the little things: the one where i turned 29

Happy Wednesday friends! How many of you are spending the week in your stretchiest pants still recovering from all the feasting last Thursday?! If you didn’t raise your hand then don’t judge, I’m TOTALLY just asking for a friend ; ) This month has been so full of amazing fall wedding days and time with family and friends that I’m not even surprised at how quickly it’s flown by, because you know what they say about time flying and fun! But before we say goodbye to November I of course have to share all my favorite little things from the month before, and this round of little things *just* so happens to have fallen over my 29th birthday celebration!

The Little Things: October 2016

I had to laugh a little at how many of you reached out asking about how Ben celebrated my birthday, because of how notorious he’s gotten for planning crazy birthday surprises that nobody could ever guess (like last year when we FLEW). And while I feel kind of silly blogging my birthday as a “little thing” (because as usual, nothing about a Ben celebration was on a small scale) this day truly dwarfed all of the other days of October. And not just because I got to eat cake ; )

We started the day with breakfast at Oxford Exchange,

which just so happens to be the home of my favorite cappuccino in town!

Where I got to have eggs with this handsome guy.  . . .

who gifted me with the best card EVER  once we were done.

(I seriously laughed so loud other people eating in the atrium were disturbed)

And then we headed out to surprise numero uno!

. . . . which I would give you a minute to guess, but I promise you it would be impossible.

Because what we arrived to, was THIS.

A full blown, real-life, Katniss style archery lesson!

(I told Ben I TOTALLY wish I had worn my hair in a braid to make it that much more official!)

We grabbed our bows and arrows, and headed out to the archery range . . .

Where Ben *may* have proved to be a better archer than me . . . . .

but I told him since it was my birthday I got to add some extra holes in post ; )

So after I DESTROYED him at archery (as clearly evidenced by the picture above),

Ben was still gracious enough to continue on with the day’s surprises . . . .

Which brought us to the zoo!

At this point I was just stoked to be at the zoo, because there were baby animals EVERYWHERE.

When the baby orangutan came over to the glass I may have cried.

….And pushed a small child out of the way to get a closer look.

But it was my BIRTHDAY!

And just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better (because BABY ORANGUTAN!)

we rounded a corner and were greeted by a group of keepers holding a sign.

Which just so happened to announce I was going on a super secret behind the scenes tour.

And then there were more tears.

We got to feed and pet two different kinds of rhinos, and visit with a ton of other animals . . . . .

(including the most adorable red hog named Amy Swinehouse . . . .yes, there were even PUNS!)

 

At the end of the day we headed home to change before having dinner with our fam,

but not before I left the zoo with this gem!

Seriously couldn’t have loved this day any more, and if this is just the start of the last year of my 20’s, I can’t WAIT to see what the rest of the year holds!

Love + Laughs,

Sarah