{"id":15641,"date":"2015-11-07T00:10:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-07T05:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=15641"},"modified":"2015-11-07T08:37:55","modified_gmt":"2015-11-07T13:37:55","slug":"the-real-deal-before-and-after-the-purina-better-with-pets-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/the-real-deal-before-and-after-the-purina-better-with-pets-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Real Deal Before and After the Purina Better With Pets Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Deb-in-NY\"<\/a>

The last time I was in NYC was in 2010 – I was attending a writing conference that had nothing to do with cats. A few months after that, I found the strength and resolve to start Zee & Zoey’s blog and write my first book! 5 years later… wow… so much of my life has changed!<\/p><\/div>\n

I had not mentioned this earlier, so it may come as a surprise to some of you to find out I have just returned from a two day, all expenses paid trip to New York City!! I was selected by Purina<\/a> to attend the 2015\u00a0Better With Pets Summit<\/a> and it was an opportunity too good to pass up. Not only would I be learning about ways to improve the emotional wellness between pets and the people that love them, but I would also get to hang out with some of my fellow blogging friends, meet new ones, and get paid to write about it. What?!!!!!!<\/p>\n

I will be blogging about my experiences over the next couple of weeks, but for now, I just want to share all the eclectic, behind the scenes kind of stuff that won\u2019t be making the professional editing cut!<\/p>\n

\"12-NY\"<\/a>

Hey New York!! Bumper-to-bumper traffic and all – here I come!!<\/p><\/div>\n

First off, let me say that it\u2019s always been a dream of mine to attend one of these summits. I\u2019ve drooled with envy over those that have been able to attend in year\u2019s past and when I got the email telling me I would be going, I nearly fainted with the sheer joy of it all! I packed my usual cat related paraphernalia and even splurged on a cheap pair of low-heeled leopard boots to wear to the event thinking they would be practical, stylish, and comfortable!<\/p>\n

Naturally, since I had NEVER<\/strong> worn them before, they were anything but comfortable. But that\u2019s the essence of being a woman \u2013 we are always eternally hopeful against all odds that our new footwear will be comfortable right out of the box, even though we will be traipsing around for miles at a time without a sitting break. Hey\u2026 I never claimed I was the brightest bulb in the room, but to my credit, my feet did look cute\u2026<\/p>\n

\"FullSizeRender<\/a>

Standing in the shower at the W Hotel in my room while wearing my super cute boots. The shower was bigger than my entire bathroom at home…<\/p><\/div>\n

The real reason for my sore feet and traipsing is because I decided to make the most of my stay \u2013 the summit was only 1 day long – so I took the earliest flight I could from Fort Lauderdale to New York the day before, allowing me to arrive bright and early to spend the day sightseeing and hanging out with Angie Bailey of Catladyland<\/a>\/Texts From\u00a0Mittens who was already in town for the summit and Tamar Arslanian of I Have Cat<\/a> (who lives in the city).<\/p>\n

\"2-NY\"<\/a>

Angie and I getting ready to begin our day of sightseeing and foot torture… Despite the jackets, it was actually extremely warm out and at one point we brought our jackets back to the hotel!<\/p><\/div>\n

Rockefeller Center and The Shop at NBC Studios\u00a0was our first stop and we had a blast taking pictures of anything relating to Friends, SNL, Jimmy Fallon, and Seinfeld. After that, Tamar had to leave us for a prior engagement and we were on our own.<\/p>\n

The first thing we did was find a deli to eat lunch at, and after that, we went to the breathtakingly beautiful St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral where they check your purse for guns before you can even enter the place to violate it by taking\u00a0hundreds of touristy pictures (the guy didn\u2019t even bat an eye when he saw cat ears in my purse).<\/p>\n

\"20151102_113819\"<\/a>

Just hanging out with Jimmy Fallon – Hmmmm…. notice anyone PHOTOBOMBING my picture?!! Thanks Angie!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"6-NY\"<\/a>

This is just one of the many shops devoted to SNL stuff!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"1-NY\"<\/a>

Your standard Rockefeller Center picture with flags and ice-skaters!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"5-NY\"<\/a>

I have close up shots of the Rainbow Room Observation Deck NBC Studios marquee, but I decided to share this long shot instead so that you could get a sense of the trees this time of year.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"9-NY\"<\/a>

Unfortunately\u00a0I was\u00a0a few weeks too early to see any of the fabulous Christmas decorations that New York is famous for – the closest I could come is this holiday scene made out of Lego’s (there is a whole store devoted to Lego’s)!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"4-NY\"<\/a>

This picture didn’t come out so great, so I applied a weird filter technique to it!! It’s the only time I took my cat ears out – to pose with this awesome lion that graced the front doorway of a gift shop!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"3-NY\"<\/a>

In front of the gorgeous New York Public Library – it’s so big you could easily get lost in it!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"8-NY\"<\/a>

St. Patrick’s Cathedral has to be seen to be believed! Naturally, none of my pictures did any justice to this stunning structure – I have put a few images together as a collage to give you a better idea of just how impressive it is.<\/p><\/div>\n

But more disturbing than the now commonplace worry of finding lethal weapons in a place of worship, was our stop at Saks Fifth\u00a0Avenue. We needed to find a restroom and being that the store was right in front of us, that\u2019s where our tiny bladders dictated we go. I kid you not, at any given moment, we felt like security was going to come and grab us for being lowly \u201ccommon folk.\u201d The clothing was insane \u2013 not insane as in beautiful (although some of it was) \u2013 insane as in the price.<\/p>\n

We played a game \u2013 \u201cguess how much this costs?\u201d and just to give you a range \u2013 dresses, tops, sweaters, and lightweight jackets were between $350.00 to $8900.00. There was one dress in particular \u2013 a sleeveless cotton wrap style that was quite frankly, hideous. If it was given to me as a gift, I would not want it and it looked like something from a rummage sale. It was priced at $850.00 and after we both burst out audible gasps of disbelief, I got my soapbox angry on.<\/p>\n

The dichotomy of crazy makes me crazy. Within feet of Saks are homeless people living outside. I also connect with people on a daily basis that are struggling to get by, many of them willing to give their last dollar just to help someone else in need. And the shelters and rescues that would give anything for a donation to help an animal\u2026 Ugg\u2026 Don\u2019t get me started. A dress that literally, between materials and labor probably cost $8.99 to make, was selling for $850.00!<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 I believe in capitalism and feel very blessed to live in the United States where we have the ability to profit from our efforts \u2013 but that kind of profit is obscene. Yes, I know Saks has to pay astronomical overhead, but even so, it\u2019s just not right.<\/p>\n

Okay. Soapbox off. We finally went back to the hotel to meet up with friends for dinner. I got to hang out with some of my favorite cat cohorts like Ingrid King of The Conscious Cat<\/a>, Robin Olson of Covered in Cat Hair<\/a>, Janice Garza of Sparkle Cat<\/a>, Lisa Richmond of A Tonk’s Tail<\/a>, Joanne McGonagle of The Tiniest Tiger<\/a>, Tamar Arslanian, and Angie Bailey. I also had the pleasure of finally meeting Dawn White of Lola The Rescued Cat<\/a> and Laura Zaccardi of Squeedunk<\/a>. Neither was going to the summit, but both live in the area and made the effort to drop by!<\/p>\n

\"11-NY\"<\/a>

These wonderfully blurry and horribly lit pictures are me meeting two of my favorite cat ladies for the very first time – Laura Zaccardi on the left\u00a0and Dawn White on the\u00a0right.<\/p><\/div>\n

I suppose it was the excitement of it all that caused me to accidentally leave my Samsung tablet at the restaurant (I use the tablet to take pictures as my iPhone is really outdated and takes poor quality photos)\u00a0and my ratty old sweater in the cab we took back to the hotel. The good news \u2013 the restaurant had found my tablet and would hold it for me. The bad news \u2013 I would not have it to take pictures for the summit and I would have to figure out a way to get it back before I went home (not easy because unless something is within walking distance, which it was not, it means paying for a cab or Uber). As far as the sweater, we all collectively decided to agree it had found a lovely home with someone that really needed it.<\/p>\n

After getting back to my room, thoroughly exhausted, I did not sleep a wink, because that\u2019s always God\u2019s little joke with me. Have an important function to get up early for\u2026 hmmm\u2026 I\u2019ll show you! Needless to say, I woke up with massive black bags under my eyes and looked a fright, but oh well\u2026 at least I was going to an incredible event\u2026 It\u2019s not like there would be lots of pictures shared socially or anything like that\u2026<\/p>\n

I got through the summit\u2026 which was AMAZING<\/strong>\u2026 which I will share details about in my next post\u2026 I was also able to get my tablet\u2026 it was on the way (sort of) to an exclusive event that Tamar kindly invited me to \u2013 the week old opening of a CAT CAF\u00c9 in SoHo called Koneko<\/a>!! OMC \u2013 the Purina Better With Pets summit and a cat caf\u00e9. If one of my nine lives were to end tomorrow, I would die happy! I\u2019ve always wanted to go to a cat caf\u00e9 and it was everything I had hoped for \u2013 a hip and trendy place devoted to rescue that was filled with a very manageable number of cats that were up for adoption.<\/p>\n

\"10-NY\"<\/a>

The very cool Koneko logo on a tote bag! Love it!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMG_1897\"<\/a>

This is Thomas – one of the Koneko cats I fell in love with! All the cats that are brought to Koneko are carefully screened to insure they will be okay in an environment with lots of people and other cats. The cats are also up for adoption.<\/p><\/div>\n

After as much cat loving as I could fit in, it was off to the airport for my late-night flight home. I booked my first ever Uber ride and was picked up by a gentleman from Indonesia that regaled me with stories of how he prayed to God that his wife would finally become pregnant after years of trying, and that she would have a\u00a0son. His wife did get pregnant, but God gave him a daughter\u2026<\/p>\n

The moral? I don\u2019t know. I was just happy to make it home in one piece with my loving Dan and my sweet kitties waiting for me. I am very blessed to have been a part of the event and honestly, the only thing that was truly surprising to me was that I did not happen upon a stray kitten somewhere along the way to bring home\u2026<\/p>\n

Have a wonderful Caturday all\u2026<\/p>\n

To be continued\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had not mentioned this earlier, so it may come as a surprise to some of you to find out I have just returned from a two day, all expenses paid trip to New York City!! I was selected by Purina to attend the 2015\u00a0Better With Pets Summit and it was an opportunity too good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1062,1265,65,1063,1061],"class_list":["post-15641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-better-with-pets","tag-cats","tag-caturday","tag-new-york-city","tag-purina"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/3-NY.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15641"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15671,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15641\/revisions\/15671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}