Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 343

BlogPaws Outtakes and Extras

I bet you figured that with all that happened this past weekend, I must have some BlogPaws outtakes — and you would be right! Plus a couple of extra, not-really-outtake shots that never made the blog.

Some of you may have already seen this photo on Facebook, but if not, here you go. Consider it my review of these treats. Freeze dried chicken, they were not! (Of course that didn’t stop me from sticking my whole head in a bowl of them later on.)

And why not include another shot of me sticking out my tongue while I’m at it? This is from the lobby of the hotel.

One of my human’s biggest fears about me exploring the Cat Style Lounge at BlogPaws is that I will use one of the litter boxes displayed… as an actual litter box. Since this Litter Robot had nothing inside I could dig in, we were safe… at least this time!

My human thought it was hilarious that this paper cat tunnel’s hole had ears and whiskers that nearly shadowed my own!

I so loved my hotel room! My human tried to get a photo of me on my hind legs with my paws kneading the air, but she couldn’t get me in focus.

My human sent this photo to my breeder in a message and her reply was, “She looks stoned.”

Remember my selfie photo session? Here I am, wondering when we are going back inside, away from the heat.

And here are a couple outtakes from when I tried on Coco the Couture Cat’s hand-me-downs back at home. I look like I’m going to sneeze here! Don’t worry, I wasn’t actually sneezy.

I almost never flop over in outfits and refuse to get up, the way so many other cats do… but I did have this issue with the green walking vest! It took a while for my human to get me to sit up nice. But as you can see, I was still posing while I was flopping — at least sort of!

I hope you liked my BlogPaws outtakes!
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post BlogPaws Outtakes and Extras appeared first on SparkleCat.

BlogPaws Gifts From My Pals!

The cat blogging community is so awesome! Lots of those who came to BlogPaws brought gifts with them! It’s nice to get the swag from the conference sponsors, and I always enjoy giving lots of it away, but it’s even better to get these more personal presents.

I wish you could see this card and button from Christy Paws in person! The card has a little colored gem and a real bow on it.

The pen and spring toy are from Truffle and Brulee. I needed a new spring because my human stepped the one we had.

The kitties from A Tonk’s Tail made sure their human took good care of us kitties! We got fishy flakes and catnip along with some toys! Oh, and come lip balm for the humans.

I especially love these pipe cleaner rings from The Island Cats! I told my human she could have the candy.

You saw that Orion, Sammy and Emily’s human gave me something while I was checking out the Cat Style Lounge — here is what was in the gift bags! Lots of toys.

Lola and Lexy’s human had some awesome toys too! I can use their spring as a backup — my human’s feet are dangerous! Plus the super pretty tissue paper.

In case you are wondering where Binga is, she slept through the whole photo session! But apparently somebody else didn’t. Anyhow, these awesome items, and the Stella and Chewy sample, are from Coco the Couture Cat’s human!

This was really special! The human from Dashkitten came all the way from New Zealand and gave my human this really, really lovely necklace. Of course, I had to model it… but I think my human is going to mostly wear it instead of me.

Speaking of wearables… Coco’s human also brought me some of her hand-me-downs to try on! Coco is a slightly smaller kitty with that awesome short, wavy Cornish Rex fur, so my human wasn’t sure any of these dresses were going to fit, but they did! You saw one of them the night of the Cat Writers awards banquet. This is another one of them.

Here is a fancy green walking vest!

My human really liked the fabric on this dress/ walking vest, plus the pretty jewels around the neckline. Thank you, Coco! These are amazing for hand-me-downs!

And thanks everyone for all the cool gifts!
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post BlogPaws Gifts From My Pals! appeared first on SparkleCat.

Farewell to BlogPaws… at Least for This Year

The last event of BlogPaws is its Nose-to-Nose awards, and nearly everyone puts on their dressiest outfits. I had a big surprise I’ve been keeping under wraps for the past couple of weeks: a couture dress by Stacy Hurt! My human put on her (boring black) dress and then got me ready for the evening.

Once we were both ready, we headed for the red carpet.

I have to confess, I was not impressed with my first time on the red carpet! My human didn’t want me too near any dogs she didn’t know, which was most of them, so I wound up behind these two weird alien creatures called ferrets! Then behind me was a Boston Terrier (I’d seen her before at the AAHA tea)… but she was wearing a dress that was really similar to one of my other outfits at home! The whole scene was very surreal. I decided to walk off the red carpet a couple of times, but my human kept putting me back and encouraging me. I hung out at the party for a while longer, but then my human took me back to our room to have dinner while she ate and attended the awards. I was up for Best Cat Blog, but didn’t win… I mean, how can you compete with The Conscious Cat, who did win? The human who runs the blog, Ingrid, really earned this award. I’m really happy for her, and Binga is thrilled for Ingrid’s two torties, Ruby and Allegra!

After the awards, my human was freezing in her sleeveless dress — it may have been over 100 degrees outside, but inside it was about 60! So she rushed back to the room to change into her day clothes… and I wanted to come back to the party with her in my day fur! So we partied for a while, and I got so wound up that later, back in the hotel room, she had to play fetch with me for a long time. She shot about three minutes of it as a Facebook live video… if you want to watch the replay, it is here.

My human wanted to get some photos and video of me in the lobby of the hotel before we left the next day — it really was beautiful! But she wound up running late and we just barely made the shuttle back to the airport. I got lots of compliments from the TSA people and napped at the gate until it was time to board.

Back home, Binga was happy to see me. I guess.

And I guess I was happy to see her too.

Although there were a couple of fragile things packed, everything made it home safely…

Except for the old Hello Kitty backpack my human had to check because when I travel with her, I am her carry on. I’m not sure what happened to the strap there, but it doesn’t look good!

I had the most awesome time at BlogPaws and I loved meeting so many humans and trying out new cat scratchers and toys and playing in my hotel room! But even so, I have to admit there is no place like home.

And maybe that’s a good thing.
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Farewell to BlogPaws… at Least for This Year appeared first on SparkleCat.

Balcony Selfies

It’s been too hot to go outside at all, but my human decided to take me out onto the hotel room balcony, at least for a few minutes. She felt like I was missing something.

Well, maybe I wasn’t missing anything except for a view of the hotel parking lot! The grounds here do have pretty desert scenery, but I don’t think there’s any way to make a parking lot look good.

I figured that while I was out there, I should take some selfies so it wasn’t a total waste.

As always, I had to set up the timer on the iPhone first.

I don’t really like this angle. Maybe I should try placing the iPhone somewhere a little different.

That’s better! I think I’ll stick with this one.

My human and I are exhausted, so I’ll wrap up my BlogPaws trip tomorrow!

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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Balcony Selfies appeared first on SparkleCat.

Touring the Cat Style Lounge and Other BlogPaws Things

My human had to attend a breakfast sponsored by Natural Balance early this morning… and she went without me! Look what I missed — wouldn’t it have been cool to meet this little rat guy?

The Natural Balance humans handed out signs so the attendees could fill out what they believed in, and my human wrote this. She also said that humans should work harder at this and not assume cats are unsocial or merely homebodies. Which is one of the reasons she brought me to the conference.

She really should have taken me to this breakfast, but to make up for it, she set aside a half strip of bacon for me and brought it to the Cat Writers booth when I came down to help her again.

I appreciated that! I worked the booth for a while, but I was getting antsy — it was Cat World Domination Day, after all! — so my human took me to the Cat Style Lounge, hosted by Kate Benjamin of Hauspanther. I’d been waiting for days to do that!

I was excited to check out all the cool new cat styles!

This paper tunnel was awesome!

I think I’ve seen this lounger already, but I tried it out again anyhow.

I thought the automatic feeder was kind of creepy! I watched it open and shut a couple of times, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go near it.

I think the most unusual thing I saw was this cat bed with an umbrella! It was cute.

And of course I had to try out one of those round SleepyPods! I think they are very cool.

While I was doing that, the human to Orion, Sammy and Emily stopped by with a gift. I’ve gotten so many gifts from cat blogging friends, I may have to devote a whole post to them all!

After all that excitement, I crashed! I was exhausted. My human was tired too, and we took a nap together, but she got up before me and went down to the conference and socialized. By the time she got back, I was ready for dinner and for the Cat Writers Association awards banquet!

I had a dress planned already for the banquet, but then Coco the Couture Cat’s human brought some hand-me-downs for me to try on… and they fit! This was one of them, and it’s what I wore instead the dress from home. I got lots of admiration, and when my human wanted to get food from the buffet, one of her friends offered to care for me… so I took her for a walk. After dinner, my human took me back up to the hotel room because she thought I’d get too restless during the awards.

Well, it turned out I should have stuck around because she won a special award for her article about cat walking myths — and she never could have written it without me! Wouldn’t it have been fun if she had walked me up to the stage? Oh well!
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Touring the Cat Style Lounge and Other BlogPaws Things appeared first on SparkleCat.

BlogPaws and a Cat World Domination Day Giveaway!

BlogPaws officially began today! There were lots of workshops and seminars, but my human didn’t go to any of them. She was scheduled to work at the Cat Writers Association booth most of the day, and to sell copies of the books Rescued and Dear Sparkle. After doing it for a couple of hours, she realized she badly needed help and came and fetched me! I did another live video from the CWA booth for Facebook.

She brought me down to the exhibition hall in my sling so we could check out some of the other booths before getting to work. I saw so much cool stuff!

The Weruva booth was full of yummy stuff! At least the cat food was awesome. I’m not a dog, so I wasn’t much interested in the dog food.

My human picked up some samples from the

Arriving at the BlogPaws Conference

I flew to the BlogPaws conference yesterday — can you believe this is the third time in a little over two months that I’ve taken a plane to Phoenix? I was a very good kitty both in the boarding area and on the flight.

This was a morning flight, so my human grabbed some quick breakfast items at the airport. At least she considers it breakfast. I’m not so sure.

I love my hotel room! Doesn’t the bed look comfy?

Check out the shower! It’s pretty fancy. I don’t have to use it, but my human will. I was so excited about the hotel room that I shot a live Facebook video! I can’t embed it on my blog, but you can watch the replay here.

The conference doesn’t officially kick off until tomorrow but a lot of people (and pets) arrived today. A lot of humans were really, really excited to see me!

I went to a “tea” held by AAHA, but it was in a small room with a lot of dogs there so my human wouldn’t let me out of the sling. It was still cool because I got lots of treats for staying and not being too squirmy. It was more fun later, when a group of humans from the Cat Writers Association were stuffing goodie bags for the members who are attending the conference. I got to hang out for a while, surrounded by boxes and cat toys and stuff!

The goodie bags were made possible by a bunch of different sponsors, like the PetSafe humans, who supplied a whole bunch of these awesome filtration systems that work in regular water bowls.

I can’t wait to show you everything that went into the bags… and I will do that on Cat World Domination Day, which is Friday, because I will be having a giveaway!
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Arriving at the BlogPaws Conference appeared first on SparkleCat.

Impromptu Modeling Session

When my human was off buying a bigger suitcase the other day (she realized she needed one after this post), she found some pet dresses on sale… so of course she brought a couple home. She was trying them on me, but Binga kept bothering us — so my human put a dress on her too! So it wound up being an impromptu modeling session. Just ignore the price tags that are still attached (except I’d really like to know why she is wearing the dress that cost a dollar more!).

Binga thinks that modeling is just a matter of looking at the camera and smiling. She has no idea about all the work that goes into it.

I tried giving her some pointers on how it is done.

In fact, I even showed her how to pose.

Apparently she didn’t like my modeling suggestions!

Geez! Well, I guess she’ll never be a pro.

Remember, I’m on my way to the BlogPaws conference in Phoenix today — and I’ll be reporting in real time! If you’re on Facebook, you may even see live video!
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Impromptu Modeling Session appeared first on SparkleCat.

Packing for the BlogPaws Conference

I’ve been busy packing for the BlogPaws conference! I’m leaving for Phoenix on Wednesday and I’ll be reporting in real time the whole time I am there, and even posting live video on Facebook. Plus Cat World Domination Day is on Friday, and since it coincides with the conference, I’ll be celebrating it while I am there!

But there’s a slight dilemma…

I can’t decide what to pack! (Ha-ha, and I bet you thought I was going to say, “And I have nothing to wear.” Nope, that joke is older than my grandparents.)

There aren’t enough events for all my clothes… and I don’t want to wear dresses the whole time I’m there.

You remember this dress, right? That’s what I’m going to wear for the Cat Writers Association banquet on Friday night. I can’t show you the dress I’m wearing for the Nose-to-Nose awards (in which I’m nominated for Best Cat Blog), because it’s a big surprise!

Binga tried giving me some suggestions about what to pack — like she knows anything about dressing up for conferences!

Even Boodie had some suggestions… except I don’t think she’s ever worn a cat dress in her life!

All I know is that all the outfits I want to bring won’t fit in my suitcase!

See? There isn’t even any room for my cat food and treats! (Although I’m hoping there will be some good cat treats in the exhibition hall.) I hope my human doesn’t mind, but I am going to have to use her suitcase to pack my clothes.
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Packing for the BlogPaws Conference appeared first on SparkleCat.

My Therapy Cat Visit – the Volunteer Room

I went on a therapy cat visit yesterday! It was to the same hospital I went to before. I’ve been approved for a second one, but I won’t start going there until July.

As you already know, you can’t watch me on my rounds because of privacy concerns for the patients. And although the nurses take photos of me sometimes, it is on their own personal phone cameras. But I thought I would show you the volunteer room, where my human and I sign in and pick up supplies if we are running out.

Here we are! This is where I sit while my human signs in. If there is a dog who doesn’t know me well on the visit, I stay in my sling. The therapy pets aren’t supposed to interact with each other and stay six feet apart (unless we’re in an elevator and it’s impossible). That includes dogs with dogs, along with dogs with cats. I heard that not all the therapy dogs are cat friendly, but you couldn’t prove that by me! So far, the ones I’ve met have been very, very well behaved around me. The tests they get to be in the program are very rigorous and it’s obvious by how nice they are.

Off the main room, is where the therapy pet organization has its supplies, in case we need anything or run out.

Here is where they keep things like the Polaroid-style film for our cameras, stickers, brochures, single wipe packets and other things we need when we are visiting patients.

I like looking in the file cabinet, just to make sure everything is in stock.

Wait a minute! These stickers refer to therapy DOGS! What about me? I guess since I am the organization’s only therapy cat right now, and everybody else is dogs, they’re not used to saying “therapy PET.” Maybe if I am around long enough, and more cats decide to do this work, that will change!

Oh, how did my actual visits go? I learned something today! Mostly patients are happy if I just lie down on their laps and purr and knead on the bed sheets my human places over their legs. The first couple of visits, I was a little confused because I thought I was supposed to do something — it turns out I don’t really have to do anything except be there to make these humans happy! Of course, I’ll do tricks and eat treats out of their hands if they want, but that’s just bonus good stuff.
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post My Therapy Cat Visit – the Volunteer Room appeared first on SparkleCat.