Amateur Answers

After a year together, she's due for an anniversary gift. Even if you're subsidizing the entire trip, you would not enjoy a moment where she hands you a gift and you say, "Umm ... remember I paid for our plane tickets, honey."

Anniversaries are good occasions for a little ceremony, but there's no reason to worry about needing the "correct" gift. Have some fun with it! Get her a little basket and fill it with random funny stuff from a thrift store--a Magic 8 Ball, a Pez dispenser, whatever. Maybe some games you could play together in your mountain retreat.

That covers your little trinket-y item that will go inside the box, but you need a gift that shows you're thinking about what she likes. My favorite quick gift is ordering event tickets online. If she likes music, go for that. More of a sporty gal? Then sign up for some primo tickets at the ball game. The www.ticketmaster.com site features multiple types of events.

Ideally, you could tie your trinket gift to the event. For your musical gal, pick up a toy guitar at Wal-mart. She'll end up giving it to a nephew or to Goodwill, but it's more fun to open up than a printed ticket receipt. Or you could include a CD along with the tickets.

So get cracking! Order some tickets online, and head out at lunch to buy some trinkets.

Enjoy the trip, and come back and let us know the impression your gifts made!

-Amateur Answers