Sweet November

WOW! It's been a month already, and I can't believe it.

In reviewing my list, I am pleased with my accomplishments thus far....but tomorrow starts a new month! There's lots of exciting things to look forward to:

Massage
and
Flowers
and a
Cupcake (yum)
and a
New Book (stay tuned...)
and
Volunteering (for charity, not politics)
and
Football (American, not European)
and
China (bone, not country)
and
Nashville (Tennessee, not Illinois)!

Yee haw, and color me happy - I am having a great time!

Stick around - more to come.

GT40

#3. Read!

I remember winning an award for reading more than 50 books in the 4th grade. I received a certificate for this effort, and I am sure it's still framed somewhere, as Momma has never thrown away any of my accomplishments.  My favorite subject in high school was English (even with all the required reading), and it was fun. I used to love to read, so where did it all go so terribly wrong?

After being asked repeatedly, "Hey Girl, have you read _____ yet?" or "I just read ____. It's the best book - you just  have to read it..." and inevitably, (pause) I hadn't.

Thus, reading a book each month became #3 on my top 40 list.  I pondered following in the footsteps of great book clubbers (think Oprah), and I applaud those efforts - but decided that I wanted to read books of a certain "temperament".   Certainly there are great works of art written about all kinds of trials, many with descriptions of abuse, hostility, hurt, danger, and sadness - but these themes are not appealing to me. Therefore, I have opted to read books that are of an "uplifting nature" as this is a year of inspiration and happiness and accomplishment! (No doldrums allowed.) So, I plan to announce each selection in the Calendar section for the upcoming month.

My first choice is My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme. I've just started reading it, on recommendation from my cousin, I'll call her Way. She's a brilliant writer with great taste in just about everything, so it must be good. I expect a great story of triumph, love, and most of all: great success after 40! Stay tuned for more....my review to come soon!

Bon appetit!

...and happy reading,

GT40

#36. Bling!

Buy a real piece of jewelry.

I don’t know about you, but it seems all my life I’ve never really had any fine jewelry.  OK – so yes, I did have a class ring, and various little heart rings from boyfriends in junior high. And oh yes, and a small diamond pendant once.  None of which are wearable at this point in my life.

So I decided to buy a birthday present for myself, and buy a real piece of jewelry. I was fairly open-minded about what type: earrings, necklace, bracelet, etc…but quickly settled on buying a ring. Rings are such statement pieces – don’t cha think?

Anywho, I started shopping. I checked out several websites including the good ones like Tiffany’s  and Cartier. These immediately did not meet the criteria for my list – too cost prohibitive – especially for the type of ring I thought I wanted!  So I branched out to other designers – including Swarovski and Alexis Bittar.  They had beautiful rings to choose from, but some were so fashionable they didn’t reflect the “fine jewelry” vibe I was hoping for.

At my mother’s suggestion, I decided to take a look at some of the local jewelry stores in our area. I rolled my eyes, and entered Dellinger's Jewelry in Kings Mountain, a tiny family-owned jewelry store in a tiny town in North Carolina.  All I can say is, never judge a book by it's cover...

behold, the perfect ring!  

It has a semi-precious stone of something called “lemon quartz”, set in 14K gold with a sterling silver band, and some diamond dust scattered around the center stone.  I think it’s absolutely beautiful, and exactly what I was looking for to celebrate this birthday – big and bold.

PS – I tried to take a picture of the ring on my hand – but the pictures look like Thing as a hand model. (Ridiculous.)

I have to go now – my hand is weighted down by all this beauty, and I am growing tired with all this typing. (Wink)

The “Girl” 

#17. Mmmm. Pomegranate Jelly.

Join a Product-of-the-Month Club

So, we’re off to good start with my year-long quest to check some things off my list.

Joining a “product-of-the-month” club made my list of 40, primarily because it fulfilled several criteria:

1.     Something I’ve always wanted to have/do, but never did.

2.     It’s an attainable goal.

3.     Not too cost prohibitive.

4.     Not too dangerous.

5.     Not too ridiculous.

6.     Not too difficult.

During my trip to California, two of my very best friends (I’ll call them Kix and Momma M) brainstormed with me about what products are available….on a  monthly basis….and we were astounded by the options! Did you know that you can get the usual stuff like cheese, wine/beer, and flowers, but also:

For your pantry:

Chocolate

Olives

Peanut Butter

Olive Oil

BBQ Sauce

And meat products:

Bacon

Sausage

Lobster

Lamb

And snacks:

Popcorn

Nuts

Pizza

But wait there’s more:

Makeup

Perfumes

Dog Treats

Cigars

Can you believe it?

So after much deliberation, I decided on flowers….but it did not meet the current criteria. (Too cost prohibitive. Approx cost: $500 for the year!)

Defeated, I returned home to North Carolina, with no decision regarding the winning “product”.  A few days later, imagine my surprise when I discovered a small box on my doorstep. …What’s this?

Juicy delight!

Nothin’ but a little jelly inside - Prissy L'il Pomegranate Jelly from CMBsweets. CMBsweets is a private label purveyor of gourmet jams & jellies; a start-up by a young single girl like myself from SanFran. How cool is that? Momma M and Kix had gifted me a Jelly-of-the-Month Club subscription, and fulfilled #17 from my list. 

So Posh. So Nice. Thank you so much!

And by sheer coincidence, I happened to have a pomegranate in the fruit bowl…really. It was love at first sight.

Love ya, mean it.

- GT40

#22. Birthday "Girl" in L.A.

Did you know that most people can tell you exactly what they did on their 40th birthday? Like all major b-days (21, 30, 40...comes to mind), we all tend to put enormous pressure on ourselves to have great events with even better memories of those events. During my soul-searching of what exactly I wanted to do for my birthday, I started to query various friends/coworkers, etc.

Here's a little sample:

 - Dinner party with closest friends (about 12 people) and had it catered, so no work! (Very nice...)
 - Went camping with the family, and had to drive to the campground store for birthday items - even the cake! (Uh oh.)
 - Went to Baltimore to see the Red Sox (Cool.)
 - Rented out a restaurant for family and friends (Very cool.)
 - Visited New York with my best girlfriends (Now we're talkin.)
 - Went to South Beach (Oh my.)

So, after much deliberation I decided to celebrate my birthday in Hermosa Beach, California...one of my favorite places. I planned this trip for months, as now I live in North Carolina and didn't want to spend my 40th birthday bellied up to the bar at Bridges BBQ. Not that I don't enjoy being bellied to bar with a BBQ sandwich (western NC-style, of course) but it's kind of everyday fare, if-you-know-what-I-mean.

My best friends all still live in California, and I decided this was the BEST way to ring in this milestone birthday, plus get some advice about whether or not this blogging thing was a good idea. My birthday party was to be held at the beach, during the last concert-on-the-beach series that Hermosa Beach typically sponsors each year.

I celebrated my 40th on the beach at the concert, with some of my BEST friends.


With great views of the beach...


...and pier.


Complete with a Johnny Cash cover band....



Great food.....


and Sprinkles cupcakes! (Thanks Momma M.)




Happy Birthday to ME! Much love to all my friends in CA.

<Smack-smack> (Big kisses)

- Holli a.k.a. GT40