Christmas, but probably in time to celebrate the New Year.
It’s an Escada The Patent leather handbag, in one of 3 colors (all I could see were black and brown on the Escada Web site), with a retail value of approximately US$1350. Seriously. It’s worth more than my car.
Of course, B.’s first question when I screamed the news to him over the phone was, “Can we sell it on eBay?” Uh, the answer to that would be hell-to-the-no. (He says he was kidding, but I have my doubts.)
So after the horrible weekend we had the previous week, with some moron making away with $150 in fraudulent checks from my account, this was a lovely way to end last week. I’m still over the moon, and as a purse fanatic (I bought a Michael by Michael Kors satchel in September that I thought was da bomb) I consider it one of the best Christmas presents I’ve ever received.
Moral of the story (’cause lately there always seems to be one): no matter how high the odds, take the risk anyway. Heck, someone‘s gotta win. It could be you. 
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{ 7 comments }
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations!! Yahooey. Okay, you have just unequivocally proven that Santa Claus does exist. Lucky, girl. You must post pictures of bag when she arrives. Have you named her yet?
Wow! Escada!
Congratulations, but er, um, sell it and buy some books. This fashion tip brought to you by the the maven of swankery, Randal.
A thirteen-hundred dollar bag. Worth more than my car, too!
Bravo – you mean someone actually wins these things!
I am with Randal Graves – sell it and off you go to Paris!
Marjorie,
Lady Jicky has got me thinking; you could go to Paris. Oh, Marjorie. You must think carefully about this.
congratulations!! you have also made me think twice about shrugging those sweepstakes off.
That would be a difficult decision. A FREE bag or airfare to Paris plus a few nights at a hotel.
Merci, LBR! Yes, he does indeed, and it’s about time he got around to my place!
You can bet I’ll be taking lots of photos and will be posting them as soon as the bag arrives. Haven’t named her yet, but there’s lots of time. Maybe Christmas?
Randal, merci for the advice, but I think I’ll keep the bag. It’s just too good to pass up! And trust me, if I sold it, I wouldn’t be buying books, even though they’re my passion.
Lady Jicky and Amarie, bonsoir! Yeah, can’ you believe it? I thought the same thing: Damn, real people do win those things! Of course, the contest winners are totally drawn randomly, so I just got super-lucky this time. But yeah, odds of winning definitely increase if you actually sign up, so go for it! All you lose is a minute or two of your time.
Everyone, I totally dig the advice to sell it and go to Paris. Trust me, I thought about it too. But the thing is that, as I told B., I’m actually kinda glad that it wasn’t cash that I won because then I would just be all practical and put it towards, say, paying off some credit card debt or our bills or the rent. And that’s what I would indeed do if I were to sell the bag. As it is, because it is a gorgeous handbag and not cash, I can consider it a really precious and unexpected gift to myself, one that I wouldn’t/couldn’t otherwise ever consider if I had to pay for it myself. So I’ll just keep the bag and save up money for the Paris trip in 2009.
Besides, $1300 is only going to get me to Paris. I definitely want B. to come with, so I’ll hold off until we can afford to take both of us. And you know that when we’re there, I’ll be toting along my cool Escada bag!
Merci, everyone, for your kind comments!
Salut,
Marjorie
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