The CWA conference will be June 7 -9 this year and will be held at the Hyatt Regency North Houston.

I sound like a broken record lately – between the issue with my eye and other things, it’s been one physical ailment after another, most recently a nasty flu bug that had me bed-ridden for a couple days. But it’s not all bad, in-between the blurriness, a fever, coughing, sniffling, and a massive headache; I got the wonderful news that I was the recipient of six Certificates of Excellence from the Cat Writers’ Association. Read more

No mistaking whose suitcase this is…

It started off a rather harried and frustrating day, considering I was getting ready to leave for a decidedly fun and hyped-up event – my annual trip to the BlogPaws/Cat Writers’ Association (CWA) conference being held in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I went to zip up my leopard print suitcase before weighing it to see if I could meet the ridiculously low-weight standard mandated by Spirit Airlines of 40 pounds for a checked bag (40 pounds? My assorted shoes and cat ears alone would probably weigh more than that) when I got that unmistakable whiff anyone who has cats would recognize. Cat pee. Read more

Gratitude. That’s the only way I can adequately describe what I felt during my days at the BlogPaws/Cat Writers’ Association conference held at the gorgeous and tranquil Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass Spa and Resort in Phoenix last weekend. It was an odd dichotomy—both calming and spiritually nurturing, based on the Native American roots of the hotel—and typically hectic as a result of the whirlwind of events jammed into a 3-day time frame. Being an ambassador for BlogPaws also elevated the interactive notch to extremes my normally introverted self wouldn’t pursue. I’m the kind of cat that has to hide under the bed a bit before she warms up to company, but that’s okay. Pushing the personal envelope isn’t always a bad thing. Read more

Cats, computers, books, blogging, writing… yup… that about sums me up!

It’s almost impossible for me to believe, but I’ve been blogging for almost 6 years now. It started as an afterthought – I was writing my first book – The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey – A Journey of the Extraordinarily Ordinary and it was brought to my attention at a writing conference that I needed a blog. So I started a blog. I got business cards. I set up an LLC. All without having the foresight to realize that even though I knew Zee and Zoey were two of my cats that inspired me to change my life, unless you knew me personally, or bought the book, the rest of the world probably didn’t. Read more

As you read this, I am already at BlogPaws in Virginia, but wanted to give you the details on how you can tune in later today for the virtual ceremony when the Petties 2011 winners will be announced at 5:00 pm, EST. All of us at Zee & Zoey’s Chronicle Connection are keeping our paws crossed that we win in the category of “Best Designed Blog” so that we can donate $1000 to the Cat Network of South Florida. But, even if we don’t win, it sure was an honor being nominated along with all the other greatly talented pet bloggers out there in the vast blogging universe! Here are the official details from DogTime who is sponsoring the awards as to how to tune in and what to expect:

• The ceremony will be broadcast Friday, August 26th, 2011 at 5pm ET
• To watch the show, go to www.dogtime.com/petties
• DogTime encourages EVERYONE to watch because they will be giving away two $1000 shelter donations on behalf of a couple of lucky Twitter users
• DogTime will also be announcing how someone can win a $10,000 donation to the shelter of their choice!

I will be watching the event while at BlogPaws and can’t wait to see what happens!!!