“I will look after you and I will look after anybody you say needs to be looked after, any way you say.  I am here.  I brought my whole self to you. I am your mother.” Maya Angelou ♥

On Saturday, Bella and I had one of those really great mom/daughter days.  We spontaneously planned the day and during our stops and car rides we had the best conversations.  I really admire the young woman she is becoming, the depth of her thoughts and her integrity.  I am fully loving our more mature and serious conversations and her trust in my guidance.

Our first stop of the day was “Empty Bowls” at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, IL, a fundraiser with a focus on raising awareness about hunger in our communities and around the world.  At this annual event, professional and student potters donate handcrafted soup bowls and other pottery.  Participants choose a bowl from their large and beautiful selection and afterwards you enjoy a bowl of soup and a piece of bread, all donated as well.  One of the volunteers shared with us that they raise approximately $30,000 dollars every year and every dollar goes to six local food pantries.  The soups were so delicious, their live music was soothing, the bowls were SO beautiful and the love behind it all made this a very special experience.  We walked out of “Empty Bowls” with a very full heart and already making plans for our visit next year.  They have this event the first Saturday of December every year, so f you like soup, pretty bowls and supporting a great cause… mark your calendars! 😊

Our next stop was “Windy Kitty Cat Café” in Chicago and I have to admit, it was very hard not walking out of that place with a kitty in our arms, they were all adorable and quite charming.  Apparently, cat cafes are the “new thing” and they are flourishing places not only in the country but around the world.  Of course, the person who stumbled upon this unique place was our cat lover Bella and she immediately started working her magic for us to visit it.  Upon arrival you are greeted by one of their volunteers and immediately given hand sanitizer to disinfect your hands from any germs you might be carrying.  The building has double doors, which makes perfect sense because it keeps the kittens and curious cats from running away when people are entering to play with them.  The place is very cute, decorated with fuzzy pillows and lounge corners, lots of toys to play with and cat furniture.  The first kitten we saw was an orange, ginger cat chasing a pom pom, cutest thing I’ve ever seen.  Cats roam all over the place, and you immediately get a vibe about who is up for some playtime and who wants to be left alone… it’s ok, I like my space too. 😉 My favorite cat was Charlie with the Santa costume. The super neat thing about our visit was that on that particular day, they were hosting a painting party, yes, WITH kittens, so not only did we get to cuddle kittens and play with them, but we also participated in our very first paint party and let’s just say (aside from the fact that it was a lot of fun and super cute seeing the cats interact with us while we painted), I very soon realized that painting on canvas is NOT one of my talents.  Sorry Bob Ross!  It sounded so easy when you did it on TV, maybe I needed to talk to the cat I was painting, that’s right, that’s what it was, it wasn’t my lack of artistic skills, it was the lack of storytelling.  I feel better now.

During the painting session we were given a couple of breaks to play with all the kittens while the paint was drying.  The smaller cats even took naps on people’s arms during the whole session, it was just cuteness overload.  We loved it so much that we might be returning for “Yoga with Cats”, maybe I’ll be better at that, but the last stretching exercise I did a few weeks ago, tells me I might struggle even more with that session, but the cats are worth the try! 😊

After a long day of fun, soup and cats, we worked up an appetite again and ended the day with a visit to Portillo’s.  Burgers, hotdogs and cheesy fries were the purr-fect ending to our special day. ♥