What's the most spontaneous thing you've ever done?

I drew the titular question from a bag during my women's studies class in college. Few questions could have provided as much insight into my personality as this one.

Everyone had to read her question aloud and offer an answer. As my classmates each took their turns with easy questions ("Where do you see yourself in five years?" "What's your favorite place on earth?"), I desperately searched the archives of my brain for any memory that hinted of spontaneity.

There were none. I'm not a spontaneous person.

"I'm not a spontaneous person," I announced after reading my question. "I don't do spontaneous things."

"That's something that you can work on, then!" the professor chirped.

I nodded agreeably while thinking to myself, why on earth would I want to be spontaneous? What value does a spur-of-the-moment decision bring that a carefully planned decision can't?

Ten years later, I don't think my professor would be impressed with my progress. Among my spontaneous activities I include shopping (afterwards, I am sometimes regretful, sometimes defiantly proud) and eating/buying dessert (late at night, I have been known to declare that I simply must have a piece of cake, and then off we go to try to find some). I just don't think my nature is to be spontaneous.

But now, if anyone asks again about the most spontaneous thing I've ever done, I have an answer. Tonight, within the last hour, I purchased plane tickets--spontaneously. Sort of spontaneously.

Last weekend, we saw a Rick Steves show on Spain, and B and I were of the same mind--we simply must go. The architecture in Barcelona was unlike anything I had ever seen, and my 6 years of Spanish classes included the occasional bit of of art and history, which meant that the numerous museum visits might not be as yawnish as usual for me.

We purchased Rick's Spain book earlier in the week, and I started scoping out dates. Mid-to-late April seemed like a good time to go--shoulder season, so the crowds would be thinner and prices would be softer, but the weather would be more temperate than our weather in New England.

Flights were as I expected, most ranging from $600 to $900. But when I checked today, there wasn't a single flight for less than $850. Perhaps I'm spoiled, but I don't like spending more then $550 to fly to Europe, and even that pricetag is high--it cuts into my souvenir budget.

And more complications ensued. B's travel has been cut significantly this year--yay!--but that means that we have fewer Starwood points to use for free hotels abroad. However, some offer a cash + points offer, where you pay a nominal fee in US dollars plus a sizeable number of points. However, cash + points weren't available at one of our hotels for the month of April. It was time to step back and figure out a new plan.

On a whim, I entered new dates into Kayak.com to scope out flights, and imagine my surprise when I found what I consider to be bargain flights to Europe--and one of them was even direct! The dates were earlier--March into April--but the flights were the right price, and the cash + points offer was available for most of the nights.

I ran excitedly to B and asked if he was ready to be spontaneous. I should note that B is not a spontaneous person, either, especially when it comes to travel, but he is excited about going to Spain and agreed to my crazy plan.

And so we're going to Spain next year, and I am officially spontaneous.

All in the name of research

While planning our upcoming German vacation with the assistance of Rick Steves (natch), I learned of a possible tour in Salzburg, Austria. The tour takes you to the nearby mountains and shows you some of the Austrian countryside. There was only one problem--the tour was named and themed after a particularly famous movie that was set in Salzburg. Yes, I'm talking about The Sound of Music.

I had never seen the movie and had avoided it during its annual television airing, but I was ready to bite the bullet and commit to a three-hour movie for the sake of research. Rick recommended the tour even if you weren't a fan of the movie, but I didn't know if I could handle three hours of a "Doe, a Deer" sing-along if I couldn't stand the flick. It didn't occur to me that B and I would have different opinions of the movie.

But that's how it turned out. We decided to watch the movie over 2 nights, and after the first half, I realized that SOM was a movie that I could get down with. Unfortunately, B thought differently and was lacking enthusiasm for finishing the movie.

His complaints were valid. Very little plot development occurred during the first hour and a half, the behavior of the characters was unrealistic, and he didn't see anyone in the movie that he could relate to. I'm ok with unrealistic plots and characters, as long as guns and cigarettes aren't involved, and I liked the characters, even the freakishly orderly children.

I promised that the second half of the movie would feature more plot, history, and realistic behavior (the last bit didn't seem likely, but watching movies alone isn't as much fun) and was able to convince B to stay the course, and we finished the movie the next evening.

I loved the movie. B tolerated it, at best, but he agreed to take the tour in Salzburg anyway, even though he might be forced into singing "Sixteen, Going on Seventeen" on a rolling tour bus.

And so here it is, our itinerary.

Day 1: Fly to Munch.
Day 2: Land in Munich early in the morning. We'll have all day to sightsee, assuming jet lag doesn't get the best of us.
Day 3: Travel to Salzburg. Tour the sites, and visit the Christmas market.
Day 4: Take the Sound of Music tour and return to Munich.
Day 5: Take a day trip to Neuschwanstein.
Day 6: Take a day trip to Nurnberg, home of the largest Christmas market in Germany.
Day 7: Fly home.

A spartan TV schedule

While we were in Italy, B and I didn't watch much television, but our TV time increased after we returned home, much to our dismay. Well, maybe only to my dismay.

After a weekend that featured what seemed like 12 hours of football watching (college, pro, and I think even some local high school games on the public access station), I realized that we had started using the television as a way to pass the time. We were being less and less choosy about the shows that we watched, and as a result, we were filling up our time together with a log of garbage (yes, I Love Money, and just about every other show on VH1--I'm talking about you).

We agreed to trying an experiment with the TV. We each chose several hours' worth of programming that we couldn't live without and agreed not to watch anything else. B chose the weekly Patriot's game, and I chose The Office and Gossip Girl.

For the first week, we were very good about sticking to our plan, though some college football did manage to sneak into the schedule. We're now in week 3 and have had some flagrant violations (House two nights ago, and Bones last night), but after spending 11-12 hours at work, it's tough to find motivation for anything besides dinner, TV, and sleep. I'm hoping we bouce back to our spartan TV schedule next week.

But they're amazing!

How do you justify $400 blue boots?

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

A mature woman's wardrobe

I always thought that Talbot's was a store at which more mature women shopped. Then I realized that I now fit into that category.

A couple months ago, Stacy London (of What Not To Wear fame) paid a visit to the morning show on Cosmo Radio, and she shared some interesting insight. A woman who was about my age called for fashion advice, and Stacy said that finding age-appropriate clothing is difficult when you're in your late 20s. The stores that you used to shop at are no longer appropriate, but you might not be ready to start browsing in the stores that you will shop at in your 30s.

I count Talbot's in this category and never even used to go in, but I found a coupon code online last week and decided to check out what they offer--and I realized that they're a great place to buy staples. Stacy said that as you approach your 30s, you need to make sure that the core of your wardrobe consists of staples with a few trendy pieces mixed in. Talbot's is one of those stores that offers good staples.

Yesterday my online search produced a navy Talbot's dress that would be pefect for dressy fall and winter occasions. I used my detective skills to track down the only remaining dress in my size in the state and then dragged B off in the rain to go buy it. It's during those emergency shopping situations (the store was due to close in an hour) that you really appreciate your Garmin.

Where can I find the non-Amazon tall size...

In general, I don't know what it's like to be short. Yes, once upon a time, I was younger and smaller than I am now, but even when I was short compared to adults, I was always tall compared to my peers, and I always felt tall in my clothes, which were generally too short in the leg and arm throughout childhood.

After I took responsibility for buying my own clothes, I discovered stores that catered to tall women--halleluja! Tall pants are usually just long enough for me to wear flats, though sometimes they require heels (or hemming, but heels are cheaper). However, I have recently met my match in a pair of long pants from Ann Taylor.

I've joked with people that I'd need a 37"+ inseam on my pants to be able to wear the 4" stillettos that I see some girls rocking, and where can you get women's pants with a 37" inseam. It's a hypothetical question because I have never encountered such a thing--until now.

The long pants that I recently received from an online order are so long that I can't wear them with my highest (3") heels--the pants drag on the ground. I'm not sure if I could wear them with 4" heels. Stilts might be required to keep these pants from dragging...

So now, for the first time in my life, I have to have my pants hemmed, and I'm not particularly happy about it, especially since the tailor I called quoted me a $20 price tag (since the pants are wide and cuffed). $20!! I have newfound sympathy for anyone who has to have every pair of pants that she buys hemmed.

I'm not going to pay someone to hem my pants, not if it's going to cost $20. The bargain for which I got the pants would be obliterated by this extra expense. It's time to break out the needle and thread and conquer my sewing fears.

All we need is a tree

In previous years, my goal has been to finish all of our Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving. It's an aggressive goal, but we've come pretty close the last couple of years, and our vacation and shopping in France helped significantly last year.

This year, we planned 2 European vacations during the latter part of the year. We finished about 2/3 of our Christmas shopping in Italy et al, but our upcoming trip to Germany is over a month away, so there's no way that we'll be able to finish all of our Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving.

But that's ok. We'll be in Germany and Austria for nearly a week, and a week that is entirely dedicated to shopping should give us plenty of time to finish.

Let me rephrase, in the likely event that B reads this posting. The week will, of course, not be devoted entirely to shopping. There will be historical walking tours and museum visits and all of that. But Munich itself has something like 12 different Christmas markets (with one devoted entirely to nativity scenes--amazing), and we're visiting several other cities to tour their markets as well (and, of course, their historical sites...).

So we won't be finished with all of our shopping until mid-December at the earliest, but today while waiting for the chimney inspector to arrive, we finished wrapping all of the gifts that we have bought. And now all we need is a tree...

Early November is probably too early to buy a Christmas tree, especially since we'll be out of the country for a week in early December. I suppose I'll have to make due with Christmas CDs in the stereo for now.