It’s been a heck of a weekend! I was in Virgina for the 2011 BlogPaws conference, which remains my most favorite event of the year! I got to meet and hang out with so many of my favorite pet bloggers including the lovely Ingrid King of The Conscious Cat, Sachie Tani from My Himalayan Cat Goma, Dorian Wagner of Your Daily Cute, Angie Holland Bailey the woman behind CatLadyLand, the hilarious and fabulous Robin Olson from Covered in Cat Hair, Tamar Arslanian from I Have Cat, Stephanie Harwin from Catsparella, Karen Nichols from Mouse Breath, Caren Gittleman from Cat Chat with Caren & Cody, Joanne McGonagle from The Tiniest Tiger, Kelly from Borris Kitty, Nikki Jeske and Ashley Niels from I Love Rescue Animals, Margaret Gates of Feline Nutrition (lots more to come from Margaret later!), Deborah Barnes from Zee & Zoey, Janea Kelly from Paws & Effect, Nicky Westbrook of Mew Brew, the one and only Crazy Cat Lady Carm, Carol Meir from Coffee Cats n Yarn, Teri from Curlz & Swirlz, Rena Reich from The Pet Wiki, the mom of Sebastian the Sensitive Soul, Rachel Shubin of Sand Piper Cat, and Ann Dziemianowicz author of Careers for Your Cat.
Big Ant and Joe P from Rescue Ink gave a great presentation on Friday morning. These guys do some amazing work and I’m hoping to feature their cat guy Al Chernoff over on Cattoo Design soon! There were lots of furry critters there, including a batch of cuddly kittens being transported to the rescue group Kitten Associates (we all fit in lots of snuggle time with the kittens!) and the adorable Papua Piig who was such a celebrity!
On Friday night, Dogtime.com announced the winners of the 2011 Petties Awards and Moderncat won for Best Designed Blog! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who voted for us! You helped win $1000 for All About Animals Rescue and Safe Haven for Animals, two groups that work so hard to find loving forever homes for hundreds of kitties each year! A big congratulations to all the nominees and the winners in all the other categories:
- Best Social Media Integration Blog – Catsparella
- Funniest Blog – CatLadyLand
- Best Cause Related Blog – Be the Change 4 Animals
- Best Blog Post – Sparkle Cat
- Best Cat Blog – Covered in Cat Hair
- Best Dog Blog – Fido Friendly
- Best Overall Pet Blog – The Conscious Cat
You can watch the virtual awards ceremony on Dogtime.com.
It was an amazing weekend, however we found ourselves right in the path of hurricane Irene, so I had to duck out a little early to make it home, and it’s a good thing I did because I think I made one of the last flights out of DC on Saturday. I hope that everyone in the north east is safe and sound and that all your kitties weathered the storm! Jaime Shelman from The Dancing Cat created this new illustration called Weathering Irene to commemorate the weekend weather.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:34 am
Congratulations!! A well deserved win!
You met so many fine folks, what a weekend it was for you all with the weather.
Glad you made it back home and again, Congrats!!
~ The Bunch
August 28th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Wonderful artwork, J. Shelman! ConCATulations to all the wonderful winners and to all the nominees, among whom are favorites of mine who will ALWAYS be winners in my book!
August 28th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
It was lovely meeting you Kate! can’t wait for my product to be available for purchase
August 28th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Hi Kate! I’m so glad you made it home!! such a nice write up about Blogpaws! You summed up so well, yes it was such a blast!! I love the picture you took of me…so cute!
August 28th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
I am so sorry I missed it! But I had to stay home and squirt diarrhea medication down Sparkle’s throat (the joy of cat stewardship!). I am already signed up for next year.
And a big congratulations (or, as Sparkle would say, Conga Rats) on your Petties win!
August 29th, 2011 at 5:15 am
It was so nice to meet you Kate! Congratulations on your Pettie!
I too am already signed up for next year in Salt Lake City. I am pretty sure no hurricane will scare me home early from there.
August 29th, 2011 at 9:11 am
What a great summary of a fabulous few days. I had such a good time with everyone, and especially enjoyed spending time with you.
I’ll be there next year, too!
August 29th, 2011 at 9:44 am
Congratulations on your Pettie!
August 29th, 2011 at 10:13 am
Congratulations! You surely deserve the award!
August 29th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Kate one of the highlights of the conference for me was to meet you and your vivacious and adorable self at BlogPaws!
I would have loved to have spent more time with you, maybe we can in Utah?
CONGRATULATIONS on your Pettie and thank you so much for including my name and blog in the OUTSTANDING list of brilliant people you have listed above. I am HONORED!
Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 29th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Congrats on your Pettie – I love Modern Cat!
August 29th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
grats!!!!
August 29th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
It was wonderful to finally meet you Kate! I wish I could have gone to dinner with you on Friday night, but I had to catch an early flight home due to Irene! Congratulations on your Pettie win and hope to see you next year in SLC!
August 29th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
congrats!
August 29th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Kudos!
August 29th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Congratulations on your well deserved award!
September 1st, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Congrats on winning the Pettie! Love this site! Cool design! Cool products! The award was well-deserved.
I enjoyed meeting you at Blogpaws! Sorry we did not have the opportunity to chat longer.
(haha! Seems everyone has a shot of that cheesecake! One of the many highlights!)
Thank you for the mention! I enjoyed meeting many of the same folks.
September 1st, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Kate!! It was so great to see you and hang out a bit more this year. Congrats again on your award. What fun
September 5th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Kate, it was great to catch up with you and all the other cat ladies. And a huge concats on the Pettie — well-deserved!!!
PS: We love Al Chernoff, too. Great guy!
October 26th, 2011 at 11:12 am
Better late than never – I’m still catching up with my favorite blogs….
Congratulations, Kate!
Hard-earned and well-deserved – we’re really happy for you……