Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Souvenirs & Kitty Love

Last week, we were at the 2016 BlogPaws Conference & CWA Annual Conference, held at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort in Phoenix.

Aside from the fact that somemommy callously abandoned us, we have to admit it was an amazing experience.

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On Monday, we shared a little about the event, plus the big award for Best Video at Friday evening's CWA awards. Today, we'll share the rest!

For three days, attendees had access to sessions held by both conferences. Topics ranged from SEO and analytics to photography tips, and a workshop by indie ebook distributor Smashwords.

Yet as many learning opportunities as the conference held, being surrounded by like-minded pet lovers is truly the best experience of all.

An Amazing Community

Pet bloggers and microbloggers are some of the most caring and compassionate people there are. Spending time with those who share the same passions is the best of times, and deep and lasting friendships are formed here.

And then there's the SWAG. Loads and loads of cool stuff that kitties love. And much of it is in the form of gift bags from friends and fellow bloggers!

More awesome stuff from vendors and our kitty friends!
Product samples from vendors, a stuffed cat from "The Secret Life of Pets" & a cool ChristyPaws card!
We love that it's not all fun and games. Some pet brands are there for your pet's health, like Bluestem oral care and the Heartworm Society of America. (yes, cats can get heartworm too, and it can be deadly.)

And we also kind of really loved that the folks from the upcoming movie The Secret Life of Pets were there supporting pet bloggers - and handing out cool stuffed plush versions of the movie's star characters!

Maxwell takes a close look at Christy Paws' card
Maxwell: Look, Momma! Christy has bling just like Allie does!

More swag! From Orion, Sammy & Emmy, the Naked Kids & Lola!
More gifts from our cat friends: Naked & Hungry, Lola the Rescued Cat and Sammy, Orion & Emmy's human
Kate Benjamin, owner of the online cat shop, Hauspanther, (and guest star on Jackson Galaxy's My Cat from Hell) hosted the Cat Style Lounge. In it, you could see the latest in pet furniture, toys and grooming.

And on the last day, Kate held a drawing for all the floor models on display. We won this amazing hand-made fountain by Thirsty Cat Fountains. It's truly a piece of art!

gift won at the Cat Style Lounge - from Thirsty Cat Fountains
The Thirsty Cat Fountain we won at Hauspanther's Cat Style Lounge
And the gift bags from friends and fellow bloggers just kept coming. Including a ...wait for it ... pink tambourine from Glogirly to use at the Saturday evening BlogPaws Nose to Nose Awards event!

More gifts from cat friends plus from the CWA event!
Coco the Couture Cat was handing out toys & treats, as was Glogirly. The CWA swag bag was great, too!
 Speaking of ...
Our mom was knocked speechless when they called her name for an award she had no idea was coming. (Seriouslies, she was dumbfounded!)

To her surprise, BlogPaws awarded us an award for Outstanding Blog About Page!
We want to thank the Academy ....

In all honesty, we are extremely honored and we thank BlogPaws for this recognition!




HUGE surprise to us: BlogPaws award for best "about page"
This award was a huge surprise to us: BlogPaws awarded us for "Outstanding Blog About Page"


 But wait! There's ... more?

Oh yeah, and Faraday especially wants to thank Dawn, the author of Lola the Rescued Cat, for the plastic bag her gifts came in.

He, umm,  thought it was kind of a-a-a-awesome!
Somekitty liked Lola's BAG more than her toys!

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25 comments:

  1. Congrats to you on that well deserved award. Well done. That looks like so many and great gifts you all received.

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  2. Hi guys, with all that swag you gotta love Blog Paws... what a fabulous place to go and share our wonderful life. purrs ERin PS had that bag had nip in it?

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  3. silly Faraday....

    concats on the awards!! the swag looks great...and mom drooled a little over the fountain.

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  4. Congratulations on the surprise award. You got some cool swag. You gotta love crinkly bags right Faraday. 😃

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  5. such awesome stuffs!
    tell us more about the door strap.. what's that all about?

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  6. I was so happy to see you on stage receiving that award...very deserved! You sure brought home some pawsome loot and memories to last a lifetime.

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    1. You did NOT look like an idiot. I was there. I know :)

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  7. You all are some lucky kitties and so blessed to have such an amazing and talented human! Congratulations again!

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  8. Sometimes it IS all about the packaging. Congrats on your very cool award.

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  9. Congratulations! Sounds like a great time was had by all--and so much swag...oh my. I am definitely going to BlogPaws next year!

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  10. Wow, so much loot!!

    Concats on your award, that was a furbulous surprise!

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  11. guys....even MOR conga ratz two ewe & mom....how total lee kewl iz thiz award :) we bee buzzed happee for ewe once again☺☺☺ & inn deed her came home with swag a pa looza !! N joy all de way kewl stuff....we NOE ewe will ~~~~~~~ !!! ♥♥♥

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  12. So many well deserved honors. Or one tor each cat if they can't share ;)

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  13. Congratulations! Well deserved awards! And awesome swag too!

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  14. Congrats on your Mom's award and on winning that cool fountain.

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  15. Yep, BlogPaws had some REALLY awesome swag this year! My human says if it were up to her, your human would have gotten even MORE awards!

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  16. LOL! Wally had the same reaction to Lola's gift bag. I couldn't keep it away from him. ~Island Cat Mom

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  17. Aren't cat bloggers the best? Congratulations on the awards! Very much deserved!

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  18. Thank you so much for sharing your photos with us ! And concatulations (again) on your well-deserved awards !

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  19. It was a fantastic conference - so great seeing you again and congratulations on the much deserved recognition! Happy Sunday from Deb and the Zee/Zoey kitties!

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  20. BlogPaws is fun for so many reasons, one of them being purresents from friends! And cheering on our friends when we are there to see them get pawsome awards, too! Congrats!

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  21. It was so great to see you! I hope that we can figure out a way to visit longer next time. ♥

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  22. Ours loved the bags best too - HUH1!!

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Coolio! A comment? For US?