Forty.

Yes, forty. Four-oh. The big one. Make that, the BIG one. Sigh.

Do I feel any different? Yes. Of course I do. I turned forty for pete's sake. I feel old. I do. I can't help it. But it's going to be okay, because I've really enjoyed my first forty years and I fully intend to enjoy my next forty. And because I have such awesome friends and family who helped me celebrate my birthday for an entire week! Gotta love that, right?!

And it turns out that turning forty entitled me to a dozen roses. From my man. I also got to pick out a necklace from the Vintage Pearl. I'm anxiously awaiting it's arrival. :)

The celebrating started a week before my birthday with my cute BFF. She was in town visiting family and we got to spend four whole hours chatting it up! She spoiled me with some awesome gifts. She is the best gift giver! She knows me so well.

One of my favorite authors, Ted Dekker, was in town for a book signing a few days before I said "b-bye" to my 30s. Wasn't it nice of him to come to town just for me?! ;-) I had him sign my copy of his new book, The Sanctuary. Totally loved meeting him and hearing him speak. So glad I got to share this experience with my family. Moya loved it just as much as I did - she's quickly becoming a Dekker fan herself...and I'm sure Elijah will be too as soon as we let him start reading Dekker's books. He's been begging.

My hubby found this little art studio where you can go in and just paint. They provide the canvas, paint, brushes - everything you need to paint. He took the day off from work and took me to Brush Studio the day before my birthday. It was awesome! The best part? Allan, mister computer engineer, painted too! And he even enjoyed it!

Our completed paintings. Mine is on the left and Allan's is on the right. Didn't he do a great job? I LOVE it! This painting was actually inspired by the necklace I ordered from the Vintage Pearl. :) I'll be sure to post a photo when the necklace arrives. The paintings? Oh, they're going up on the wall!

After painting we had a little time left before we needed to pick the kids up from school. We walked around East Grand Rapids enjoying french fries from Crazy Charlie's. So yummy.

My parents took the kids for the night and Allan took me out to dinner. I ended up being sick on my actual birthday. We had planned to go downtown to the art museum but I just didn't feel up to it. We ended up going to the mall and then out to dinner with my family.

I don't like the fact that I turned forty, but I'm so thankful my family made it so special for me. So what's my sage advice to anyone turning forty? Start celebrating a week or more before the BIG day, to ease yourself into it! I truly believe that made it much less painful for me, and I'm pretty sure it averted any mid-life crisis. ;-)