Thomas O'Malley

In September, Alex and I adopted our first pet together. He had been wanting a cat for a long time, and I have never had anything but dogs (and a fish) in my whole life. I have actually been allergic to cats for most of my life. But Alex used me getting a new job and it being a great day, to persuade me that it was a good idea to go to the shelter and look at cats. "Oh we'll just look," he said, "it will be fun," he said. And yes, it was fun, but we didn't just look.

Sure, we started out looking at the adorable kittens and the puppies, because lets be honest, that's what I really wanted anyway. (When I moved out of my parents house, I cried about having to leave my dog...) We both knew that we weren't in a great place to train a puppy and neither of us have the time really to devote to training a puppy and taking care of a dog; so that was out. But he convinced me that a cat would be easy to take care of.

Alex also wasn't sure if we would have the time to devote to training a kitten, and the older pets are always cheaper anyways. As we walked around, we went in one of the rooms and found a big, adorable, orange cat. He was so sweet and wasn't really afraid of us. We both instantly felt a draw to this sweet kitty.

 I had already told Alex that if we got an orange cat that was a boy, we would name him Thomas O'Malley, like from the Disney movie The Aristocats, so that made that decision easy. I kept trying to talk myself and Alex out of actually getting a cat, I mean could we really take care of a cat? But so far it is going well. We have had him for two months and he is the sweetest cat ever!! He actually has an Instagram page for those interested in that. Every day, when I come in the door,he is so happy to see me and he loves treats.

Thomas also has an Instagram account for anyone who loves adorable cat pictures like this one

Thomas O'Malley is a firm believer in the "If I Fits, I Sits" rule of thumb

Share with me the stories of how you got your fur babies, because all animals are important!

*I also was able to mark something off my Mid Twenties Bucket List you can go here and read the rest of the things I want to do before I turn 27

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Waking up on November 9. 2016

Last night/early this morning, a new president was elected in the United States, and the internet broke. Literally, the Canadian immigration website crashed as the results were coming in. But as President Obama said, "the sun will come up tomorrow" and guess what, it did. And now America as a whole has to move forward. Regardless of who you voted for and why you voted for them, we have to remember that we are all Americans and this is our country.

Something I was taught when I was younger was that you respect the office, regardless of who is in it. I hope America can learn to respect the office of the presidency. It is the highest office in the land and even though half the country does not agree with who is sitting in the office, if America wants to grow and move forward, we have to come together. We cannot continue to hate each other because hate only breads hate.

It starts with one act of kindness. Give a smile to someone on the street, say a nice word to someone at work or in class. It doesn't have to be something big and it isn't going to happen over night but it has to start somewhere. Why not start with you?

It is not going to happen over night. Nothing is going to happen over night. But if we start now, maybe in the future, we will have a better America to leave for our children and grandchildren, because isn't that the goal for people in general?

And for those who are upset about the results of the election, continue to vote, continue to pull for the person you think is right for our country. That is the beauty of our country, we can change things. But do not let this election come between you and people in your life that you truly care about, because like I said, we are all Americans.

It is a very uncertain time in America but I truly believe that if we pull together, ignoring the party lines and come together as a country, we can make the next four, eight, twelve years even better. Remember, we are all people, regardless of race or religion, we feel pain and joy, cry and smile, and I hope, try to find the good in life.

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