Olive's 8Th Birthday Party!

Welcome friends to my birthday party. My dear brother, Opus, is throwing a sock-hop for me in celebration of my 8th birthday! What a wonderful surprise.



Please come in and make yourself at home. There are plenty of cold, fountain cokes, juicy hamburgers with french fries and all the old fashioned ice cream sodas you can drink!

The gang is already inside waiting for you.

Karl, Ruis, Asta, Gracie, me, Opus, and Momo

(photo by Gracie)

We have some great oldies playing on the jukebox and tons of room to dance.

(photo by Gracie)
Karl and Gracie made a beautiful cake! It is so pretty that I almost hate to cut it! But it sure does look yummy!

(cake by Gracie and Karl)

Here is a beautiful birthday card from sweet friend, Momo.

And another wonderful card from my dear friends at The Cat Realm

(Karl's family)

This beautiful card just arrived from Indiana. It is from Miss. Gracie!


And this wonderful card came from dear friends Samantha, Clementine & Maverick.



Thank you all so much for your thoughtful and creative cards! I just LOVE them!!!!!

Stay as long as you like. The diner is open 24 hours a day and the party will be going on all weekend.

(a gift from Karl & Ruis)

Now let's go rock around the clock!

Tomorrow: Surprise Party for Olive

Grab your varsity sweaters, your poodle skirts, and your cat-eye glasses and help us celebrate! It's Olive's birthday and we are throwing her a suprise sock-hop!

When Olive was adopted at the shelter, we were told that she was seven. Since we don't know the exact date of her birthday we have decided to make her "Gotcha Ya" day her offical birthday since that is the day her second life began.

The party will start tomorrow and will go on through out the weekend. Stop by when you have a chance to enjoy some hambugers, french fries and ice cream sodas! The juke box will be on and we will be waiting for you!

One Year With Olive

By the human

One year ago today my life changed. While visiting my folks back in the States, I stopped in at the local animal shelter "just to look". Opus had been sad and crying out in the night for months after the passing of his brother. I decided that IF I could find the right cat, I might just take one back for him.

meeting Olive for the first time

I spotted "Patches" on the internet long before I packed my bags and boarded the plane to America. The shelter had sent me a list of declawed cats who were currently living at the shelter. Patches was on that list. With Opus on my lap, I looked at the photo of Patches from our home in Italy and couldn't help but wonder if she was "the one".

getting pretty in hopes they might pick me!

At seven years old, Patches had been the product of divorce. She and the dog she had spent her entire life with were taken to the animal shelter by a bitter husband who had (presumably) been left by his wife. His excuse for not keeping the family dog and the tiny calico cat? He coldly stated that they were his wife's animals and he couldn't take care of them.

getting to know each other

The first cat I spotted when I walked into the shelter last February was a tiny calico cat. She gazed at me from the other side of the glass window, her olive colored eyes melting my heart from the moment she looked at me.

looking cute in the window

Two days later, with a new pet carrier, a new pink collar, a fuzzy pink blanket, and paper work complete, I walked out of the animal shelter and "Patches" began her new life. The first question my husband asked was if we could change her name. I called her by name many times those first few days together. When it became clear that she did not know her name, we changed it.

A new name for a new life.

love at first sight!

After spending the reminder of my vacation with me in the States, Olive and I boarded a plane and headed home to Italy. Opus was thrilled to have a cat in our home again, but a nervous Olive was a little more hesitant. After six weeks in the pound, five weeks at my parent's house, three plane rides and a new country, Olive was beyond nervous. For the first week she growled and hissed at the mere sight of Opus. It broke my heart as I could see that Opus wanted nothing more than to play with his new sister.

going home

Slowly by slowly, in quiet ways I noticed that things were starting to change. In time, Olive learned that she could trust her new home and the people (and cat) in it.

home at last ....

It was a year ago today when I first laid eyes on Olive. She looked so sad and lost in the animals shelter. She was a nervous little thing as she was surrounded by strangers, both humans and animals.

It warms my heart to see her curled up with us on the sofa, puring away with a heart full of love. She has been a wonderful addition to our family and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives.

FOREVER!

The Cat-O-Lympics

Our friends over at the Island of Cats are hosting the Synchronized Snoozing competition. Because Opus turned pro a few years ago, we do not qualify as amateur athletes to compete in the competition. However, in support of the Cat-O-Lympics we are participating in a Synchronized Snoozing Exhibition. Please understand that this is just an exhibition, which means that we will not qualify for medals.

And now, Cat Naps in Italy is proud to present, in exhibition for the Cat-O-Lympics, the Italian/American team of famed pair synchronized snoozers

"O & O", Opus and Olive.

Team O & O in training after several years of retirement.

Warmming up before the big exhibition.

On the platform waiting to start their performance.

Such beauty!

Such purrrrfection!

The glory of team O & O lives on!

We hope you have enjoyed our exhibition performance in celebration of the Cat-O-Lympics! Our dear friend Gracie is competing, so be sure to stop on by at her blog to lend her your support.

Check out the Island of Cats blog to see all the teams who are competing in the Synchronized Snoozing! Happy Cat-O-Lympics and good luck to the all athletes!

The Aftermath

If you remember from yesterday's post the gang, Karl, Ruis, Gracie, Momo, Socks, Asta, Barney and Stanley were in barrels heading towards the falls of Niagara Falls. Yes, you read that right.

Photo by Karl

You can not imagine our relief when Ollie and I discovered that we were unharmed but are sad to report that our barrel didn't survive. After several minutes of checking to make sure if we all made it safely we found that Gracie was in need of a little help.

Photo by Gracie

Remember that things don't always seem appear as they are. As bad as this might look to you never fear. If you want to find out more about poor Gracie head over to her place.

Falling Hard

Our trip to Niagara Falls with Karl, Ruis, Gracie, Momo, Socks, Asta, Barney and Stanley has been fun and relaxing. Oh how we didn't realize this morning when we woke up that this was soon to be changed.

Photo by Karl

Olive woke up this morning and when she looked out onto the falls she noticed that a barrel was in the water and heading towards the falls. She yelled for all of us to get down the the falls and see what was going on.

Photo by Karl

You can imagine to our surprise and horror when we saw that Gracie and Barney were in the barrel and already going over the falls!

Photo by Karl

All for one and one for all! We all jumped into a barrel and headed into the water. After going half way down the falls I think we were all wondering what did we do?

TO BE CONTINUED!

A Valentine's Trip

Photo by Gracie

Ollie and I decided the get into the MFV and pick up Karl, Ruis, Gracie, Momo, Socks, Asta, Stanley, Barney and plan a trip to Niagara Falls in celebration of Valentine's day.

Photo by Gracie
l-r: Olive, Karl, Ruis, Opus, Gracie Momo, & Asta

Be sure to check out what is going on at their place! Lots of action at the falls. Tomorrow certainly is going to be a scary day! Check back.

TGIF

TGIF

Thank Goodness It's Friday

Super Sunday!

Photo by Gracie

Today is a big day in our hometown of Indianapolis because our football team, the Colts, are playing in the Super Bowl today! We got into the MFV and headed to our Aunt Gracie's and are watching the game there. We also are helping her serve up refreshments while we enjoy the game because she is having an open house all day Super Bowl Party and everyone is invited.

Hope your favorite team wins!

SUPER BOWL PARTY!

We are beyond excitement as our home team, the Indianapolis Colts, are playing in the Super Bowl this weekend. We are heading over to Gracie's place and watch the game there. Everyone is invited so head on over for football fun!