333rd Friday Blog Roundup
One day, before Josh and I got engaged, we were at his aunt’s house and I turned to him and said, “do you want to go to Paris?” I’m not sure if it’s still around today, but I used to be able to get very cheap flights via a predecessor to STA. Like I went to Dublin for a little over $100 cheap. I had never been to Paris, and I was just feeling romantic. I didn’t really expect him to agree or for my boss to give me the week off, but a few days later, I found myself on an airplane, going to Paris, with this boy I really really loved.
And it fucking rocked. Not planning it made it that much better.
I’m not usually a very impulsive person, at least not when it comes to spending money. I mean, I’ll impulsively take the wrong turn to see where the road goes, but it has been a long time since I’ve plunked down cash without thinking it through deeply. I’m the sort who only goes to Starbucks when I’ve planned to go to Starbucks. I won’t even spend $4 without thinking it through even though I know there is somewhat of a high that comes from the occasional frivolous purchase.
I commented to Josh last weekend that some of the Broadway theaters were raising money for Japan relief efforts by auctioning off tickets, though they were for a day of the week that we couldn’t possibly get to New York. He asked if I wanted him to buy me theater tickets to see “American Idiot” before it closed. Just because. I said yes, but before we could hash out the idea, think it through ad nauseam, he walked downstairs, secured babysitting, and purchased two tickets. Done.
I have to admit, my first thought was nausea at the idea that we just plunked down that money on theater tickets and we hadn’t debated it to death. And then I got really excited over the idea of having a few hours of adult time to see a play. It has been about six years since I’ve been to a Broadway show.
After he handed me the printed out tickets and assuaged my oh-my-G-d-what-have-we-done fears, he pointed out that it had been over ten years since we’ve done something like that. Since we turned to each other and said, “what the hell, want to go to Paris just because we’re in love?” And suddenly, those tickets seemed like the most romantic gesture in the world.
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The Weekly What If: What if you were given $300 and told you have three minutes to spend it (to decide what you want; not 3 minutes to haul yourself to the store). You can’t donate it, you do-gooder. What would you buy?
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I am performing? presenting? reading? existing? in a Girls Night Out event in Washington, D.C. on April 7th at 7:3o pm for Life from Scratch. There will be cocktails. There will be backstories. There will be shmoozing and networking and simply chilling with equally cool Washingtonians like yourself. Putting this out there in case anyone would like to come along.
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I normally don’t subject you to the Wolvog’s music simply because there is so much of it and he runs heavily towards gamelan, but I really loved this guitar piece he wrote this week. I like how it keeps moving from chaos to order. Oh, and this one is brief as opposed to the disc he handed me recently that ran 50+ minutes. It was a very painful car ride.
[audio:https://www.stirrup-queens.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Song_converted.mp3]
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And now, the blogs…
IFSerenityNow has a post about using other people’s children as a barometer for the ones she doesn’t have. She explains, “And every time I see my friend’s kids, the counting begins. Seeing them is a constant reminder of how long we have been trying. The journey that never stops.” It’s a brief post, a sad post, but one that resonated with me.
Singular Desire has a really interesting post about a donor dilemma. Namely, after never using the same donor twice, she wonders if she should return to the one who ultimately gave her a positive. And beyond that, she muses on what her behaviour means; what hidden thoughts it reveals. An interesting post.
Here We Go Again has a post about the in-betweenness of a mid-term loss. While it’s technically classified as a miscarriage, she has had a miscarriage and this feels different, yet it also is distinct from a stillbirth. Our language simply lacks in this department; we feel very unique things, yet our words lump all experiences together. She writes so achingly: “There is something so, so different for a baby that I labored for, delivered, held, kissed, named, and called a funeral home for. I’m in an in-between place, stuck between two definitions.”
Lastly, I loved this reminder about reaching out from Creating Motherhood. She writes, “It’s the days after a tragedy that can be the hardest to deal with. The immediate rush of love and support sort of fades away and you are left standing on an island with a giant suitcase full of emotions and feel like there is no one there to help you unload them.” She has a fantastic idea.
The roundup to the Roundup: I’m spontaneous every 10 years or so. Answer the Weekly What If. I’m doing an event in D.C. for Life from Scratch. The Wolvog rocks out. And lots of great posts to read.
31 comments
$300 – I’ve decided that I would absolutely treat myself and buy a kick-ass pair of shoes – prob Jimmy Choos. As once in a while we need to treat ourselves.
Your Paris story made me teary. Perhaps because Nav and I have our own Paris-is-where-we-fell-in-love story. As a non-impulsive person, I’m glad you’re going to see a show. Can’t wait for the review.
Hands down I’d spend the $300 on a laptop. Well probably a netbook for that amount. One that’s all for me and not shared.
Stationery. Beautiful, beautiful stationery.
I knew my answer before I even finished reading your question! I was just on Amazon looking at Petunia Picklebottom diaper bags. They are ridiculously expensive and I am not even pregnant yet, but a blogger I found during ICLW mentioned them and I can’t quit staring at them! So that is where my 300 bucks would go. Well part if it, the other part would go to whatever would fit from my way to long Amazon wishlist!
Have fun in NYC! Spontaneity keeps life fun!
Tickets to Disney World! It’s my favorite place on the planet and at this point, I need a dose of perma-hope, magic and sparkles.
So did you put March 25, 2021 on your calendar to be spontaneous again?
Oh, and I would buy a ticket to Baltimore.
Thanks, Mel.
I think I’d buy an iPad maybe? I don’t know though, I just got a Kindle in the mail, if that ends up being good enough, I won’t need one. So if not an iPad (which I suspect cost more than $300 anyway), I would buy a plane ticket for a friend to come visit me.
A barefoot dreams bathrobe and grey knee high boots.
Happy ICLW Mel 🙂 $300? Impulse buy? 300 songs on iTunes or 30 albums, whatever worked out to be more songs. BAM! Done.
…now where’s my $300? ^_~
I would probably book myself in at a swanky spa for a pampering package. : ) Enjoy the play; I hear it’s great!!
$300 in clothes from Banana Republic. 🙂
Shoes. The smoking-est, most fabulous, highest pair of rockin’ heels I could find – they might even be high heeled boots – just whatever it was that screamed and said “BUY ME NOW!”
Because (stealing line from a movie) “Clothes never look any good… food just makes me fatter… shoes always fit.”
Only 3 minutes to decide? Hmmm. . .tickets! I want to go to this Dali museum in Spain that I went to in 1997, only I traveled there on a day it was closed because I was a little TOO spontaneous and didn’t check the opening times, and I couldn’t go on any other day. I promised myself someday I’d go back. $300 would buy train tickets.
I just want to point out that I was in DC for four whole months last year, and you were utterly devoid of public readings. When I return for training as scheduled for the fall of 2012, I’m expecting you to do a bit better.
Buy a set of (cheap) mattresses. Ours are miserable and depressing, all bottoming out and everything. DH complains every morning that his back is killing him from them. Definitely a no-brainer.
A doppler, diapers, and a Jujube diaper bag.
(If this one isn’t my take-home baby, by god, the next one will be!)
Hmm, $300. I think in a fit of uncharacteristic optimism, I would buy some baby items for our (hopeful) future baby. . . . ’cause goodness knows we will be short on money for buying baby stuff once we pay for our DE cycle!
(I would have to hide the purchases from my husband, though. He thinks buying things for a baby who hasn’t yet been conceived will “jinx” us.)
Oooh, I’d totally buy $300 of cloth diapers :).
$300 would sponsor a fab ladies night in or out with good friends.
Or shoes that look like girl shoes.
A massage/facial treatment OR
a romantic dinner somewhere nice with my husband.
I like the music, I wish I could play an instrument!
Hmmm…$300.00. There’s so many different ways to go with that! Tonight I’d say that I would go to a furniture store and get a small piece of furniture. I’ve been thinking of a little wine cabinet or something for the dining room lately. If I had to answer yesterday I might have said something different!
I would be booking a room at my favorite hotel in Gatlinburg, TN for a week! Yes, an entire week. It’s a quaint little family-owned hotel. Hubby and I get the smallest room available, as we’re only in the room long enough to sleep. And I would have money to spare, which would quickly be spent on Ben & Jerry’s and Baskin Robbins. And some arcade tokens. Throw in some free hiking through the park, and what else could a girl need?
A plane ticket to the nearest ocean.
Easy! A new platform bed frame, since ours is collapsing and my fat butt can’t get off the floor very easily any more. Or at the very least, a piece of plywood the size of a king size bed and a bunch of concrete blocks. 🙂
As a Spender, your post made me giggle. GO YOU! getting a spontaneous night out! 🙂 The Paris trip warmed my heart.
$300? Dinner at my favorite restaurant in the City with Hubby and my BFFs. Rooftop patio, twinkling lights, cityscape, amazing food and even better company. That’s a lot for $300, if you ask me. 😉
$300 in 3 minutes? A Kindle for me and a tenor ukulele for my man – he’s been eyeballing them for weeks.
And have fun on your grown-up date night! Sounds wonderful!
Spa day at the Camelback Inn, with the adobe clay body treatment (can I have $300 every day so I can pay someone to shower me all the time instead of having to stand up and do it myself with just one showerhead?), complete with frozen mango margaritas post-treatment.
Awww – you guys are so cute.
$300? I’d buy a plane ticket somewhere… Or maybe I’d just get a kick ass hair cut and dye job.
Enjoy your play!
Also, the Wolvog’s composition was very good!
I want one of these: http://www.seaeagle.com/SportKayaks.aspx . The pro package, I suppose, since — what a happy coincidence! — it is $299.
If I have $300 to spend and 3 minutes to decide how to spend it, I’d book tickets to Melbourne or Adelaide or Brisbane for my husband and myself. I’ve always been really careful with money, but the past couple years I’ve become more of a while woman. I spontaneously went to visit friends in South Australia in July and took the husband to Victoria in mid November. And you know what? I hardly remember the money spent (drop in the bucket compared to IVF!) but I’ll have those memories (and 6,000,000 photos) FOREVER.