Cardinal

Cardinal

(Cardinalis cardinalis)

Did you know that the Cardinal is the state bird for about seven states—including Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia? And that they're a type of finch? I love cardinals. I love when they are perched at the top of a tree on a clear day, and singing at the top of their lungs to the setting sun, whose rays are brightly displaying their bright, bright red feathers. I've always thought they sound a lot like a lazer gun. You know like you use to play as a kid? Pewwww . . . pew-pew-pew! They are indeed one of my favorite songbirds. There has been a pair of them frequenting our feeders, but the female has been a bit too elusive for me to capture. This studly male just sat there for a while belting out his favorite tune for quite a few minutes. I snapped 65-70 shots of him, but I think I liked this one the best. He was just showing off. :o) Don't you just love how red he is?

My Birthday Present

I'm 31 today. Nope . . . I'm not ashamed of my age. Why should I be? I hope when I'm 55, or 79, that I'll still tell people how old I am on my birthday. It's a symbol of how much I've lived through--how much I've experienced in life. I just love celebrating birthdays! It's just fun. It's like saying, "I've made it another year!" or "I survived this much longer!" or "I've lived through this many hardships and joys." So, while yes, I am only 9 years from 40, I say so what! I still get cake at 40, right? Then, we're all good!

I like to get experiences for my birthday, instead of just presents. Like one year, my husband took me to Chicago for an Ikea shopping extravaganza. Awesome! Or, like last year, we went up to Interlochen, MI, and spent the weekend at his parents' vacation place with some family. I just love DOING fun things on my birthday, rather than open silly presents. So, this year, I asked for a patio--not that we didn't already have the patio, we just needed to furnish it, decorate it, etc. We spent the day yesterday rounding up the things we needed, planting our garden, and putting up fun things like tikis!

Can I just say that it looks AWESOME??? I'm soooo super excited. After we were done yesterday, we spent a while just sitting out there and taking it all in. It was so freaking fun! We even have a garden gnome! Doesn't that sound like an old-people thing to do? Well, it was my husband's idea. :o) Hehe. I just can't wait to spend a LOT of time out there. Our garden looks great, and should fill in quite nicely. We planted hostas, marigolds, red ornamental cabbage, some red flowers that we can't remember the names of, some tall-ish grasses, and some tall purple and pink flowering plants (also can't remember the name of them). Honestly--it looks like HGTV stopped by and did a special on our patio. I'm not braggin' or nothin'. Anyway, it was a really awesome birthday present, and one that we'll be enjoying for quite a while.

And, this is my first birthday as a mom, which is surprisingly un-weird. It doesn't feel much different--just enhanced. I love being a mom, now. It's part of who I am, and the most natural thing in the world. Hey, I'm not saying it's without it's bumps and adjustments, but it's amazingly natural, too. Having my baby girl around for my birthday is such a sweet gift.

I have a good life, by God's grace, and I'm just a thankful woman today.