Caturday’s Meow Mix Roundup!
It’s been a busy and full week so I thought I’d share a meow-mix smorgasbord of stuff today for our Caturday edition at Zee and Zoey’s.
The week began with some pawsome news for Dan and I – thanks to my oldest son, Chris, we are grandparents again!! Yup – you heard me right – a stray cat happened his way a couple of weeks ago and after determining she was homeless, he brought her into his two-dog home as a permanent family member!
As tribute to the fact he found her on Valentine’s Day, along with the fact that the names of his dogs begin with the letter “R” (Rick and Rocco) he named her Rose. As you can see from the picture below, she is already fitting right in. We plan on meeting her today for the first time (armed with all kinds of great cat gifts) and I am so happy to know another cat was rescued and given a chance for a happy and safe life! I will be sure to share more pictures with you and as you can well imagine, Chris has already taken advantage of the cat hotline I have available to him for 24/7 advice!
Rick sharing a patch of sunlight with Rose… Not even an ounce of stress coming from Rose, which is amazing considering it is a new home for her!
I was also able to take a break from all the stresses in my life to spend some time last weekend relaxing with my dear friend, Christine Michaels of Pawsitively Humane and Riverfront Cats. We went horseback riding (something neither of us has done in years) and had a blast. It was so nice to connect with nature and after the ride Christine came back to the house to share some time with the Zee/Zoey kitties who loved having her company!
Chilling with my buddy Christine! This is us before we got on the horses to ride!
Enjoying a quiet and reflective ride on Keely – a beautiful mare in gorgeous white and chestnut color tones.
And then came Thursday, a day I will never, ever forget. The first draft copy of my book, Purr Prints of the Heart – A Cat’s Tale of Life, Death, and Beyond arrived in the mail. Unlike my first book, The Chronicles of Zee and Zoey – this one from start to finish – cover, interior, story, etc. was all done by me and so to say I am proud of what I have accomplished would be an understatement!
Purr Prints of the Heart means the world to me – it is a book born of the love of my sweet Jazz and a forever reminder that his memory will always remain in my heart.
There are still some edits that need to be made – after all, nothing is perfect, but all in all I am over-the-moon happy with the results. If all goes well, the book will be available sometime late April/early May and I will keep you all apprised of the progress. And for those of you that might not be aware of the story line – in a nutshell, it is written in the voice of Jazz himself and is meant to offer comfort and guidance to anyone who has ever lost a beloved pet.
The week ended with a fun and informative Google Hangout on Thursday night that was hosted by BlogPaws entitled “Journalistic Excellence & Blogging: Secrets To Bridging The Gap.” It featured holistic cat expert and award-winning blogger and photographer, Layla Morgan Wilde of Cat Wisdom 101; writer, photographer, and Editor of CatInTheFridge, Alana Grelyak; award-winning blogger, editor, and author, Janiss Garza of Sparkle Cat; and myself.
We got some great questions from our listeners and I think we were able to offer some pretty solid advice for bloggers looking to advance to the next level. If you would like to listen to the chat, I have provided the video at the end of this post. And if you will be going to the upcoming BlogPaws Conference that will be held this year in Nashville from May 28 – 30 at the Sheraton Music City Hotel, you can come see Layla, Alana, Janiss and I on Thursday afternoon where we will be expanding on this topic in detail.
There will be many more speakers and keynotes throughout the conference as well as exhibitors, sponsored events, the Nose-to-Nose Awards ceremony and so much more. For those of you on the fence, I do hope you decide to go – please click here for information on registration and the full-line up of speakers and events.
Hope you enjoyed the wrap-up and have a great weekend!
What a busy week ! We’re glad to see you had some time for yourself with your friend. We loved to hear you on the G+ Hangout ! Purrs
Glad you enjoyed the G+ hangout, Swiss Cats!
You’ve had quite a week! Congratulations on getting the first copy of your new book – that’s such a special moment, and it’s especially poignant when the book is about a heart cat like Jazz.
You are so right, Ingrid. This book was an incredible journey and I do hope it will bring comfort to others who have lost a beloved heart cat.
I am so glad your son adopted a kitty 🙂 I started listening to the blog paws talk, but my computer gave me grief so I will go back to it later. I enjoyed what I heard of it so far though.
I hope your computer is behaving by now Ellen! Thanks for the listen!
Congrats on the first copy of your book. Rose has settled in well and must surely have once lived with dogs to be so at ease with Rick.
She has settled in nicely, Flynn, and we love knowing she has a great furever home!
Wow, what a week! I loved hanging with you, Alana and Janiss at the hangout and beyond thrilled about your book. Huge purrs of congratulations. I can’t wait to get my paws on it. I would have loved to go riding with you too!
Thank you Layla – the hangout was a blast and a wonderful precursor to our BlogPaws seminar! Wish you could have ridden with us – maybe we should arrange a ride in Nashville with a group of cat ladies!
We missed da live viewin’ cuz mommy furgot. But we watched it yesfurday and learned so much. Fank you fur shawin’ wiff all of us. We awe postin’ a fank you and sum of ow own insights bout it on ow Blest Sunday posty tomowwo. But since most of ya’ rarely if ever wead ow bloggy we wanted to say fank you to each of ya’ on yous own bloggies. Dat wuz a wealff of infurmation and very much purreciated. Concats on gettin’ a gwand cat. Hav a pawsum weekend.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
Thank you Dezi and Lexi – we are glad to be able to provide some insight and appreciate the thank you! And apologies on blog visiting – it has been very hard to find the time lately. Hopefully once the book is published, we can get back into the swing of things!
What a week you’ve had! I cannot tell you how much I look forward to a book that sounds so special. And I plan to watch every minute of your Google Plus cat soon…so much I can’t wait to learn from such accomplished ladies.
Awww… thank you Melissa & Truffles. Such a kind comment – we love your blog and know that you understand the mechanics of what we were discussing!
Congrats on your new book!
Thank you Island Cats!
Congratulations on your book! We can only imagine what a labor of love that was.
Thank you Maxwell, Faraday, & Allie – it truly was a labor of love!
Congratulations on your new book. I’m looking forward to hearing all of you at BlogPaws.
Thank you Sweet Purrfections – we look forward to having you attend the panel discussion.
What a pawesome pawesome week!!!! Superb news all around! Love the horseback riding photos! Soooo thrilled for you with the new book, and I just adored the Google+ session, you were all superb!
On all accounts, thank you Caren! And thanks for listening to the session – you made some great points and asked great questions!
What a great week. Congratulations on the book. That’s such a special milestone, especially because of how close the subject is to your heart.
I’m really sorry to have missed the hangout, so a special thanks for including the link to the recording so I don’t have to track it down!
The Google hangout was great and very informative. I hope there are more 🙂 Many concats on the book. Like the last one I am sure it is well written and beautifully produced and, as someone has said, was a labour of love!
conga rats grand ma on new grand kitty Rose…♥♥♥ she’s gorgeous…
and MEGA HUGE CONGA RATZ Deb on book two !!!!
I am looking forward to reading Dood Jazz’s book…I hope it sells 98 trazillion copies; this is SOOOOO cool 🙂
Much success to you, Jazz is beyond proud of his mom ~~
dood…we told de food gurl ta biggifiez yur book foto…AWESUM COVER buddy =^..^=
Thank you tabbies – we know you have a soft spot for Mr. Jazz and I am certain he and Sauce are beaming with pride over this book! We couldn’t have done it without your love and support!
BIG congrats on your new book! I’m very excited to read it…I’m certain it will be a beautiful and fitting tribute to your Mr. Jazz.
Congratulations also on being named a finalist in BlogPaws Nose to Nose awards!
I hope to see you in Nashville : )
~GG
Thank you so much Glogirly – I hope you will take some comfort from the book, as I know you lost a beloved cat many years ago. And super congratulations back to you in your Nose-to-Nose nomination!! I will see you in a couple months!