today is my birthday.

today i am 20 years old; practically archaic.

i'm not really celebrating, or anything, not today.

it has been a good day, though!

i got off work at midnight last night.

and when i was leaving i had forgotten that it was technically my birthday.

josh picked me up from work, and as i walked to the car, i just kept thinking:

"why the heck is his head all glowy and orange?"

when i got to the car he had a miniature little cake with 20 candles on it.

and he sang me "Happy Birthday."

he also got me Chelsea Handler's new book, "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang."

Very sweet.

we went to lunch with boyd and trey.

after that josh, boyd, and i went to the pet store, so josh could see Malibua, the big macaw.

josh and boyd finally befriended him and got to where he allows them to touch him.

josh had a mint and told me to touch it so the taste got on my finger.

malibu licked it off!

it was such a weird, neat feeling.

he was so funny. he kept saying "pretty bird."

but he was also being really creepy sometimes...making weird sounds.

i looked in the cage with three little canaries in it and they all three had eggs!

it was really neat.

the guy working said the gestation was about six weeks.

im excited for when those little babies arrive.

i also held a couple of mice.

now i'm just sitting here with the boys at boyd's office.

boyd is teaching a class online.

josh is doing nothing.

i'm really tired and about to watch "Fargo."

so that is my birthday so far.

more festivities this weekend!

new addition to the family: SWARLEY!

Yesterday started out like pretty much any other day for the boy and I.

We hung out like usual until I had to go to work at 2.

I was actually supposed to work from 2-7, but my friend Cyndi told me that work time wasn't actually scheduled; Angela had just written me in to work that day so I didn't lose any hours.

(there had been a scheduling error.)

Since I'm kind of a lazy daisy, I jokingly said, "Sooo, can I leave at 6?"

A little while later, Jess told me I really could leave then if I wanted to.

So, Josh and I had plans to hang out with Boyd and Leah around 6:30 and go to dinner.

Josh and Boyd picked me up from work and we drove to Steak 'n' Shake.

Josh asked, "Do you want to go ahead and go in and just wait for her?"

Boyd was like, "Wait, let me finish this first!" He was eating a sandwich.

We sat there a second and Josh goes, "Ooh! Let's go to Petsway and see Malibu."

(He's been obsessed with this rather large parrot they have.)

Josh went in ahead of me and Boyd, because Boyd wanted to practice his speed reading on a page of my book, "Little Bee."

When we got into the store Josh ran up and was like, "You have to come see this cute puppy! It's so little I didn't even notice it at first!"

So we went back there and the puppy was pretty cute. Well, actually, I'll be honest:

She wasn't anything that great. Just saying!

Then, in the window beside me, I saw a little head perk up from behind a plastic bowl thing.

Immediately I was thinking, "Oh my lanta. Dachshund."

I freaked out and was like, "JOSH. LOOK."

Her window said: on hold.

but he went to the front of the store and asked about her.

It turned out that she had been brought in earlier in the day.

She was a rescue puppy.

One of the workers put her on hold because they didn't want just any ol' person taking her.

BUT, they gave her to me and Josh, just like that, for free!

This is such a happy blessing for me and Josh.

We were going to spend about $500 on something just like her.

She's not full blooded dachshund, but you can barely even tell.

Instead of buying one, we got to rescue a little puppy in need and she's brought soo much joy to us already.

We couldn't be happier.

She's seriously the greatest thing!

Super tiny and precious.

(She has really googly eyes, haha. Which makes me think she's part chihuahua.)

We named her Swarley.

(How I Met Your Mother reference.)

We're in love!

CLUCK.

Meet the new additions to the family!

There are 26 of them.

They are most basically the sweetest things ever.

They are pretty much nameless, currently.

There are a few different breeds, but a lot of each breed.

There is this one little lady that is one of a kind. She's an "exotic" chicken.

My mom decided to get them so she can have her own eggs and sell eggs.

(They're strictly for eggs!)

Such cute little babies. :)

This little red one is my particular fave!