VOTM Guide to Gifting Part 2: If you’re not a cat.

You saw Buhbah’s picks, here’s mine! Buy local, handmade, vegan, etc. Some might say we’ve entered “last-minute” as it pertains to gift-buying for the holidays, but I say psshaw. Bake your hard-working postal worker some cookies and hope for the best.

This wonderful gift pack from Food for Lovers Queso (we love Chris and Crystal!) is essential. Your lucky recipient gets a jar of the best vegan queso, either a felt ornament from our very own Panda With Cookie or a queso cozy, and a personalized gift card. Open to US-only, sadly, but I know I have lots of American friends staring blankly at the tortilla chips in their cupboards.

I'd go for the felt serrano.

I love My Zoetrope, it is no secret. I fell in love with artist Michelle Cavigliano’s colourful illustrations last year, and this year I am really excited to have her 2012 Calendar sitting on my desk, awaiting 2011 to bite the dust. Because aren’t we all waiting for 2011 to bite the dust?

Someone on my list will find this grey turban ear warmer from Treewool under the tree. Good thing my family ignores the blog.

I am by no means a perfume girl, but I can think of handful of crazy friends who would love this fascinating Grandpa’s Pipe-scented roll-on perfume oil from LondonCity.

The next two picks come from local (to me) businesses run by incredible people I have had the privilege to either work with, eat with, or write about.

Nice Shoes is Vancouver’s first vegan shoe store, run by a wonderful vegan couple. And I have been thinking about, saving up, not saving up enough and then going broke, and then thinking about again these boots for years.

Karmavore Vegan Shop has the ubiquitous Peppermint Chocolate Vitasoy in stock. Enough said. Non-Canadians, you are in luck—Karmavore ships worldwide!

After that Vitasoy aperitif, we are getting hungry, yes? How about some PandaWithCookieBakes Earl Grey tea cookies or some SweetVConfections S’more Fudge?

This beautiful necklace makes me feel pretty emotional because it would have been the perfect gift for an inspiring bird-loving person I knew and loved and who passed away a couple of years ago. I’m sure many people would appreciate its uniqueness.

And because it always comes back to cats (Buhbah just jumped on my lap), who needs Santa cards when you can have trampoline kitties? The scrappyrat Etsy shop donates some of its proceeds to various worthy animal causes.

Buhbah Friday: Buhbah’s Newest Attempt to Take Over the World!

The flood in my house is mostly a thing of the past, and Buhbah has been doing a whole lot of this in my office:

Leave me alone, shorter but still kinda tall one.

Meanwhile, Buhbah’s fame just keeps on increasing, most recently with this prototype Panda With Cookie Buhbah holiday ornament, only $8 (US) from the Panda With Cookie Etsy Shop!

See the fang?

But Panda’s efforts (while Buhbah slumbers) don’t stop there. Panda had the brilliant idea to take custom cat face orders for your own personalized cat ornament. In true VOTM style, she is donating 10% of all cat ornament and zine orders to Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, who assist cats that are looking for homes.

Custom cats!

As if any feline-respecting person can resist. Contact Panda Cookie today and make sure your cat makes his/her appearance on your holiday tree!

Buhbah Friday Guest Post: Lucy

Buhbah is really mad at us because our house was flooded. Buhbah is fine, and has plenty of food and a warm, dry, place to sleep with lots of attention from his fans, but you know how cats are. Apparently he is supporting the Occupy workers strike, so he’ll be back to VOTM at some point in the (hopefully, but I’m not going to force him!) not-too-distant future. He is currently occupying Sim’s yard.

Lucy (pictured) is no longer with us, so Buhbah will feel like a huge jerk if he protests this guest post. Lucy was one of my roommates (the others were two cats and a wonderful woman named Susan) when I lived in San Francisco, and she was awesome. She was a rescue spaniel found dumped by the side of the freeway and adopted from Muttville Senior Dog Rescue in the Bay Area. She was completely deaf, had cancer tumours, and painful back issues, but with some love and medication, she was still able to live on happily for a few years. When I took her for (short—we lived a block away) walks in Golden Gate park, she always wanted to smell the flowers in the rose garden, and she was also a frequent appreciator of the flowers in Susan’s garden. When she was getting close to having to be put down, one of the cats used to lay in her bed with her. R.I.P. Lucy. Support Muttville Senior Dog Rescue! Senior dogs are the sweetest!

Buhbah Friday Guest Post: Skittles

I’m house-sitting right now, in a place far too large for my default levels of laziness and messiness. Anyway, my companion is Skittles. Though I miss Buhbah dearly, we had a little phone conversation the other day, and it was reported by the taller one that the cat’s end consisted mostly of Buhbah bashing his wee head up against the receiver. Using my best google translate cat-reading, I have concluded that this action meant that in response to my request about whether skittles—the 60-pound companion sheepdog who is glued to my side—could be featured on Buhbah Friday, Buhbah replied “just make that little jerk do, at the very least, a tap dance. Meow.” Sigh. Fine, Buhbah, FINE.

Meet Skittles.

Vegan Month of Food

Happy October! I am extremely excited to welcome you all to 2011′s Vegan Month of Food—Vegans on the Move-style. We can’t wait to share with you our adventures in my inaugural (Panda is a seasoned pro) year participating in Vegan MoFo.

This is the fifth year of Vegan MoFo (succinct info about the whole shebang can be found at MoFo HQ here), and while I’ve seriously enjoyed (and lost a great deal of job productivity) reading my way through the MoFo months over the past four years, nothing is more exciting to me than actually being involved this year, as a blogger.

We’ll have posts up every Monday to Friday throughout the month of October, I’ll be doing roundups over at MoFo headquarters on Sundays, and Panda Cookie will also be MoFo-ing at her other blog, Panda With Cookie.

If either of us get sick, Buhbah will pick up the slack.

Happy MoFo-ing and see you Monday!

Buhbah Friday

Buhbah enjoys the calm before the storm.

Gearing up for me and Buhbah’s first Vegan MoFo has been intense, to say the least. In between fast-paced brainstorming sessions and tersely worded planning meetings, Buhbah manages to catch a few Zs on his favourite blanket. See you tomorrow!

Buhbah Friday

Ready, set, pounce! It was with excellent intentions and aspirations of a healthy body and mind that I rolled out my old yoga mat, but Buhbah had other plans. The mat is now Buhbah’s own play area, with a top notch surface for pouncing and claw-kneading. A hangover from my blissfully holistic days when I attended yoga regularly, my name is written in a Sharpie at the bottom right of the mat. Someone, be it Buhbah or my boyfriend (who knows?) decided it would make more sense to cross that out and write in “Buhbah’s.” Cats.

Buhbah Friday

Buhbah is the cutest crayon in the box. What this photo lacks in composition and editing it makes up for in pure, unrivaled, adorability (a word!). This photo is one of the first I ever took of dear Buhbah, right before he chose us. That is my closet-sized kitchen you see, and Buhbah is spying on my boyfriend and I as we make dinner. Sussing us out. We passed. He’s in my office snoring as we speak. If this were a lolcat it would say “I can haz goblet?”.

 

 

Buhbah Friday

Obviously this isn’t the most painstakingly composed photograph, but such is the case when you are catching Buhbah dealing catnip paparazzi-style. Buhbah is the proud owner of not one, but two Panda With Cookie catnip carrots, and his buddy Sim (aka Grey Man) is eternally jealous. I caught them looking shifty—Buhbah never fails to fist pump his buddy Grey Man, but he’s always looking out for that not-so-trustworthy anti-catnip tabby.