Prelude to a Wedding

Happy weekend friends! Happy April Fools' Day as well! I know it’s one of Corny’s favorite holidays – and Malcolm too, I suppose. Corny will go around playing pranks on everyone all day, so I must keep up my guard!
Can you believe it’s April already? Have you noticed that time seems to go faster the older you get? I have been amazed at how time seems to have sped up since I turned 3! Keeping that in mind, I knew I needed to start planning my wardrobe for the big event – the royal wedding – as it would be here in no time. I knew I needed help finding the perfect gown in which to spend such a special day. While I love Mom to pieces, she is not exactly up on fashion – ok, I was being nice, she has NO sense of fashion.
While none of my animal friends have ever worn gowns, nor have even wished to wear gowns, I couldn’t ask for help from any of them. Suddenly, it dawned on me! Why not have a “queen” help me find my outfit for a royal wedding – Briana! Since I had helped her find her crown winning gown, I’m sure she would be happy to return the favor. I sent her an e-mail and was delighted when she agreed to help me.
My dear friend Bobbi keeps up with current events and knew about Prince William’s impending nuptials. She is my only animal friend that can read and she makes it a point to read the newspaper everyday. She picks a different house each day from which to “borrow” a newspaper for a few hours and she makes sure to return it carefully to its plastic bag. If you live in Fayetteville and you ever think your brand new paper looks read already – it was Bobbi!
Bobbi was very excited for me when I showed her my invitation to the wedding. I invited her to go with me, but she said she would be busy getting her nest ready for her spring litter. She did offer to go shopping with me, and since I value her opinion, I invited her to come along with Briana and me. Unfortunately, Malcolm heard us making plans and asked if he could come along. I told him he wouldn’t like shopping and he would be bored at the mall. He asked if the mall had food. Of course, silly! Then he wanted to go. Personally, I think he has a crush on Briana and wanted to tag along to hang out with her. I told him he could come if he promised to behave and pay for his own food. He started mumbling – mostly derogatory things about me - but somewhere in his grumblings he said okay.
Briana came to pick us up at my house, since she was the only one among us who could drive. When I went shopping at Christmas last year, I wore a disguise which seemed to keep people from recognizing me from all my concert performances and the huge newspaper article that had been in the Fayetteville Observer. I thought since Briana was a famous beauty queen, she would also need a disguise. Since I didn’t want Bobbi and Malcolm to feel unimportant I made sure to have disguises for them to wear too. When Briana arrived I handed out the disguises and declared us ready to shop!



We looked at each other and started giggling. We decided that we drew more attention by wearing the disguises than if we just risked someone recognizing one of us. We left the disguises behind and headed for the car. You have to admit, Briana even looked cute with a big nose and mustache – now that’s beauty!!
We had no sooner pulled out of the driveway, when Malcolm started complaining that he was hungry. I was already sorry I let him tag along! I told him we would stop at KFC for him, but he could not bring any food with him into the store. I should have realized that he never actually agreed to that, which made for much ado later in our outing. Briana was a very good driver and we arrived safely at the mall. We had a lovely time window shopping, though all Malcolm wanted to do was drag us to the food court!



Unfortunately, we didn’t find any stores that had the formalwear for which I was looking. Was no one else in this town going to the royal wedding?!?!?!?!??! We realized we weren’t going to find what I was looking for at the mall, so Briana suggested we head to another store that carried bridal and bridesmaids gowns. Great idea! We all piled back into the car and hit the road again. The bridal store wasn’t far away and we were there in no time.
The store was beautiful and I was overwhelmed by their selection of gowns. I was very glad I had invited Briana and Bobbi along for advice and opinions. I told the sales lady that I was looking for a full length gown in my signature color – pink. Since it was springtime, there were lots of pink gowns from which to choose. The sales lady brought me several dresses to try on. I wanted to be very careful to not catch the dress on any of my claws, so Briana helped me slip the dress over my head.



I selected a matching hat and headed out to the area where there was some room to walk and several mirrors in which to admire myself. All of a sudden, I heard a commotion back where the changing rooms were. A very unhappy lady, the manager of the store I presumed, came walking up to us holding a very greasy pawed Malcolm. “There is to no food allowed in this store!!” she exclaimed. I glared at Malcolm. He shrugged at me. I never thought to check his bucket hat for chicken. He had smuggled a bunch of chicken into the store and had proceeded to consume it rather messily in a dressing room!
I apologized to the manager and proceeded to banish Malcolm to the car. Bobbi escorted him out and returned to the store after Malcolm was safely secured in the car. Then Bobbi was kind enough to volunteer to clean up the mess. What a good friend!
With that distraction eliminated, we could get back to the fashion show! I tried on several dresses, but none of them struck me. Briana was very honest in her opinions and wasn’t afraid to express her dislike of a dress!



As I went to change into my next dress, I started feeling bad about poor Malcolm out in the car. I sent Bobbi out to bring him back in. He was so pathetic as he came slinking over to me and he nodded dejectedly as I lectured him on behaving properly. I told him to stay within my line of vision. He stuck his tongue out at me and plopped down on the divan. I returned to the mission at hand and Briana helped me into the next dress. Again, her reaction was not good, and I certainly agreed!



Oh well, on to the next dress! The next one was a little better, though Briana wasn’t too sure about it. She kind of looked it over and was pondering way too much. If it was the right one, we would have known it right away!



I don’t think the sales lady was feeling my sense of style. I asked Briana to pick one out for me. She went through the racks and racks of dresses until she came to one that made her smile. She pulled it off the rack and brought it to me.



Ooooooh! How appropriate - a gown accented with kitty faces. How did the sales lady miss this one?!? I couldn’t wait to try it on! As I stepped from the dressing room and stepped up to the mirrors, Briana and Bobbi broke into applause. This was it – we had found the perfect dress!



I gave the sales lady Mom’s magic plastic card, and the dress was mine. I guess I should have asked how much the dress was, but Mom will find out when she gets her bank statement…or runs out of money sooner than she expected. Either way, it was still mine. Isn’t it beautiful?



There were alterations to be done to make it fit me purrfectly, so I didn’t get to bring it home with me. I was so excited though, that I bought everyone dinner with Mom’s plastic card. I knew she would want me to!
I am really starting to get excited about the wedding now! Only a few more weeks before the big day is here!! I still haven’t purchased a wedding gift yet, but that will be a day of shopping another time. Before I bid you adieu for another week, I would like send out a special thank you to Briana and Bobbi for their patience and support in my quest for the perfect gown. I believe I have found it!! Have a fabulous week!
Love & kitty kisses,
Josie

When Cats Cry

Happy Friday! Yet another week has just flown by. It was tough getting this blog done, as I only completed my adventure rrrrreeeeeeaaaaalllly early Thursday morning. Some would say it was late Wednesday night, but anything really late is actually early morning . Got it? Me neither.
One day last week, Mom came home all excited about purchasing tickets for “Prince”. My first thought was that my friend, Prince William, was coming to town and that he was charging people money to have tea and crumpets with him – for charity, of course! A prince doesn’t need to earn money – that’s the coolest part about being a prince! But Mom said no, it wasn’t a real prince, but rather Prince the musical performer. Oh. I was so unimpressed.
Mom danced around the house waving the “Prince” tickets around in the air. I sat and watched, totally embarrassed for her. As I am only three years old, Mom is A LOT – I mean A LOT - older than me and likes that old time music that is foreign to me. Mom was disappointed I didn’t get excited, as she had purchased a ticket for me as well. Oh.
I felt bad for her, so I accepted the ticket and tried to look excited. I don’t think I did a very good job.





When Mom told me it would be a girl’s night out and I could wear a jazzy hat and any wild accessories that I wanted, my interest was piqued. Who was this “Prince” and why was accessorizing encouraged? Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all!
We met up with Mom’s friend, Alice, at Mom’s place of work and we girls headed to Raleigh for the Prince concert. I was told to accessorize in purple which made sense as purple is the color of royalty.





We had fun chatting and giggling on the hour plus ride to Raleigh. We were going to the RBC Center where the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team plays. I had seen it on television and it looked huge. Mom had shown me a picture of Prince which made me wonder if it was going to be possible to fill that arena with the number of people who wanted to see this little dude. Mom said it was definitely possible. I was skeptical but figured we would soon see.
We arrived very early so we would miss Raleigh rush hour traffic and get a good parking space. I thought that was very considerate since walking on cement irritates my delicate paw pads. We did indeed get a fabulous parking space – things were going great so far! To make sure things continued to go well, Alice had this great idea to take a picture of our parking space so we could find it easily after the concert. My new lucky number is 6130!




We checked to make sure we each had our ticket and we excitedly headed toward the arena.
I stopped and posed for Mom in front of the arena and then we headed inside… or not.





There was a big long line of people spilling out of the arena doors. Silly people, why don’t they just go ahead in and sit down? Mom explained that the doors didn’t open for another 30 minutes. But we had tickets, why did we have to wait? Mom sighed and told me that the stage crews were still setting up for the performers and they didn’t want a bunch of people walking around getting in the way. Oh – okay.
We stood for over almost an hour waiting for the doors to open. Then when they did finally open , each person had to empty their pockets and walk through a metal detector. The bell on my collar kept setting off the metal detector, but since I had no pockets… or shoes… or clothes in which to hide any other metal, they let me go through. Nothing is more embarrassing than setting off the beepy thing in a metal detector!
We stopped at the snack bar on the way to our seats and loaded up on snacks. Juggling food and drinks while searching for our seats was quite a feat, but we are talented females. It didn’t take us long before we settled in to the seats that were to be our homes for the next few hours. The view was fabulous. I particularly liked the purple piano that was sitting to the right of us. Cool! We could see every bit of the stage which would make keeping track of the little guy that much easier!
A lady named Chaka Khan came out first and belted out a few tunes. Mom knew every one of the songs she sang. When she started singing “I’m Every Woman” I couldn’t help myself and I leapt out of my seat, starting dancing around and somehow ended up on stage. Ms. Khan had lots of hair which made even furry me feel inadequate. One of the band members sensed my concern and tossed me a wig. Now I was set! What is one to do when one ends up in the spotlight wearing a big wig? Why, sing, of course!





I howled along with the catchy tune. After Ms. Kahn got over the shock of singing with a cat, she seemed to enjoy it. She asked me to stay and sing along with the next song as well. When we were finished I followed her into the area under the stage from where everyone in the show was coming and going. I didn’t see the little guy, but there were snacks and water and a couple of dressing areas. It was a little warm in there so I lapped some water, and decided to head back to my seat. The only way out was the same way I came in, so I trotted out the door and stepped back onto the stage – and there he was – the little guy – Prince. He must have seen me perform with Ms. Khan because he handed me a microphone and listened to me scatting with the cool beat they had going.






Prince would do some funny dance steps, then turn to me and I would do them. We did this for a while – it was fun! I looked up and noticed my face on the big screen overhead. My head looked huge!!!!




When the song ended, Prince came over and gave me a pat on the head. I purred and smiled at him, then scampered back to my seat to rousing applause from the thousands of people in the arena. I was high fiving people left and right as I ran up the steps to my seat. I didn’t understand why others didn’t jump on stage with the performers – that’s the best way to experience a concert!
Prince rocked the place! The crowd stayed on their feet, clapping the entire show. It was more like a party than a concert – the man is amazing! I danced myself into exhaustion and Mom had to carry me back to the car. I slept on Ms. Alice’s lap the whole way back.
I headed straight to bed when we arrived home and I dreamed of being on stage again, only this time it was MY concert and everyone was there to see ME. Don’t snicker, it could happen!!
Hope you have a great week. If you’ve never heard of Prince, check out his music. He is quite the talented little guy!!

Love & kitty kisses,

Josie

Let's Moomba!!!!

Happy Friday, my friends! I hope you are ready for another new adventure in Australia! I took the long trip back because I couldn’t resist the temptation of experiencing something called the Moomba Festival in Melbourne!
I was somewhat skeptical when my Australian friend, Georgie, invited me to the festival. I wondered what would be fun about a festival centered around cows. Georgie was confused at first but she eventually understood my concern. She explained it wasn’t Moo-mba, but Moom-ba. Oooooooooh! I still wasn’t sure what it was all about.
Georgie gave me a crash course on the Moomba Festival. It is somewhat like Mardis Gras in New Orleans. It has been held in Melbourne every year since 1955 – wow, that is, like, FOREVER! The festival is held during the long Labour (note the Australian spelling of “labor”) Day weekend and runs from Friday through Monday. Now that’s a real long weekend! The name of the festival is an Aboriginal word translated to mean “Let’s get together and have fun.” Since I am all about the fun, I jumped on a plane and made my way back to the land down under….
It was so good to see my friends in Australia again! My friend Georgie was kind enough to select a few activities that she thought might be of interest to me. She knows me so well, so I had a full agenda of fun and daring!
Since I was still tired from my long trip, we started out slowly, planning on first surveying the festival as a whole. Georgie, Matthew, Jack and I boarded a tram to check out things and just take it all in.





It didn’t take long for me to figure out that the Moomba Festival was big on bright colors...and hats!
We stopped at the carnival area first. I have seen some local carnivals in my hometown, but they were nothing compared to this! It had a huge ferris wheel, bumper cars, that big swing ride and every other carnival ride you could possibly imagine. I didn’t want to do the spinning thing, but we did find some fun activities that we could all participate in together. First we hit the bouncy castle – one of my favorites!





Even George Tort and Brutis Ferret joined in on the fun! We bounced and bounced and bounced. I bounced my insides around so much I shook a hairball loose and had to excuse myself to take care of it. I returned a short time later to start all over again. We finally wore ourselves out and headed to the giant slide.
We took turns racing each other down the festive looking slide. George Tort could slide down really fast because of his smooth shell, so he offered all us non-tortoises rides on his tummy so we could see what it was like to go really fast. Georgie took him up on it and admitted it was a little too fast for her liking!





I managed to make it all the way down the slide without losing one of the two giant flower hats I had purchased. My friends told me it made me look like a walking parade float. What do you think? I, personally, think I look fabulous!!! This is the ultimate festival hat!





We decided to grab some food before I pooped out for the day. We weren’t looking for anything nutritious, so we gorged ourselves on hot jam donuts and fairy floss. Fairy floss is the equivalent to American cotton candy - but fairy floss sounds so much more fun, magical and tasty than something named after t-shirt material!! When we were full, we headed back to Georgie’s house to rest up for the busy days that were to follow.
We did so much over the weekend that I’ll have to pick just a few activities to share with you or my little paw will get blisters from all the tippy tapping! One of my favorite activities, even though it involved water, was the water skiing on the Yarra River. I turned out to be quite good at water skiing. My friends said they all cheered for me, but I couldn’t hear through my swim cap – I hate getting water in my ears, so I had found a colorful swim cap to protect my delicate and sensitive ears in the rare instance that I might fall.





Since the festival was centered around the Yarra River, it was hard to avoid water activities. Another fun thing I did which was going to guarantee a swim in the river, was to participate in the Birdman Rally.
The Birdman Rally is a fundraising where brave souls throw themselves off the Swan St bridge and try to fly as far as they can before they plunge into the river. Whoever goes the farthest wins a great prize. The Coolcatz and Hotdogz Club sponsored me and I fearlessly (okay, I was a little fearful) leapt off the bridge into the water.





I didn’t get very far, but I received quite a loud cheer from the crowd. I heard a lot of yowling, so I know my friends approved of my performance! Most of me was covered, so I didn’t have that terrible soaking wet cat look when it was over!
While we did have lots of time for fun, we also had to work on our float. There is a giant parade on the last day of the festival, and the Coolcats and Hotdogz club wanted to have the best float in the parade. In my unbiased opinion, I think we did. If the crowd reaction was any indication, I think everyone else thought so too!





We had great fun waving our paws wildly at the crowd as we slowly rode by. It was fun spending such a beautiful day with all my friends – and being the center of attention!
As with any special occasion, the time goes by too fast, and soon it was time to head back to the U S of A. I hugged all my special friends goodbye and promised to come back again soon. Australia has so many interesting things to do that I may have pop over every couple of months to try something new. It certainly is the perfect place for an adventurer like me!
I hope you enjoyed learning about the Moomba festival. I think the Australian travel board should hire me to promote their country! It is a fun one!
Until next week…

Love & kitty kisses,
Josie

The Josie Bump

Happy Friday, beautiful people! I have a very fairy tale-like tale to relate to you this week. Just in case you thought dreams don’t come true, I have a story to prove that they do! I was honored to be a part of a memorable moment in a lovely young lady’s life. But let me stop carrying on so and just get to it!!!
When I was offered the opportunity to sponsor my friend, Briana, in a school pageant, I jumped at the chance. I always thought she was particularly beautiful, but you couldn’t tell her that. She has always been very modest, but she thought it would be fun to give the pageant experience a try. I promised to help her in any way possible. I became one of her sponsors and started studying up on the ways of the pageantry!
There was so much to be done! We had to shop for a dress for the opening number, an outfit for the casual wear round and, of course, that ever important gown. Many hours were spent scouring Fayetteville and Raleigh for the perfect dress. Just when we were ready to give up, we stumbled upon the gown of all gowns. It was magnificent! Briana wasn’t sure it was flashy enough for a pageant, but I assured her that youthful sophistication is quite appealing. Picking a color was a whole other tribulation! She finally decided on a lovely turquoise. We both left the store feeling like we had picked a winner!
The night of the pageant arrived in no time. I made sure to get to the school early, so I would have some time to help Briana practice. There is a lot to remember while walking on high heels trying to not fall down, so we went right to work. We were able to go on the stage to practice which was really helpful. I walked in front of Briana and had her follow my lead.




Roody had come along to the pageant with my wardrobe in her pouch, so she stayed close at hand. For fun she pretended she was a contestant in the pageant, but gowns and high heels are not conducive to hopping. She decided she would stick to being my wardrobe mistress and hopped off stage to take a nap while we practiced.
I stood with my shoulders back and head up and stepped so my heel and toe hit the ground evenly at the same time. I told Briana to note that my arms were not swinging like a pendulum – like my energetic mother does – but rather were moving ever so slightly at the shoulder and not at the elbow. Briana really had to work on that, so we paraded around and around the stage until she was looking like an old pro. Even though I knew Briana would have no trouble conjuring up a smile, I told her to make sure to smile at the judges and make eye contact with them. Even though there would be hootin’ and hollerin’ from the audience (mostly from me) she should always keep her focus on the judges. Even though she had to stay controlled, it would help her stand out from the others if she let her personality shine through – show some sass if the opportunity presented itself. With some very good practice under her belt, my friend was ready to have some fun!
I gave Briana a big hug and kitty kiss for luck before she left to go backstage with the other contestants. I trotted down to join my Mom and brother to sit in the special row designated for Briana supporters. We had really great seats, so even I could see everything happening on the stage. Briana’s Mom sat next to me and gave me one of the programs. She pointed out the listing of sponsors – there it was “josietales.com” in print below Briana’s name. How exciting!




Finally, the pageant began. There was music and dancing and each contestant introduced themselves. Briana smiled big and looked so pretty as she said her name into the microphone. Even though I had told her to look only at the judges, she couldn’t help but give her supporters a big smile. I caught myself smiling back and waving which was not helping her at all!!!
The first round was casual wear and Briana looked lovely. She took my advice about showing some sass, and playfully put her hand on her hip during one of her poses. I hooted and hollered – in a ladylike manner of course– as she walked off the stage.
There was a short intermission and then the gown competition . The girls all had beautiful gowns – though I was discouraged that hat wear was not acceptable! Briana looked stunning and managed to smile through the whole long parade across and around the stage. Our row whooped and cheered as she walked off. Now it was all up to the judges.
Rooody and I headed backstage to prepare for my participation in the entertainment. After the gown competition, the judges’ votes had to be counted so there was some time that had to be filled. After my Dogwood Festival and New Year’s Eve performances, I was known for my ability to entertain. Even those people who hadn’t seen me perform had read Mr. Rodger’s article about me in the newspaper, so I was quite the local celebrity. I had agreed to sing with some very talented students from the school.






While I usually play an instrument, they were singing to a track so I did some “yow meows” in the background. Our song was a rousing success and we left the stage to thunderous applause. I certainly was having a lot of fun!
When the pageant resumed, the announcement of the five finalist was made. One by one the finalists were called. When they came to the last spot, Briana was still waiting with the others. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and crossed my paws – all four of them. The final name called was Briana’s and I leapt out of my seat and landed on the poor lady in front of me, slid right down the front of her and into her purse. She was very nice about the whole thing and laughed as she extracted me from her lovely bag. Her daughter was also one of the finalists, so she understood how excited I was. I apologized and scampered back to my seat. Normally I would be afraid that Mom might be upset with my antics, but since she hooted and hollered as loud as I did, I knew she was excited too and understood my glee.
Next was the question round. Each contestant picked a rose that had a question attached. One by one they gave their answers, all very sweet and gracious. It was tough to tell who gave the best answer. There was another painstaking break as the final votes were tabulated. The pain was eased by the fabulous entertainment – me reading some of my catspirations.




The crowd seemed to appreciate my wit and wisdom and they gave me a rousing hand as I passed the microphone over to one of the teachers from the school who had a killer voice. She beautifully sang a song as all the contestants returned to the stage for the announcement of the winner. Since I was going to be helping with the awards, I stayed backstage and put on my gown that had been stuffed in Roody’s pouch. Roody helped me with my honorary sash and crown. Then we turned to wait for the results. The tension was building – get on with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First they announced the special awards. It was a good sign when Briana won Miss Congeniality. Of all the special awards, that is the most flattering. It means you have a nice personality as well as beauty. I thought Briana winning that award was very impressive! Then it was on to the main event!
They started with the fourth runner up – not Briana. Next, the third runner up – not Briana. Now it was really getting nerve racking!! Then they announced the second runner up – not Briana!!! Oh my cat, might she have won? There were only two contestants left – Briana and Angelica (both wearing turquoise dresses I might add) They went to the center of the stage and held hands. I closed my eyes, held my breath, crossed all four paws and my tail. They announced the first runner up – not Briana!! Oh my cat! Oh my cat! She won!!!!!!! I rushed out on stage, pausing to smile at Briana’s mom… and the rest of the audience!






I ran up to Briana and she scooped me up and swung me around. She gave me a hug and thanked me for all my help. I was so proud of her. The crowd applauded and the other contestants rushed up to congratulate her. I headed off stage to join Briana’s friends and family in the audience.
My Mom was very excited and was busy taking lots of pictures. I kept tripping over my gown, so I took it off and stuffed it back in Roody’s pouch – boy it’s convenient to have a kangaroo following you around! We all waited patiently for the celebration to subside so we could spend time with the new Gray’s Creek High School Queen. When she finally broke free I rushed up to her and we both squealed with delight!



Everyone was taking pictures and offering Briana congratulations. Mom told me it was late and time to head home. Tristan had been a good sport by driving us and sitting through a less than manly event – though, come to think of it, a young man sitting in a room full of beautiful young ladies couldn’t have been THAT bad! Mom had promised him large quantities of food from Cookout for his patience and he was looking a bit hungry. I went to say goodbye to Briana and congratulate her one more time. She handed me her trophy – boy it was heavy – and said that it was mine as well as hers.



I doubt I will ever win a trophy of my own, so it was fun to hold such a big, impressive one. Mom called to me and I handed the trophy back to Briana and said my goodbyes. As I left the auditorium, I looked back one more time to see my beautiful protégé just beaming!
Well, I hope you enjoyed my story – it’s a true one! I would consider going into pageant coaching – it’s very rewarding. - if they would just work hats into the process. Every lovely outfit I saw was screaming for a hat. I fear I cannot be a part of a process that turns its back on hats. Too bad – I could have been a force with which to be reckoned! For now I will be happy that I was able to give Briana the “Josie bump.”
Have a great week!

Love and kitty kisses,
Josie

Paw Prince

Happy Friday! This week’s discourse has an international flair. No, I didn’t get involved in the momentous political goings on in the world. Nor did I go to Paris for the flashy events of “Fashion Week.” I may like hats and fashion, but the clothes they show on the Paris runways are a little far fetched for my tastes. I would be afraid I would start giggling in the middle of everything and embarrass myself. No, it was a little more down to earth, but quite exciting.
It was a comparatively mellow week for me, though it was filled with some angst and anticipation. Have you ever been expecting some exciting mail and you wait hopefully every day for the mailman/woman to make that all important delivery? Fortunately, our living room couch sits across the picture window that looks out on our front yard, so I had a front row seat to the daily mail delivery. I think our mail lady was tired of me scurrying out to greet her every day – she knew I didn’t come out just to say hello to her!
Let me relate to you the events that led to my interest in our daily mail delivery. It all started during my return trip from Australia. We had to make a stop in London to drop off some of our UK friends and the airline decided they needed do some maintenance on our airplane before we continued our trip. While most of our group decided to stay close to the airport, I took the opportunity to explore the historic city.
Lucky for me, the taxis in London take magic plastic cards, so I had the means to do some serious sight seeing. I was getting hungry, so I asked the cab driver to take me to a good fish and chips restaurant. He dropped me off at a place called Geale’s where I dined on delicious fish, great chips and a big glass of icy cold milk! I paid for my meal with Mom’s magic plastic card and headed out to explore some more.
As I started trotting down the street, I heard a voice behind me that was calling out my Mom’s name. I spun around – was my Mom here?!?!?!?! I turned to see a handsome young man waving my Mom’s magic plastic card in the air. I must have dropped it in the restaurant! I scurried back to get the card and thanked the nice young man for saving me a lot of hassle – and for keeping me from getting stranded with no way to pay for my trip back to the airport! I offered to pay for his lunch, but he laughed and said it was his pleasure to help – no thanks necessary. Just then, his beautiful girlfriend stepped from the restaurant to check and make sure her boyfriend had been able to catch me. She was relieved he had, and when she realized I was a tourist she offered me a lift to wherever I wanted to go. I told he I didn’t know the area very well so could they recommend some sights for me to visit.
They had met some friends from college at the restaurant and were preparing to set out for a leisurely afternoon of activities and they invited me to join them. Just as I was planning on eagerly accepting their generous invitation, I heard a young girl squeal the word “prince” while looking toward my new friends. Could this be THE Prince – the crooner of such greats as “Purple Rain” and “When Doves Cry?” He certainly didn’t look like a rock star, though his girlfriend was pretty enough to be a rock star’s girlfriend. I inquired as to their names, especially since we were going to be spending the afternoon together. The young man apologized for not having already made the introductions, and told me his name was William and his fiancee’s name was Kate. William and Kate… Kate and William…William and Kate…why did that sound familiar? I couldn’t put my paw on it, but I figured it would come to me eventually.
We started our afternoon by taking a stroll in the park.







William and Kate told me some of the history of London and we discussed what we were going to do next – time was short as I did have to make sure I returned to the airport before the plane headed back to the States. They told me they had to go to William’s Dad’s house for a quick meeting, but then they were meeting some friends who had a boat. They invited me to tag along. As we were heading back to their car, we passed a hat shop – I had to go in. They waited patiently as I wore some more numbers off my Mom’s magic plastic card. I came out with a big bag of hats. I presented Kate with a lovely purple hat that matched the one I bought for myself. She was vey appreciative and promised to wear the hat for her meeting. I couldn’t leave William out, so I bought him a hat that would forever remind him of me.
As we pulled up to William’s family’s house, it suddenly dawned on me who my new friends were. It was Prince William, heir to the British throne, and his lovely fiancée Kate Middleton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited I nearly coughed up a hair ball, but I managed to keep it down in that unique and charming way us cats do. I tried to remain calm and cool. They were just the future king and queen of England, but I was Josie the Amazing One-eyed Cat! I kept telling myself that, though it was hard to suppress my excitement.
I sat and waited for them to change and before they came back into the room, a whole bunch of photographers came in. Then Williams and Kate came in and the cameras went crazy. Kate presented me with a replica of the stone that was in her engagement ring and she hung it on my collar. I was very happy to see she was wearing the hat I had given her. We looked quite the fashionistas in our matching hats. William even wore the hat I had given him. He had a great sense of humor though and he seemed to enjoy his unique hat.






We didn’t stay long as we were anxious to make the trip to meet their friends. I hoped they were all cat lovers! We had to drive a ways, but it was worth it. We had a great time zooming all over the water, stopping to take a dip and do some splashing!





We pretty much killed the whole afternoon and I suddenly realized I might miss my plane. William told me not to worry. He would get a helicopter to take me back to the airport. How cool is that!
I soon realized that riding in a helicopter sounded like it would be cool, but they are really quite terrifying!! I like the feel of having a lot of vehicle around me, and the helicopter gave me too much of a view of the sky and the teeny tiny people on the ground. My little paws were sore from holding on to the seat. Fortunately, I did arrive back at the plane just in time to slide into my first class seat and drift off to sleep.
When I awoke and thought about my day I was all excited. When I had said goodbye to William and Kate I gave them each a big hug and thanked them for their valuable time and attention. I wished them good luck on their upcoming nuptials. I told them I would be watching on television and I couldn’t wait to see how beautiful the pageantry of their royal wedding would be. Kate told me they would love it if I could come back to England to attend their wedding! I gave her my address and told her I would be watching the mailbox for my invitation.
So that’s how I came to be an obsessive mailbox watcher.







After a couple of weeks went by, I figured maybe they forgot about me, or there were too many important dignitaries that needed to be invited before a Yankee cat! I was disappointed, but I wasn’t mad at William and Kate. I’m sure they meant it at the time, and it sure was special getting to meet them.
As it always happens, as soon as I had given up hope and stopped watching the mailbox, it arrived!!! The invitation was beautiful!! They didn’t forget little old me after all!




I was so excited that I filled in the little reply card and sent it back immediately. Now I have to start looking for the perfect dress and HAT! Perhaps some gloves and stylish pumps are in order as well. The wedding is still a few weeks away so I have time to find the perfect, chic outfit – perhaps I should have gone to Fashion Week in Paris after all!!!
Until next week,

Love and kitty kisses,
Josie