On Exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art!

Ok, so it isn't exactly on par with being shown in New York or Paris, but our local Museum of Contemporary Art held a photo competition of sorts to run in conjunction with an exhibit they are showing called "Why We Look at Animals" - so they got together with the city newspaper and held a photo contest for residents of the city to submit their favorite animal photo they had taken.  I received notice last week that my entry was one of 100 that were chosen by the museum curator and newspaper photo editor to be part of the exhibit!  They held a reception and opening ceremony this afternoon at the museum that we were able to attend:

Museum goers looking at my photo:

And the proud papa posing next to our kitten Mischa, gorgeous as always, looking quite smashing in her black frame and white border:

No money involved, no prizes, but very, very cool to have one of my photos hanging in a real museum, even if they are all amateur photos from a fun contest through a newspaper.  She has a wall tag and everything!  Uber cool. :)

Recovering

Having been sick for a couple of days, I've spent much of my time like Mischa here: sleeping.

ABC Wednesday: "V" is for Vicious

This week's ABC Wednesday is "V" is for Vicious.  

This poor pink mouse obviously did not realize what it was getting into when it wandered too close to our vicious kitten...

It quickly learned its mistake via her vicious claws....

And don't forget the vicious teeth.  "Roar!" she says.

Not really.  It was actually a big yawn.  All of that mouse getting had made her quite tired. :)

Valse* your way over to the ABC Wednesady blog for all of the fun.

*Valse is French for Waltz... so dance your way over...

Mischa's First Christmas Tree

We were hoping that Mischa would be one of those rare cats that are not very interested in Christmas trees... alas, she loves it, or is at least very interested in it and has spent much time sniffing, biting, rubbing against, and sticking her head up into the middle of said tree.  We're going to hold off putting on ornaments for a day or two until she has had a chance to get used to it.  We will not be surprised to come home from church tomorrow to find our path blocked by a horizontal tree laying on the floor in our way...

More Mischa

Mischa, trying to decide whether she needs to be run through the dryer on "fluff", or...

taken out with the trash:
We opted for neither, of course.  She's too cute to throw away. :)

ABC Wednesday: "K" is for Kitten's First Birthday

Letter "K" falls perfectly this go around for us, as October 1st is not only Wednesday but also the birthday (observed) of our obscenely cute kitten, Mischa, who celebrates her first birthday today.

We don't know an exact date of birth because she was rescued by a cat rescue society from a feral colony not long after she was born and taken into their shelter, cared for, spayed, and later adopted by us when she was old enough.  But the society guessed that she was born around October 1st, so that is the day we choose to celebrate.

If there has ever been a more adorably cute kitten in the history of adorably cute kittens, we are not sure of the validity of those claims because Mischa is just plain freaking adorable.  Even when she is nibbling on our ankles or scratching the bed sheets she is still adorable.  We might not be too happy with her during those moments, but we cannot deny the cuteness even then.
Her official name is Mischa, which is the female form of the name Michael in Russian.  Why that name you ask?  Well, Russian Blue cats come from the Archangel Islands near the Arctic Circle and the Archangel's name is Michael, and since she is a female we feminized Michael into Mischa.  She isn't a pure Russian Blue by any stretch, but she looks almost like one and we thought it would be a pretty name either way.

In addition to being called by Mischa, she is also often refered to by any of the following:

Mischa, Mischa-boo, Boo, Boogie, Boogie-boo, Baby, Baby-boo, Hyper-boo, Sleepy-boo, Crazy-boo, Snuggly-boo, Doodle, Punkin (Pumpkin), Punkin-doodle, Sweet Baby Boo, Sweetness, Misch-boo (no 'a'), Mischy, and "STOP BITING ME!"  (Sorry, that last one isn't really a name, just something we periodically yell out loud...)

So there you have it, a pictoral and written history of the most recent nine months of the first year of our lovely kitten's life.

Last but not least one of her more serious poses that I happened to catch following an afternoon nap with the sunlight hitting her just perfect - she looks like she was posing for a school portrait, haha.

Visit http://abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/ to see what else the cat dragged in. :)

Mischa Sidelight Portrait II

Micha Sidelight Portrait I

Gimme five!

Mischa attempting to play with a lizard on the outside of the window. She hasn't figured out that she can't get through the glass yet. :)

Mischa Set: 5

Last one from her most recent photo session. I'm sure there will be more in the future, she's just too darn cute not to take pictures of sometimes (except when she is climbing up my legs with her tiny claws... not so cute then!)

Mischa Set: 4

Mischa Set: 3 "The Thinker"

I call this shot "The Thinker" because her pose reminds me of Rodin's famous sculpture of the same name...

Mischa has more hair...

Mischa Set: 2

Time to wash the paw.

Mischa Set: 1

Our gorgeous kitten Mischa was napping in the living room on her stool with the sun shining through the windows on her and was gracious enough to allow me to snap of a series of photos of her, some of which came out quite nice. I'll post a few of them over the next few days.

Klean Kitten

Cats are naturally curious, and they are also naturally very clean... so it makes perfect sense that our gorgeous kittan Mischa just can't resist hopping inside the dish washer!

She's just so darn cute! :)

Peek-a-boo

Peek-a-boo with Mischa...boo...

Bonus Thursday Post: Our New Kitten!

Making her debut in our house (and our blog) is our brand new kitten, adopted tonight - Mischa. She looks a little like a Russian Blue, though she is certainly not a purebreed, so we decided to give her a Russian name. Since the original Russian Blue cats came from the Archangel Islands in Northwest Russia, Michael is the Ark Angel, and Mischa is the feminine form of Michael in Russian (according to the name site we referenced) - hence her name is Mischa.

She is about 3 months old, tiny, and very, very sweet. It only took her about 5 minutes in the house to begin playing and loving on us and letting us pet her and purring, etc. She's adorable. :)