I Always Knew There Was A Big Underground Drag Kitty Scene.

Cat people. We are a rare breed aren't we.

We not only love our cats, we adore them. We even slightly worship them.

The other night, I looked at my cat, sleeping on his little cat couch, and shed a tear. If only he knew how much I loved him! (Of course hormones might have played a slight role in this moment.)

Well, my sister has shown me that there are some that take the adoration of their kitties to a whole new level.

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you...

Kitty Wigs

Kitty freakin' wigs.

I did a Google search and there is an entire Kitty Wig group on Flickr. Of course there is.

Okay, give me "depressed millionairess."

Now give me "I have no time for you, you stupid stupid human!" 

Okay, I admit, I once put a little tiny Panthers helmet on Lemieux to take a picture to send to my mother-in-law. But a wig? I just don't think I can subject my boys to that. I mean, if they're into drag, I am a loving mother and will love and support them no matter what. But I'm not going to be the reason why they turn to a life of sin. (I've read I Am Not Myself These Days! I know what those girls are up to! Okay, I loved that book, but whatever.)

It doesn't matter anyways -- they're both more purple kinda gals.

Although Lemieux would rock that pink one like nobody's business.

Hmmmm... $50... 

Do You Have Olympic Fever??

Wow - what a weekend. A weekend of me stuck to the couch watching hours of Olympic coverage. Awesomely stuck!

It all started with the most amazing opening ceremonies I can remember. Well, that actually started Saturday morning for me, as I had other plans Friday evening, so watched the full 4.5 hours commercial free (Yay DVR!). Oh, I take that back. Not completely commercial free, because that amazing United Air commercial caught my eye. Having just taking a motion graphics course, I watched this commercial in complete awe. The integration of traditional animation with 3D graphics and live action footage is top notch. I found it on YouTube, and of course the quality sucks, but you get the idea.

Love.It.

But going back to the opening ceremonies, there were many memorable moments. My personal favorite moments were the LED drum countdown (probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen), and then the little 9-year old boy from China that walked along side the flag carrying yao Ming (He was so tiny! Or perhaps looked tiny next to Yao Ming.) who went back and saved two classmates after the horrific 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Find me one person that didn't at least get a tiny bit choked up when they told that boy's story. (I of course, went through about 5 tissues).

So then the rest of the weekend was Men's basketball (was anyone else just smidgen worried when the Chinese started out so strong? Yao Ming with a three-pointer? WTF?), beach volleyball (with Kerri Walsh loosing her wedding ring during her and Misty May-Treanor's win - don't worry, they found it! - and the downpour during Gibb & Rosenthal's easy win) and gymnastics (and yes, I do believe a few of the Chinese girls' claims to be 16 are a bit suspect). Add in a few trips out of the house for some food, and that pretty much sums up my weekend.

Oh wait... I forgot a sport. Ummm did anyone happen to watch the swimming? I know, only a bagillion people are curious as to how Micheal Phelps will perform. And since he broke World Records and claimed the Gold in his first two medal races -- which analysts claim to have been his hardest races these Olympic games -- well, dude is doing pretty well. Okay, really well. Okay, okay, mind-blowingly well. Better yet, freak of nature well.

Poor poor Lemieux. My little lap kitty that wants nothing more than to sleep on his mommy's belly every night. There he was, at 11:30 last night, well past our bedtime. Trip and I were watching TV, anxiously awaiting the Men's 4x100m relay race which the French were heavily favored, not to mention talking some smack on the US (doesn't that almost always end badly?). We didn't have our hopes up for a Gold, especially since the US were almost a body length behind going into that last leg. But wait... he's catching up... oh my gosh he's catching up! It's so close, it's super close. OH MY GOSH!!!! HE DID IT!!! THEY WON!!! THEY WON!!! Both Trip and I leapt up out of bed, sending poor Lemieux half way across the room, where he stopped and stared at us with eyes as big as saucers. I think we may have gone through one of his lives last night. Sorry boo boo. But holy cow, was that a race or what!! (Oh, and Micheal Phelps, if you're reading this, please feel free to scream like an animal and show every muscle in your body whenever you want, thank you.)

So the Johnson household, kitties and all, is in a full Olympic frenzy.

I can't believe we have over two more weeks of this!!

R.I.P. M.C.

It was a sad, sad day on Saturday. My family had to say goodbye to a member of the family.

A few months ago, my sister's cat Marie Claire became suddenly ill. After trying everything they could to get her better, her little body just couldn't fight anymore, and she was ready to start a new adventure.

She lived an amazing nine years. Not many people can say they lived in San Francisco, Miami, Singapore and Hawaii -- let alone a cat. I was fortunate enough to visit her in each of these locations. We both agreed that Singapore was her mommy's best home.

I will always remember Marie Claire as being the most beautiful cat I have ever seen. I took this picture of her with my phone on a day when I was caring for her. I just loved how, even though you knew she wasn't feeling well, she still posed for me. Always the lady.

Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Marie Claire. We are forever grateful. :)

I Need Sleep.

I know it's been awhile since I've blogged, but it's the BlogHer Business Conference in New York next week, and I have been absolutely swamped with designing signage, brochures, etc. Hopefully things will slow down soon...

Thought I would leave you with some filler, though. Once again, this animator is spot on. This was our little Lemieux last night, trying desperately to get into our closet at 4 in the morning.

This Is Pretty Much Every Morning in the Johnson Household

Thanksgiving is for Lovahs.

Well, Thanksgiving is over, and obviously from my lack of posts, I've been quite busy. So thought I would bring ya'll up to date!

First, Mom & Daddy came on Wednesday. Mom and I went for a hike, and came back to find Daddy nugglin' with the grandkids.

Then we had sushi for dinner. Daddy recognized that the server was Korean and started spittin' some Korea geography knowledge (No, my dad isn't Korean. He just knows everything about everything). He must have made an impression, as the husband and Daddy got some Kirins on the house. Not that this surprised me. Things like that happen to Daddy all the time.

Next day, Thanksgiving at Sissy and Keith's in Oakland.

First I made Tristan pose for me.

Renee made super yummy apps. Yum. Yum. YUM!

Keith took pictures. I took pictures of Keith taking pictures.

And Brother got kisses from Tristan.

Sissy did a Martha-riffic job of setting the table.

And here it is folks - the piece de resistance. Our first Tofurky!

Isn't it gorgeous??

Well it smelled like ass and tasted like nothing. Neither of us really cared for turkey when we were meateaters, so it was kinda destined for failure. Oh well. We tried. Next year just straight "tofu" minus the "rky". Thank goodness we had lots of these:

But everything else was wonderful, and I ate waaay too much. Dur.

So then the sun started to set, and made some bitchin shadows on the wall. Keith was jealous he didn't have his camera close by (and apparently walking up a flight of stairs is impossible after a Thanksgiving binge).

Game time! YAAAAAAAAAAAHTZEEEEEEEEEE!

Ahhhhhhh yaaaaaa. That was me biotches.

How my sister-in-law slept while we played Yahtzee I'll never know. Girlfriend was tired (or maybe drunk, but we'll just say she was tired).

And then Marie Claire proclaimed it was time for all of us to leave. "Out thee minions!"

To quote the great Ice Cube, "I gotta say it was a good day."

Friday was more eating and drinking and a 6 hour marathon of Rock Band. Papa Bear - AKA me (on vocals and bass), Mr. Johnson (on lead), Brother (on vocals and drums), Sissy (on vocals and bass) - made their first appearance in Campbell and rocked it. Keep an eye out. We're going to make it BIG. In our imaginary Rock Band world.

And then it was game night at our house Saturday night. Fun times. Lots more drinking and eating. Brother and I put together a puzzle of the Biltmore Estate - one of our NC summer vacation stops. Cat was not helping.

Mr. Johnson, Miguel, Chris, Steve, Amii, Nay, Jackson and Sarah all played Yahtzee. And apparently doodled.

Sunday was laying on the couch recovering. All day. It rocked.

And now here I am back to work and blah blah blahdiddy blah. Sad.

The iPhone vs. The Peebs.

The iPhone has changed my life completely. I cannot even tell you. I love it.

But I didn't realize how much my cats would hate it. Because now, whenever they are doing something even remotely cute, I have to take their picture and send it out to everyone I know won't care. I think the picture clicking sound has effected them in some kind of crazy Pavlovian way, but does that stop me - of course not!

This is how I was forced to leave Monsieur Peebs today. His eyes either say:

"No mommy, don't go to work! Stay here and nuggle me all day"

or

"Get out of my face you stupid stupid Neanderthal. Get to work and make that money, biotch. And don't forget my treaties."

Seriously, you know this is one of the cutest things you have ever seen. Don't fight the feeling.