The Creative Cat 2013 Calendar Review

Hi Readers!

I know it's been a little while, but I am back and with a really awesome review. I am a huge calendar addict - I love buying multiple wall calendars, little desk calendars, and pocket calendars. I always have a calendar hanging by my computer, a book calendar on my desk, and one in my purse. So, naturally when my friend Bernadette from The Creative Cat asked me to review her calendars, I was super excited.

The two calendar styles, journal (left) & wall (right). Photo used with permission from Bernadette Kazmarski.

Bernadette has two calendars (Compositions in Black and Green & In The Kitchen With Cookie). The calendars come in two styles - wall or journal. The calendars can be purchased here on Bernadette's The Creative Cat calendar post.

I received In the Kitchen with Cookie, in the wall style. This calendar is all about Bernadette's "adventures, misadventures and creative efforts of a certain tortoiseshell kitty in my kitchen". A really neat thing about the Cookie calendar, is it includes recipes for each month of the year. The recipe I am most looking forward to trying, is January's pound cake recipe (though the New York Cheesecake from November is also calling my name).

Cookie is curled up in bowls, in many of the pictures! Photo used with permission from Bernadette Kazmarski.

My favorite picture in the calendar is September 2013, because it has a picture of Cookie curled up in a one gallon pot - "one gallon of tortoiseshell ingenuity" as Bernadette puts it!

A wonderful charm of the calendar, is the blue checkerboard print that is the background for each month. Important holidays and lunar changes are included, as well as a space for notes -- and of course, small images of Cookie, in whatever bowl she has been napping in, for the month.

The two calendar styles, journal (left) & wall (right). Photo used with permission from Bernadette Kazmarski.

The next calendar is Compositions in Black and Green 2013. This calendar features Bernadette's fantastic five black cats! They are "frolicking in their mint green and white bathroom" throughout the calendar.

My favorite picture is Jelly Bean looking in the mirror, cockeyed and saying........"God I'm Cute", in January. My second favorite is March, featuring Mr. Sunshine, Jelly Bean and Giuseppe, with the front cat head turned asking, "May I see some ID?".

May I see some ID?  Photo used with permission from Bernadette Kazmarski.

April is a beautiful shot of black cats, water droplets and pink tongues -- you have to see for yourselves, it's squee worthy!

Bernadette's work is gorgeous, as you can see from her The Creative Cat page.

So if you're looking for an excellent calendar to store your daily plans, I encourage you to check out Bernadette's calendars, you won't be disappointed!

Receiving complimentary calendars did not influence my review.

Happy New Year Letter

From the desk of Rachel Shubin

www.sandpipercat.blogspot.com

Rachel.shubin@gmail.com

December 2012

Dear Blogging Friends & Family,

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

What a year 2012 has been! It has certainly been a year packed full with many wonderful memories, good friends and fantastic events.

The beginning of January 2012 was such an exciting time – getting to interview Jackson Galaxy before his premiere of My Cat from Hell Season 2 was such a privilege for me, only a high school senior! And in May, I was able to review a copy of Jackson’s book – Cat Daddy- before it was available to the public. Needless to say, my high school journalism dreams felt like they had hit the big time.

On March 13, 2012, Piper and I celebrated our one year blogging anniversary! It was hard to believe the pregnant teen mom Sandpiper had gone from losing her five kittens, to being a robust, healthy and happy member of our family. 

Robust and healthy!

Another great month for us was June– I graduated from high school and jetted off to Salt Lake City, Utah, for the BlogPaws blogging conference! There, I got to visit my blog friends, meet new ones, and introduce everyone to my mom, Julie. Perhaps my favorite part of the trip (and no, it was definitely not the plane rides) was getting to meet Moki the Wobbly Cat and his mom Crystal! I got to learn all about Moki’s condition and pass on the word about how Moki is changing the word disabled, to differently abled.

Holding Moki at BlogPaws

 In August, I wrote a tribute to our cat May, who we lost to kidney failure. The whole thing happened very quickly, and showed me that it was important to put aside time to spend with all of my cats; since the Shubin 7 was now the Shubin 6. August was also the month that I started at the local community college (with plans to transfer to local George Mason University in spring 2013 and focus on my communications career).

During September, I reviewed Moo Kitty Finds a Home by Valerie Lee Veltre.  Moo Kitty is a children’s book that I wish I had read as a child.  In October and November I was hard at work in school.

In November, Gwen Cooper featured me as the first inaugural Homer’s Hero on Gwen’s new website!  A Homer’s Hero is a favorite volunteer or rescue worker that Homer & Gwen select from nominations.

I am wrapping up 2012, as a far more accomplished blogger than I ever thought I would be. I have been very lucky that I am able to do book reviews, product reviews and giveaways. My blog has become a wondrous experience!

I love this little face.

Best wishes to all my friends and family for happy holidays and a healthy new year!

Rachel and Piper 

Book Review and Giveaway -Paws to Reflect: 365 Devotions for the Animal Lover's Soul

I love to snuggle up with Brooke, and read books!

Today's post is a review of Paws to Reflect: 365 Devotions For the Animal Lover's Soul by Devon O'Day and Kim McLean.

Paws to Reflect is a beautiful hard cover book, that is 370 pages of beautifully written essays. Each day begins with a title, a quote from the New Testament and a short essay.

My favorite essay was from December 30 (my birthday). The essay is about people cleaning up their decorations at the pet supply store, and how everything was left in disarray from the holidays. A man comes in and asks about the pets that haven't been adopted, and the clerk tells them that they are all the had left.

The point of this essay was that there are so many animal shelters that are in need of a good home, and that "God never leaves leftover angels hanging without hope."

If you win a copy of Paws to Reflect you will have a devotion to read for each day of the 2013 New Year! This book would make a great gift for one of your loved ones for Christmas.

I am giving away TWO copies of Paws to Reflect.

Please just leave a comment with your email to be entered! I will choose the winner on Sunday December 16 at 12 AM so I will have enough time to mail the book to you before Christmas!

US ONLY please!


I received a copy of this book from the book’s publicist. Receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review.

Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Can Review/Giveaway

Giveaway is closed!

Hi everyone! I have another great giveaway for you today! It will go to the first five people to comment on this post!

I recently reviewed Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Boost Kibble, a few months ago (read that post here). Today I am reviewing and giving away Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Cat Diet cans.

Limited Ingredient Cans are great for cats- especially with food sensitive or allergies.  They’re made with simple ingredients.  You can read online about the cat food here. Here’s the ingredients for them:

Turkey formula

Nature’s Variety® Instinct® Limited Ingredient Diet Turkey Formula for cats is formulated to meet the

nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for all life stages.

Ingredients:

Turkey, Turkey Broth, Turkey Liver, Peas, Pea Protein, Montmorillonite Clay, Flaxseed Oil, Potassium Chloride,

Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Cobalt Proteinate,

Sodium Selenite, Potassium Iodide), Salt, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, L‐Ascorbyl‐2‐Polyphosphate, Vitamin

E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin Supplement, d‐Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride,

Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin

B12 Supplement, Folic Acid), Taurine.

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude protein (min): 10.5%

Crude fat (min): 7.5%

Crude fiber (max): 2.0%

Moisture (max): 75.0%

Calcium (min): 0.25%

The first five people to respond will get 5 cans each! Please make sure that you leave your email in the comments, so I have a way to contact you, if you win. If you don't leave your email, you will not be entered. Good luck! I will post when all the cans have been claimed. US ONLY please!

Below are pictures of my cat food testers (Feral cats Annie and Catnan) enjoying their feast of Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient cat cans as well as their dry food - the instinct raw boost kibble!

Catnan in the bushes

Annie chowing down

Annie loves her new snack!

the dry food kibble!

Catnan is a lady in waiting!

Catnan comes to check out the food

Catnan and Annie, eating!

Cattoo Tattoo Review & Giveaway!

I'm baaaack! Sorry I have been on a blogging hiatus. I was finishing up (well, still am) my first semester at community college. My life has been so busy, that blogging took a back seat. But with good reason! I'm trying to transfer to our local university, so I've poured every ounce of my being into my school work. The results are paying off!

My friend Kate, Benjamin, owner of Modern Cat  and Cattoo Design gave me an opportunity to review and giveaway her latest cattoos, designs by Sebastien Millon! I reviewed Kate's first Cattoos back in October 2011, which you can read here. He and Kate made a great duo - ask you can see from the cute designs.

"I know Sebastien from the Downtown Phoenix small business and arts community. He and I became friends and we knew we wanted to collaborate on a project. The tattoos are our first collaboration," said Kate.

You can purchase the Cattos by Sebastien here.

The cattoos are easy to apply. You press them against the skin, hold down for 30 seconds and voila!

*The winner of this giveaway will win the three of Sebastien's cattoos: Identity Crisis, Cat with fish and lion. They each have two tattoos to the pack. Please enter by  Thursday December 20, 2012 by 12 AM EST. Winner will be contacted by email - so please leave your email! I can't enter you, if you don't leave me your contact information! US ONLY please!

Good luck!

I chose Identity Crisis and Kitty With Fish.

Kitty with fish on my wrist.

I love this!

This one gets me every time, the cow entendre!

Gwen Cooper's New Website/Homer's Heroes

My good friend, Gwen Cooper just revamped her website, www.gwencooper.com! Gwen is the best selling author of Homer's Odyssey, about Homer, the blind black wondercat! I have previously interviewed Gwen in a post you can read here.

I finally met Gwen in purr-son this September :)

A new section of Gwen's website is called "Homer's Heroes" - in which each month, Gwen and Homer highlight their favorite volunteers and rescue workers! You can nominate your own Homer's Hero on Gwen's website here.

My mom, Julie Shubin of the blog Helitzer Blouse Girl, nominated me when Gwen and Homer were looking for the first inaugural Homer's Hero!

Reading the post my mom wrote about me was so amazing, she totally wrote from the heart and shared about my passion for animal rescue. I really liked how she mentioned that part of the reason I really didn't want to go far away from home for college was so I could still stay involved with my rescue work. Thank you so much for nominating me, mom! I love you!

And thank you ever so much to Gwen and Homer! I'm so glad to call you my friends >^..^<

So please check out Gwen's updated website, the Homer Heroes section and the post about me as Homer's first Hero!

Winter Cat Fashion

I love watching the fall trends fade into winter. Even though I don't anticipate a career in fashion, I love partaking in the event of up-to-date fashion. The color hunter green, wool plaid purses, thick/cowl-knit sweaters and cat print items, are among my favorite winter 2012 fashions.

In a blog post I wrote a few weeks ago, I published my first fashion post, with a fun cat shirt I found at American Eagle. The moment I saw it, I was like a kid on Christmas morning - jumping up and down (not really, I'd look like a crazy person!). I was excited to see cats featured on clothing -- more likely I am able to find cute dog clothing that I like, but don't want because I'm generally not a dog person.

So you can imagine my surprise when I was shopping in Ann Taylor LOFT and saw this kitten print cardigan...

"Done in a purrfectly cute kitten print, we think this sweet must-have is the cat’s meow. Crew neck. Long sleeves. Button front. Ribbed neckline, cuffs and hem." -Loft

Close up of the print!

Anything with a cat on it, has Rachel written all over it! The sweater retails for $54.50 and can be purchased online here, as well as in stores (featured in petite sizing as well). I have never seen anything like this sweater, in Loft or elsewhere! It is new, but is being snatched up quickly by cat lovers everywhere!

Retail $12

The other cat related item I rushed to pick up on November 2nd, was the new Vera Bradley Kitty Keychain in Ribbons - the Breast Cancer Color. This retails for $12 online and in Vera Bradley stores (can purchase online here). It comes in the pattern Ribbons (featured above) as well as in the color Dogwood!