The Lighter Side of BlogPaws…
Not an easy feat at my age, but do you remember those frentic moments in high school where there would be that incredible hustle and bustle of quick chatting in the hallway and lockers as you went from one classroom to the next before the bell rang to start class? Or the high energy of the lunchroom as you found a table and bonded with your best friends? Or the nervousness of being a new student and not being sure if you would be liked or fit in? Or those special days when you had a pep rally or a prom where a King and Queen were elected by their peers? That is what BlogPaws is like. The only difference, we are adults, we are allowed to bring our pets, and we are allowed to legally drink….
The best part of BlogPaws is catching up with friends – some I was meeting for the first time like Bz Tat on the left, and others like Teri Thorsteinson and her cat Coco, and Robin Olson on the right, I had already met a few times.
From the moment you get up to head for breakfast to the moment you crash in exhaustion for the night, BlogPaws is a virtual whirlwind of non-stop activity, learning, bonding, and socializing. Breakfast, keynote speakers, the inevitable hallway conversations and photo ops, meeting old friends, meeting new friends, seminars, visiting vendor and sponsor tables, dinner receptions, awards and more! Whew…
Robin shows off her leopard print glasses. Surprisingly enough, these glasses are actually used to improve her vision and are not a cat inspired prop! Go figure...
My roommate, Christine
Since this was my second BlogPaws, the initial shyness I had at the first one had long since worn off. Soon after landing I unpacked and quickly donned my cat ears in pursuit of meeting up with old friends. Ingrid King of Conscious Cat, Angie Bailey of Catladyland, Robin Olson of Covered in Cat Hair, Kate Benjamin of Moderncat, Janea Kelly of Paws and Effect, Janiss Garza of Sparkle Cat, Stephanie Harwin of Catsparella, Karen Nichols of Mousebreath, Teri Thorsteinson of Curlz and Swirlz, Tamar Arslanian of I Have Cat, Dorian Wagner of Your Daily Cute, Rachel Shubin of We Have a Situation, Lorie Huston of Pet Healthcare Gazette, and Christine Michaels of Riverfront Cats just to name a few. You will note as well that Christine and I were sporting lovely purses with images of our cats on them throughout the days of the conference. Here she is with her cat Geisha and you can see me everywhere with my Zoey on one side of the bag, and Zee on the other! If you are interested in one for yourself or as a great gift for one of your cat loving friends, please click here for details.
I know Caren Gittleman of Cat Chat was heartbroken she could not make it to BlogPaws. She and I are like Lucy and Ethel when we get together and I decided to have her show up one way or another. She was hoping to meet Debbie Glovatsky of Glorgirly, so now she can say she did!! For those that don't know, Debbie is in the center, and Caren on the right.
I also got to meet some of my new friends that I am just crazy about – Joanne McGonagle of The Tiniest Tiger, Debbie Glovatsky of Glogirly, Amy Palmer of My Life in Words, Molly Mednikow of Amazon Cares, Steve Dale of Steve Dale’s Pet World, Peter Wolf of Vox Felina, Bonnie Koenig of My Siamese.com, Vicki Stringfellow Cook of Bunny’s Blog, Jo Singer of Petside.com, and Julie Shubin – Rachel’s mom. Conspicuously absent were two of my favorite friends in the cat blogosphere – Caren Gittleman of Cat Chat who had to back out at the last minute due to an illness and Layla Morgan Wilde of Cat Wisdom 101 who has an ailing cat at home (Merlin). If I have missed ANYONE, it was not intentional – I have high regard and props for all of my fellow bloggers, but this is a lot to type (especially with links) and remember!!
Hmmm... Just what is Miss Moderncat, Kate Benjamin, up to with that whip... Oh, never mind, it's just a clever cat toy being introduced at the Catification Lounge!
The local high school hangout, so to speak, was the incredible Catification Lounge sponsored by Kate Benjamin and Jackson Galaxy. A dizzying delight to any cat lover, the room was filled with every toy, litter box, scratching post, feeding dish, fluffy bed, and cat condo imaginable to meet the needs of discriminating cats everywhere. Great prizes were given away and this was just a wonderful place to chill for some cat conversation in a room clustered with people that did not think it odd at all that cats were wearing clothes, in strollers, and revered like a parent showing off pictures of a newborn baby… In this case, we all showed off our feline family members via electronics – phones and computers!
Some of the pawsome cat scratchers and condos in the Catification Lounge
There were enough toys in the lounge to make any kitties head spin in delight!
Also attending BlogPaws were my beloved Zee and Zoey Flat Pets who came for the first ever Nose-to-Nose Awards ceremony. We were nominated for Best Designed Blog and Best Twitter Page and they wanted to make sure they got their due claps, cheers, meows, purrs, and camera time. I woke up the morning of the awards with a nervous pit in my stomach, allergies, and a massive migraine that has just recently gone away, but Zee and Zoey seemed well rested and completely stress free as the next photo will demonstrate. But, please, for those of you with young children and kittens, proceed with caution… the picture is a bit, ahem, intimate…
Zoey woke up from a wonderful cat nap hoping for a little morning delight. Zee, being the obtuse boy he is, was completely oblivious to her signs and grabbed the remote to watch TV...
Zoey dolling herself up for the big awards ceremony.
Zee, Zoey, and I head downstairs for the big night. I hope I have enough leopard stuff on... maybe I need to go back upstairs and change...
Zee and Zoey get a great seat up front so they can quickly grab their awards!!!
When we got to the awards reception, the crowd was alive with anticipation – so many great award categories and so many talented bloggers!! Alas, despite me keeping my fingers crossed, praying to the cat awards Gods, and wearing my lucky leopard shoes, it was not meant to be and once again I was the Susan Cat Lucci of the night… But, we graciously give huge congratulations to Karen Nichols who won Best Designed Blog for Skeezix the Cat and to Cathy Kesiha of the World’s Most Stunning Cat who won for Best Twitter Page. Honestly though, I have said this over and over – the caliber of talent and dedication in the pet blogging world is incredible. I feel all of us are winners in our own special way and I congratulate each and every one of us, nominees, winners, or otherwise for being our wonderful, unique cat-caring selves.
Okay, so I didn't win any awards... but, next best thing, I got to hang with my favorite Loews girls, Christine Michaels and Dorian Wagner!
Next year the event will be held in Tysons Corner, VA and I am already looking forward to buying a new leopard wardrobe, after all, I did learn in one of the seminars I attended that branding is very important. In closing, I would like to thank all the great people at BlogPaws who put this whole event together – Yvonne DiVita, Tom Collins, Caroline Golon, and Chole DiVita just to name a few. Without them, we would not have all the wonderful memories and renewed drive and knowledge to make the world a better place for animals. As amazing Keynote Speaker, Lena West of InfluenceExpansion.com, said to us on Saturday morning, “It’s either now or now.” How right she is! I know I’m ready and I hope everyone else is!
I’ll end the post by sharing some of my favorite pictures to follow and don’t forget, tomorrow is the last day to nominate your favoire pet bloggers for a Pettie Award and vote for a rescue of your choice to win $10,000. Please click here for details.
I don't know who this dog belongs to, or its name, but if it isn't the cutest thing on earth, I don't know what is!! I think the Snuggle Fabric Bear has some stiff competition!
Here I am with Snoopy of "Snoopy's Dog Blog" who was one of the winning recipients of the PetSmart Blog to Business Case Study. I gotta admit this guy stole my heart!
I wasn't the only one who fell in love with Snoopy. Here he is with Christine Michaels, myself, Flat Pet Katie, and Debbie Glovatsky who I graciously allowed to wear leopard print next to me!
Bev VanZant who is the brilliant creator of the "Flat Pet" concept orchestrated a Flat Pet Flash Mob Dance for the Friday morning opening ceremony. Here you will see Dorian Wagner (center) doing her part! I was asked to join the group, but had a massive panic attack and cold feet, so I backed out at the last minute!
This kitty is comforting me after my crushing defeat at the awards ceremony!
This is me with Dino Dogan from Triberr who gave a seminar on gamification to increase blog traffic. He loved my cat ears and after he gave me his license and credit card as security, I let him borrow them for a couple hours as he walked the halls of BlogPaws wearing them! I think they look rather well on him, don't you?!
Sounds like lots of fun at that Blog paws. Glad you had such a good time. It must be so much fun to meet all the different bloggers. It sure was fun seeing all the pictures. Take care.
Wonderful write up and pictures! It was so good to see you again, and I can’t wait until next year!
Thank you Ingrid – it was great seeing you too and I enjoyed spending a few minutes together for our opening morning breakfast chat!
Love the post Deb – it was great seeing you at Blogpaws!
It was so great seeing you too Vicki and I’m glad you enjoyed the post!
You know Skeezix only won cause the Woman kissed him. Maybe she should have kissed you? Although I’m sure you’re having the same reaction she is…Sorry… it’s how manly Skeezix is that did it…
LOL Chey… that is so funny!! Skeezix is a great kitty, so we are very happy for him! We also appreciated the conversation the Woman had with us and are working on it…. Stay tuned!! xoxox
I would have rather she kissed you because you are not really another cat. You just wish you were. I do not like the unfaithfulness that she was showing…
Deb – Love your post and pictures! It makes me so happy to see all of this and the wonderful pet lovers out there! So much compassion and fun and knowledge shared!! Thanks for letting us “see” what you saw there! Great job!
It was my pleasure to share, Gina and Jessie Cat! So happy you liked the post – the energy and love we have for pets is contagious and I glad that translates through my words and photos!
Awesome!! Loved all the photos and your witty commentary. Like last year though, I’m in a bit of a funk reading about it, because it makes me sad that I couldn’t go. Setting my sights on Virginia …
Oh Julia – it seems I am making people both happy and sad at the same time!! Glad you enjoyed the photos and comments – now you have a whole year to plan for VA, so I really hope we will see you there!
So fun. I didn’t know Bev started the flat cat trend! We must get on that DIY project.
You have some great pictures of your gang, Layla, and I’m sure you could make wonderful Flat Pets!
Maxwell: DUDE! MANCAT EARS ROCK!!
Allie: *sniff* You don’t have to YELL, Maxie. Come on, let’s go see if we can pull Mother ou of her depressed state on the sofa, since she couldn’t attend this year….
Oh Dear… we didn’t mean to upset Mother… please be kind to her and keep the yelling to a minimum!! We think Mancat ears rock too!! I sniff a trend coming on!
I don’t even know WHERE TO BEGIN.
First, let me tell you how SUPERB this was. Loved the comparison to the hallway “chatter” in High School…loved how you captured the energy that is BlogPaws so thoroughly and so eloquently. I have shared this EVERYWHERE!! This one is a keeper and should be in some color BlogPaws brochure somewhere!
I was beyond touched (and SHOCKED) that you included me in this post…what fun!!! I actually DID get to meet Glogirly!!! I must say we are a darned good-looking trio if I do say so myself!!!
Glad you mentioned Layla too because I know her heart was broken that she couldn’t attend either.
Deb, you did a such a superb job that I can’t even find the words. I could have read more and more!
Thanks for being such a good friend and thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts about BlogPaws with all of us!
Also….LOVE the new color background for leaving comments and I am on my way to check out those purses.
Giving you a standing ovation my friend!!! SIMPLY SUPERB!!!
Oh and I LOVE those leopard glasses that REALLY FUNCTION as glasses! Who’d a thunk it?
xoxoxoxo
Awww Caren – you have me blushing with your fountain of compliments and I am so glad you enjoyed the post. I know so many people who could not make it, and I really wanted to make them feel as if they were right there with all of us who did attend! As far as the photo of you – I LOVED doing that and thought it came out great – turns out you did get to wear cat ears and glasses, as well as hang out with two of your favorite Debs!!
Glad you like the new color background – I felt it was time for a change, and BP was just the place to inspire me to do so!! Thanks for the standing ovation and my comment on Robin’s glasses cracks me up too!! xoxoxoxo
Love the new background on your blog–my aging eyes thank you that I still DON’T have to wear reading glasses. Great photos as always–hey I took some of those-hee hee. I know the magician is Dan!
Loved the summary and witty commentary. Your comparison to high school rang so true! I’ve been to many conferences–all for my jobs and they are a dizzying merry-go-around of seminars, networking, rushing, eating, drinking–Rinse & Repeat!. Absolutely exhausting. This was the most fun because it was for my personal growth in addition to professional growth.
Would love have connected more with bloggers. I apologize if I wasn’t more social but I never disclosed publicly (until now) that I have debilitating health condition, so sometimes I needed to retreat to the room early (I do turn into pumpkin at midnight). I’ve managed it for 30 years best I can. But it doesn’t stop me from blogging, and learning and making new friends!
Nonetheless I had a wonderful time and learned so much and was inspired in meeting and talking with so many well known cat and dog bloggers!
OMG how did I forget SNOOPY!!??
Snoopy is Dakota’s BEST BUDDY and I was devastated that I couldn’t meet him or his lovely Mom (who I correspond with and have gotten to know and adore via email) in PAWSON! Dakota was simply crushed!!! Thank you for featuring them as well!
xoxoxo
My pleasure Caren – and you are absolutely right, Snoopy’s Mom is so lovely and such a sweetheart. She is the pefect Mom for Snoopy who I just love to the ends of the earth!!
Fabulous recap, Deb!!!!!
Your analogies could not have described it better! MOL : )
…I think my favorite photo though is Flat Zee & Zoey with the remote. I sure hope you didn’t find any “unexpected” pay per view charges upon checkout.
xoxo
Glogirly & Katie
roflmao
Yikes Glorgirly and Katie… I haven’t looked that closely at my checkout bill yet!! I am anticipating lots of caviar and tuna room service dinner charges! Glad you enjoyed the recap and the Flat Zee & Zoey pictures were my favorite part too!!
do you happen to have the link to which purse on the website that that is? I love how Christine’s is a shoulder bag and I am super interested in that!
xoxoxo
Caren – the link is in the post, but here it is for you: http://www.kannadesignerhandbags.com It is such a pretty bag and I loved having Zee and Zoey with me!!
yep I saw the general link but was looking for the shoulder bag specifically. That’s ok! No problem! I will stop being lazy and look more thoroughly xoxo
It’s always wonderful to see you Deb! You will have to come back to our house one day at BlogPaws to meet my seven!
Didn’t you hear Rachel … I am staying at your house for the next BP, now that I know you only live 20 minutes away!
Love the excitement and fun in the post…just like you, Deb! I kept saying that I felt like I was ‘forgetting to breath’ because of all the socializing, chatting, running around…and your hustle/bustle high school hallway comparison was right on target! I am glad I had a couple of days to unwind and flow back into reality before I headed back to work, lol!
Oh Teri, I wish I had a couple of days to catch my breath before heading back to work, but, unfortunately I did not and I just now finally feel the jetlag wearing off!! It was a great time and I’m glad I was able to convey that feeling of fun, hustle, and bustle for the readers who did not get to attend so that they could feel a part of it!
OMC, that was such a fun recap! It sounds (and looks) like you had a wonderful time at BlogPaws, Deb. 🙂
We hope to be able to attend next year — VA is not that far!
Hugs,
All of us at Animal Shelter Volunteer Life
We did have a wonderful time meowmeowmans and it would be so AWESOME if we could see you next year!!!
Wonderful post, Deb and the comments (especially Caren’s ) said it all! It sounded like so much fun and great to see the photos of you all 🙂
Like others said, I was also sad not to have been there! But hey, one can hope lol
That looks like so much fun. Our mom is hoping to go to Virginia next year!
what fun! My Mom is just too shy to got to something like this, but Dad is trying to push her out the door for next year…sigh…I’m thinkin’ she isn’t goin’ to make it…but she luvluvluvs blog paws
Loved this post – you captured the feeling of being there exactly! It is a bit like camp!
I had to do a double take when I saw Caren – I was like “wait, i didn’t think she was there?!” LOL!
LOL Tamar!! It was so much fun hanging out with you and I can’t wait for next year!!
Great write-up, Deb. I so enjoyed seeing you at BlogPaws. My only regret is that we didn’t have enough time to sit and visit with one another. We’ll have to make up for that next time! I’m already planning for BlogPaws 2013. Tyson’s Corner, here we come! :-0