For some time now, I’ve been wrestling with a big pur­chase deci­sion.  See, when it comes to stilet­tos or a Le Creuset pur­chase, the inner shop­ping dia­logue is pretty easy – mainly “Is it a good deal?  Will you use it?  Is it stun­ning?  Will the pur­chase make you regret it at all?” and I either pur­chase or I don’t.  For really major pur­chases, I employ a 24/48 hour wait­ing period and go from there.

Recently, I have been torn between two major purchases.

I have been lust­ing after the Crate & Bar­rel French Mar­ble Kitchen Island for quite some time.  I think that Crate & Bar­rel might put a restrain­ing order in place if I keep vis­it­ing it as often as I do but it’s stun­ning.  I could use it for some seri­ous bak­ing projects and, when needed, pull up a stool to use it as a desk.  Could you imag­ine the recipes and pho­tos that could be cre­ated on that beau­ti­ful sur­face?  It’s not only beau­ti­ful but func­tional.  I don’t have to stress how lit­tle counter space I have at the moment and I could store some of my heav­ier appli­ances beneath.  One draw­back – it’s 152 lbs. in an apart­ment kitchen and I have no idea what it will do to the linoleum.

I have also been fondling the iPad 2.  I’m not a gad­get girl per se, but I do love things that are func­tional and will stop me from car­ry­ing around my note­books and give me free­dom to focus here on Cook­ing In Stilet­tos and some other projects.  I could use it at the gym, write when­ever I have a spare moment, research arti­cles, etc.   Plus – the cases are gor­geous and would have come in pretty handy for a recent trip to NYC.

Obvi­ously, I can’t choose both and, of course, there are draw­backs.  The iPad 2 has a monthly fee and, with my luck a new iPad will be on the hori­zon soon.  The French Mar­ble Island won’t be avail­able until August and, of course, I have that nag­ging fear that I will dam­age the apart­ment floor.

So, I ask you – if you had to choose, what would you go with?