Birthday Fun!

I had a birthday yesterday! I had an absolutely wonderful and relaxing day with my wonderful boyfriend Daniel. We started out the day making a big breakfast of fried potatoes and eggs. Then we headed out to one of our favorite places, the Tucson Botanical Gardens. It is a really lovely place, and quite an oasis in the middle of our desert city.

Daniel tried his hand at the little Zen rock garden :)

Being Tucson of course there are quite a few cacti and succulents there, including some unusual-looking varieties. This one below is covered in wispy white hairs and is called the Mexican Old Man :)

They have also recently begun working on an area of Native American crops. The sign says that this area is used to regenerte rare varieties and to maintain their genetic purity by growing them in isolation. Seeds from the garden are used to help Native American communities maintain their agricultural traditions.

Below is a reproduction of a Tohono O'Odham round house. These are built of mesquite, creosote and saguaro ribs and are the focal point of traditional tribal ceremonies and meetings.

We took a break for a little bit of sillyness too :)

And we ran into the real deal! There were quite a few butterflies around, but it was a little windy so the poor things were struggling a bit to hold on!

This area below is one of my favorites: The Neighborhood Garden, which honors the distinctive gardens and yards found in Tucson's Mexican-American neighborhoods, and the pride with which they have been created.

And I couldn't resist taking a picture of this quirky bunny bench :)

There is also a little miniature town and railway!

It was so lovely being there, and the weather was perfect: A little overcast, just enough to keep the heat away. Later on Daniel took me out to a lovely dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and then we came home and had some chocolate ganache torte. Perfect!

I also got some wonderful presents. Daniel got me the Domino book of decorating, which I have been wanting for a long time.

It is full of lovely interiors (a girl can dream, right?):

My sister made me these gorgeous silver earrings, all by hand. As I have mentioned before, she is getting her masters in metalworking.

And what would a birthday be without some crafting supplies? My mom and stepdad got me all of these fun things to play with!

I also got this fun Halloweeny Alice in Wonderland scrapbook paper. Very unique!

I got lots more wonderful things, and with some of my birthday money I treated myself to the new BBC version of Emma :)

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you are all having a wonderful week! :)