Grumpy Cat in Berkeley

Today a celebrity was in town.

Grumpy Cat, the "demotivational" sensation and star of several books (and even a movie) was in Berkeley as the special guest at the ribbon cutting of Berkeley Humane's new Mobile Adoption Center.

Berkeley Humane provides care for homeless animals, from rescue to rehabilitation to placement with loving owners. Their new Mobile Adoption Center is a state of the art, temperature controlled RV with custom built modular and detachable kennels. Roll up windows allow the cats and dogs inside to be viewed from the outside, and doors at both ends allow potential adopters to walk through and engage with the animals. This amazing vehicle provides limitless opportunities for Berkeley Humane to bring homeless cats and dogs to communities throughout the East Bay in the search of new families for these lovable animals to join.

To celebrate the launch of "The Grumpy Guide to Life" last year, Grumpy Cat's publisher Chronicle Books ran a nation wide competition to find "Grumpy Town USA", with the prize being a visit from Grumpy Cat herself. Berkeley Humane submitted an entry to raise awareness of the good work that they do throughout the community and to celebrate the launch of their Mobile Adoption Center. With the support of Berkeley's Mayor, the Police Association and Chamber of Commerce, Berkeley Humane's entry was successful and here we are; officially Grumpy Town USA!

So this afternoon we put on our best grumpy faces and headed to Berkeley Humane's headquarters to meet the grumpiest cat on the planet.

The turn out for Grumpy Cat was huge. So huge in fact that we stood in line for a good hour and a half waiting for our turn to frown along with Grumpy. That sounds like a long time to stand in a line for a cat but it was such a lovely day today we didn't mind standing out in the sun for a while. Plus there were delicious snacks available from Whole Foods and plenty of other things to keep the kids occupied. Kim and I took it in turn waiting in line while the other took the kids to check out the kitties in the Mobile Adoption Center, pose for photos in costumes at a photo booth, peruse the Grumpy Cat merchandise, and ride around on their bike and scooter.

It was finally our turn to meet Grumpy Cat. We all tried our best at looking grumpy but it was hard not to crack a smile knowing how ridiculous we probably looked! Lola is a master at the grumpy face so she had no problems holding the look. Grumpy face and duck face are her two default looks at the moment!

After meeting Grumpy Cat we were given Grumpy Cat frown masks that the girls had fun playing with.

Ava and Lola have been talking about Grumpy Cat all afternoon. Move over Garfield, it looks like the girls have a new favourite cat!

For more information about Berkeley Humane and the good work that they do visit their website: http://www.berkeleyhumane.org/