American Animal Rescue :: mpls pet photographer
2 1/2 weeks ago (wow! really? already?) I was lucky enough to spend my day with the awesome and incredibly talented Karin Newstrom taking photos of rescue animals that are available for adoption from Ruff Start Rescue as well as Second Hand Hounds. We went up to Sit Means Sit in Spring Lake Park and set up camp for the afternoon. During the course of the day we photographed nearly 40 dogs and cats that are currently looking for their forever home through the rescues.
While Karin worked inside with the studio set up, I had free reign of a box of kittens and a few pups outside 
it was pretty spectacular and very, very hard to not take these little pumpkins home! Considering our weather that day I was extra glad that Karin had her set up. I got to be a lovely assistant for a change, learned a lot and only had my treat hand nibbled a dozen or so times. Thank you to everyone involved including, of course, the American Animal Rescue for organizing all of this. And I really hope this helps get more pups and kitties adopted!!
ps … these kittens were so small that those things that look like big grains of rice coming out of their paws?? those are baby kitten claws. yep. they were itty.bitty!!!
oh man … NOTHING cuter than a puppy in a basket … unless it’s a kitten in a basket. Yes, that would be cuter
Please visit Ruff Start Rescue to see more information on each of these animals and many, many others that Karin photographed as well. And I would encourage you to check out her post about these little at her blog here.
Besos!
Read Moreplaying dress up :: minneapolis pet photos
we’ve been over this. I love mail. All kinds of it. The e kind and the physical ‘old school’ in the box kind. And I like to make others happy by getting it because I know I’m not alone in this sentiment.
so yesterday when I got home from a busy, busy day at work I was THRILLED to see these in the mail …
The girls and I have been waiting for these. Well, ok, not so much them … more just me These are from my favorite collar lady, restowe. I’ve talked about these before because I have a leash for each of the girls because yes, I’m THAT lady that walks her cats around the yard on a leash. My neighbors can attest to the fact that it can take, oh, a few hours to get from the backyard to the front and back again. Ha! Well now I can replace their rather boring collars with something more fancy … I can’t wait to get them on and see what they think
… because clearly my cats need MORE fancy. A diet of meat just wasn’t enough 
tis spring
since we didn’t really have much of a winter I’ve been hesitant to say “hooray! it’s spring!” buuuuuuuuut I think we might be there. It’s been rather warm, the buds are budding, the girls have taken to wining at the door to the square whenever I’m home, I have most plastic off of my windows and I’m sneezing like crazy!!
So because I love this change to warmer weather and it’s sunny out right now, I wanted to share a few photos of my rather happy girls…
lots more puppies and people to come before too long. but for now, get outside and enjoy this sunshine! that’s where I’m going!
besos!
Read MorePittie Party! … benefit a good cause
You may remember these two beauties from this post and this post on here late last summer. Lilah is the beautiful pit bull mix and Olivia is her fantastic mama. These two were so lovely to work with and you know WHY I got to work with them?? Because Olivia attended the Pittie Party that was put on by the Minnesota Pit Bull Rescue last year and won one of my sessions in their silent auction. The MN Pit Bull rescue is a really fantastic organization run by people whose bottom line is helping animals in need. Besides this, they have an amazing group of foster families that take dogs in until they are placed in their forever home. These dogs are well socialized and well taken care of. The pit bull name sometimes gets a bad wrap but I have not met an aggressive or angry pit yet. They have all been so sweet!! And so have their owners. I think there is a link there …
One of the great foster families I have been fortunate enough to meet are the parents of these guys …
Their photos appeared on the blog last year here and I have my fingers crossed that our paths will meet again because I’m still itching for a photo of Zeus and Sig cuddling together
So I’m presenting all this information to you for a few reasons …
1. If you are an animal lover and have been trying to find the right organization to donate to, this one would be an ideal choice! Check out their website for more information. And THANK you!
2. If you are looking for something to do on March 31st in the evening, you should join me at the Pittie Party at Stella’s Fish Cafe in Uptown, Minneapolis! Tickets are now on sale. I will be there hanging out, meeting pet lovers and enjoying a glass of wine … my favorite sort of event! And if you can’t make it but want to help the org. please see reason 1 just above.
3. If you have been interested in a pet session with me, this could be an AWESOME way to get it at a STEAL of a deal while helping an AMAZING cause … I am donating 2 sessions again and this year each comes with $100 towards a jaw-dropping-fantastic canvas print… yippee! So head on over to the Pittie Party ticket site, pick up your ticket and join us at Stella’s on Saturday, March 31st!
Besos!
Mexican Beach Cat
… as opposed to last years Mexican Beach Dog.
Normally I’m a little apprehensive of random, stray animals that I meet on the street or a beach, as the case may be. You never know how they will react! That doesn’t mean I don’t try to be long lost BFFs but I’m at least a little cautious about it. But this kitty wasn’t completely random or stray … she was at the same cabañas last year. I got a few photos of her then but honestly, they aren’t great. She had a pretty serious neck wound and you could tell she had just been in a brawl. So when I got back to the cabañas again this year I was actually really excited to see her! And she was as friendly as I had remembered.
you can see in that top right image the scar she has from her battle. and this is 1 year later! I got the feeling that most of my traveling companions thought that I was rather strange for how many photos I took and how much I enjoyed her. I guess any cat that acts like it likes me is fair game for my love
I love those last 3 because it reminds me so much of Roux! She does this on my dad’s deck all.the.time. Except she is a smidge bigger and the rails are still about that far apart… so it’s just her nose that squeezes through I took these photos and then sent dad a message saying “I found Roux in cat form.” He seemed pretty excited to see what that meant.
Have a lovely evening!! I’m looking forward to what looks like an impending soaking and nice, cool sleeping temps while listening to the beautiful pitter patter. Bliss.
“Tut tut, it looks like rain”
Read Morethe weather …
It’s no secret that I live in Minnesota. And here, the weather is a constant topic of conversation…
“Can I go shovel the walk? You betcha, hun!”
“It’s not so much the heat, it’s the humidity.”
“Did you see those storm clouds move in last night, Sven? What a soaking we had! Boy, it sure is nice out today!”
And in true Minnesotan form, as much as I’d like to pretend I’m not guilty of it … I am. But seriously, have you SEEN this weather?? This week has been beautiful!!! Pretty much all week! So this, in combination with a lot of catch up from being gone in the depths of Mexico, a bunch of new and fantastic opportunities for Chocolate Moose, a heck of a lot of emotions as I take this week to really look at ‘me’ and what that means now and of course, oodles of time with the girls are all contributing factors to why my blog has been silent since I got back.
We’ve been doing a lot of this {see images below} around our house … time on the square and time with the shrimp. Oh boy, the shrimp. There has to be a post about that in the future. Anyone who has been to my house since the holidays knows that this little one here is obsessed {almost to the point of drooling} when I take out a shrimp. She fetches them like it’s what she was meant to do. And maybe that’s just it … Tarrazu was born to fetch shrimp. Ha Glad she found her calling in life!
**side note … I’m pretty sure that in the past I’ve defined a few terms for my blog readers that I throw out there all willy nilly, but just in case we have some new folks in town, here is another quick run down.
the square: an incredibly tiny patch of deck real estate that is outside our apartment’s back door. it is large enough to hold 2 cats, myself, a tomato plant and just a few herb plants. want to join me out here? then we should probably move the tomato plant inside.
the girls: my amazing kitties that have filled the last 2 years of my life with excitement, laughter, love, a little insanity and meat muffins. I don’t think I’m a crazy cat lady yet {proof? when they talk to me I’m still not sure what they say} but it’s possible that may be in my future. names of said kitties are Digi and Tarrazu (Tarra)
Just recently someone said “oh fun! what girls are you hanging out with and where is this square?? I want to come!!” So to help paint pictures in your minds that doesn’t involve lots of my girlfriends, martinis and some fancy restaurant patio somewhere {although that does sound AMAZING}, above are the definitions of what the hey I’m talking about.
Well, I’m super excited about everything that is ahead but it’s also quite bittersweet because of that big hole that remains in my heart. But today I’m going to focus on the good things … enjoying the sunshine, getting the girls as much out door time as possible, drinking some fancy new beer I just picked up and making something crafty. Have a great Saturday!
Read Moreon my way home!
Phew – after quite a few days of meandering around Mexico, I’m on my way home. I had an amazing time but I am so excited to snuggle with my girls!!
and go through photos from here…
be back in a flash!
Read Morehere kitty kitty :: pet photos
You may remember Hobbs from this mini post. Since I have kitties on the brain as I hunt for some to to photograph while in Mexico, I wanted to give Hobbs and her brother, Dijon more blog love!
I call the next one “turtle on it’s back.”
And this big fuzz ball is Dijon, Hobbs’ brother. He is one of the longest cats I’ve ever met!! Just recently he has learned to love his sister and from what I hear, they now play together often. Hooray for kitty love!
Awww so excited to go back through these!!! Thanks ladies – I know it was a while ago but it really was a treat to spend time with your family!
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