saturday night movie: breakfast at tiffany's

Alternate title: How normal people watch Breakfast at Tiffany's vs. How crazy cat ladies watch Breakfast at Tiffany's. (Also please be aware this post contains spoilers!)

Breakfast at Tiffany's was on tv last week, and so I watched it for the bazillionth time, as usual. However, during this particular viewing I realized something that I hadn't before. I could care less if Audrey and George Peppard end up together at the end. To me, the film reaches its emotional climax not because George and Audrey embrace, but because they have Cat between them.

From the moment that the cab scene starts, my stomach is filled with wasps. I know that any moment she'll be tossing Cat out into the rain. When Cat grabs onto the car, trying desperately and hopelessly to stay in the warm dry cab, the tears start to flow. I don't think I've ever really paid attention to any dialogue that occurs after Cat is thrown out, because I'm screaming at my tv "STOP THE CAR! YOU NEED TO SAVE CAT!" If I could, I'd jump into my tv and look for him myself.

If I have one of my cats nearby whilst watching, they are at this point being hugged tightly while I anxiously await the moment when Cat is found.

Normal people are relieved when Audrey shows up in the alley calling for her cat -- but not for the same reasons I am. They believe she's seen the error of her ways; she's going to let George love her; a happy ending is on the horizon for our newly minted couple. But for me, and crazy cat ladies across the globe, it's ALL ABOUT THE CAT.

Honestly, this is the whole movie. Holly's husband, brother, fiance? All totally inconsequential to Breakfast at Tiffany's. It's about the cat. Sally Tomato, the 5 and dime robbery, Patricia Neal? They mean squat. It's all about the cat. It's all just leading up to that one super-charged emotional moment when Audrey scoops Cat up in her arms and gives her a "I should never have tossed you out of the cab, you wonderful feline" gigantic smooshy hug.

And THAT makes it a happy ending. George could have slipped and fell in the rain, got hit by a cab and ended up in the ER right before the credits rolled. As long as Cat is out of the rain, and reunited with Audrey Hepburn, I'm a happy camper.





This post was originally published on my movie blog, Silents & Talkies.

my daily fancy

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Fancy Feast asking if I'd be interested in doing a cat-themed outfit post to help promote their new blog, Daily Fancies. Um, HECK YES.

I love that I actually had to narrow down which cat dress, which cat shoes and which cat cardigan to wear for this post. I'm not only a crazy cat lady, I'm a crazy cat clothing lady, too! This actually reminds me that I've wanted to do a post featuring my collection of cat clothes & accessories for ages now, and it's high time I finally did it. It's probably my favorite thing to collect (fashion-wise) and I'm surprisingly picky about which pieces I buy. The ones in this outfit definitely top my favorites.



So, what is a daily fancy? Anything that you look forward to each day (especially cat-related!) Mine would probably be the hour or so right before I fall asleep & when I wake up. As soon as I'm tucked in bed, both cats hop up and get cozy with me while I read and watch tv. They leave and play and eat at night but they're always fast asleep beside me when I wake up again in the morning.

Hubble is the definition of a finicky cat. He likes dry cat food and basically nothing else, not even treats! I think his daily fancy would be sitting on my lap while I work at night and cuddling with me right before bed. He's such an affectionate kitty! Arrietty is the little food connoisseur of the family. This girl loves to eat. If I put a can of food in front of her she eats the entire thing in one sitting so I need to ration how much she gets or else she'll turn into a GIANT food connoisseur, ha! Her favorite seems to be the Fancy Feast gravy lovers chicken & gravy. Chloe likes that one, too (she's a gravy lover if ever there was one!)

Writing about my kitties' favorite things, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how much my little Hypatia absolutely LOVED Friskies turkey and cheese. She didn't eat very much because of her gingivitis but oh, how she would meow for turkey and cheese! I smile every time I see it at the grocery store now :)




^Look at those little paws. I DIE! You can read about other cat lovers' daily fancies (and submit your own!) on the Fancy Feast blog, Daily Fancies.

dress - romwe | sweater - dorothy perkins | shoes - ebay | bag - amazon

belt - f21 | cat lady necklace - c/o i love crafty | I love cats pin - modcloth

the elusive chloe

This cat hardly ever lets me take her photo. As soon as she hears me fumbling with my camera she immediately runs away or stops doing whatever cute thing she was doing that made me want to take her photo to begin with. So when she seemingly agreed to a little photo shoot on my bed the other day I was beside myself with joy. Cute pictures of Chloe! Where she is standing still! And actually looking at the camera in some of them!!!! I just had to share :D





My tiny little ham had to get in on the photo action, of course. Chloe is there side-eyeing Arrietty as usual. They get along well but Chloe is constantly suspicious of everything and everyone.

wednesday in new york

On Wednesday me and my brother went to New York to do some Christmas shopping and see the tree at Rockefeller Center. Even though it's jam-packed with people who had the same idea, it's still incredibly magical. Being in the city this time of year is magical in and of itself... street musicians are playing seasonal tunes, red and green lights sparkle everywhere and stores have wintery window displays. It was so festive, this dueling sibling duo hardly bickered at all! I think we definitely started a new annual tradition this week ;)

Coat - vivetta | Hat and shoes - asos | Scarf - f21 | Bag - c/o romwe | Gloves - h&m

purrfect shoes

dress - modcloth
cardigan - old navy
tights - target
shoes - c/o pony chops

Is anyone else having a problem with scheduled posts not being published on blogger? I usually blog at night, then schedule my posts to go up at 9am and 6pm the next day but none of them have gone up this week. I've had to manually do it, either hours later when I realized my post never published or frantically on my iphone while I was out :p Anyway, that explains why this is going up at 1pm instead of 9am today. I haven't been switched over to the new blogger interface yet so honestly part of me is just happy that this is the only blogger-related problem I have to deal with at the moment...

On a happier note, how amazing are these shoes?! My all time favorite colors (mint + pink) with little kitty cats (that totally remind me of Hypatia) painted all over!! Cuteness!!!



And check out the back! A kitty cat with my pink bun and hair bow! *dies* Is this not the most adorable thing ever?!?! They have a bunch of super cute designs in their etsy shop, and they also take custom orders! Honestly I wouldn't have cared if they were the most uncomfortable shoes on the planet since they're so darn cute, but they're ridiculously comfy to walk in, too!

everything's coming up clover

dress- ruche

cardigan - modcloth

shoes - asos

The post in which I make the transition from cat lady to cah-razy cat lady...

This St. Patrick's Day was the most fun I've had in years! I've been nuts about this holiday since I was a kid-- I used to slip green dye into everything (I mean, everything. My parents weren't fond of the green milk, green rice or green potatoes..) Even though my mom is Irish, we never really celebrated much aside from my food dye craze. But this year she must have been feeling her roots something awful because she went all out! For dinner we had homemade Irish soda bread, colcannon, boxty and burgers (or as my mom insisted we call them, "St. Paddy's day patties" lol)

For dessert we had shamrock shaped cookies -- dyed green of course!! ;D We usually watch The Quiet Man every St. Patrick's Day, not just because it's a household favorite but because John Wayne really reminds my mom of her late Irish father. (He was my grandfather's favorite actor and I swear they looked like twins!) This year, though, I thought I'd introduce my little brother to The Gnome-Mobile, one of my childhood favorites that somehow eluded him growing up. It's not *technically* an Irish movie, but the lead character, DJ Mulrooney, is Irish and the gnomes are mighty similar to Leprechauns! ;D If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend giving it a shot! The stars are the kids from Mary Poppins!

All in all I had a fantastic St. Patrick's Day! Did you do anything fun to celebrate? :)

Cat lipstick giveaway! [closed]

One of these days I'll run out of cat-themed items to give away, but fur now I have a paws-itively adorable kitty cat lipstick up for grabs! Personally I'd never use it, just display it on my vanity and admire the pretty sculpted cat while I smoosh on my hot pink drugstore lipstick. And even if you're not a cat lady *gasp* then I think the lovely peachy color is reason enough to enter! ;)

To enter: simply leave a comment letting me know that you're entering, and some way to contact you (email, twitter, blog, whatever floats your boat!) You must be a follower to enter (and, please, none of this follow-and-leave as soon as the giveaway is over jazz.. that's super rude!) This giveaway is open to everyone on planet earth.

For additional entries: (leave a separate comment for each entry)

1. Tweet this "Just entered to win Paul & Joe cat lipstick on @kategabrielle's blog! http://www.scathingly-brilliant.blogspot.com" (Only counts if you use that exact tweet.)

2. Follow me on facebook
3. Follow me on bloglovin
4. Pin it on pinterest.

Giveaway ends on March 5 at 12:01AM EST. Giveaway ended.

Winner: Comment #12

shop update

I haven't done a shop update in a long time, so I thought it would be fun to catch up a little, especially since I've been adding a lot of new stuff to my store this week! Today I added the print above, another little homage to cat ladies like myself ;) I don't know if I can withstand the pain (I'm a huge baby) but if I get my first tattoo anytime soon, I'm pretty sure this will be it.

Anyway, that drawing is available in my etsy shop as a print, and also in my society6 shop on iphone cases, laptop skins, etc.

I also made a version of my telephone illustration with a guy. I've had a lot of people ask me about this over the last couple years, but I've always been *pitiful* at drawing men and kept putting it off. I'm surprisingly really pleased with how it turned out, though! Maybe I might start working men into my art more often now :) It's available as a print set and a pendant set, and I'm working on a PDF embroidery pattern too!

Last but certainly not least, is an exciting collaborative project! I've teamed up with Kaitlyn from isavirtue to create a limited edition series of stationery projects for National Letter Writing Week (January 9-15) The envelopes, letter paper, stickers and journals will be available in both of our shops now through the end of January :)

I've also added bachelorette party invitations, an Audrey Hepburn art print set, a PDF activity book, and I relisted my old valentines for the season of hugs and kisses coming up! ♥

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from me and Hypatia!

...and Chloe, who refuses to be held, but was, much to my astonishment, okay with letting me prop a hat on her head for twenty minutes.

cats

dress - modcloth

cardigan - old navy

tights - we love colors

shoes - c/o blowfish

hair bow - honeybean

As thrilled as I am that cats are "in" right now, so I can fill up my wardrobe with cat-themed clothing (like this dress!), I can't help but hope that it's trickling down to real live cats, too. There are so many cats in shelters right now (more so than usual since so many families are giving up their animals because of the economy) and they desperately need loving homes. Me and my brother do a really simple fundraiser every year for our local animal hospital's charity, Animals in Distress... Barnes & Noble allows charitable organizations to gift-wrap for donations!* If you're interested in doing it too, it's so simple to set it up! Call your local B&N and ask if they have any gift-wrapping openings left, and if they do, you just sit in a bookstore and wrap presents for an afternoon, all the while helping our furry little friends!

Sorry this is such a gooey post! I just love cats SO much, and sometimes I look at Chloe & Hypatia and wonder what would have happened to them if our shelter hadn't saved them. I just hope so badly that this little bout of feline mania sweeping through the commercial world will result in more real live cats being rescued and becoming members of loving families :)

Oh, and since I'm already on the topic of cats, here's a new cat lady drawing I did yesterday!

ps. When trying to come up with a title for this post, the ONLY thing that I could think of was "Break me off a piece of that Fancy Feast," from The Office. I'm just titling it cats because I seriously cannot get that out of my brain long enough to come up with a good title, lol...

*You can gift-wrap for other charities, too! The local shelter is my choice, but as long as you have permission from the organization you can do this for any charity! :)

cat earmuffs giveaway! [closed]

I was at H&M last week and when I saw these earmuffs I practically fainted. They're so, so adorable! So I picked up a pair for me, and a pair for you! (The pair I'm wearing in the pictures is my pair, yours will be brand new!) If you don't win, hopefully (fingers crossed!) you'll be able to buy them online soon. I heard last year that H&M is supposed to be opening an online store in the US this winter!

To enter: simply leave a comment letting me know that you're entering, and some way to contact you (email, twitter, blog, whatever floats your boat!) You must be a follower to enter (and, please, none of this follow-and-leave as soon as the giveaway is over jazz.. that's super rude!) This giveaway is US-only.. sorry! :)

For additional entries: (leave a separate comment for each entry)

1. Tweet this "Just entered to win some crazy cat lady earmuffs on @kategabrielle's blog! http://www.scathingly-brilliant.blogspot.com" (Only counts if you use that tweet.)
2. Follow me on facebook
3. Follow me on bloglovin
4. Follow me on tumblr

Giveaway ends on December 5th at 12:01EST Giveaway is closed!

DIY: cat skirt

Remember this post, in which I bemoaned the fact that even the largest vivetta cat skirt couldn't fit over my gigantic hips? Well, problem solved! I decided to fashion one of my own black skirts (about $5 on clearance at old navy last year!) into a cat skirt of my own! I can't wait to make Casey's cat clutch and wear them together!! :D

You'll need: a black skirt, black felt, two white buttons, one pink button and white embroidery thread

I'm not going to give measurements for the cat ears because they should really be unique to each girl. When I tried on the vivetta skirt (although I was unable to zipper it lol) I found that the cat ears were too high, and interfered with the girls. So for this skirt, I decided to put on the skirt and then measure from the waistband what would be a comfortable height for the ears. Mine ended up being 2" above the waist but obviously if you're blessed with a flatter chest you can make much more obvious ears ;)

1. Once you've found your measurement for the ears, cut out four identical triangles. Stitch two together, then repeat. Because they're felt, the edges won't fray but by joining two together they'll also be stiff enough to stand up on their own. 2. Attach the ears to the skirt. I sewed mine at the bottom, then added a small stitch to the tops of the ears to hold them in place. 3. Measure where you want the buttons to go, and attach them with the white embroidery thread. And that's it! =^..^=

ps. Once I finished I realized I should have done something to make the ears stand out more from the skirt. I did a little white outline in pencil (to eventually be replaced by embroidery) but I'd recommend sewing a piece of white felt onto the triangles before attaching them to the skirt :)

DIY: cat clutch

Hello, Casey from Noir Girl here! I've whipped up a quick little clutch purse pattern for us to make while Kate is vacationing. Kate was my inspiration for this design. I was disappointed for her that the lovely cat skirt she found didn't work out, so I created this as a way for her to have the look in another form.

Download the pattern and instructions here: (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to see them)

PATTERN
INSTRUCTIONS

The pattern will work beautifully printed on plain computer paper, but I have found newsprint (the blank kind that is sold in art supply stores) a great pattern paper. Just cut a couple sheets down and load them in your printer before beginning.

And don't forget - when printing the pattern make sure it is NOT scaled. Page scaling: NONE. The pattern will become skewed if you forget this step. (Believe me, I speak from experience here!)

Happy sewing, friends! If you have questions about any part of the pattern, write me a comment or tweet me. I will be happy to help you!