Inspiration!

Inspiration often comes unexpectedly. While reading one of our favorite blogs, Bailey Be Good this morning, mom was once again reminded of something that she has missed doing. Bailey's mom is an artist and she does beautiful portraits of the doggies that she knows. Now my mom is an artist too, and she's very fortunate to have a full time job as a technical illustrator and writer. But what she draws is just that, very technical. She's always considered herself an artist, and even majored in fine arts in college. Art jobs were scarce then and even more rare now. Mom loves being able to do what she loves, and considers herself very fortunate. All her drawings are done on the computer and she loves that part too. But every now and then she's reminded of the joy that drawing and painting by hand brings to her.

This is my portrait, in pastels by a Twitter pal, Joan Brienza Nardozzi. Joan is another great inspiration fur mom. There are so many terrific anipal artists including BZTAT , 47 from Rocco's House, and Robin (who blogs fur Chesire)! So thank you to all the artists that we've met on line and in person that have inspired mom to get off her duff and start drawing again! Thanks to Life With Dogs, Doggies and Stuff and Two Little Cavaliers fur hosting the Saturday Blog Hop! And thank you fur stopping by!

Not So Wordless Wednesday (& World Cat Day)!

Since it's World Cat Day, mom thought that I might mention how I put up with share my home with a few kitty cats. (Even I'll admit, Toby's a handsome man cat!)

So today I'll tell you about our Toby cat. He came to mom's place with his pal Mo a little more than 10 years ago, so they were here a while before mom brought me home! They were both about 9 years old when they arrived, so Toby's pushing 20 now! I know that as a puppy, I put those two through their paces, bol! Mo has since gone over the Rainbow Bridge and we know that Toby misses his pal a lot. Even 'tho I'm a dog, I do appreciate what my kitties do to make my life more fun. They keep me on my paws. I have to keep an eye on them in case they get into trouble (or my toy box!). Every now and then I like to claim the whole couch as Prudenceville, but then I'm reminded that I need to share *shaking head*. Of course the best is when I can cadge some of their chow when nobody's looking! Because it's World Cat Day, and we believe every home needs a kitty, we're sharing Spice, pictured below. Mom thinks she's lovely, so who am I to argue?

Spice is one of the lovely kitties waiting fur her forever home at Friends of Linden Animal Shelter in Linden, NJ. You can read more about Spice on her petfinder page! Remember doggy pals, it takes a real dog to appreciate the kitties! Baroooo buddies, thanks fur stopping by!

Thankful Thursday!

Well pals, I'm staying at the Lounge fur a couple of days while mom is off to her first ever BlogHer conference! She's getting more nervous as she reads all the information coming in about it *shaking head* but I know she'll be fine. She's been to a few Social Media conferences before and always enjoys them. I think it's all the hype (and more than a few thousand expected attendees) that she's reading about. I've told her just to relax, learn as much as she can and get those networking skills in order. What makes it a Thankful Thursday is mom realizes that she's so very fortunate to be able to attend these conferences and that I'm able to chill at the Lounge with my buddies while she's busy! Thanks fur stopping by!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday!

Here I am at the Lounge, chilling with my pals! Stay cool and thanks fur stopping by buddies!

Bloggers Unite For Dog Rescue!

BtC4Animals.com, Dog Rescue Success and Blog Catalog are joining together today to help promote dog rescue organizations.

I owe my existence to a rescue group so this gives me an opportunity to give a shout out to Eleventh Hour Rescue, based in Rockaway, New Jersey. Eleventh Hour Rescue is an all volunteer based, non profit 501c3. Their volunteers provide foster homes for dogs scheduled to be put down in high kill shelters. I'm one of those very lucky dogs! Things that you can do to help: •Rescues are always looking for good foster homes. If you're able to foster, you're helping to socialize and make a dog feel loved while waiting for his or her forever home. •Volunteer your time. Visit and walk the dogs. Help with transporting if you're able to. Attend and support any special event your local rescue holds and help to spread the word! •Check to see if your local rescue could use donations of cloth or paper towels, bedding, supplies (leashes, collars, heartworm or flea preventatives), soap, etc. •Sponsor A Pet: At Eleventh Hour Rescue, you can become a guardian angel for one of the deserving rescue dogs. You can make a small weekly or monthly donation for a specific animal in their care. As their guardian angel you will be kept updated on their progress and notified when they are adopted. •Another way to help is by shopping online, via IGive.com. By purchasing through the IGive link (on Eleventh Hour Rescue's site, among others), the rescue receives as much as 8% on each purchase. Please consider visiting the Eleventh Hour Rescue site and watching a wonderful video about their purpose, created by Kenn Bell of the Dog Files. This post is dedicated to "Bloggers Unite for Dog Rescue", a special online global event held on July 23, 2012, stressing the importance of dog adoption. Thank you  BTC4animals.com , Blog Catalog and Dog Rescue Success for helping us to help those in need.

We need to quote Eleventh Hour Rescue's motto that mom hopes becomes true one day: "We will not stop, until all of the cages are empty." Thanks fur stopping by buddies!

Wordless Wednesday!

Thanks fur stopping by buddies! Thank you BlogPaws fur the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop!

Rootin' Tootin' Tuesday!

We're back buddies!

Mom had such a good time at BlogPaws, catchin up with her pals, the furry, flat and human ones!

@Niqqi and pals

Coco of Curlz and Swirlz

@Brutus

She learned so much from the breakout sessions and keynote speakers too. There was so much great information! And we can't forget about all the great swag! Now she just has to start putting it all to my good use. We've been missing in action due to her being busy with her Irish group, but that convention is over so now she can concentrate on me, baroooo! Thanks fur stopping by buddies! Time to "chill" in my yard!