Dear Ellen: Rock The Vote!

Dear Ellen, Wasssupp?? Nothin much here, ok I lied... this is an extremely important week! First off, tell me, would you vote if I asked you to help me win a contest?  I hope you would say yes.  I'll tell you why.  For the past 2 months I have been competing in the BayList, an annual San Francisco Bay Area contest, to try to win Best Pet Photographer.  For 5.5 weeks straight I held on strong in first place, but for the past 2 weeks I've been behind 3% in 2nd place.  The contest ends on Saturday night. Until then, I will be racking my worn out brain for ways to try to get as many votes as humanely possible.  I tell ya, this contest lasted for 2 months.  ...Way too long in my opinion.   And I dont even think there's a prize besides the glory of winning.  Ugh, I need votes!!  If you want to vote for me, just click the banner above!  It's really easy and it only takes a minute. So now let me tell you about my insanely busy week, on top of stressing about the BayList.  Last week a devastating fire struck the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society, gutting the building and taking the lives of 15 cats.  My friend Ana Poe, owner of Paco Collars, asked if I would help her find some businesses who would be willing to donate some $$ to fundraise, which in my mind translated as "ooooh, lets start a big campaign!!"  So I decided we needed a website pronto.  While Ana was dialing for dollars I was hard at work designing and programming a new site for the cause. Saturday we had an impromptu sidewalk sale outside Paco Collars in Berkeley.  The Berkeley East Bay Humane Society also set up shop, sold some goods and fundraised.  It was a fun afternoon, and Harley came along with me too.  Here's a pic I took with my iPhone...That's my stuff on the lefthand table.  I was there selling Scutte neckties and tshirts and showing off my dog photo stuff.  The puppy on the left is Huckabee, he's so cute!  We managed to raise about $900 on Saturday - I'm still waiting to hear back from other businesses who participated in the Saturday Shop-A-Thon to see how much money they made too, but I imagine we made quite a bit! Sunday was an extremely busy day for me!! I had a photoshoot in the morning for Project DOG - 2 rescue dogs - an American Foxhound named Olive and a Plott Hound named Rupert.  AMAZING!!  I've never met either of those breeds before, so I was pumped, and they were such nice dogs.  Here's a pic I took of them with you... After my photoshoot I had to get ready to go to a big fundraising event in SF... Harley and I headed over to Cafe Flore in the Castro neighborhood (aka the gay neighborhood) for the Blessing of the Animals fundraiser, benefitting Rocket Dog Rescue.  The event was organized and hosted by The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
From their website: "The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence® is a leading-edge Order of queer nuns. Since our first appearance in San Francisco on Easter Sunday, 1979, the Sisters have devoted ourselves to community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment. We believe all people have a right to express their unique joy and beauty and we use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit."
If you live in San Francisco, the Sisters are definitely a big part of city culture.  You've probably seen them at street fairs, in parades, at fundraisers/galas... all over the place!  I was thrilled to be involved with this event because I've always wanted to work with them - woo hoo!!! I really hope I can work with them again someday.  If you could be a sister, what would your name be?  I'd like to be Sister Kir- A-Patra.  What do you think? See the pics?  Everyone was excited to have their picture taken with you.  This included the stiltwalker, the balloonman (not shown), a dog masseuse, and 2 sisters (sorry the pics are crappy, I took them with my phone).  Yeah, that's me below with Harley.  He's actually inside my hoodie - it was cold and windy... we were totally freezing our FUR off!! So yeah, that was my crazy weekend.  This week is going to be another whirlwind because I have a wedding this weekend and then I'm leaving next Wed night to go home to PA to visit my family for a week!!  My sister is graduating high school (from my alma mater) and Harley and I are going home for that, can't wait! Hope you have a great week, talk to you soon!! Kira Stackhouse PS - don't forget to VOTE FOR ME!!
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