Even though our 40th birthday doesn't roll around for another six months, my two best friends and I are busy planning the celebration. Originally the idea was to go to the Dominican Republic for a week with our kids and John, taking advantage of Vangie's parents' beach house. Free and sunny. What could be better? But after our week on the Vineyard Vangie decided that seven days with five children is anything but celebratory and the entire trip with them might actually age us beyond our forty years.

So she suggested that just us birthday girls go away to somewhere memorable - some place that would truly be monumental. I said let's do a Caribbean island or a spa. She said that wasn't monumental enough. This is a life milestone! It deserves something amazing! She was talking somwhere totally unique and fabulous. And then she tossed out the idea of the South of Spain and then a boat ride to Morocco for a few days. Definitely memorable. I pictured us dancing in some harem in Morocco or being fed peeled grapes by girls dressed like Jeannie. But I can't say Spain has ever been on my list of "must go" places. So I said Italy, maybe Capri. And we agreed, but then we figured why limit ourselves? What about Lake Como or the Amalfi Coast. And then Vangie really wanted Tuscany (I think she had visions of us channeling Under a Tuscan sun a la Diane Lane). And today Vicki throws a monkey wrench into the entire thing by suggesting somewhere a little more adventurous - like Belize or Costa Rica. Vangie, being from Latin America, isn't that thrilled, although she conceded that if we could find a Four Seasons she might consider it. With so many choices we decided another trip was in order. So in November Vangie and I are traveling to Richmond to visit Vicki, where the three of us will hunker down in the Barnes & Noble travel section and try to figure it all out. A little less exotic, yes, but who needs harems as long as your with your best friends. And I'm not a big fan of peeled grapes.