Forty Schmorty

This is the sunrise that greeted me on my fortieth birthday. I have a good feeling about this decade. But if '40 is the new 30', 40's gonna need a little help. 40's gonna need a healthy amount of beautiful sunrises.......

and a lot of 5 hour energy drinks. 40's gonna need a few more anti-wrinkle creams and plenty of visine or maybe a little more sleep. 40 may, in fact, need comfortable shoes. I'm not saying that 40 isn't the new 30---I'm just saying that 40 needs a little help.

Gina, JamieKnoxville and I had lots of fun this weekend. We started out in this cab trying to go to Anthropologie---only to be taken half way to some museum. NO NO NO. This is not a trip for museums. This is a trip to see what 40's made of.

Finally, we made it. We tried on hats and marvelled at how wonderfully EVERYTHING is embellished at Anthro. I bought the hat, wore it around in the hotel room and decided that I looked a little too Minnie Pearl. Which reminds me that some day we should talk about Hee-Haw. But not today. Today, 40 has some things to prove.

But first let me say that I could haul a cot into Anthropologie and live there. It's the perfect combination of artsy/homey/fortyisthenewthirty. I love it there.

Then we made our way to Atlantic City (very near Jamie and Mark's place) for dinner at Bobby Flay's steakhouse. It was great ambiance, there were no apple martini's involved, and the food was divine. Take note of the rose head band and the wonderful Anthro hat---which looks amazingly lovely on JamieKnoxville.

Then we made our way to Caesar's Hotel in AC. Very chic. Right on the ocean. Beautiful upholstered headboards and a handy Starbucks. We spent $20 on slots and the rest of our fun money on a very wonderful pair of jeans. 40 needs the help of good jeans. It's just a fact.

The next day we had a wondeful day at JK's and Mark's place. We got to snuggle this furball (a habanese/szhitsu mix named Rocco). I know. Stop. The. World.

And then we spent the better part of the afternoon watching the wild man in the kitchen. Mark made homeade mixed berry pie (with a homeade crust---which I will share with you soon) and homeade fettucine and meatballs. WITH HOMEADE PASTA. He was a little leary to let me near the pasta maker-----did I say he gets a little wild in the kitchen? But now I'm hooked. 40 definitely needs a pasta maker.

We drove back to Philly to catch our flight home and did a quick drive by of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. I was so lonesome for Stevie and the girls and couldn't wait to nestle back into my wonderful life. I did manage to make a good start on my '40 list'. I'm almost finished the book 'Till We Have Faces'---which will need a post all its' own. I spent an afternoon (okay at least a good hour and a half) in Anthropologie. I slept til 6:50 (which I'm gonna go ahead and count as 7) and I started the 'read the Bible in 90 days' schedule.

Thank you all so much for your kind and funny birthday wishes. I'm so thankful for you all. You make writing this blog so much more fun than it would be otherwise. There are so many of you that I can't wait to meet in February at Blissdom.

A huge thanks to Gina and Jamieknoxville and Mark for making my birthday so much fun. A huge smooch and thanks to Stevie for encouraging me to go and to my mom for completely spoiling my girls (they gloated about how much soda they drank and how much tv they watched!)

40 is fabulous so far!