This one's for Jonathan! It was a toss up between this and MADNESS. Enjoy.

I'd consider moving to Iowa to live in this Victorian beauty. I don't think I can do the 'no fence' thing though. I'd feel too exposed. My library complete with comfy old leather wing chair would reside in that amazing cuppola... aaah I can see me now.....

It's been a long time between posts but I guess now I'm in my 40's you can't expect too much. On Saturday I felt fabulous, sprightly, alert and champing at the bit to get to my party. By Sunday afternoon I felt every single second of 40 years. I think I aged about a decade in 24 hours!

After a lovely brunch with the family at Gourmet On Gamon, I headed down to set up the venue. Lanterns were hung, table was set, the very helpful Surfer Boy lugged multiple tables and 20 chairs from our place to the Studio. He then scampered off with the kids to his Mum's and I had the house to myself to glam up.

The caterer arrived, everyone turned up looking fabulous and I had a fantastic night. There was a lot of food, drink, laughs, and some very dodgy but enthusiastic dancing. We wrapped up in the wee small hours and headed home for a few hours shut eye before the clean up began. Poor Surfer Boy, not only did he have to set up, he also had to lug everything home again and on top of forking out the cash for the big night, he didn't score an invite!! Even I think he was majorly ripped off. Might be time to reward the poor bugger!!

Hopefully my 20 wonderful girls also had a good night, because I'm way too old to throw another bash for quite a while. I have paved the way and now I'm looking forward to sitting back and watching everyone else hit 40.

A couple of girls have asked me what they should wear to my 40th - casual with a bit of fancy! - but it took me until Thursday to realise that it was all very well suggesting outfits for them, but what about the Birthday Girl?? How could it completely have slipped my mind that I would actually need to come up with something to wear on Saturday? SHIT SHIT SHIT! This was a disaster waiting to happen as there is nothing more depressing than getting ready for a big night and being unhappy with the outcome - not an auspicious start to my big night.

Off I rushed to Highpoint - the Fashion Capital!!! - with 3 hours until late night trading finished.
Miracle - I actually found something I am fairly happy with and hopefully after a much needed haircut and colour I'll be rearing to go. I EVEN BOUGHT HEELS - and they're RED and patent black - swish!! Just need to sort out the accessories now...

Last night the lovely, and extremely glamorous Megan accompanied me to Chapel Street (the actual fashion capital of Melbourne) for an evening of retail therapy. The hardest part of this outing being the search for an outfit cool enough to go shopping in Chapel St in!!! Go figure!
After another pair of killer heels, some earrings and a massive bling ring we called it a night and took ourselves off for a great bowl of pasta and a LOT of gossip and hysterical laughing, the kind where tears pour down your face. It was fabulous and better therapy for tired and careworn mums than a week at a spa - well almost.

With a bit of luck and some Nancy Gantz I won't look completely hideous when I turn 40. Fingers crossed everyone.

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails.

This is what happens when you let Moondoggie play in the back yard with his Dad. He came in to ask me if he could keep his new pets in the kitchen. When I suggested they NOT COME IN THE HOUSE he decided to put them in my newly planted pot of Daphne!!!!!!

Aaaaahhhhhh! Now this is the cake I want!!!!!

I received this in my inbox tonight -

Just a reminder that I'm not leaving a comment on your Blog until you write about your Birthday festival!!!!
11 days to go .................

Sooo.. it is in fact my birthday coming up and as I am a huge believer in the birthday festival I agree that I should make a fuss of my own. On the 21st, the shortest night of the year, I am turning 40!!!!

After a slow start and tossing many ideas for a celebration up in the air, I have settled on a dinner party with 20 of my wonderful girl friends. Surfer boy suggested it and I can not think of a better way of celebrating the last 40 years than spending it with the girls who have supported me, loved me, encouraged me, partied with me, put up with me, and always, always been there for me.

Clever Surfer boy - he also gets out of having to make a speech which I have a sneaking suspicion may have been the point all along.

Lucky me - I also get to celebrate again with my wonderful extended family which consists of another 7 fabulous and inspiring women. (Also another 8 handsome men and 10 Nieces and nephews, but it's all about the chicks this year.) There is nothing like extending your big day with multiple functions!!!

Sooo, the dinner is on - not of course in my own home - the lovely Jodie and Sis have lent me their studio and along with Sandy from Store 6 who will be feeding us a delicious meal, my Mum is waitressing and with a bit of luck a lot of fun will be had by all.

Now to think of some ideas for the '40 gifts for 40 years' rule. Poor Surfer Boy.

Here's the front of my invite - Just a few of my Favourite Things.

One of the most sumptuously costumed films I have ever seen was Marie Antoinette.
This picture can render me speechless. The colour and texture in this shot makes my heart sing.
Just wanted to share it.
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Last night I was absolutely astonished at the amount of women who live in Yarraville and it's surrounds. There are hoards of them and apparently I am the only one of this multitude who did not watch Sex And The City devotedly! It honestly crossed my mind that if the movie didn't screen for some reason there would be a massive stampede of angry women through the streets of Yarraville and nothing would stand in their way. Luckily all went smoothly.

For a non-believer I found myself at the midnight pre-view of SITC on Monday night, and back again on Tuesday night for round 2!! Why? You may well ask.

My lovely friend Krissa works for the Sun Theater and invited me along to their pre-view screening and who am I to knock back a free movie and a girls night out? I figured that even if the movie was shit I would still have had a chance to catch up with Krissa and have a natter. Unfortunately I had already committed to seeing the movie with some of the Prep Mums from Gidget's school and really didn't want to back out of that either. Once again I decided that a chat and a cuppa with a lovely group of girls far outweighed the possibility of sitting through SITC twice in the space of 24 hours.

I was never a fan of the show - I didn't dislike it, I just didn't love it.

I figured that I knew enough about the girls and their history to not hate the movie so off I trotted feeling slightly guilty that someone as ambivalent as myself was getting to see the movie before so many die-hard Carrie fans.

Imagine my surprise when not only did I not hate it - I actually really enjoyed it!!!

I even enjoyed it just as much the second time!!

So the moral of this tale is this - even if you weren't a Sex In The City fan, the movie stands alone as a great chick flick with a lot of depth and heart. It is well worth the hype from a script point of view and engendered much interesting discussion over a few Cosmopolitans afterwards.

Surfer Boy is completely incapable of relaxing and doing nothing for a whole weekend. These new gates appeared this weekend -

Sometime last week he decided that he didn't like our current gates which, by the way, are perfectly fine and are the same as the rest of the fence! He subsequently disappeared out to his shed for hours at a time.

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He designed his own to match the little gate he made for me when the fence was built.

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Don't get me wrong, I love the new gates, but really... were they necessary??

Half an hour after fitting the new gates he started looking around for a new project!!!! What is wrong with just lounging around doing nothing all weekend? I seem to be able to manage it.