The same country that was on the top of my list last year, is on the top of this year’s list – Australia! I’ve been wanting to visit this country for a while because once I make it there I will have traveled to all seven continents! Right now I’ll have to live through my friend’s photos from her trip to Australia with Oprah! I was so happy for her, and wished I could have been a stowaway. Other destinations on my list include: Honolulu, Paris, Bahia, Hong Kong, and a return to Cape Town. No matter how much I travel, there are always so many more places to see. (Photo: Gorgeous seaside villa and one of the places on our senior editor’s wish list)

In the meantime, you can expect posts from me on the following travel themes this year:

• Girlfriend Getaways
• Mother/Daughter Trips
• Finding Yourself via Travel
• Caribbean Resorts
• Dancing Destinations
• Golfing
• Boutique Hotels
• Travel for the Physically Challenged, and more….

So what’s on your 2011 travel wish list and do you have any great travel plans for celebrating your 40th? Share your wish list and your plans in the comment section, on our Facebook fan page or email us at contribute(@)womenatforty.com (remove parenthesis.) And remember: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” — Mark Twain.

Kalin Thomas is Women at Forty’s Travel & Leisure Editor. She is also Senior Writer/Photographer for SoulOfAmerica. Before starting her own multimedia company, Kalin spent 17 years at CNN where she won several awards for her work as producer/correspondent for CNN’s weekly travel program, CNN TravelNow. She is currently writing a book about her travels. For more information on Kalin, visit www.seetheworldproductions.com.

When we hit our 40s it often seems easier and more practical to give up on our dreams. With kids to care for, bills to pay, and the reality of life confronting us every morning, stretching our imaginations to include a dream career, travel, entrepreneurship…sometimes feels like child’s play. But if you’ve always envisioned yourself doing something different and being something else, then those visions will always be there. If a vision follows you from year to year, maybe you owe it to yourself and that vision to pursue it, even in the midst of all your reality. And when I say you, I mean me.

But life inevitably stops us from pursuing those dreams. The bills do need to get paid. The kids do need to eat – and will for at least a few more years.  And your family, well, they’ll think you’re crazy. And then there are those times we construct our own roadblocks. Sometimes we play the role of prophet, projecting into the future a stream of what-ifs that end up paralyzing us. It’s like driving in fog. The key to success when driving in heavy fog is to pay attention to the road that’s right in front of you. If you try to look to what might be coming up miles down the road, you’ll take your eyes off of what is actually right in front of you now. Not good.

Pursuing a vision doesn’t mean abandoning your responsibilities, going into ridiculous debt and crossing your fingers hoping for some good luck. It doesn’t mean that your book will be the next Harry Potter or your screenplay the next Hurt Locker. It means that maybe today you write the next 100 words of your manuscript, or you register for the class at your community college, or you buy “The Dummies Guide to ‘Fill In The Blank’” to get you started ‘fill in the blank.’ And it means that when your manuscript gets rejected several times, as Julia Child’s and J.K. Rowling’s (12 times) were, you wipe your eyes, blow your nose and move on to the next publisher on your list.

So here’s the next 5 Question Challenge I’m sending out to the WAF community. I’m calling this one The Dream Catcher 5 Question Challenge. The goal is to get us closer to living our dreams. While some may dream of book deals and living abroad, others may dream of marriage and family or buying a home…the good thing about dreams is that they are our own and their possibilities are endless. The thing that ties our dreams together is that they are all valid and all worth having. So, in your dream life…

1.) What would you be doing?

2.) Where would you be doing it?

3.) Who would be sharing it with you/helping you get there?

4.) What’s/Who’s stopping you from living your dream life?

5.) What’s one thing you can do today to bring you one step closer to making it a reality?

You can answer the questions here in the comment section, on the Facebook Fan Page or on Twitter. If you’d like your responses to be posted anonymously, please email them to contribute@womenatforty.com.  And check out our first 5 Question Challenge and the many responses here.

Whenever she sounds the rallying cry, our little sistah’s group laughs. Hard. And then we all nod in understanding and get back to work.

It’s been a while since I’ve asked the question, but if you’re one of those women trying to accomplish the seemingly impossible, every now and then you need to be reminded that if Three 6 Mafia can win an Oscar, you can do anything.

For those of you not in the know,Three 6 Mafia is the rap group behind the 2005 song, “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp“, which won Best Original Song at the 78th Academy Awards. I am not a fan, nor could I identify the group’s members in a crowd, but millions of people worldwide can. And they have an Oscar to prove it.

I wonder if way back when Three-6 Mafia was merely a couple of guys in an unorganized gang, they ever thought to themselves, “one day, we will have an Oscar.”  I mean, I’m sure they thought Grammy, but Oscar?!? Not so much. I imagine that even after receiving the nomination, when fellow nominees were proclaiming “It’s just an honor to be nominated,” Three 6 Mafia was more like “word?,” “for real?”  “seriously?”  But maybe not. Maybe they knew all along. Maybe they trusted their talent and knew that others would too – even if the word pimp was in the song’s title.  They were obviously on to something, because now Three 6 Mafia will forever be mentioned in the same circles as Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro. Maybe it’s not that hard out there for a pimp.

I never thought I’d be saying this, but maybe we can learn a lesson or two from Three 6 Mafia. Maybe if we trusted our talents more, and doubted ourselves less… Maybe if we spent more time being authentic, being who we really are, and less time conforming to what other people think we should be, or should be doing and maybe if we write our books, start our businesses, work diligently on our blogs and pen our screenplays, even when no one is watching, maybe we’ll be saying “seriously?” one day as we’re presented with an honor we never imagined receiving.

For some of you, your Three 6 Mafia moment might be in writing that screenplay or novel you’ve talked about for years.  For others it’s finally getting that degree. 40 is the year to make it happen – there’s no time but the present. We’re defining 40 on our own terms and creating an environment where we support each others’ dreams.  So, if Three 6 Mafia can win an Oscar, what can you do? Tell us in the comment section or submit your stories to contribute@womenatforty.com.

If Three 6 Mafia can win an Oscar…

This is the rallying cry of a friend of mine. She’s the creative force behind Bella Flowers Books, a fellow blogger, and one day she’ll have an award winning screenplay. How does she know all this? Well, if Three 6 Mafia can win an Oscar…

Whenever she sounds the rallying cry, our little group of entrepreneurs laugh. Hard. And then we all nod in understanding and get back to work.

For those of you who have no idea who Three 6 Mafia is, they’re the group behind the 2005 song, “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp“, which won Best Original Song at the 78th Academy Awards. I am not a fan, nor could I identify the group’s members in a crowd of people. But millions of people worldwide can. And they have an Oscar.

I wonder if way back when Three-6 Mafia was merely a Couple of Guys and An Unorganized Gang, they ever thought to themselves, “one day, we will have an Oscar.”  I mean, I’m sure they thought Grammy definitely, but Oscar?!? Not so much. I imagine that even after receiving the nomination, when fellow nominees were proclaiming “It’s just an honor to be nominated,” Three 6 Mafia was more like “word?,” “for real?”  “seriously?”  But maybe not. Maybe they knew all along. Maybe they trusted their talent and knew that others would too – even if the word pimp was in the song’s title.  They were obviously on to something, because now Three 6 Mafia will forever be mentioned in the same circles as Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro. Maybe it’s not that hard out there for a pimp.

I never thought I’d be saying this, but maybe we can learn a lesson or two from Three 6 Mafia. Maybe if we trusted our talents more, and doubted ourselves less… Maybe if we spent more time being authentic, being who we really are, and less time conforming to what other people think we should be… And maybe if we write our books, start our businesses, work diligently on our blogs and pen our screenplays, even when no one is watching, maybe we’ll be saying “seriously?” one day as we’re presented with an honor we never imagined receiving.

So the Woman at Forty question for today is this, if Three 6 Mafia can win an Oscar, what can you do?  Here’s how some of you answered the question…

Whenever she sounds the rallying cry, our little group of entrepreneurs laugh. Hard. And then we all nod in understanding and get back to work.

For those of you who have no idea who Three 6 Mafia is, they’re the group behind the 2005 song, “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp“, which won Best Original Song at the 78th Academy Awards. I am not a fan, nor could I identify the group’s members in a crowd of people. But millions of people worldwide can. And they have an Oscar.

I wonder if way back when Three-6 Mafia was merely a Couple of Guys and An Unorganized Gang, they ever thought to themselves, “one day, we will have an Oscar.”  I mean, I’m sure they thought Grammy definitely, but Oscar?!? Not so much. I imagine that even after receiving the nomination, when fellow nominees were proclaiming “It’s just an honor to be nominated,” Three 6 Mafia was more like “word?,” “for real?”  “seriously?”  But maybe not. Maybe they knew all along. Maybe they trusted their talent and knew that others would too – even if the word pimp was in the song’s title.  They were obviously on to something, because now Three 6 Mafia will forever be mentioned in the same circles as Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro. Maybe it’s not that hard out there for a pimp.

I never thought I’d be saying this, but maybe we can learn a lesson or two from Three 6 Mafia. Maybe if we trusted our talents more, and doubted ourselves less… Maybe if we spent more time being authentic, being who we really are, and less time conforming to what other people think we should be… And maybe if we write our books, start our businesses, work diligently on our blogs and pen our screenplays, even when no one is watching, maybe we’ll be saying “seriously?” one day as we’re presented with an honor we never imagined receiving.

So the Woman at Forty question for today is this, if Three 6 Mafia can win an Oscar, what can you do? Tell us in the comment section or submit your stories to contribute@womenatforty.com.