Living Pretty with Your Pets: Swoon Worthy

I’m thrilled to share todays blog and pets with you today. I have been only bugging her for a year now to participate and I was a rather huge pain in the rear. I’m surprised she didn’t mention it in her post. But if you see Kimberly’s house, style and furry children, then you know why I wanted to share it all with you.

Hello lovely Julia’s readers! I’m Kimberly and my blog is called Swoon Worthy which is all about attaining an eclectic boho glam look on a budget! It’s an honour to be here today because not only is Julia’s style just fabulous, she’s also a truly lovely, down-to-earth person and despite our living an entire ocean apart (I live in the UK), I consider her a friend. Bonding over a mutual love of animals, blogging, living far from our birthplace (I’m originally from Pennsylvania not far from where Julia now resides!) and glam design was always going to mean we have plenty in common!

My English-born partner Wayne and I live in an Edwardian semi-detached house in the outskirts of Manchester. A few years ago we found out we weren’t able to have children and so once we got over this unfortunate fact, we decided to fill our home with fur babies instead. And yes, they are very much like our children!

When I moved in with Wayne, I hadn’t lived with pets since I was a child. He had two cats – Senna and Pablo, both rescue kittens abandoned to a vet who’s owners didn’t want them. My friends, knowing how house proud I was, warned me, “You do know cats will destroy your house, right? You know they shed everywhere?” But by that time, I’d already fallen in love – not just with Wayne but with his cats too. Having never owned them, I didn’t realise how much of a ‘crazy cat lady’ I was until I had them myself.

Sadly, our beautiful ginger girl Senna passed away a few years ago (we still miss her little idiosyncratic ways) but our gorgeous 12 year old Pablo is still with us, fighting fit. He’s basically the ‘boss’ of the house and while he was extremely playful up to about 2 or 3 years ago, he’s slowing down now naturally. He loves nothing more than quiet and snuggling in a soft spot, preferably near a warm heat source.

He’s always been a bit needy – greeting us at the door when we get home, coming for a snuggle when we’re watching television and he’s turned into a proper lap cat in his older years. He will sit by me when I’m on my laptop and head-butt my hand until I let him sit on my lap. If you sit on the floor with him, he will immediately start purring because he knows he’s getting some attention.

Just because he’s rather more placid now, doesn’t mean he puts up with anything from his younger ‘siblings’ – they know who’s boss and they will get ‘warned’ if they cross the line or get too playful. He definitely rules the roost around here.

 

Alas, he’s completely black which makes him incredibly difficult to photograph. Just because he’s not often shared on my blog doesn’t mean we don’t love him – he’s just the easiest little man and gives us not one ounce of trouble.

Attention is a little hard to come by, understandably since the arrival of our cat, Meisha – seen here as just a kitten which I had to include because she was just the cutest thing I’d ever seen.

Now, Meisha is my favourite (I know, shhh – don’t tell the others). We brought her home over 2 years ago now and life hasn’t been the same since.

 

Meisha is a Bengal and her glorious leopard-style markings means she matches every room in our house – she’s also a camera hog and very photogenic. There are a LOT of pictures of Meisha both on my blog and on my Instagram.

 

She follows me around the house (there’s little doubt I’m her ‘chosen human’) and is a total trouble-maker. She will get into anything you don’t want her to, is insatiably curious and playful and talks non-stop.

She has a million little squeaks, grunts and meows, each with slightly different meaning (which I’m still trying to figure out) and even ‘talks’ in her sleep. She does not like NOT being part of the ‘action’ – whether that’s photographing something for the blog, preparing a meal, doing DIY on our home or just trying to open a parcel. She needs to know exactly what you are doing at all times and better, must be involved in the process. She also likes to stick her paws into my coffee and enjoys endless belly rubs.

She loves playing catch (we often say she’s very ‘dog like’ because of how much personality she has) and loves being underneath things – the duvet, my shirt, the kitchen cupboards – and if there’s a bag or a box, you’ll find her inside of it. She also loves water – I very often have to run the faucet for her so she can drink running water because her water bowl just isn’t exciting enough. She gives loads of affection, always with her scratchy little kitty kisses. She gets lonely sometimes and so when she wants your company, she will ‘howl’ at the top of the stairs until someone comes up (usually me) to pay her some attention. I could actually dedicate an entire blog to her antics as she’s endlessly entertaining!

Finally, we had a new arrival this summer. Wayne desperately wanted a dog and with me working from home, we were finally able to get one.

We did a ton of research beforehand because we really wanted a dog that was relatively small, got on well with children (we have little nieces who love animals) and who was intelligent and playful to keep Meisha company. Quito is a Shetland Sheepdog (or a Sheltie as they are also known). He’s only 5 months old now but he’s incredibly intelligent and learns new things all the time – enabled by the fact that he’s the greediest animal I’ve ever met! Quito LOVES food and will do just about anything for a treat.

He’s incredibly friendly and he’s a very happy little dog, tail always wagging and very playful. He’s teething at the moment which can be difficult because he wants to eat pretty much everything! We’re also potty training so our entire schedule revolves around his eat/sleep/potty schedule and Wayne gets up at 4am to take him out for him to do ‘his business’ and again at 6am for his walk. Yep, very much like having a baby! We are both a bit sleep deprived and I have lots of toys around my house these days as he likes to get each one out in succession – Wayne says he takes after his ‘mum’ in that he’s constantly redecorating – ha! Well, we wanted fur children and that’s certainly what we got!

With a strong ‘herding’ instinct, he also likes to chase the cats which we are doing our best to curb – I think he sees them as moving toys! Pablo (being the boss) doesn’t really allow it but Meisha is still young and so runs when she sees him and of course Quito thinks it’s a game so will chase her although there are times, she clearly enjoys the playtime! There is a lot of ‘breaking up’ of the animals at the moment but we are making some progress and hoping that things will continue to improve as Quito gets a little older!

So I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about our furry family! Our pets are our world and we love them each for what they bring to our home. We often joke that we have a young adult (Pablo), a toddler (Meisha) and a baby (Quito) at the moment so life is certainly interesting and we couldn’t be happier. Thanks so much, Julia, for having me!

 

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Thanks so much for the sweet words about me Kimberly. And by the way Meisha even makes my husband want to get another cat. Her personality sounds like our Lucy’s. I always wanted a black cat like Pablo. I’m also still working on getting a little dog one day. I’m sure we’ll be ready once our kids go to college.

I also just wanted to include some fabulous shots from Kimberly’s house in case you missed her Fall Blogger Stylin Home Tour (click HERE) a couple of weeks ago. She is a master at colorful decorating. If you ever wondered about how to decorate with color the right way, then she is the girl for you.

Even if you saw her tour then you might have missed her fabulous stylish and unique bathroom. Click HERE to read more.

And there is more to see of her stunning bedroom, click HERE to see more.

And I also adore her dining room with the blue walls, click HERE.

Can you tell that I really love her home? And like she said we have some things in common besides pets and blogging. I basically adore her.

Happy Friday everyone.

Tschüß

(Youleeya)