In case you didn't know this, Teri is a big procrastinator! In fact, she has left it til the next to the last day to enter the "#BlogPaws or Bust" contest!
By entering, she (and one of us cats) have the chance to win one of three Purrific prizes and the Grand Prize of an all expense paid trip to the
2016 BlogPaws Conference, being held near Phoenix Arizona at the fabulous
Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort.
Teri (and at least one of us cats) have been going to the Furtabulous BlogPaws Pet Blogging and Social Media Conferences every single year since the very first one in 2010!
When Teri gets excited about something, you can hardly shut her up. We know that's not reflected in the recent lack of blogging activity on our part, we truly are excited about blogging and the friends we have made along the way! And the BlogPaws Conferences are a huge part of that family of friends we now have!
BlogPaws Conference Memories
Teri started blogging way back in 2008, not long after our CatDad crossed the bridge. She did it to keep in touch with her family, but because she was writing about us (because we are family, too), along the way she started making online friends with other pet bloggers and that made her happy and sometimes she forgot to be sad ...
When she read about the first BlogPaws conference to be held in Columbus OH and looked on the map and saw it was close enough to drive to in a day, she put out a question to our blogging friends to see if anyone else might be thinking of going.
Who's Going to BlogPaws?
Well, she heard back from a cat lady from Washington DC that she was thinking about it and maybe they could share the ride and expenses. And here it is, 6 years later and they are the best of friends now and do a lot of pet related fun stuff together!
See, the BlogPaws conferences brought them together, because of their love for animals and their desire to help homeless pets and to be somehow a part of 'Being the Change' for animals. And that's just the 'making life-long friends' part of a BlogPaws conference. Life-long friends who are true animal advocates, who want to make a difference in the world! And each of them do!
There's the learning part of it, too. Not counting the 24/7/365 online BlogPaws Community and the educational tools, videos, expert advice that one can get from that for free, all year round (unlike some other pet blogging conferences and communities--you know the one we're talking about), the BlogPaws conference brings to it experts who are there to help teach you how to be the best blogger you can be!
Teri tells us cats that Team BlogPaws is a small group of passionate pet people who do amazing things and their site, their reach and their influence is growing every day. They all are truly an inspiration to her, and that they put on such a fantastic conference keeps us coming back every year!
Last year, when she was a BlogPaws Conference Ambassador, she learned firsthand how hard each and every team member works to put on a great conference and benefit homeless pets in the cities they hold the conference in!
And every year they add something new--like the one-on-one sessions and the Pawject Runway fund raiser and joining up with The Cat Writers Association, who holds their conference and awards banquet at this years BlogPaws Conference!
Then there's the venues that BlogPaws holds their annual conferences at! OMC! Talk about Pet Friendly! Us pet family can go almost anywhere the humans can! Besides the comfy rooms, there's the sessions we can listen in on, and the socializing we can do over lavish breakfast, lunches and dinners!
Teri plans her year around BlogPaws conferences, and feels that they are both a mini-vacation, a revitalizing retreat and an educational experience not to be missed! This year, the conference is being held at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa, and Teri is arriving early and staying after the conference is over, just to take advantage of all the resort has to offer - the grounds, the Phoenix Courtyard, the views of the mountains, cactus and maybe even a trail ride on one of the horses!
What would it mean to Teri to win this contest?
It would mean she could attend the conference this year and not have to worry about the green papers part of going. Money is tight since our CatDad passed away, and then there is us cats she has to care for, and the car needs new tires, and the recent snowstorms caused Teri to miss many days of work, unpaid days. So entering this contest has her crossing her 4 paws, too...just like us!
And if in writing this blog post has any of you thinking 'I should go this year' ...
Yes, YOU SHOULD! And we hope to see you there! And if missed that very first BlogPaws Conference in 2010, here's our video slideshow of what the experience was like for us!
