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”.

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Via Your Tango Experts.com by Lisa Steadman:  I’d like to tell you that the Rubik’s Cube turns 40 this year. I’d like to tell you that Mr. and Ms. Pac-Man celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary this year. I’d like to tell you thatDrew Barrymore, Free to Be You & Me, Star Wars and I were all born in the same year, all turning 40 in 2011.

But it’s just not true. Those toys, video game icons, and pop-culture references are from my youth, but the conscious years, not the zygote years.

Having said that, there ARE some cool things/people turning 40 this year, right along with me. John Lennon’s song Imagine. Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry. And my girl Mary J Blige hits the big 4-0 right alongside me this year.

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Via Authentic Development:  It’s 9 days ago. I’m lying face down on a tattoo parlor table. The pain is beyond what I imagined. It’s not stopping. I tell myself it will be over soon. Soon is taking quite a while. Each branch of the tree has to be traced and filled in. The leaves need to be added–each leaf another needle. Eventually, I embrace the pain. I stop cringing. I lean into it. It becomes the metaphor for why I’m here–1000 miles from home, alone, getting a tattoo of a tree on my back.

I’m here because my friends loved me and believed in me and sent me to a world class leadership program. I’m alone because I must be, and I’m getting a tree on my back because the tree is the symbol of my true life.

Beauty and pain are inextricably linked. Authenticity–what my new tattoo represents–is not possible without pain.

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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.

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Via Intentblog Written by Christine Arylo

What if fear no longer stopped you from your dreams?

What is it that you really want right now?

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So here I am – today – turning 40. It doesn’t feel right because I just don’t picture myself as 40. In my mind I see myself somewhere in my late 20′s or 30′s. Maybe it’s because I don’t know what 40 feels like yet.

Honestly my 30′s were a mix of good and bad. I got married and divorced in my 30′s. I bought and sold a house in my 30′s. I found out I can’t have kids in my 30′s and realized that I can never ever live without a dog in my life. I worked at 5 companies. I became an aunt – twice. I witnessed the passing of all 4 of my grandparents and several other loved ones. I experienced a lot, lived a lot and learned a lot.

These are the top things I have learned in the past 40 years:

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Via Bella’s Black Book

So 3 months into this being 40 thing and I am learning so much about becoming an “older” woman. Well, if I’m being honest, I have been privy to a lot of this for a while now, but it seems that somehow when you actually become 2 scores, everything is magnified by 10 like the ugly side of those vanity mirrors and no matter how hard you try, you can’t make it stop. So here are a few things that you discover once you start to crest the hill (which incidentally I will be doing for at least another 10 years).

1. Your body makes lots of new and strange noises. Now one could ask, “how is that any different than being a teenaged boy?” Well, I am happy to answer. You see, teenaged boys are usually making these sounds on purpose, either with their mouths, or other body parts. But a woman over 40? She is usually just as surprised as everyone else when a joint creeks or her behind suddenly learns how to play the trumpet. Most of the time, if you ask her what that sound was, she is just as clueless as you are.

2. You suddenly develop the ability to REALLY multi-task in some new and exciting ways, for instance, you can gain an obscene amount of fat/weight, while simultaneously being able to build massive muscle in a very short amount of time. I have completely stopped using weights when I workout because I don’t want to end up looking like a chubby linebacker.

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Via ChiTown Parent

Yes, it has finally happened. A few weeks ago, I left my glorious thirties to move on to bigger and better, and well, older things in life.

Just a decade ago, I was frantically planning my wedding and the thought of turning 40 someday wasn’t really on my radar. So now I sit pondering those deeper thoughts like, what do I want to accomplish in the next ten years? What do I want my children to accomplish in the next ten years? What will life look like at 50? And in spite of all that, the most pressing issue I face, honestly, is what on earth do I wear now that I’ve reached the big four-o?

I’ve never been a Fashionista, but do have a taste for the finer threads in life. Trends are something I rarely follow, unless I really feel drawn to them. I have a soft spot for Italian shoes and unique handbags, and am always on the look-out for a good bargain.

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By Consuela H. Wilkins M.D.

It finally happened. I knew that it would and I couldn’t stop it. But I wasn’t ready. It had already happened to many of my closest friends, but that didn’t make me feel any better.

On the first of July this year, I turned 40 years old. Yes, the BIG 4-0. I started thinking about this birthday around Christmastime last year. I wasn’t dwelling on turning 40 but wrapping my mind around the fact seemed somewhat challenging.

When I shared this with some of my close friends and family, I usually got some variation of the same comment. Their responses were mostly encouraging and related to physical appearance and professional achievements relative to my age. But my mixed emotions about turning 40 were not due to concerns about my appearance or worry about my career.

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At 40, Kid Rock is no kid, but you couldn’t tell by his current schedule.

The rocker just kicked off a summer tour, during which he performs duets on stage with opener Sheryl Crow. Rock also plans to record another album after he gets off the road promoting his most recent LP, last year’s “Born Free.”

“I don’t think myself or my band has ever sounded or played better,” Rock told Rolling Stone . “I’m 40. I’m not going to be at the top of my game forever, but I am right now.”

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I lost 55 pounds back in 2004, managed to keep it off for a couple of years, but then it slowly started creeping back on. I gained back 31 of the 55 pounds I lost and was feeling not so great about myself. And the fact that I’d be turning 40 this year certainly didn’t help things! I decided at the beginning of March to TAKE ACTION! My mission (yes – I chose to accept it!) was to be “Fit by 40!”

I rejoined the gym that was so great for me the last time (I NEVER should’ve quit!). I also decided to sign up for their 12 week weight loss program, which came with fitness and nutritional coaching. During the 12 weeks, I lost 21 pounds – which I was THRILLED about. Closing in on 40, I was just hoping to lose 12 pounds – the rest was a huge bonus! My original goal with my fitness/nutrition coach was to be at 25% body fat…which, for me – translated to 146.6 pounds. It also meant losing about 10% body fat. At the end of my 12 weeks, I still had 7 pounds and 3.3% body fat to go to reach my goal. I chose to go to a once per month check in with my coach when the original 12 week program ended. I was hoping to hit my goal by the second check in (2 months later)…knowing that the closer I got to goal, the harder and slower my progress would probably be.

I had my FIRST monthly check in with my trainer last night and, to MY SURPRISE AND EXTREME JOY, I had met and surpassed my initial goals! I beat my weight goal by 0.2 pounds and beat my body fat goal by 0.9% – almost a FULL percent! Of course I had to hug my trainer (even though I was all sweaty after running on the treadmill – HAHA!). So now I have a new goal – I really don’t care about the number on the scale, but I’d like to work towards 22% body fat.

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I made it! At last, after months of worrrying and crying and trying to avoid it, I finally turned 40 a couple of weeks ago and survived the experience! It isn’t all enjoyable by a long shot, but there wasn’t anything I could do, so in the end I just had to get on with it and try and enjoy the experience as much as possible.

It’s all been very painful for months and I don’t think that I accepted that I was going to be entering my fourth decade until about 4 or 5 days before the big event. I don’t know how I managed it in the end, but thank goodness I did. Accepting it made it easier to go with it and just enjoy the celebrations. It’s still all quite new to me though and every time someone makes an “oh so funny” comment about being over the hill, it rubs on a raw patch all over again. It doesn’t happen that often and I know I need to get used to it, but at the moment I really hate it.

I’m getting plenty of opportunity to get used to my new age though. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve had to say “I’m 40″ over the last few weeks! I’ve read a few posts here and like a few people, it seems to hurt more because I’m single and have no children. I have some great friends who’ve done a great job in helping me to celebrate and I’ve definitely enjoyed the celebrations, even if I have found the life event itself an uncomfortable and challenging experience. I did manage to put my 40 cards up (although I was quite relieved to be able to take them down again!) and although turning 40 was difficult, being 40 itself seems to be okay so far!

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via Forbes

As the old saying goes, “Life begins at 40.”  Since I just reached that milestone myself last week, I have to tell you that it is true.  You might not think so but turning 40 was a very exciting event for me and not just because my husband “kidnapped” me from work and with the help of a good friend set up a day of pampering and then threw me a surprise party with family and friends that night.  He also single handedly planned a wonderful week long vacation for our family to celebrate this milestone in my life.  As I reflect on life at the beginning of this decade and realize both the good decisions I made (which include marrying this guy) and the mistakes I have learned from I begin to smile.  My life is very different than it was ten years ago.

Benjamin Franklin once quipped, “[a]t 20 years of age the will reigns; at 30 the wit; at 40 the judgment.”  I am always amazed at how his wisdom stands the test of time.  I have seen both men and women come into their own when they turn 40, and I believe it has to do with their life experience, which is of course a component of how judgment is based.  In my case, in the past 10 years I’ve run a workplace financial education firm, gotten married, and had a son.  My life experience is richer and deeper, which hopefully makes me wiser and a better CEO, as well as wife and mother.

The decade of the 40’s is a unique time in one’s life to get serious about financial planning because of this life experience and also because of the timing.  A 40 year old still has 20 – 25 years to save and invest so there is also still time to make an impact. Life is also no longer a “dress rehearsal” – life is serious.  We’ve also seen it zip by quickly and realize that we need to make good decisions going forward.  That is why the decade of the 40’s is a pivotal point for retirement planning.  With a long-term horizon, there is time to set plans in motion to significantly impact the future.

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