Our BlogPaws 2013 Tails (& Tales), Part 1

Where to begin? 

There's so much going on in our lives right now...

Big changes in Teri's day hunting place, and she's both excited and anxious...

And we are having to adjust to some new kitties in the house! Five of our extended catfamily have come back home because of family problems, and while most are behind closed doors...we still know they are here!

But we'll tell you all about all that some other day, cuz right now...We gotta tell you all about the BlogPaws 2013 Conference we got to go to last week!

This time the conference was in our vicinity, so all 3 of us got to go! Last year, it was in Salt Lake City, so only Coco got to attend as Teri had to fly there.

And so we could all mix and mingle to the max, we stayed at the conference hotel instead of coming back home each night!

Yep, that's Brighton and Teri on the poster!

Because it was so close, Teri took everything but the kitchen sink and actually had to make 2 trips to get everything to the hotel!

Which one of these is not like the others?

She was hosting a little party in her room the night before the conference started, so there were party supplies, and the Mini Swag Bags we made for our friends, with yummy sardine cookies inside for the kitties and doggies.

And of course, us boys wouldn't be caught showing up in the Pink Catillac again, we made Teri bring both the Ladycat and the Mancat strollers.

And then there were all our outfits! We had more clothes hanging in the closet than Teri did, hahameow! But MeWowZa, we sure wow'd the crowd with our cat couture!

Photo by Robin Olson of Covered in Cat Hair

This time, Teri said she felt like she was Cat Juggling, trying to give us all equal time with our adoring fans! We were having so much fun that Teri actually missed a few of the sessions she had wanted to go to! 

She remembered one attendee saying that having your pets along was fun, but a bit distracting when it came to absorbing the educational seminars, because (as it should be) we are the priority and our needs come first!

Fortunately, all the sessions were being recorded and will be available online for attendees sometime in the future. Teri said she's glad to hear that cuz she kinda took less-than-stellar notes, too. Heck, she hasn't even gone through the notes she took at the veterinary conference she went to this month, so maybe she should just write off this BlogPaws as a social event and leave it at that!

Photo by Bernadette Kazmarski of The Creative Cat

Oh, it was social! We got to see some of our old friends again... and make some new ones, too! Amy, of Sebastian, the Sensitive Soul, had to smother Disco with hugs and kisses. 

And then there's our 4-Legger friends that were there! Here's two of them, Snotface and Papua Piig!

And we met some doggies we had only read about in blogs, like Carma Poodale and Sophia Loren! As you can see, we weren't the only fashionistas at BlogPaws this year! We should have gotten a group photo!!

We got to listen to Steve Dale, the world famous animal behaviorist (Teri says he's her idol and if you click on that his name, you can hear his presentation, which was inspiring!) and hear  David Frei, the world famous dog show emcee, talk about his life with dogs and Angels on a Leash. Click Closing Ceremonies to hear David's presentation and the awards ceremony. It was very uplifting being around true friends of animals for 4 days! 

Disco and Teri even got interviewed by Pete, The Vet, the Blogging Vet from Ireland! (Warning, you can watch the video but if you read some of the comments...just let it slide over you like water off a duck's back...that's what he told Teri to do...)



And then Disco and Brighton had their sketches done by the talented Bernadette Kazmarski of The Creative Cat  (who Teri met at the very first BlogPaws in 2010). Teri said it was one of the highlights of the conference to watch Bernadette get to know us kitties and then put pencil to paper! Here they are sitting in a sun puddle, unaware that they are being sketched. And here's the link to Bernadette's sketches, Daily Sketches at BlogPaws.

And then there were all the sessions to choose from! Over 35 of them in 3 days! Teri made some wrong choices, which is kinda sad as she only made it to 4 of them! She is going to hope that some of the speakers get asked back next year...and she will try and get to listen to the good ones she missed this year!

She said she was so busy with us that she didn't get to take advantage of the Pet360 Pavillion to get help with her blogging questions, or listen to her friend Robin's presentation on her 'Be the Change for Pets' in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy. 

And, you can probably guess who got to walk down the Red Carpet with Teri...Coco, of course! She had a splendiferous gown on from the designer Pinxie and Teri had a lovely outfit, too (courtesy of Etsy.com finds!). Teri found this wonderful photo of the both of them on the Red Carpet, on the blog, Pugs and Pics!

Here's the link to Kim's post about us!

Cat Lady

Teri and Coco attended the Nose-to-Nose Awards ceremony (and she kicked off her high heels under the table!). Somehow, she didn't get a CatBell to help cheer on her Cat Lady friends in the running for an award, but everyone said that the Cat Contingent was huge!! The cats made a sweep, winning Best Video, Best Facebook Design, Best Twitter Design, Best Humor Blog and Best Blog Writing! Here's links to all the Winners Blogs and pages...we sure you will think they are all winners!

Dogs for the Paws (Best Blog Design)

Kol's Notes (Best Bark Blog)

Mousebreath (Best Meow Blog)

Catladyland (Best Humor Blog)

My Mini Pet Pig (Best Wiggle Blog)

Fire Safety Rocks!  (Best Cause Blog)

Oscar Ate My Muffin  (Best New Blog)

Nerissa's Life (Best Blog Writing)

Tales and Tails "Bunny" (Best Blog Photo)

Mousebreath Ferris Wheel for Cat Poop  (Best Blog Video)

The Tiniest Tiger (Best Facebook Design)

Waffles Too Kitty  (Best Twitter Design)

Well, here it is Monday night, 10:15pm and Teri still has a pile of photos to go through...we we think we will chase her off to bed (with us, hahameow) and save the rest of the photos til 'Fashion Friday', ok?!

We hope our BlogPaws post makes you want to join in next year and you should...it's in Las Vegas!

BlogPaws 2014