I meet a lot of people when I attend blogging and writing conferences and I also have a circle of friends via social networking channels like Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter. Some of them actually know who I am, as in Deb Barnes, but the vast majority of them know me as a visual image they associate with “The Leopard Lady” or Zee and Zoey’s human. Not sure how THAT happened says the lady in cat ears, but this is called branding and because so many people think of me in those terms, I get a lot of fun emails and Facebook shares sent to me with stuff that instantly reminds people of me, the brand!

Now mind you, I truly love that people think of me in this way and I certainly can’t deny my obsession love for all things related to Bengal cats, leopard print, or big leopard cats, but it can get me into a bit of trouble and I need an enormous amount of self-control to avoid potential bankruptcy. It all started when I found my name tagged in a post Karen Nichols of Mousebreath did on her blog. Apparently someone else shares my love of leopard and they painted their house in leopard print… somehow Karen thought perhaps I would want to do the same… which I actually would, but the ordinances in my city don’t allow that, otherwise I’m sure I would have a leopard print house by now…

I get oodles of images of shoes, dresses, pajamas, purses, jewelry, ottomans, chaise lounges, blankets, boots, and just about anything else you can think of sent to me. Just a couple days ago, Caren of Cat Chat along with another friend of mine sent me a link to the Catteemission site posting about an organization called Animal Works who are raffling off a hand painted leopard spots scooter with proceeds going towards the purchase of a mobile veterinary service vehicle for the Wildlife Trust of India to save and transport leopards and tigers that have been injured in the wild (snares, traps etc) and need urgent medical attention. I don’t know how to ride a scooter, but  for a cause as great as this one, I would be willing to learn!

But, for the most part, I do my best to remain strong (unless you count going to the mall or catalog shopping) and live vicariously through the photos sent to me. That is until I got one email in particular that rendered me powerless and I found myself calling Dan who was traveling at the time, knowing he would not, hoping he would talk me out of the purchase I was about to make. Oh, who am I kidding, I already had my credit card out and was about to hit submit, but I did call him as a courtesy, as I knew he would be the one that would have to assemble this amazing, must have item.

So, 7 short days and one heavy package later look at what I got!!! I will let the pictures tell the story, but I can tell you paws down that this is one of the best purchases I have ever made.

I got this cat condo from Overstock.com as a result of an email sent to me from Julia Williams of the Responsible Pet Ownership blog. Apparently she also felt I could not live without this leopard patterned item and she was right. I can tell you in all honesty that not a single day goes by that this cat condo isn’t use in one form or another by one or more of my eight kitties –whether it is used for napping, scratching, hiding, bird watching, or as a springboard for a marathon of jumping, climbing, chasing, and stretching. They LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this condo and it gives me enormous pleasure to know how happy it makes them. I’m sure it all has to do with the condo being in leopard print and that if we ordered it in a neutral pattern, they would not love it anywhere near as much as they do…

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Dan, I, and the kitties put it together in less than an hour, no tools are necessary, and it is very easy to keep clean with the vacuum. Next on my list? My ultimate branding dream would be a leopard inspired sports car… if anyone comes across something like that, please be sure to think of me and share!!

P.S. Not like it really matters, but I would like to formally state for the record that I have always been the Leopard Lady and even had the role cornered before Peg Bundy of Married With Children made leopard print so popular… So there…