Every morning when I open my eyes, there’s Annie sharing my pillow with me. I mostly get the back of her head or even her butt, but this morning we were practically face to face. This was moments before I pulled her under the covers with me! Such a warm and cozy lil’ fluff ball ❤

(Taken with Instagram)

Dream Come True!

Today I filled a life long dream of holding a baby tiger, and I did it without having to travel to some far, exotic land. Months and months ago, I pinned a photo of baby tigers to my Bucket List board on Pinterest, including a caption that explained how someday I needed to hold one. A random stranger commented and told me there was in fact a place that I could do it right here in Coastal Carolina.

Myrtle Beach Safari is pretty much the coolest thing ever.  They have a 50-acre plot of land where you can personally interact with tigers, wolves, falcons, a variety of monkeys, an elephant, and even a liger! At $240 per ticket, we decided to wait on that, but the photo session with the cubs was more reasonable, if not cheap… and totally worth the few moments we got to play with the little tykes!

All the proceeds go to sustaining the wildlife and funding efforts to conserve and protect endangered species, so I feel like every penny was well spent. I DO plan to go on a full safari tour next season, once I can (hopefully) relax our new budget. But seriously – I was just so excited!! You can totally tell what a crazy person I am in the photo – not that most flattering shot, with my crazy eyes and tensed-excited body langauge and bulging forehead vein!! Chuck, on the other hand, looks suave and chill as a cucumber… and the tiger cubs… well… they truly just steal the show 🙂

Of course, I couldn’t wait to get back to my very own little cublet back at home. I may be crazy for wildcats, but Miss Bean will always be my one and only ❤

Out of nowhere, laying in bed last night:

Chuck: “So, I’ll make a deal with you.”

Me: “Ok?”

Chuck: “Once we get to $XYZ in our checking account, we can get a kitten.”

Me: *Surprised silence* “You really think a kitten is going to put that much of a dent in our finances?”

Chuck: “Well no, but it gives us some sort of goal and timeline for it.”

I’m not sure how a kitten is connected to that much money, but it’s a start! Chuck has been decidedly anti-cat overall, but I knew all those cute pictures of kittens on his beloved Reddit would eventually break him down and melt that macho little heart 😉

Hooray!!!

When I grow up and have my own boutique cupcake shop, this will hang in large poster form on the wall, instead of a greeting card cutout on my fridge 🙂