Turning 40: Looking Forty-ward – Kath Eats Real Food

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I’m celebrating my 40th birthday with a look towards the next decade. Turning forty feels like a huge milestone!

Here’s To Turning 40!

A new DECADE feels like such a giant jump! After all I haven’t started a new one in ten years – haha. I will have to change my Peloton profile to go from 30s to 40s today! That feels like a big jump.

My Twenties: About Me

(Always gotta think about my sister’s blog when you mention the Twenties!)

My twenties were a time of self discovery. Graduating college. Job searching. Starting a household routine. Adulting for the first time. Learning to budget. Choosing a career…..and then another one. Moving to a new state.

I did a lot of self discovery and started to figure out who I wanted to be in the world. (And then questioned all that by my mid-30s…)

My Thirties: About Family + Friends

Having two children, one at 30 and one at 36, shaped this decade in the most purposeful way. I knew from a young age I wanted to be a mother, and I am grateful for my two boys who are as wonderful as they are opinionated 😉 They complement each other very well and are quite the duo when they get giggling together.

I also look back on my thirties as a time to surround myself with people I love and care about who will support me unconditionally, from my partner to fostering friendships. I’ve made many new friends and let some friendships go that didn’t come as naturally as they once had. I love the Charlottesville community and that there is so much overlap of friend groups. And that you can’t walk to the Downtown Mall or the farmer’s market or ACAC without seeing three people you know.

Looking Forty-ward

Last year’s birthday when I was turning 39 was a look back in time. This year I’m looking forward…forty-ward.

While I have heard a lot of people talk about their 40s and 50s as the “best years of my life.” I’m also a bit nervous! I know diseases like cancer can strike at any age, but I’m more worried about that kind of thing now than ever. I feel greater anxiety about our safety in general than I did in my younger years, and I’m not sure if that is because of my children, the world, my age, or all of the above.

So while I want to make grand plans for this decade, there’s a huge part of me that says KNOCK ON WOOD. **Doing that right now**

Things To Look Forward To:

In the near future, here’s what we have to look forward to this 40th year!

Birthday Weekend on Bald Head Island

Birch and I celebrate our birthdays three days apart, and the boys are out of school Thursday and Friday for teacher workdays, so naturally we are heading down to our family home on Bald Head Island for a little escape! On my day I’m hoping for some delicious seafood, and on Birch’s he’s hoping for a pirate cake!

Joint Birthdays in Anguilla

Thomas and I are taking a dream trip to Anguilla in December to celebrate both of our birthdays! (I am 6 weeks older than him.) We booked the trip mostly on Chase points, and we’re staying at the Four Seasons there thanks to a gift card I earned with Beautycounter last year!! I love a tropical vacation more than anything, so I have been looking forward to this for a long time. **Knock on wood again**

Disney World!

I really hope the kids don’t read this post because we are going to Disney World next year! We’ve been debating when to go, where to stay, how to do it, and all those fun logistics for a long time now. We were so indecisive!! I finally said the only way to do our first trip is on points, so we can learn the ropes without spending a fortune. And I think at 4 and 10, the boys are a good age to go.

We used our credit card strategy to get the Marriott Boundless Card and will be staying at the Disney Swan Resort for four nights! (This is the only Disney property you can book with points because it’s Marriott.) I also found cheap Jet Blue flights out of Richmond, and I’m going to get our tickets via the Undercover Tourist using the Capital One points eraser. I’ll be sure to share the travel rewards plan on what we did as it gets closer if you want to mirror it.

Home Renovation Next Year

Our home renovation is starting in March and it’s looming over me a bit! We have to pack up the house and move out….for 5 months. Not exactly something super fun to look forward to, however, the end result will hopefully be amazing (**knock knock**) so it’s now or never!! I hope we have moved back in by the time I’m turning 41. I have a blog post coming up with some of our design inspiration!