{"id":3558,"date":"2012-05-05T23:50:54","date_gmt":"2012-05-06T06:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/?p=3558"},"modified":"2012-05-05T23:55:19","modified_gmt":"2012-05-06T06:55:19","slug":"a-look-at-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/?p=3558","title":{"rendered":"A look at 40."},"content":{"rendered":"

So, I turned 40 today. I think there has been a little trepidation of the big 4-0 for the past few weeks. I really liked being “thirty something.” Forty…40! It just seemed kind of…well, old.<\/p>\n

But then I had a lovely “last night of being in my thirties,”\u00a0 and I woke up to affirmations from my sweet husband that he “kinda liked having a 40-year old wife in bed next to him” and I realized that I didn’t really feel any different today than I did last week, or even last year.<\/p>\n

So we started on with our day and went to get coffee and bagels. As I sat with our friend Mike, who we like to call our “California Dad\/Grandpa,” I realized that I think we look forward to Saturdays with Mike and Zee as much as they do, and we are so incredibly lucky to start each Saturday out with them.<\/p>\n

We went to pick up the girls who were staying with Aunt JB & Uncle Jeff while we went to the Coldplay (awesome!) concert on Friday night. And I thanked the luck of the universe that we have them to jump in when we need a little extra support, that they could offer the possibility of a sleep-in (even though we were both up before 8am!), and then they presented me with their most excellent “tower of 40” gifts. (And pretty, pretty flowers too!)<\/p>\n

\"tower\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I now have gift cards to spend at each of my favorite stores and awesome little gifts from each as well.<\/p>\n

J. and the girls gave me their sweet cards and presents. And even though we were “doing the kitchen” as my birthday present, a few little gifts slipped in – including a little blue box. I didn’t…couldn’t…complain too much. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"love\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was overcome with love just watching the girls in their pure excitement for me to unwrap “their present now!”\u00a0 How grateful I am for all three of them. And how lucky I am to be so loved by them.<\/p>\n

I have been facebooking about the 40 card project that my friend Jamie (in cahoots with J and my parents) had masterminded and executed with such care and love. Today I received many more cards and I continue to be in awe at the friends and family who took time to send me such great memories and love.<\/p>\n

\"cards\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m up to 23 cards in…including some serious ones that qualify as works of art – not even in the same category as other cards! My mom and dad’s is like a mini-scrapbook! I’m so thankfuI to them since I know how long something like this takes to complete.<\/p>\n

\"mom-dad\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We arrived home after lunch and a movie to an entire basket of 40 different chocolates and more love from a dear friend.<\/p>\n

\"b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just when I think the day is complete perfection, J. whisks me off to a friend’s home where an entire intimate dinner party is waiting for me. My favorite people and an entire night of perfect fun.<\/p>\n

We started and ended with a cake of some sort. The “cheese (birthday) cake.”
\n\"cheesecake\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Every detail beautifully tended to.
\n\"table\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Great food.
\n\"dinner\"<\/a><\/p>\n

40…yes, FORTY little thoughtful gifts.
\n\"gifts\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All my favorite kids joining us for the most amazing dessert…it has moved to top of my all-time list.
\n\"pavlova\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The evening ended with a launching of my very own “wish” lantern. Just like the lanterns in Rapunzel.<\/p>\n

\"lantern\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My one short day of being 40 has taught me…that I really like being 40. Really. It has taken me 40 years, but I finally feel like we are right where we are supposed to be. Here with my family, surrounded by loved ones, in our beautiful little community of friends. I have arrived, my friends, and while it has been quite a ride, I’m so happy to finally be here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, I turned 40 today. I think there has been a little trepidation of the big 4-0 for the past few weeks. I really liked being “thirty something.” Forty…40! It just seemed kind of…well, old. But then I had a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/psMOS-Vo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3558"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3558"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3560,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3558\/revisions\/3560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}