Phoenix

A lot of bad stuff happened over the summer. I was hospitalized in early June, I was recovering until mid July, my husband and close friends got diagnosed with Lyme Disease after a trip to Yosemite, and fires burned hundreds of thousands of acres of the Angeles Forest.

Needless to say, it was rough going this summer. I was feeling kind of low last weekend when I went into Petco to buy our little Gizmo some Petromalt. Then the most incredible thing happened! -- I saw all of the kitties from Happy Strays who were up for adoption. There were so many adorable little mews! One little kitty instantly caught my eye, but she was already being removed from her cage by other prospective parents, so I asked to hold her brother, an orange tabby named Simba. He was so completely intoxicating that he was all I talked about over lunch with Eric.

Eric agreed that we could head back to the Petco and see if Simba was still available for adoption. Sadly, when we got there we learned that he had been adopted earlier that day. I was pretty bummed about it, until they told me that his sister was still available. Wouldn't you know it? -- His sister was the first kitty that had caught my eye. No one had adopted her. She's a splotchy little Torti cat with a tongue of flame running up the right side of her face. When I got a hold of her, I just couldn't let go. She was the sweetest, warmest, most affectionate little purr monster ever! So, we adopted her. She has added so much to our family. She's rambunctious and erratic, totally curious, and an absolutely adorable little firebird. For this reason, we named her Phoenix.

(CLICK IMAGES TO VIEW LARGER)

Phoenix, stalking

She looks like such a queen!

Pheonix, at play

I'm so happy that we adopted her. She single-handedly burst my funk, and I've been pretty happy about her (and life) ever since.