Luna

if you've known me for even a few minutes, you'd know that i'm a cat lover.  i have been since childhood when a black and white stray showed up on our doorstep one cold, rainy, October day.  i convinced my mom to keep her, she was my first cat, kelly. 

when i graduated college and was on my own, one of the first things i did was get a cat.  and i've had them around ever since.  i just adore their sweet little faces.

a few weeks ago, scott's niece and nephew found a kitten, took it to their grandma and begged her to keep it.  his parents already have several animals and are nearing 75.  they couldn't keep her, so his mom took her to the humane society.  they were so over crowded that he said they'd keep her for 3 days, then she'd be sent to a shelter where she would be put down.  i know this happens in every city, every day.  it's tragic and i hate it.  if i don't know about it, or about a specific cat, i can push it out of my mind and not think about it.

but...scott told me about the kitten.  then she was all i could think about.  this poor little kitten who wouldn't get a chance to know a loving home.  scott told me that i couldn't go get it, that we had too many.  then his dad came over and was asking if we'd take it, that he'd go get her from the humane society.  i told him that i couldn't go get her, but if she showed up here, she'd have a home.

well, 2 weeks ago yesterday, his dad showed up with this skinny, scared little kitten!  i was so thankful, i'd been feverishly asking for someone to save her, to give her a chance, and i guess that person is me.  i honestly was going to find her a home, but i came home from work wednesday and scott was sitting on the couch, snuggling with her and asked me what we should name her.  i knew then that she was going to stay. 

i'm very thankful to have her, she is a sweet little baby, loves to snuggle, give nose kisses (!!!), and has a rediculously loud purr-box!  i'm glad to say that everyone is finally getting along, the other kitties were pretty unhappy for several days, but now they play with her and groom her and snuggle with her.

so, without further babble, i'd like you to meet luna!

my fur-babies

i have a large family, its me, my boyfriend, 4 cats and 1 dog.  plus an angel cat.  (and i want to get another puppy for the bf some time soon, ssshhhh!)  this is their story!

aubie (my angel cat)

aubie was my first kitty.  i got her shortly after moving to alabama after college.  not knowing at the time that orange girl kitties aren't very common.  i fell head over heels for her and she for me.  all she ever wanted to do was snuggle, and kiss your nose, and play outside, and bake herself in any patch of sunlight she could find, until she was literally hot to the touch!  she loved to eat chips and was known to steal whole asparagus spears off your plate!  she was terrified of the sound of popcorn popping and had terrible paw-eye coordination.  she had a special little strut that would rival any top runway model and she loved to travel!  her tongue was too long for her mouth and it always poked out of her lips and she let me dress her up in whatever i wanted!  she lived only a short 4 years, but those were the best 4 years!

tina (age 7ish)

tina was my second kitty.  i got her when aubie was about a year old so she could have a playmate.  tina came from animal control, she had ear mites so bad that her ears and part of her head were completely bald from the itching.  she is so tiny, even now, only weighing about 5 pounds (i call her tini).  she loves to be anywhere you are, and if you're sitting on the couch with a free hand, she'll stick her face into your hand as a sign that you need to be petting her!  she's very chatty, if you talk to her, she will always answer back!  she also gives great massages, but its usually on your thigh, or belly - i really need to train her to work the shoulders!  she sleeps on my hip every night.  she's still skiddish, even though i've had her for 6 years, i don't know what she went through before i got her, but i feel bad for her.  she has an amazing heart, she's so full of love, and i have a lot to learn from her!

maggie (age 6)

maggie is short for magnolia, my little southern belle.  it looks like she's wearing a white pearl necklace and white gloves and shoes, just like a little southern lady!  i got maggie as a kitten, the same time i got tini.  she was so fuzzy and cute!  when she gets scared, she comes to me and buries her little face in the crook of my elbow.  she's a good snuggler and is great about going to bed about an hour before me and getting my side all warm, then sleeping at my feet to keep them toasty!  she loves the laser pointer, which i should probably play more with her, as she's quite a large lady!  she likes to lay on her back, showing off her pure white belly - i like to imagine that she's trying to sun herself to get "a tan" on her belly since the rest of her is colored!  she likes to give you kisses, sometimes too much.  she and tina are great friends.

bella (age 3)

i was quite happy with 3 kitties when bella came along.  "she" was found in a construction dumpster along with the rest of the litter.  "she" was taken home and given the name callie.  she lived with a single mom and 3 year old twins.  this kitten was quite scrappy as it was the only one to survive those horrible dumpster days.  this proved to be a problem with the twins, so i was asked to take her.  what's the difference between 3 cats and 4 anyway!  so i took this baby and renamed her bella, as i had a friend named callie and a black and white cat at my parent's house named kelly!  well, turns out bella is a boy!  i never wanted a male cat, but i'm so glad i have him.  he is the sweetest little man-cat and i truly adore him.  he wants nothing more than to spend all day outside, rolling in the dirt, coloring all his white parts with alabama red clay!  he loves his "shower time," and if you even think about walking past the bathroom without turning on the faucet, he screams at you until you come back and turn it on!  i really love this kitty!

baby alice (age 2)

i definitely was not in the market for another kitty with i found baby alice.  i was at the vet getting flea drops for the other 3, when i saw this little ginger cat in a cage.  i told myself that if it was a boy, i had no trouble leaving it, but if it was a girl (since they are more rare, and i missed my ginger girl), i'd have to take her (it was exactly one year since i'd lost my aubie, to the day!).  well, turns out she was a girl who had been dropped off because her arm was broken and the owners just didn't want to deal with her!  lucky me!  i took her home the next day (the vet wanted to keep her and do another set of x-rays on her arm) and she's as perfect as she can be!  when i first got her home, bella was just about a year old and still really playful and i was afraid he would hurt her.  but alice was so fast, running around chasing him, that i couldn't tell if she was running on 3 legs or 4!  she is 2.5 now and is just a perfect little girl!  her body may have grown up, but her face and her voice have not, she has the sweetest little kitten voice and she likes to talk to you!  i'm so glad she's my girl!  she loves playing with bella and snuggling up on her puppy! 

bohdie (age 2)

i knew that the bf wanted a dog, what i didn't know was that he'd already picked one out and had fallen in love!  he made up this whole big story about going back to work one afternoon to let someone in, blah blah blah.  turns out he was lying!  he went to this lady's house, that he'd been visiting weekly, to get this puppy that had stolen his heart!  he came into the back yard and set down this black, puffy creature.  at first i thought it was tina, but it was much too big.  once i realized he'd gotten this puppy, i was a little mad, having no prior knowledge, but i couldn't look at that sweet puppy face and be mad for long.  he's a perfect mix of german shepard and golden retriever, protective, loyal, energetic, and playful.  he's my best walking companion, loves to go for a ride, anywhere and everywhere, and gives you the best puppy dog eyes i've seen, if you don't let him lick your plate after dinner (this is not a tradition that i particularly enjoy or approve of)!

this is my (not so) little family!  what kind of fur babies do you have!?

etsy roundup - kitties

if you've met me even once, you know i'm a cat person, bordering on a bit crazy.  i have 4 of the little darlings and wouldn't turn down a stray if it came to my door.

at the studio, tara and i have this amazing black and white ceramic kitty with a giant head.  i found her at an antique store for $5 and we named her lucy!  there have been so many people asking if she's for sale (she's not) that we decided to open a "kitty adoption center."  we will be featuring different little ceramic kitties for adoption and all the profits will be donated to a local no-kill shelter! 

the adoption center will be up and running friday night, so in honor of that, here are some awesome vintage kitties for sale on etsy:

REDceramics

Mom's Pop Shoppe

owlephant vintage

Gravel Ghost Vintage

Lady Kitschener's Vintage Emporium 

Studio Tinsel Vintage 

Designer Showcase: Delftware

this will be a new recurring post, showcasing different designers, their history and products!

today's designer is: Delft Pottery

Delftware, or Delft pottery, is a blue and white pottery made in and around Delft in the Netherlands and the tin-glazed pottery made in the Netherlands since the 16th century.

Kitty's Vintage Home

Modern Delftware is a type of pottery which is glazed in white, usually decorated with metal oxides. Delftware includes pottery objects of all kinds such as plates, ornaments and tiles.

bleuets

Delftware ranged from simple household items - plain white earthenware with little or no decoration - to fancy artwork. Most of the Delft factories made sets of jars, pictorial plates illustrated with religious motifs, native Dutch scenes with windmills and fishing boats, hunting scenes, landscapes and seascapes.

oppning

Sets of plates were made with the words and music of songs; dessert was served on them and when the plates were clear the company started singing. The Delft potters also made tiles in vast numbers over a period of two hundred years; many Dutch houses still have tiles that were fixed in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Flat Rock Marketplace