Paws Cause...and a link-up.

I am very excited because today, I am linking up with Jackie and Karly.  The link up titled Pets are People Too.  A link-up that is all things pet related!  Very exciting.

I am going to use this opportunity to introduce you to all of my fur babies and to also speak to you about an important cause. 

First I will introduce you to our pups.

This is Aramis.  The most dignified dog in the world. He likes red wine and long walks in the park.  Well, he likes the second thing anyway.  

 

My husband rescued him before we met and they have been in love ever since.

 

This scruffy lad is Cooper.

My husband got him from a friend who could no longer care for him.  We didn't hit it off right away when I first started dating the hubs.  He would pee on my backpack when I would come over after class.  But we love one another now and he is THE cuddliest dog on the planet.

Now, I love dogs...but I LOVE cats. Like obsessed love.  So here are our putties.

This is Hearsay the Law Cat...

My husband found him living underneath his office building when we were fresh out of law school and living in Houston.  When my husband left the job...Hearsay came with him.  He is so fat and lazy.  He is the laziest of all.  He makes Garfield look like Lance Armstrong.  He has zero use for me or anyone else except for my husband.  He is truly in love with him.

Are you starting to see a pattern?  Yes, my husband is the cat and dog whisperer and hoarder. He is three reality shows wrapped up into one fur covered ball.

And now for my sweet baby girl, Lola Meowza.  She is our only girl.  Our little beauty.  She followed us home one night while we were out walking the dogs.  She walked right through the door and into our hearts.  The sweetest thing God ever made.  Until she is not.  And then she scratches your eyes out.  And I love her for it. She likes to pose for the camera...

She is very well read...

 She really likes to "hide"...

She just sucks at it..

And now for the star. My cat that I rescued while living alone for the first time, before I ever met my husband...the most beautiful jerk in the world...Sir Kittypuss Whiskers Meowington III.  Or Kittypuss.

He is the love of my life...and this is what he does all day when not following me around wanting to two-step to George Strait with me...

All of our babies were rescues. We really, really like to advocate rescue pets rather than going to breeders. There are so many pets already out there that need a home. If you are looking for a certain breed, there are rescue centers for specific breeds all over the place. Please consider it. Otherwise, breeders continue to bring more and more babies into the world and sweet babies like ours are stuck in cages or put to sleep. Not to mention puppy mills.  Don't get me started. It breaks my heart.

My husband and I also like to promote spaying and neutering to end the cycle of feral animals being born in and dying in the streets. If a stray is out and about in our neighborhood we will pick it up and pay to get it neutered.

My husband volunteers at the Dallas SPCA most weekends.  The SPCA raises funds for its' SPCA of Texas' Spay/Neuter Clinic at Village Fair in South Dallas.  Each year, the Village Clinic performs more than 11,000 low cost spay/neuter surgeries in high need areas to help moderate the stray animal population. If this is something you think you may want to donate to or volunteer for please see this website.  Also, there is a gala and silent auction each year put on by the Paws Cause that the public can purchase tickets to and all proceeds go to the cause. Please see that information here.  Also, If you would like to join the event committee, please let me know.

Be kind to animals because pets are people too!

Hope you liked my babies. If not, they will attack!

JK.

Covered in cat hair,

the baby giraffe

Relaxing weekend

Top of the Mornin' to Ya!

It is Monday but I am choosing to ignore that fact and focus on what a fun weekend we had.

We drove out to my in-laws ranch.  Along the way we stopped at the Dublin Bottling Works to show our support by buying a case of their Root Beer because they can no longer sell their Dr. Pepper.  For those of you who don't know about that whole ordeal, check it out here.

True Texans here, Dublin Root Beer, Shiner Bock Beer and and a grill in the back of your pick-up.  Keepin' it classy.

My MIL is the BEST cook. We were greeted with spaghetti and meatballs from scratch and a delicious apple pie. 

Saturday we visited our favorite Mexican food place in Mason, TX, Santos, which also happens to be next door to the winery where we had a little tasting and enjoyed their famous winearitas. Mason is the cutest little town with lots of thrift stores and antique stores, so we sipped and shopped and enjoyed the most amazing weather and blue sky.

 

We took the fur babies, along with my in-laws' babies, on long walks around the property.

 

Not the kind of herd you would expect to see on a Texas ranch, but cute none the less.

Four-wheeling, visiting and eating. It was a fun, laid-back weekend.  I feel revitalized and happy.

What did you do this weekend?

Flying high,

tbg

#colddeadfingers

I have totally sucked at being a blogger this week. 

My evenings have been jam-packed, in a good way, so I haven't had a lot of time to write. 

I had three separate girl's nights this week with three different groups of ladies.  Awesome times.  Next week I will have a recap of these evenings along with a full recap of the outdoor Baby-Que shower, complete with pictures!

We have busy Saturday planned but it will be followed by a very, lazy Sunday.

My cousin is coming up from Austin with his girlfriend to stay with us tonight.  This is a treat.  I usually only see him at Christmas.  I am very excited.  Tomorrow we are going to see him in action at his Tae Kwon Do tournament.  On top of that we have to buy and new car tomorrow, which is both exciting and stressful at the same time.

This all has to be accomplished by three o’clock tomorrow because we are then heading to a friend’s house to watch the Alabama/Texas A&M game.  This should be a great game, and also while I am there, I get to help said friend decorate her baby nursery!  Y’all all know how I love to decorate!!!!!

Speaking of decorating, I will leave you with some pictures from the #colddeadfingers challenge that Mandi at Vintage Revivals is hosting.  This is one of my favorite, if not my most favorite, home décor blogs.  This girl has some serious talent.  And her real life story is super intense and inspiring.  Check her out.

Basically the gist of the challenge is to Instagram pictures of the piece/s of décor around your home that someone would have to pry out of your cold dead fingers before you ever relinquished control of them.  I am so right there with her on this!  I am very emotionally attached to many of my pieces.  You would seriously have to step #overmydeadbody and pry them out of my #colddeadfingers to get near them.

I love searching #colddeadfingers on Instagram and seeing everyone’s loves.

Here are three of the examples around my home...

First, an $8 warehouse-sale find....

This original, canvas painting makes my heart race every time I see it, which is every day. The shade of blue speaks to my soul. Sounds silly, I know, but true nonetheless.  And I love the small pink accents throughout. Also, this thing is HUGE!!!  It takes up an entire wall in my dining room.  Why they only put $8 on it I WILL NEVER KNOW, but I am so grateful that they did.  I think they even knew the artist.  Crazy for them and lucky for me.

Next, and most dear to me, is my great-grandmother, Lulu's, mirror.

 
This mirror belonged to my father's, mother's mother. It has hung in my parent's home for as long as I can remember. When my husband and I moved into our new home, my mother gave it to us to hang in our dining room. I had not known previously that it was an heirloom. I instantly became seriously attached to this piece. My great-grandmother had this hanging in her beautiful New Orleans home and my grandmother even had her wedding pictures taken in front of it in the 1940's.

Here you can see the mirror on the wall behind my grandparents on their wedding day.

I am not sure of the full history of the mirror but I plan to find it out. It is possible this mirror has passed between many more generations within the family. It is very beautiful, very old, very large and very heavy.  The detailing on the rosettes is breathtaking. I love her.

Last, but certainly not least, is this sexy lady. 

 

A vintage, 1940’s lucite and chenille vanity stool. Original PINK chenille!!!!! Swoon.

The story behind this one is fun. 

A girlfriend of mine took me out into the boondocks of central Texas to a two story building full of vintage clothing, knick-knacks and furniture.  It is very much of the beaten path and has unreal finds.  While there, I met the adorable little, old lady that owns the shop along with her husband.  They were in their 80’s and had been collecting their whole lives.  They had some amazing stuff and even more amazing stories.

We spent about three hours talking to her and going through everything she had for sale.  As we were getting ready to leave, I spotted this beauty under a pile of clothes.  Of course, this was the one thing in the store that the woman just couldn’t bring herself to part with.  She had bought the stool from its original owner at a living estate sale in the 60’s and she was very emotionally attached to it…

I ended up leaving her with an offer and my phone number.  She called me that night.  She said her husband told her she was crazy not to sell it since they were, after all, in the business of selling antiques. She said that she knew I would love it and take care of it and so she was willing to part with the stool.  I got it the next day and have loved it ever since.  It is one of those pieces that even though I paid a little more than I am usually willing to dish out, I have never regretted it or second guessed my decision.

Isn’t she beautiful?  Aren’t those the sexiest legs you have ever seen on a piece of furniture??

Sir Kittypuss loves her too.....

By the way, the cat is #colddeadfinegrs as well!

What are some of your #colddeadfingers? 

UPDATE 10/28/13: After posting this blog entry, I found a fantastic light fixture on Craigslist that I talk about here.  I then added a picture of it to Instagram with the hashtag colddeadfingers and tagged the creator fo the #colddeadfingers challenge, Vintage Revivals.  Today she included my sweet little light fixture on her second round-up of her favorite cold dead finger finds!  I admire her so much and I am so touched and happy to be included!!!

 

Happy Friday,

tbg

99 problems and my cats are three....

Today is one of those days where I woke up five minutes before I was supposed to leave the house only to realize that I hadn’t decided on anything to wear the night before.  And in a sheer panic, I ran to my closet and realized that “I have absolutely nothing to wear”!!!  Still half asleep I began to pull garment after garment off of their hangers, causing a helipad effect of spinning, pink felt hangers around my head.  I then proceeded to yank two articles of clothing out of my closet that at least had somewhat of the same color running through them, praying that it would look decent together because once I got it on my body, it would take too much groggy effort to pick something else out and drag it onto said body. 

It was no time to experiment with articles that I had never paired together before.  It was one of those moments when I should have gone straight to my trusty black pencil skirt and one of the tens of tops that would go with black.  But that would be too easy of course.  Instead, I went with a top I have never even worn to the office before and threw it on top of a skirt it had never been paired with previously.  What can I say???  I love a challenge.  I got a quick snap before running out the door. 



Banana Republic Top, J. Crew skirt, Mossimo for Target pumps and a vintage necklace



Not sure how I feel about it but it is growing on me I think.  It has a Victorian lady meets a drop waisted Flapper feel to it.  Anywho that is my OOTD. (outfit of the day) I am sure you all knew what that means already, but it took me like a year to figure it out on Instagram so I thought I will help any of that happen to be behind the times like I am…

Speaking of Instagram…..I have a problem…..



Introducing Lola Meowza



Sir Kittypuss and Hearsay the Cat



All three of my loves snoozing



She is so good at hiding....

 

And looking important

Not sure if the problem lies within the fact that we collect cats or that I cannot stop Instagraming their cutenss!  I cannot help it.  Look at them! Obvi Lola, my boo, is the star when it comes to the camera.

Have a great day before the hump,

tbg and her baby kitties