i took the plunge off the deep end

Congradulations.
Your kelly sounds lovely and very usable. No matter how often you use your bag it will always retain that special feeling -- at least for me it does.

I agree with you Lulilu. I am a birkin girl first and formost but after seeing a large bj kelly in the Stars Thread I find myself going over and over in my head the idea that adding a kelly to the "collection" might not be a bad thing.