By Karen A. Chase

Author of Bonjour 40: A Paris travel log

(40 years. 40 days. 40 seconds)

Why is it that turning 40 is supposed to be a bad thing? I know a lot of women curl up in the fetal position over it, but for me, it was a chance to do something I’d always longed to do. Live in Paris. For a month. I’ve made choices throughout my life that made this moment possible, but what made it feasible was simply that I planned to do it. When I turned 39, I said I’d go to Paris for my fortieth, and so I spent the year preparing to accomplish just that.

It’s 10:58 and I turn 40 in an hour and two minutes. I can’t sleep becasue I have mixed emotions about turning 40. I am by no means a writer, but I think spilling my guts out about my feelings will help me deal with them. I thought this day would be different. I certaintly don’t feel 40, and people tell me I look a lot younger. That’s encouraging. Apparently this is a milestone birthday. In the back of my mind I secretly wanted a suprise party (never had one) or the talk of all my friends – I know that is so selfish of me. I’m just being honest. Frankly, I don’t think it’s a big deal to anyone but me. Tomorrow will pass and I will be forty years old.

I did have a revelation though. I put too much focus on other people making me happy. From this day forward, I will put my trust in the Lord and not in people. After all, God is the only on in my life that has never broken His promise that He will never leave me. So, tomorrow I will reflect on the forty years that God has blessed me with, and share my day with Him.

Via Never Picture Perfect: This is my last day in the decade of my 30′s. Yes, the irony or humor of turning forty on Thanksgiving is not lost on me:). I used to think 40 was so old. Silly me. In some ways, I don’t feel much older than I did when I was in my twenties. I mean, I have a more settled feeling now, and in the last year my body has reminded me I’m not twenty any more. Twelve hour shifts at the hospital leave me really tired. My feet hurt on a regular basis and I use a mountain of pillows to position myself comfortably in bed. That’s all kind of different. But me, myself–my soul doesn’t feel old.

Our pastor usually points out the significance of any numbers used in the Bible passage we are studying. God is a God of order and purpose and has significance in all that He does, even the numbers. I thought I’d look up 40 to see what meaning it has in the Bible. After reading several websites (with a grain of salt of course), the consensus seems to be that forty is the number that symbolizes a trial. It’s a number used a lot in both Old and New Testament–it rained forty days during the flood, Moses was 40 years in Egypt, 40 in Midian, and led the people in the wilderness for 40 years as well. He was on the mountain receiving the Law from God (twice).  There are forty years of “probation” under trials, under enlarged dominion (David and Solomon), under prosperity (Gideon), under humiliation (under Saul and the Philistines). Jesus was tempted for forty days and seen by his disciples for forty days after his resurrection. Lots of 40′s.

SO what does this mean? Ummm…I don’t really know. Perhaps the first 40 years were probation or testing to get me ready for the next 40? Maybe. I’m sure it doesn’t mean the testing is over:). It’s certainly been a busy 40 years. I became a believer in Jesus, graduated high school and college, got married, had four kids. Walked with my husband through the trials of infertility, miscarriage, job loss.

Via Futnani.com: I reached out to my 2 closest childhood friends last week and made a pact with them – that when we turn 40, we are going to take an epic trip. We haven’t decided where to go – after all, there are 7 years left before we need to make up our mind – but its going to comprise places that we have always wanted to go – but could not – because it was too far, or it was not possible to take the kids, or it was too expensive, or some other such practical reason.

This experience is going to take both time and money. By blocking 3 weeks on our calenders (on google / iCloud – our existing computers / smartphones will be obsolete by then), 7 years in advance, we wont have any excuses to spare 3 weeks. In terms of money, we’re all setting up SIPs and putting away $100 a month from now – a number small enough that it wont pinch but enough to add-up to something significant given the mathematical effect of compounding. In short, we wont have any reasonable excuses to pull out of the trip when the time comes. Places that may feature on the list are Tierra del Fuego, the Galapagos Islands, Mongolia and Beirut.

When I look back at my life, a few key key moments that come to mind – my first trip to London en-route to College, my week at a youth hostel in southern Spain, re-living ‘Lost in Translation’ in Tokyo, a polo lesson in Buenos Aires, counting Zebras in Kenya. With work-related pressures and a second child on the way, it seems like life is going by way too quickly and there is little time for gathering more of those stellar memories that frequently punctuated the earlier years of my life. The idea is, I guess, to go into our forties with a 3 weeks of mad memories. Look out for the photos in 7 years…

Via STV.com Dannii Minogue celebrated turning the big 4-0 today and said she had been “looking forward to turning the big four-oh almost as much as I looked forward to my 30th!”

To celebrate the big day, the stunning Australian TV star and singer decided to treat fans to a peek at her favourite memories from the last 40 years, posting photographs on the website mydaily.co.uk.

Top of the list was the adorable photo of Dannii and her partner Kris Smith huddled round their newborn baby Ethan, as they took him home from hospital, which Dannii dubbed “the moment I’ll cherish forever”.

Via DFW Mama – by Polly Harrison: It’s almost here and I’m really not sure how I’m going to handle it. I’m going to be 40 in a week and I’m convinced we have our dates confused on the calendar. When did this happen? I can still vividly remember counting the days until my 16^th birthday – surely it hasn’t been 24 YEARS since then, has it??? My husband informed me that he’s throwing me a party for the big day so I’ve busied myself by helping with the planning rather than focus on the ticking of the clock. But still, time marches on. I know, I know – turning 40 is better than the alternative. I get it. I realize it’s better to be alive than dead. But there’s a definite shift in society for women that occurs at 40 that’s pretty hard to ignore. Tons of magazines, beauty products and clothing lines tout themselves as being for “Women Over 40”. Why?? What happens at 40? Are all my regular things going to stop working? Do I need to cut off my hair, throw away my shorts and get age cream? Should I have done that a long time ago?? This is all new territory for me and I intend to (hopefully) approach it all gratefully and gracefully. Or maybe a little tipsy.

On the upside, the party my husband is planning sounds like it’s going to be lots of fun! In an effort to keep me from having to do much, he hired a housekeeper and scheduled a spa appointment for me the day of the big event. Also, we’ve outsourced the food and libations – Taco Taxi, a mobile taco cart catering service (doesn’t that sound like fun??) is doing dinner, Margarita Adventures is providing a margarita machine, and Creative Sweet Shoppe will be baking and decorating a vanilla cake with raspberry filling. I can’t wait!!

Check back next week and I will follow up on the big shin-dig and let you know my thoughts on how it went. And how everything tasted! That is, if my aged old brain can remember all the details. I’ll be 40 by then so you never know.

This past Wednesday, I turned 40. It was an event I had been having mixed emotions about for months. When I saw the ball drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, I felt like I’d been slapped. I pretty much ruined the whole night. Where did the time go? I didn’t feel ready.

Turning 40 is a milestone in a person’s life, but here is what can make it a traumatic event. Our society has an unwritten handbook of rules. There are certain things we should have achieved by the time we reach a certain age, and if just one or two of those things are missing, we tend to feel like a failure. It’s a set of rules most of us seem to be affected by, whether we realize it or not. I am the first to admit there are things I have yet to accomplish, things I thought would be in place by this age. However, life doesn’t always line up with what you expect it to be.

I spent two days celebrating entering my 40s. The night before, I went to see Bon Jovi in concert for the second time. The next day, I bought a german chocolate cake. The day felt like being on a long rollercoaster ride. I was thankful, sad, confused.. wondering what to do next, where to go with my life. I walked around in a fog, and the overcast skies didn’t help very much.

A friend-of-a-friend was turning 40 this weekend, and I got recruited by her husband to make a cake for her surprise party. He told me that he tasted the cake I made for my friend’s daughter (the Tinkerbell’s Teapot cake) – OVER A YEAR AGO – and remembered it when he was thinking about throwing this party. What a compliment!

Anyhoo… his wife loves the beach and loves to read books by the author Jan Karon (ex: The Mitford Series). So, I tried to incorporate a little of both with the scene on this cake. Sparkling gel for the ocean water, sand made of Nilla wafer crumbs and brown sugar sifted together, beach accessories made of fondant, beach umbrella made of white chocolate covered in fondant, and a few gumpaste seashells.

Yep. That’s about it. I hear the cake was a big hit, everyone loved it (especially the birthday girl), and there were no leftovers. Always a good sign.

As you read this, I would have achieved another milestone in life — turning 40! (on Oct. 30)

They say 40 is the new 30… or dare I say, the new 20? Joke lang. Age is just a number… And speaking of which, on Twitter (via @tintinbabao) I did a 40-day countdown to my birthday.

In these 40 days, I tried to do something each day… something which I haven’t done in my 40 years, something new and exciting. Also, I went back to doing some of the little simple things which I missed doing for the past years.

Does life really begin at this age?

Until my friend asked me if I’m having a crisis turning 40, I had not really thought about it. In fact, when asked, I told her, “It’s just another birthday.”

Well, my perception of turning 40 has kind of changed. I don’t know if she provoked something in me, but now that The Big 4-0 is less than 2 months away, I scramble to think of ways to celebrate it memorably.

I thought of booking a trip to Hawaii with my 1-yr old and my boyfriend. It sounded like a marvelous idea. Until reality set in–taking a 1-yr old is not exactly “packing lite.” It’s already a big production trying to do a weekend-getaway somewhere, think about a week in Hawaii from California!!?? So, I quickly brushed off that idea. Maybe it can be a Turning 50 celebration…

Then, I thought of getting myself something to remember this upcoming birthday by. And I mean, making a nice purchase just for me. I quickly came up with lots of ideas–but they were all just practical, everyday type of things–clothes, a new bed mattress, a makeover… They were not necessarily things for me to say, “Yes, that made my 40th birthday.” The post-it of this list is posted at my desk at home. I look at it everyday and countdown in my mind as the day draws nearer.

No matter what I do life keeps getting better, like a pinball machine life keeps giving me extra points!

I am turning 40 on Saturday September 11, and after 40 years on this earth I believe I have had a great run, In the 80’s I had all the fun the a child of the 80’s could have. In the 90’s I spent some time in the NAVY and lived the life of a hippie/grungy kind of guy in Chicago. In the 2000’s I decided to give the professional life a try I did the 9 to 5 strait lace office work for about 13 years, (and got sick and tired of it) and about 2 years I decided to change careers and try something I always wanted.

I have to say being 40 have given me a new focus and peace that I did not have 20 years ago and it seems No matter what I do life keeps getting better, like a pinball machine life keeps giving me extra points!

I just thought I would share my experience of turning 40 as it is one of those milestones that we achieve with mixed feelings.

I decided to go in denial and took a mini sabbatical to Latin America to learn Spanish instead of having the big 40th birthday party with friends and family. I spent the initial part of the trip with a travel age of 35 thereby celebrating my “36th” birthday party in wine country at an asado with fellow travellers!

I think 40 gives you the confidence to try out new experiences such as a 50km bike ride in a gorge, scaling a precipice over a waterfall barefoot, socialising with fellow travellers a decade younger, being wined and dined by men a decade younger…

No doldrums, no sadness, no longing for younger years for me. I refuse to turn 40 and wish I were 30 or 20 again. I am stronger and better and more beautiful now then ever before. Sure, I don’t have everytihng in my life I had hoped I would have by now…. But maybe all that is still to come or, more importantly, maybe I did not need those things anyway. I really do believe we are given what we need. So I’ll turn 40 with a week of celebrations, topped off by participating in my first half-marathon. I am 40. Hear me roar.

http://redlipstickrunner.wordpress.com

Turning forty is not something that some people feel ecstatic about celebrating, once you get over the issues associated with age however you will soon find out that aging is not so bad after all. In fact, it is a good excuse to throw a fabulous and memorable party fit for you and your loved ones. The only challenge is that throwing and choosing among a number of 40th birthday party themes is not the same as throwing a party for your children or your relatives’ children.

An important factor to remember when choosing among the 40th birthday party themes is your personality and personal preferences (if it’s your birthday), or that of the birthday celebrant’s. There a number of popular 40th birthday party themes and some of them include: