Thanks to all who entered the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" on Broadway Ticket Giveaway! I used Random.org to determine the 4 lucky winners who will each receive a pair of tickets, and it selected Lillian (#27), Sue (#50), Sydney (#72), and Andrea (#75)! Congrats, ladies, and thank you again to Fancy Feast for providing this fabulous giveaway! "Breakfast at Tiffany's" starring "Game of Thrones" star Emilia Clarke (and Vito Vincent the cat!) is now on Broadway at the Cort Theatre. Tickets are available through telecharge and the Cort Theatre box office.
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" on Broadway Ticket Giveaway Winners!
Cat Cupcakes This week's delightful cat cupcakes come to us courtesy of C for Cupcake Cupcakery, a cupcake couture and catering service, located at the heart of Orange County in California. A client asked Carmen to craft a batch of sweet treats for a cat-themed tea party. She writes on her blog: "My client sent me pictures of her lovely cats, and she was very open minded to any design. So I came up with a design to match her mice invitations and some cat toys and fishes....and OF COURSE, her four cats. I wanted to keep everything French inspired -- simple and modern. They came out amazingly adorable! And everyone at the party loved them." Be sure to check out the C for Cupcake Cupcakery website for pics of the kitties who inspired the cupcakes, and follow them on Facebook for all of their latest creations!
*** Have you created or spotted any kitty-themed baked goods (or other foods) lately? If so, please submit your sweet tips for Cat Cupcake Tuesdays to catsparella@gmail.com!
Cat Taking The Dog Home In a stunning new clip posted to YouTube over the weekend, DAFNA kopelis shows us just how far cats have come in their quest for world domination. The uploader claims the bossy kitty took matters into her own paws (or mouth, as it were), and was NOT trained to parade the pup around town like a prized show pony. While the video is a triumph for cats around the world, the canine population has yet to feel the chilling after effects of the brazen show of feline domination. As commenter iamphon99 writes, "Now... this footage is kind of embarrassing for this dog.... He'll never be able to run for public office." Via dlisted
When Andy Met Grumpy
Start spreading the mews! Fresh off her recent headline making appearance at SXSW, Grumpy Cat embarked on the second half of her Friskies "Will Kitty Play With It?" publicity tour on Friday, making several high profile media stops in New York City.
Grumpy Cat on Good Morning America (@LaraSpencer)
Tardar Sauce, who was accompanied by owners Tabatha and Bryan Bundesen, started the day off at Good Morning America (she was on The Today Show back in December), where she posed for pics and delighted anchors, before heading over to appearances on VH1's Big Morning Buzz and Anderson Live.
E! News: One-on-One with Grumpy Cat Other grumpy stops on the tour included a quick interview at E! News, where Tabatha gave the inside scoop on Tard's brush with "The Vampire Diaries" star Ian Somerhalder.
(Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME) The 11-month-old cat was also welcomed atTIME magazine (cuz internet memes are totally legit now, yo), where she cuddled up to editors, and posed with some animal-themed covers of yore. Need even more Tardar Sauce in your life? Check out Grumpy Cat's Friskies "Will Kitty Play With It? Celebrity Edition" webisode here.
Grumpy Cat Visits Good Morning America, Meets Anderson Cooper & More!
Oscar and Peanut This week's featured felines are a sweet pair of siblings who know just how to melt their mama's heart! Trish writes: Oscar and Peanut are originally Ohio cats, who belonged to my daughter's friend. They were just 4-5 month old kittens when she came for a visit. Since she could not have them with her at her parent's house, I told her I would be happy to have them as my houseguests for the week. At the time, my only cat was Oreo, and while she wasn't terribly pleased with two little ones, we all worked it out. Peanut showing a lil leg! At the end of the week, I found out that the landlord of the young girl who owned them did not allow pets in her apartment and the kits were living in her car. That was not OK with me so we talked and I told her that Oscar & Peanut were not going back to Ohio until she had a place for them to live. She agreed that it would be better for them to stay with me until she got another place. I knew when she walked out the door that I had two more cats; my daughter and I could not have been happier. By that time, I had already nicknamed them the bad manner twins for their propensity to get into trouble and the name is still true to this day. Did I do that? Oscar and his sister have complete possession of my heart even though they get into trouble on a very regular basis. This picture is of Oscar when he went to hide from me as I jumped up because he had knocked over and broken a full glass of water! He is such a devil, but who could stay mad? I woke up in the middle of the night a few nights ago and when I sat up, this is the site that greeted me. Thankfully, my phone was on the nighttable so I grabbed it and took the picture. Neither Oscar or Peanut moved, even when the flash went off. There is something special about brother/sister kitties. ♥
Special thanks to Trish for sharing her babies with us this week! When she's not busy corralling her own kitties, she volunteers with Sammy's Hope, a volunteer-run rescue group that finds forever homes for dogs and cats in the Edison, NJ area.
p.s. Looking for more Catsparella? Check out my weekly style column over on Catster!
Want to see your cat(s) on Catsparella? I'm always accepting submissions for my weekly Caturday post! Just email your best kitty pics to catsparella@gmail.com, and include your cat's name and anything else you'd like to share. I can't wait to hear from you!
(Click here to watch if video doesn't load) What do you call a cat who lives in a pipe? Piper, of course! Piper makes her home inside a drainage pipe located on Atlanta Belt Line's East Side Trail, and delights everyone who crosses her path. Someone recently installed a tiny mailbox outside of her humble abode, where adoring fans of all ages leave cards and letters, in addition to food and treats, toys, catnip, and bedding. Piper The cat has become a local celebrity of sorts, with one woman telling an 11Alive reporter: "She inspires me to get some exercise to feed her....Today she's being a cat so she's ignoring us." "I Love Piper" "Dear Piper, I'm a cat lover and I wanna help you. For starters here's some food, water and catnip. Hope you enjoy. Love, Roen R." According to the Belt Line Piper Facebook page, Piper is a "well-loved, well-fed, feral / TNR," whose motto is, "Stay Frisky, My Friends." When I asked her to confirm her sex for me, the gender neutral kitty replied, "Well, at this point I'm sort of 'none of the above' if you take my meaning ;)" "Piper - I don't understand, but it doesn't matter. You brought me here and now I've enjoyed your company. Thank you. - Stephanie" "Thanks for visiting me everybody. Kittens love friends, especially ones like you! Love, Piper the Black Cat" The feral feline doesn't really like to be pet, instead preferring to communicate through her popular Facebook and Twitter pages, where she uploads and responds to many of the cards and letters she receives, from the comfort of her kitty cave. If I knew you could get WiFi from inside a metal pipe, I would have moved into one a long time ago. Via CNN / 11Alive / Facebook (Belt Line Piper)
Cat Who Lives In A Pipe Receives Mail, Corresponds With Fans Through Facebook And Twitter
Me and Hello Kitty, Sanrio Puroland, Tokyo, Japan , 2010 "Stephanie Harwin, who writes the cat-obsessed blog Catsparella, will go to great lengths to get her feline fix. On her quest to fulfill a lifelong dream—visiting Japan’s Hello Kitty theme park—Harwin endured a bout of severe food poisoning, a language barrier, and a long journey to reach her happy place." - Emma Sloley, Travel + Leisure Hello Kitty Bus I was recently interviewed by Emma Sloley for a Travel + Leisure article about the "Craziest places for cat lovers." Our contact came about through "Around the World in 80 Cats," my column dedicated to compiling all of the coolest cat-themed travel destinations in the world. The column started as a way for me to research places I was interested in traveling to, although I've put off writing about the one cat-related destination I've actually visited, because of the overwhelming amount of kitty culture the country has to offer. Sanrio Puroland
I've been thinking a lot lately about that aforementioned trip to Japan (March 15 - 31, 2010), and the enormous impact it had on my life. In the early days of Catsparella I wrote about my experience going to the Hello Kitty theme park, Sanrio Puroland, but conveniently left out the trip to the emergency room that preceded it. Read More: Sanrio Puroland: Mecca For Hello Kitty Lovers Street sign outside Puroland
Within hours of arriving after arriving in Tokyo, I came down with a case of food poisoning so bad, that I had to go to the hospital for treatment. To make matters worse, I was jet-lagged and all alone in an unfamiliar country, debilitated by a constant stream of vomit, dizziness, and unrelenting nausea. Sanrio Character Boatride
I was in Japan on vacation as part of a group tour, but had arrived a few days ahead of everyone else so I could spend extra time exploring my own interests, which included a trip to the Hello Kitty theme park. Unfortunately, two of those "free" days were spent stuck, sick in my hotel room, leaving only one day, and a final opportunity to travel to the park that I had already come so far to experience. Inside the Sanrio Character Ride at Puroland
Although I had barely eaten for days and was still extremely weak, I dragged myself out of bed to go. My amazing tour guide, Mya, gave me a map with directions to the park, which was well over an hour away, and involved taking a bus and two trains to get to. "Believe" Parade at Puroland Once I finally (and miraculously) arrived, I stuck out among the crowd which was comprised mostly of young, Japanese families. Still, someone was always nice enough to offer to snap a photo of me, and as soon as I had my picture taken with Hello Kitty, I knew that everything was going to be OK. Maneki Neko Stand, Nakamise-dori, Tokyo Hello Kitty with lucky black egg at Owakudani Natural Hot Springs, Hakone
I started Catsparella in earnest four months after returning from my trip, and haven't looked back since. What I like to describe as my "Lost in Translation" moment, opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities outside of a cubicle, and inspired me to live a more passion driven life. Maneki Neko sign, Takeshita-Dori, Harajuku District, Tokyo Philosopher's Path, Kyoto
While traveling across the country, I experienced the wonders of Mt. Fuji, cherry blossoms in bloom in Kyoto, and walked the streets of Harajuku's famous fashion district. I went to Nara park where you can feed the roaming deer, visited the world's largest bronze Buddha statue in Tōdai-ji, and can tell you firsthand that there's nothing more liberating in the world than getting buck-naked in an onsen (hot springs), thousands of miles away from home, with a bunch of people you've just met. Store sign on Philosopher's Path, Kyoto Cats in Kyoto
If I ever get the opportunity to return to Japan (and hope I do), my updated itinerary would include more Hello Kitty attractions, cat cafés, and a visit to Stationmaster Tama at Kishigawa Line in Wakayama. I also hope to someday make a pilgrimage to the famous Tashirojima (Cat Island), where the feline population outnumbers the human one. *** Know of any cat-themed travel destinations, or have any cool kitty vacation pics to share? Drop me a line at catsparella@gmail.com!
