Repost, Glorious Repost.

A repost: for your reading pleasure and my tenuous grasp on sanity.  From wayyyy back in 2015, I bring you an ode to my furry darlings.  Thanks for your patience (and continued support!)

International Cat Day – August 13, 2015

Several weeks ago, the world as we know it celebrated International Cat Day, a global celebration of our feline buddies.

While I was able to restrain myself from planning a parade or costumed ball, I thought I’d at least write a special post.

I currently don’t have much of a life outside of work, but I do have an overly-large collection of semi-“squee !!!” inducing photos of my hairy kids clogging the memory on my phone and some random thoughts on the cat psyche.

Voila. I’d rock out a tidy post and clear some photos from my phone cache at the same time.

(Do note that there’s a “Psych!” in the term “cat psyche” and it most likely won’t be coming from my mouth.)

And then…Saturday got away from me, as things tend to be doing a lot of lately, and the magical opportunity to laud my kitties passed.

::sigh::

Until I was forcefully reminded this evening by a 15-lb orange and white furby repeatedly head-butting his full body weight into my ankles…

::Ahem:: Pay attention to me. Now.

::Ahem:: Pay attention to me. Now.

that OHMIGOD, every day is International Cat Day in our house.

So in honor of the four-legged children of my heart, I would like to share some…hmmm…let’s call them “introspections,” that have recently come to me (with conveniently corroborating photos.)

This is the face of a cat. This is not the face of an innocent cat. There is no such thing.

This is the face of a cat. This is not the face of an innocent cat. There is no such thing.

Ditto

Ditto

I have learned that breakfast is not just the most important meal, but it is the most important thing.  Ever.  In the whole, wide world.  Breakfast in itself is so powerful a thing that it erases the memory of every other good thing that has ever happened in the history of time including dinner the night before (and all the breakfasts and dinners in the past) AND IS THE ONLY THING STANDING BETWEEN CIVILIZATION AND THE FORCES OF EVIL, GOD HELP US, WOMAN, OPEN THE DAMN CAN!!!

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I have learned that the act of eating breakfast is so exhaustive, it throws one immediately into a twenty-hour slumber.

I own a 1300-square foot, two-story loft.  I can’t move an inch without tripping over a cat.

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However, when the vacuum cleaner makes an appearance, I couldn’t round up a cat with a hooker and a stack of hundred dollar bills.

I want to know: is it really necessary to run ahead of me to the bathroom, especially in the middle of the night, bellowing the kitty version of “All’s Clear!”?

Make way, make way!

Make way, make way!

I’ve learned that not only do they watch TV when they think I’m not around…

Surfing, really?

Surfing, really?

But they watch really weird stuff.  With great absorption.

I draw the line at buying him a surfboard. Or little surf shorts. Or flip flops.

I draw the line at buying him a surfboard. Or little surf shorts. Or flip flops.

And they sit way too damn close to the TV.

You know if you sit that close, you'll put your eyes out.

You’ll put your eyes out.

If there’s an empty box, bag or handbag…

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There’s a cat to fill it.

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But they are always the best present.

As I’m sitting here writing, I have two warm, snugly little sweethearts curled up against me, grumbling slightly when I inconvenience them by shifting under their persistent burrowing, but fairly intent on deafening me with purrs.

And love.

So here’s to International Cat Day.  Today and every day.

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And to Keegan and Brodie, furkids extraordinaire, for being made of awesome.

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It was a good day…

Today at the awards ceremony and team meeting at my Real Estate Company, I was recognized as one of the Top 10 Agents (#9 as a matter of fact) in the office by number of homes sold during the 3rd Quarter of 2019.

I knew I was busy, but wow! Wasn’t expecting this!

I love what I do helping people find their perfect home and this was just the “icing on the cake.” I’m so grateful for my fun, wonderful clients who trust me to help them achieve their dream.

Yay! {happy dance}

A Thank you to our Veterans

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My heart-felt gratitude for your service.
“The best of our nation is exemplified by our nation’s veterans who embody what it means to put service above self. Who have sacrificed their own personal interests out of a greater love for our people and our country.”
– Tulsi Gabbard

A fish tale

I’m honestly wanting to write an actual post but I had another 13-hour work day today (albeit a great work day-I have awesome clients.) It’s almost midnight and I’m still sending and replying to emails and I want to post everyday this month so….

…so I give you-fishes, instead! I am so thankful for the phone camera.

My husband I got to attend a fundraiser event at the Georgia Aquarium two weeks ago and had an amazing time seeing all the gorgeous underwater critters!

It was a wonderful night and such a beautiful environment-absolutely magical.

I would tell you we had a whale of a time but I’ll spare us both.

Sunset

My home is in Old Forth Ward in Atlanta, just outside of downtown,and I get miraculous, amazing sunsets over the skyline.

It’s always so wonderful to come home to my windows bathed in light and color and to stop my crazy day and just appreciate the glorious view of my city.

Not exactly “board”…

Since I had to host a board meeting tonight, for my Pace Cetters‘ Womens Leadership and Networking Organization.   This meant hors d’oeuvres and drinks for 10-15 ladies at my house at 5:30 this evening and it was a bit of a scramble because…

OK, let me be honest, everything’s always a bit of a scramble with me.

Anyhow, this was my last official board meeting as President of the group for 2019 and I wanted to do a little something special for these lovely ladies, who have all collaborated and gone above and beyond to produce an incredible format of community service, inspiring guest speakers and incredibly fun and engaging social activities for our membership this year.

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I had thought to do a “Thanksgiving” theme for my pre-meeting snacks to express my appreciation, inspired by the traditional dinner, so I planned out a menu with hummus and veggies (to represent the green bean casserole), Parmesan pastry pups (thank you, Trader Joes) to represent the glazed ham and rolls, those amazingly delicious Cranberry Brie Bites from Delish (standing in for the cranberry sauce, plus anything cheesy, random crescent rolls and pecan pie – yeah, pecan pie! Possibly a bit of a stretch…) and spicy turkey meatballs for the (d’uh) turkey and…crap I needed something else.  Sweet potatoes!  Yep, that’s the ticket!  I needed a sweet potato hors d’oeuvre recipe!

I madly googled and found one at the last minute,  “Healthy Loaded Sweet Potato Rounds,” that looked doable and fairly tasty so I jumped in and bought the ingredients.

My husband. “You can’t experiment on people at a party with a recipe you’ve never tried.”

Me: “What are friends for?”

It actually turned out quite tasty and could be adapted for Keto and Vegetarian, quite easily.

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Ingredients

  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Hot sauce
  • Monterrey Jack and cheddar shredded cheese (Mexican blend)
  • 3 green onions
  • Sour cream
  • crumbled bacon bits

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
  2. Dice bacon and fry until crispy.  Drain, crumble and set aside.
  3. Cut the sweet potatoes into ¼-inch slices. Place the slices in a large bowl, sprinkle with 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon chili powder, and 1 teaspoon salt, and stir to thoroughly coat both sides of all slices. Place on a baking sheet lined foil (I sprayed lightly with cooking spray first), taking care that the rounds do not overlap (if possible). Bake 10 minutes on one side, then remove from the oven, flip all rounds, and bake another 10 minutes.
  4. While the potatoes bake, finely slice the green onions.
  5. When the potatoes are done, remove them from oven and add a dot of hot sauce on each round (or more if desired). Top each round with shredded cheese.  Add a dollop of sour cream, garnish with bacon crumbles and green onions.

Winner, winner, Chicken Turkey dinner!  Or, Thanksgiving-themed cocktail party!

Anyhow, Board meeting was a smashing success and they scarfed up everything!  (Yay). And the Sweet Potato Rounds were a giant hit!  Whoo hoo!

 


Flower Power

I do actually plan to write some things this Blogvember, but I’m working so much this week that my brain’s feeling a bit scrambled, so I thought I’d share some pretty pics of the pansies on my terrace today!

It has been a beautiful Fall day in Atlanta!

A Glamorous Tea

Today we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Pace Cetters, a women’s leadership, community service, and networking organization I’ve been privileged to be a member of the past 5 years, with a glamorous High Tea at the Four Seasons

complete with hats and fancy dress.

And of course, fabulous tiny tea foods and desserts!

I so love these wonderful women and all we do not only to support our community but each other.

Here’s to another 50 years!