It’s snowing out, I feel like crap, let’s look at some kittens today!
Here’s the girls when they were mere shrimps of impending cathood.
For those who don’t know the story, Bella was found in a box of kittens abandoned at a central California rest stop. A guy walking his dog picked them up and drove them to a rescue in San Francisco, feeding them dog food along the way so at least they’d have something to munch on. She was three weeks old when we got her – a feline paramecium, just tiny – and she was an infected, filthy little creature. How could we say no? Here she is a week or so later, well on the road to recovery. Don’t be fooled by the innocent face. She does this right before the fangs chomp down.
Pollywog has pretty much been a vamp since infancy. She came from the SPCA, and adopting animals from shelters isn’t so much “picking out the best one” but more like “we can’t leave this one behind.” We ended up keeping the name the SPCA gave her – we tried calling her Lily for a little bit but it just didn’t stick – and according to one of novelist Judith Krantz’s characters, every beautiful woman must have a nickname to make her seem less intimidating. (It was in Mistral’s Daughter, I think.) And frogs are cute. So Pollywog she remained, and as she gets older she just gets better at making these sultry feline faces.
This catalog touts itself as “the positive place for girls” while offering loads of short, tight, ‘n shiny – and some everyday basics, too. Floral batwing one-shoulder minidresses, sweater tunics and ruffled cardigans, leggings with all kinds of crazy prints/patterns/laces all over them, teeny little miniskirts, bikinis and one-pieces, and the beautifying extends into clip-in locks of hair, wigs, and Nyx cosmetics. Candy-striped spike heels and faux-suede scrunch booties can be found in the shoe section, and the accessories include fedoras, tiaras, cinch belts, fringy knit scarves, and gigantic bags for slogging around glamorously during the day.
The shiny mugs of vintage automobiles poke their headlights and grilles up from the knuckles, in these rings by 
This shop immortalizes all kinds of vintage vehicles, dipping not just into kustom kulture but going back to antique roadsters for splashing across the shiny expanse of a cuff bracelet. The Recycling page repurposes emblems into necklaces, grills poke up from wrists and fingers, tikis and tropical flora also pop up as recurring motifs, and custom is welcome.
This week’s Highlights is brought to you by the box-hopping proclivities of Pollywog. We cannot have anything shipped to our place without Countess Von Rumpkinstein immediately booking for the cardboard and making it her nest until the next package comes along. Her present hangout is a chunk of styrofoam, which makes me want to carve out a piece of our apartment just for her in the form of a permanent, comfy kitty bed.
This Bowl ‘o Mew is utterly adorbs with the bright 70’s patchwork and the baby-blanket quilting and the little pillow just waiting to be perfumed with cheek musk. From 
For the indoor pet, a tiny tree that comes with a cat’s cradle tucked beneath the leafy canopy. From 
This bed screams for a calico in Gunne Sax to sprawl across its shabby chic roses. From 
This bed will turn any animal into a character from Dangerous Liasons, the perfect lair for bitchy meowing, sharp claws, and haughty, imperious looks. From 
And speaking of French opulence, here’s something to spruce up the litter box. (I love the expression: “WHY are you taking my picture at this moment?!”) From 
A banquet of retro lingerie, loaded with girdles and garters and bullet bras from Pour Moi, Stockings and Romance, Vollers, What Katie Did, Gossard, Rosy, Kiss Me Deadly, and Playful Promises. The hosiery sports wide lace tops and Cuban heels, the cocktail sparklies are provided by Rukhsana, and there are crystal bra straps if this all just isn’t enough oomph.
