Me and my Peeps!!!

Hello friends! By the time you read this, I will have already experienced the wonder that will be the royal wedding. I am in London already, hanging out with my friends enjoying some fabulous sightseeing and celebrity watching. It's so exciting! The anticipation is almost unbearable – it will be such a letdown when it is all over!
But I am getting ahead of myself. My blog about the royal wedding will have to be next week, since it won’t happen until Friday morning, long after I have written my weekly ramblings. So instead, let me tell you about the fun Easter events that occurred last Sunday.
Being a cat, I like to chase anything that may have the nerve to move in my backyard. I kept hearing about the Easter bunny who visited every house each Easter leaving candy and other assorted goodies for the children. I thought it would be good fun to chase the Easter bunny – surely he would be tired from so much travel and a good scare and subsequent chase would help wake him up and get his blood flowing – plus chances are he would drop some candy leaving more for me!
Stalking other creatures is always more fun with friends, so I put out the word that I was hosting a bunny hunt in my yard Saturday night. I was surprised at the number of friends that were up for the event! After I had my final count, I went to the Party store and secured enough bunny ears for all my guests.
As each guest arrived I handed them a pair of bunny ears and helped them arrange them properly on their head. My logic was that the Easter bunny wouldn’t hesitate to enter a yard full of other bunnies, as opposed to a yard filled with oh… say… cats! We all had a good laugh as we shook our head to make our ears flop around. It must be fun to be a bunny!
We decided that our tails might give us away so we would have to hide if we were wanted the Easter bunny to come into the yard. Steve, Icy, Edward, Tuppy and Anthony hid on the side of the yard with the big old tree. Poor Bobbi came by in the ears I had given her to show me how cute she looked without realizing there were cats in the yard that didn’t know her. I had to rush to her aid to keep her from becoming our first chase!





After I escorted Bobbi out of the yard, it was time for the rest of us to find hiding spots in another part of the yard. We placed some yummy looking carrots right smack dab in the middle of the yard to make sure the Easter bunny stopped in the yard. I tried to tell Jack that the squirrel seed box was not big enough to hide him, but he wanted to be the first to see the Easter bunny. Georgie, Matthew, Taz and I found more appropriate hiding places






We were all set! It wasn’t long before the sun went down and it was dark. We told stories of our success chasing critters that were foolish enough to cross our paths. Then we moved on to telling the worst jokes we knew. I had the unfair advantage of knowing Corny – my source for the absolutely worst jokes in the word!!
One by one we started yawning. Where was that bunny? We started to count the stars in the sky and then …..







Sometime during the night we had abandoned our hiding positions and ended up on the deck. Don’t ask me how, but let me say, I would have loved to see a pack of sleep walking cats stumbling across the yard! The sun had risen and the yard had been transformed into an Easter paradise!







There were eggs all over the yard! The Easter bunny had come after all! He had left two giant baskets under one of the trees!! I wondered why two? We were all adults and only kittens would get baskets. Then it dawned on me and I called my kitten friends Dillie Bean and Yogi Bear to come over. Boy, were they excited when they saw their baskets!!!





I warned them not to eat too much candy, though I don’t think they heard me.
We all had fun batting the eggs around the yard, and I amused the little ones with my juggling skills. Fortunately, they were chocolate eggs, so I didn’t have to worry about them breaking and making a mess.





Of course we had to endure a visit from the vigilante cardinals, who were patrolling the neighborhood making sure that no real eggs were harmed during any Easter celebrations.





I reminded them that they had visited last year and had scolded me for no reason. Just the same as last year, I told them that the eggs were made of chocolate, so no avian nests had been raided. They cocked their heads, gave me the stink eye and went on their hostile, vigilante way.
The little ones wore out quickly and soon settled down for a nap. Some of my friends had to return home, but the rest of us headed out to drive our special car in the Easter Parade.





We were quite a hit and we had fun waving to the crowds. We all looked especially beautiful/handsome in our Easter bonnets! I’m not a particularly good driver, so the others in the car spent a lot of time yelling at people to watch out!
We stopped for a bite to eat on the way home and then went our separate ways. I think we all immediately began preparing for our trip to London for THE wedding. I had several suitcases packed by evening and I could hardly sleep that night. The next morning I headed to the airport so I would have some time to enjoy London before the rest of the world descended upon it for the big event.
Have a great week! I will give you my first hand account of the royal wedding next week!!!
Love & kitty kisses,
Josie

Just Peachy!!

Happy weekend my friends! I am so excited about my tale this week. I motored down to Savannah with my parents to attend a reading and book signing by my favorite author, David Sedaris. If you have ever read anything by Mr. Sedaris, you know that he has the most wonderful sense of humor! I always enjoy his books and often find myself laughing out loud, but to listen to him read from his books and essays was absolutely hysterical. Well, let me stop gushing and tell you about my adventure!
We headed out late, late morning which put us behind schedule from the start. Then we stopped for coffee – of which I did not partake – before we finally started heading southward. It was going to be a long trip so I decided to reread the wonderful books I had brought along for Mr. Sedaris to sign. Even though I had read them before, I still found myself giggling at some of the things Mr. Sedaris wrote. When my eye became tired from so much reading, I instead sat and thought about what questions and topics I would have for Mr. Sedaris at the book signing. I thought he might enjoy chatting with a fellow author about his craft, and I wanted to be prepared with some interesting thoughts. I pondered myself right into a deep catnap and awoke only after Mom picked me up from the back seat of the car and placed me on my feet in the parking garage. Now that’s the way to travel…asleep!
We were staying at a lovely old hotel on E. Bay St, right across from the Riverfront. I grabbed my suitcase and headed for the hotel, anxious to see the room that was to be my home for the next couple of days.





We all freshened up and then waited for Dad to finish his work before heading out on foot to the theatre (notice the British spelling of theatre – very sophisticated!) Just as my little paw pads were getting tired, we came upon the theatre. How pretty it was! Mr. Sedaris’ name was on the marquis, which made me get even more excited. It reminded me that I was going to meet my literary hero!!









My little kitty heart was beating fast and I feared I was going to swoon! Mom rushed to get a cup of cool water for me to sip on. That seemed to do the trick and we headed to our seats.
The inside of the theatre was magnificent. It must have been quite old because it was very ornate. The balcony hanging over our heads was a little disconcerting, but that wasn’t as bad as these small sections of seats sticking out from the wall. I would NOT want to sit in one of those. I would be afraid it would fall – it didn’t look very sturdy!





I sat patiently waiting for the reading to begin. I held on tightly to my books as I didn’t want to lose them.





It didn’t take long for the theatre to fill up. There was not an empty seat in the house! The lights went down and everyone cheered – I yowled the loudest, I’m sure! Mr. Sedaris came out and was as witty and charming as ever! I had seen him on the Daily Show a couple of times and on all the late night talk shows (don’t tell Mom I stay up that late!!), but this was sooooo much better. He told a couple of jokes that made me blush – but I have to admit, they were very funny!!
Even though it had been over an hour, the reading seemed to be over in no time. I was sad it was over, but it was now time to meet my hero! I just had to figure out where to go. Out in the lobby a line was forming – a loooong line. I scurried to the end of the line as fast as I could, but I was still far in the back. Mom and Dad waited with me and we had fun chatting with the other fans and talking about what we would eat afterwards. We seemed to stand in the same spot for quite a while and I was wondering what was going on. I stepped out of line and peeked around the corner… Mr. Sedaris was chatting and telling jokes to each person who wanted a book signed. While it was very nice of Mr. Sedaris, it meant we were going to be waiting a long time.
One hour… two hours… finally we could see him. When it was our turn I thought I was going to spontaneously combust. I was hoping that wouldn’t happen, because I don’t think Mr. Sedaris would have appreciated getting covered in flying cat fur. I reached into Mom’s big purse and pulled out the copy of my book that she was carrying for me. First, I handed Mr. Sedaris the book I wanted him to sign and then I handed him my literary masterpiece.








He thanked me for the book and said he liked meeting fresh, new authors, and was anxious to read my offering. I told him I would wait for him to read it if he wanted to go ahead and dive in. He laughed and said he would prefer to not have to rush through it, so he would save it for his flight to his next reading. He chatted with us for a while and wrote a very nice inscription.







He told us one last joke before we headed off. I giggled as we headed out to the street. That was so thrilling! I hadn’t thought about food for a while, but now my tummy was rumbling. We looked at the time. Oh no! It was 11:30! All the restaurants were closed by now. On our walk back to the hotel, we did not find one single place open to feed us.
Mom, Dad and I raided the hotel snack machine for a very un-nutritious meal. With our bellies partially filled we went to bed and fell asleep immediately!!
The next day was going to be sightseeing day, so we needed some serious breakfast. We slept late and awoke starving! Dad tippy tapped on his computer and found us the most amazing breakfast in all of Savannah…maybe all of Georgia… maybe all of the United States… maybe in the whole world!!!! It was either that good or I was that hungry. Either way, it was quite the feast!








After we had refueled we were ready to go sightseeing along the Riverwalk!





There were all sorts of cool statues and historical information along the walk. One of my favorites was the Olympic torch sculpture that is a monument to the Savannah’s role as host to the 1996 Olympic yachting event.





There was also a sculpture of a girl waving a cloth. There was a really big dog sculpted next to her which gave me the creeps, so I stayed away from that one.
Unfortunately for my parents, there were many gift shops along the river and I felt compelled to visit each and every one. I had no trouble finding souvenirs for Briana, Bobbi, Steve and Malcom – Mom’s magic plastic card helped me with that!






Before we headed back to the city, I asked Mom to take my picture in front of the beautiful Talmage Memorial Bridge which spans the Savannah River from Georgia to South Carolina. I had never seen such a beautiful bridge and since it was only built in 1990 it is relatively new.






It was time to head back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. I hoped to squeeze in a catnap as well. Mom takes forever to get ready to go out, so I was able to complete a very refreshing power nap. We had a wonderful dinner and went to bed early so we could head home in the morning before the severe storms were supposed to hit.
We did manage to make it home and make sure Steve was inside before the tornadoes descended upon Fayetteville. One passed our house just a few blocks behind us and destroyed a whole neighborhood. It was very scary – though I did manage to doze on and off while the storm raged. My friends at FAPS and I helped out at a tornado relief event on Wednesday where we collected not only supplies for people, but for animals as well. It was amazing to see all the people wanting to help and it was a huge success. There will be no animals going hungry in Fayetteville!
After all the excitement was over and we could relax and think about our great trip, Mom pulled out the pictures she had taken so we could all enjoy them. As we went from picture to picture I noticed something similar in most of the pictures. Was that Preston at the hotel…at the theatre…and in various places at the Riverwalk ? What would he be doing in Savannah… unless he was following me?!? I thought I was being ridiculous when I felt like someone was watching me – just like I felt at the steeplechase. I must get to the bottom of this! I’m tired though and have a trip to London to prepare for, so like Scarlett O’Hara says – I’ll think about that tomorrow…after all, tomorrow is another day!
Love & kitty kisses,
Josie

A Caturday at the Races!

Happy weekend my friends! Tally ho! Giddyup! Whoa Nellie and all that horsey talk! I had quite the interesting, new experience last week about which I can’t wait to tell you! The best part was that my whole family went along with me …or did I go along with them? Mmmmm..either way, we had quite the good time!!
The day started off with a loooong drive out to North Carolina horse country. Mom and I had spent the whole previous night working on a fabulous hat to enter in the infamous Stoneybrook Steeplechase hat contest, and I spent most of the ride putting the final touches on our creation – and making sure no one squashed it! By the time we arrived at Carolina Horse Park my hat and I were ready to become one with the horsey set.
Since cats are always around stables to help control the rodent population, no one seemed to notice me milling about with everyone else. They did, however, notice my friend Butterscotch, my Mom’s pony. She is a beautiful palomino pony with a flowing blond mane and tail. From the moment we emerged from the car, she was drawing stares from everyone we passed. You would have thought horsey people would have seen beautiful ponies before, but evidently Butterscotch was exceptional.
I wasn’t sure what to expect at a steeplechase, so I was amazed at the variety of people and events going on all at once. The best part of all was that hats seemed to be one of the important elements of the event! Everywhere you looked, there were women in big beautiful hats. There were hat vendors everywhere. I though I had died and gone to heaven! Butterscotch and I went from hat vendor to hat vendor trying on their wares.





I made several purchases and had to head back to the car to put them in the trunk. On the way back to the private tent my parents’ employer had setup for clients and employees, I ran into Tristan and Briana. They told me I just had to come see the limousine they had passed a little ways back. I had seen limos before, so I figured I wouldn’t be impressed, but I must admit it was a doozy!





It was a Hummer limo! We asked the driver if we could take a picture with his cool vehicle and he said sure. The poor guy had to sit in the car the whole time. I felt bad for him and later on brought him a funnel cake and lemonade.
We all decided we needed something to eat and headed to the tent. The food was catered, so there was a delicious selection of meats and sides. I piled my plate high with fried chicken and rolls. We all chowed down, then sat back to do a little digesting!






Before I headed back into the festivities I had to take care of some “business.” Being that I’m potty trained, I was not about to dig a whole in the middle of this beautiful event and relieve myself. (Though there were MANY great spots in which to do so!!) Being the high falutin’ outfit my parents’ employer is, we had our own port-a-potty. Now that’s classy!






I had never been in a port-a-potty before and honestly, it’s not much different than a whole in the ground!
With that taken care of, I was feeling refreshed and ready to go explore some more. I headed back to the tent to find Butterscotch since everyone else seemed busy doing their own thing.
Butterscotch and I were just wandering around when we came upon some of the jockeys who were going to be riding in the races later in the day. They were very friendly and were patient in answering all of our questions. They had on such fabulous, colorful shirts that I commented I would like being a jockey if they always get to wear such great clothes. They all laughed and one of the nice jockeys gave me his jockey cap and told me I should be riding Butterscotch in one of the steeplechases. They told me they could arrange it if I wanted. What do you think? Would I want to?







The jockeys gave me and Butterscotch a crash course in what to do. After watching the first and second races we felt confident we were ready to join in the fun. I jumped aboard Butterscotch and headed for the starting point.
When the starter let us go, Butterscotch bolted off, almost unseating me! She ran hard, trying to keep up with her longer legged competitors.






The crowd was cheering like crazy for us and Butterscotch was feeling confident. Then we came to the first jump. While Butterscotch could have wimped out and gone around the jump, she was feeling her oats and kept on her course toward the large brush fence. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and hung on for dear life as Butterscotch launched herself at what was now an obviously HUGE wall of bushes…




I think I was still yowling when I realized we had stopped. The other horses were disappearing around the turn, but we were still at the jump. I looked down and realized that Butterscotch had gone at the jump with such gusto that, while she couldn’t get over it, she could jam herself quite solidly into it. We stayed put and waited for the horses to come by for the second time before we started calling for help.
Butterscotch must have given it her all, because no one could dislodge her from the jump. The park officials finally had to bring in some equipment in a last ditch effort to extract Butterscotch and resume racing.






The crowd erupted when Butterscotch finally had her hooves back on the ground. She was a little embarrassed, but the Steeplechase officials presented us with a special trophy – for courage and heart.







The trophy seemed to make Butterscotch feel better, especially after we put it in our tent for all to see.
After the hubbub had subsided, I realized I had missed the hat contest! Oh no!!! I ran to find Mom to tell her. When I found her she was wearing the hat we had made. She told me she had entered the contest for me but had not won, nor even placed. I knew that if I had been wearing the hat, I would have worked it and won the whole shebang, but I told Mom it was okay and we would win next year.
By now I was ready for a serious catnap. I curled up in the corner of the tent and napped until it was time to go home. Then I napped all the way home. When we arrived home, I went to bed. It’s tiring living such an exciting life – and I needed my beauty rest.
It was funny, but the whole time we were at the horse park, I felt like someone was watching me. I don’t mean people in the crowd at the race, but someone following me around just staring at me. It all made sense when I saw one of the pictures that Briana’s Mom had taken…





Preston! I knew it! I had heard that he had gotten a job out of town, but I didn’t know it was racing horses. It’s just as well I didn’t know. I would have been paranoid all day!
That’s all for this week. Have a great week, and if you ever have a chance to go to a steeplechase, I would highly recommend it. It’s more than horse racing, it’s an event!

Love & kitty kisses,
Josie

Returns!

Hello my fellow taxpayers! As I’m sure you are all aware, the deadline for filing your income tax returns is April 15th – exactly one week away. I don’t know about you, but I am a terrible procrastinator when it comes to filling in forms – especially when their completion could result in my having to pay someone some money!
I had sold a good amount of books in 2010, as well as some mugs and t-shirts. I had been good and filed all my sales tax returns in a timely manner, but they were less confusing than the income tax return. I had downloaded the forms from the internet and had printed them out to study and work on. They were making my head hurt so I decided to seek help.
I went out into the yard and asked Malcolm if he knew anything about tax returns. He looked at me kind of puzzled and asked me if it was something to eat. I told him it had absolutely nothing to do with food in any way, which prompted Malcolm to say he didn’t know anything about anything that couldn’t be eaten. Huh? If I was this confused now, I figured he wouldn’t be any help with my taxes even if he did understand it.
It dawned on me that maybe Bobbi could be of some help seeing that she was one of my more intelligent friends. I couldn’t find her anywhere, so when I spied Corny just chillin’ in the big tree in our backyard I asked him if he had seen Bobbi. He said he hadn’t seen her but he would be glad to fly over the trees and give her a message – or tell her a knock knock joke – when he saw her. I suggested he stick to the message. I thanked him for his help and I went back inside.
It wasn’t long before Corny and Bobbi were knocking on the back door. I let them in and immediately ushered Bobbi to our spare bedroom/office. I sharpened a couple of pencils and we settled in to do our work…







I did great with the first part – my name and address. I wished I could have stopped there, but there were lots of boxes underneath that part that needed to be filled with numbers. Bobbi seemed as confused as I was and Corny was just having fun watching us struggle – he wasn’t willing to help – but he did like laughing at us.
I decided I needed to break down and borrow the book I had seen in Tristan’s room – “Taxes for Dummies.” I brought it into the office and started to read it. It still wasn’t making a whole lot of sense, but I figured it was because I wasn’t a dummy. Evidently, I needed the book “Taxes for Fashion Savvy Smart Felines.” I looked it up on the internet, but I couldn’t find such a title. Huh, was I the only Fashion Savvy Smart Feline out there?
Bobbi was getting frustrated too, and she threw in her pencil and declared herself tax deficient – what ever that meant. Corny was busy watching YouTube videos on the computer, just cackling with glee every time the panda sneezed or the kitten looked surprised. I feared none of us was going to be able to crack the secret to doing taxes so I needed to look elsewhere for help.






Who did I know that might understand all the complexities of mathematics? Then, an idea hit me. Preston! He was the animal most closely related to the human being – surely somewhere buried in that smarmy brain of his there was an understanding of mathematics. I sent Corny out on a mission – find Preston!
It took a couple of hours, but Corny did eventually return with Preston. Preston seemed pleased to see me, even if our last meeting was not pleasant for either one of us. I showed him the paperwork and made the computer and a calculator available to him.
He said he would be glad to help and he picked up the calculator and was just working away. I had high hopes that my taxes would be ready for filing in no time!
After about half an hour, I couldn’t help but notice that Preston hadn’t written anything down on the return. What had he been doing all this time? I figured the only thing to do was flat out ask him. When I did ask, he just giggled and turned the calculator around for me to see.





He had made a word with the numbers! While that was very clever, it was not getting my tax returns done. He was able to make several words – not all of them particularly nice. I became aggravated and told him if he couldn’t be of any help, he needed to leave. He didn’t waste much time dropping the calculator and heading out the back door.
By now Bobbi and Corny had lost all interest in taxes and were engaged in a rousing game of Boggle. Since Corny couldn’t spell, he did not do very well. Bobbi, on the other hand, was quite the Boggler. I’ll have to get her to challenge my Mom who just loves to Boggle!
I was getting a little anxious about the state of my tax returns, so I finally broke down and headed for a professional tax preparation firm, H & R Block. Since this was my first year having to file returns, I wasn’t sure what information I needed to bring with me, so I brought it all. We waited patiently in the lobby for the next available tax advisor. I was just about out of patience when my name was called and I was led to a nice lady’s desk. I said hello, introduced myself and plopped my box of receipts on her desk.
She must have been having a really bad day, because she took one look at my box of papers, put her head down in her arms and started crying.





Bobbi, Corny and I didn’t know what to do. I went back to the person at the front desk and told her what had happened. She called a supervisor, who seemed very embarrassed by the incident. The supervisor told me to leave my box of papers and they would do my return for me free of charge. Oh good, less strain on Mom’s magic plastic card! She told me they would call me when it was ready. I thanked her for her help and for the free tax return and we headed home.
I hope the return is done soon. I don’t like waiting until the last minute to finish things -though I know I wasn’t particularly early with this.
Hope you have a wonderful week! Make sure to file your tax returns before midnight
next Friday. And if a monkey named Preston knocks on you door and offers to help you with your tax returns, just so “no!”

Love & licks,
Josie

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