Meet Matilda, the Resident Cat at the Algonquin Hotel

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to stay at the Algonquin Hotel in NYC. Wonderful because I am a huge cat lover, and the Algonquin Hotel is famous for, among other things, it's resident cat named Matilda. On past day trips to NYC, I have stopped by the hotel just for a chance to admire her, and sneak a little pet down her silky, soft fur.

When I arrived to check-in, the bellhops informed me that Matilda was "out" for her grooming. So after dinner and a show, I returned to the hotel to find Matilda ruling the lobby. A swish of her tail, a well-maneuvered leap up the luggage, and 'plop' she layed down on the front desk, basking in all her freshly-groomed, feline glory. The next morning, she was busy, busy - from the front desk, to the luggage cart, to her personal cat-sized chaise lounge. And, the same, when I returned from my conference in the evening. The next morning she was on check-out duty at the front desk, and I scratched her ears and blew her a kitty kiss before heading out the door.

There has been an Algonquin Cat in the hotel since the 1930's. I was told that the beauty before me was Matilda II. Next time you are in NYC take a minute to stop and meet Matilda, the Algonquin cat, who lives at the Algonquin Hotel. >^..^<

Rosie Helps Me Draw

My cats are a great source of inspiration for me. Rosie loves to help me work on a hatching project for art class. On this day, we drew at my easel in the warm sunshine at the end of my kitchen. Needless to say, she is quite the "helper" when it comes to batting around erasers and charcoal. >^..^<

PRSA New Media Boot Camp

Last Thursday and Friday I had the opportunity to attend PRSA's New Media Boot Camp in NYC. It was quite an experience. After two days jammed packed with the in's and out's of all things relating to new media: search engine optimization, RSS feeds, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, delicious, Digg, blogs, online news rooms, etc. - my head was spinning by 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon!

I highly recommend the program for anyone in the fields of media relations, advertising and marketing. The facilitator, Eric Schwartzman is incredibily knowledgeable. I am very happy to have attended and gained many tips and insights of how all of the new media pieces fit together.

Five years ago, in my mind Twitter was something only a bird did; dig was something I did in the garden, and delicious meant a meal tasted good. Makes me wonder what the next five years has to bring to the world of the internet and media relations!

Animal Communication Leads to Creating Music

Friends of mine are big dog lovers. Big in two senses:

• they have an enormous love for dogs,
• plus the fact that they co-habitat with five HUGE dogs....3 golden retrievers and 2 great pyrnese.

While visiting an animal sanctuary, my friend received creative inspiration via animal telepathy from a dog there and ended up recording an incredibly beautiful piano CD. Enjoy reading about his experience:

http://www.freshconceptsmusic.com/how.htm

Girls Club Mission Illustration

This is a fun illustration that I just completed for the back of a girl's club magazine - Sparkle. It reflects the mission statement of the organization: "Teaching young girls to become world changers." My cat wiggled his way into this drawing - his long tail and all! *meow*~

Creating a Stop Sign

For anyone in the advertising/creative services field, this video will hit home.

New at this!

I'm learning how to set up a blog. I've been inspired and motivated by other artists that I've found through Twitter. Thank you for your insightful Tweets and helping me learn from your experiences.