Deb and her editing team as she prepares for her first blog post – everyone’s a critic!

As my fingers hit the first key, this, my dear readers is the precise moment my life changed from the ordinary to the extraordinary. For today, I invite you all into my world and ask you to join me in what is sure to be an amazing journey as we look into the world of two of my beloved cats – Zee, my gentle giant male Maine Coon, and Zoey, my wild child female Bengal who had a litter of kittens together and who were the inspiration for a book I wrote called “The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey – a Journey of the Extraordinarily Ordinary.”

Before we begin, I want to thank Dan, my fiancé. Not only has he taken all the amazingly brilliant photographs for the book and blog, but he has taken all the years he has of successfully marketing various companies and corporations and used this vast experience, knowledge and expertise to put an action plan in place for all things Zee/Zoey related, giving me invaluable guidance, advice, and hands on assistance which allowed me to exceed any expectations I could have ever possibly imagined for my original Zee/Zoey concept. I could never have done this without him by my side and he is truly my partner in every sense of the word.

I would also like to thank Madalina, my designer, who has so exquisitely taken my dreams and visions and translated them into this stunning visual work of art that is sure to win awards. And I must apologize to her as well – I was an absolute slave driver when it came to hearts, swirls, fantasy, romance, leopard spots, and magic dust. “More Madalina!”  “More magic, more leopard, more sparkle – there is never too much when it comes to that,” I would say, and BAM, just like Emeril, she would wave her special Photoshop magic wand and an instant fantasy land of bedazzled leopard spots, spectacular swirls imposed with hearts intertwined with ivy, super imposed with bubbles and birds and butterflies would materialize. I would apologize to Dan for being a slave driver, but number one, he lives with me and is stuck with all my demands and quirks, and number two, when it comes to his photography he is far more particular than I and much harder on himself than I ever would be. Between the two of them, I hardly feel my mere words do either justice and that if I were to type nothing but line after line of pure, utter gibberish, it would not matter, the photos and blog themselves so enchanting.

And certainly the “thank you’s” don’t end with Dan and Madalina. So many people in my life have supported me and been instrumental in helping me create my book and blog – my two wonderful sons, Chris and Joey; my amazing and beautiful mother, Pam; Dan’s children Crystal, Michael, and Jackie who I love dearly; Dan’s mother Dotty who is so special to me; Sean, who takes such good care of Zeuss; my brother Dave, Sister-in-Law Kathy, and my awesome nieces and nephew, Kayla, Alison, and Alex. All of you and so many more friends, family members, co-workers and colleagues have been a part of this adventure in one way or another and helped me out, whether you realize it or not! Thank you all so much – I don’t want to leave anyone out!

So, gather round all, what we are going to do on this journey together is something unique – I have already written the book – that was the easy part – now I want to get it published and I thought why not bring you all along for the ride from start to finish. As the days progress, I will share all the fun and fantastic secrets of the behind the scenes of how and why the book came about, the process of actually writing the book, creating a corporate identity, photo shoots, grass roots guerilla marketing, writing blogs, and ultimately, and hopefully, getting the book published and on bookstore shelves!  We have so much fun ahead – guest bloggers and feature bloggers, funny videos, great pictures and many, many humorous and heartfelt stories!

Welcome aboard – I hope you enjoy the blog as much as I do. I would love to hear from you all and encourage lots of comments and interaction! The next time we meet again, I will let Zee and Zoey do all the talking, after all, it is about them – I am just a mere human vessel with thumbs who gets stuck with all the typing…

See you soon and remember – “embrace the ordinary in your life and dare to make it extraordinary!”