fortunately i've found a whole new conundrum

I made it to the jewelry trade show on Friday, and had great success -- I got a super deal on enough gold chain to make b-maid bracelets ($3.85/foot!) and finally figured out what to put on top of those cufflink bases. Green-hued mother of pearl beads, $3 for a strand of twice as much as I needed. So now I'll have these to give as gifts to the groomsmen: (In retrospect, that's a terrible backdrop for the photo -- my apologies.) I really tried to go with something they could use again. Believe me, I spent waaay too much time dithering about going for something a bit "bling-ier", to match the b-maid earrings, plus a few other even sillier ideas. But in the end, I think I did good. Mr. UB agrees.

Are brides "supposed to" give gifts to the groomsmen? I don't care -- I adore all of the guys who'll be standing up with My Guy, and it seems unfair to only give thank-yous to the people standing behind me at the ceremony. Best of all, it came to a total of less than $14 for all 5 pairs.

So, with the attendant thank-you gifts under control, I decided it was time to move onto a whole new problem: Project Honeymoon.

Mind you, I only consider it a problem in the budgetary sense. I have a permanent case of wanderlust, and I still feel the pull of my ex-patriate past at regular intervals. Neither Mr. UB nor I are afraid to fly, and we both love adventure. So it's definitely not the travelling itself that's the "problem." Rather, it's trying to find something that feels appropriately special that we can afford.

Starting with our original ideas, Mr. UB first thought of Italy. Rome, specifically. Which is a place I absolutely want to go with him ... just not for our honeymoon. Why? Because I lived in Italy for 4 years, and Rome was my 2nd home while I was there. So perhaps it's weird (he kinda thinks it is), but I want our honeymoon to be a place that's brand new to both of us, so that we can discover it together. Or alternately, a place where I won't mind failing to show him everything that I love, just in case we never make it out of the hotel room.

My original idea looked like this: Right? Right?! There's just one problem: the part of the world where most of the places that look like this is located, specifically Bora Bora/Mo'orea, is "pricey," to put it mildly. As in most of them start at $900/night. Ouch. (Have I mentioned that I have exquisite taste?)

So: back to the drawing board (aka Google.) I actually got a manageable amount of hits for "Over Water Hotel" once I took out the duplicates. And a few were easily eliminated right away: a lake in Switzerland (not tropical), the coast of northern California (not exotic) and a place in Bermuda (just not "it") are out. There's a beautiful place in Western Samoa that's run by an American couple who dropped out of the game a few years back, and it looks amazing.

source

It's called Coconuts Beach Club, and it's not outrageously priced. The trouble spot is getting to Samoa. It's admittedly less trouble from L.A. than from just about anywhere else besides Australia, but that doesn't make it easy. Even if you don't have a layover in Fiji, the positioning of the Int'l Date Line means that getting there technically takes three days!! Even if you "get them back" on the return trip, it seems like the kind of travel that needs a longer time frame than we're likely to have. Oh, and those flights are about $1000/person. Again: ouch.

And then I stumbled onto this place. It's in Panama. Now, just to prove that I still have a shred of sanity, my first reaction was Panama?!? But upon closer inspection, I have to admit that I'm falling for the place. It's a very small resort, and it's actually affordable. During the time period when we'd be going, those bungalows are under $350/night. And non-stop flights from L.A. to Panama City can be had for under $500/person. You can even get there for less, if you're willing to take a flight with stops. Normally, I'd totally go for that, but I hope we can splurge $100 since it's our honeymoon. Also, we'd probably have to spend a night in Panama City before the island-hopper plane to the resort, and that could be really cool. I don't think I'd want to spend a lot of time there, but one night would definitely be fun.

So now it's time to see what we can actually afford, and try to make it happen. Maybe we can do one of those travel registry things? I much prefer a swell vacation to kitchen stuff. I'll buy my own damn blender.