Evening good people,

SPCA banner - photo by Malicia

At the beginning of December 2011, I and my office colleagues decided to pay a visit to a local SPCA shelter in Malta and see if there was something we could help with. You know, it is always good to leave your desk and stretch lazy bones. Doing something voluntary is also a bonus. It simply makes you feel good.

SPCA logo

Office decor - photo by Malicia

Shelter opening hours - photo by Malicia

There was a whole bunch of us going that Saturday morning, but those who couldn’t attend pooled in to buy some food for the animals. Thanks to their generosity we got three big bags of cat food. The bags were so heavy to carry that I nearly missed the taxi (by now it became a party classic as apparently I was handling running, shouting at the driver and carrying the bags quite well, dignity aside ^_^).

Office decor - photo by Malicia

Shelter view - photo by Malicia

Once we arrived in Floriana, we were given a briefing by the staff and each of us was assigned a dog (or two depending on your strength) to walk. Believe me, the dogs there were just beyond cute and adorable. I ended up having quite a shy and detail orientated furry beauty named Suzie. She had proved herself to be a dog for a risk analyst. During the walk she stopped a million times to observe, smell and familiarize herself with any given object. She was also quite a strong lady. After some 45 minutes, my hands were aching as Suzie pulled me hard and dictated where we were about to go.

Before the walk - photo by Malicia

My Suzie - photo by Malicia

Lisa and her companion right before the walk - photo by Malicia

Jamie and dogs share a moment - photo by Malicia

Afraid at first, she ended up jumping on me and being extremely friendly. I so wish I could adopt her but it was impossible at that time. Some years ago I have already homed a cat named Sami. But if you are in a need of pet extraordinaire, please consider coming to Floriana to see if you are able to give one of their animals a loving home.

Luke posing - photo by Malicia

Candid shot - photo by Malicia

Born models -photo by Malicia

I think I love you- photo by Malicia

I must say the walk with Suzie was fantastic. Other had as much fun as I did. I had my camera with me, so at the end of the walk I was snapping pictures of everybody. As you can see, some dogs were born models, while some others were more interested in sumo wrestling their new human friends.

New best friends - photo by Malicia

Tired by happy - photo by Malicia

Anita - photo by Malicia

I have also spent a considerable amount of time in the “Cat’s Room” (and ended up with a lot of scratches as the felines decided to play rough with me). During that time, I have been told that SPCA planned to get a heater to keep cats warm during the winter. Immediately, the idea was born. I consulted with my colleagues: Jamie, Anita and Luke and we agreed that we would take SPCA collection box and would try to raise the amount needed in the office. Needles to say, money required for a new heater were raised in a week and a half. Our office folks simply kick ass 🙂

Collection box for the heater - photo by Malicia

The group shot - photo by Malicia

Before we departed, I managed to take few shots of the surrounding area (legendary pot holes in the road!). St some point it began to rain and we all got wet and a bit cold but nobody really paid attention as we were  too occupied telling each other what our dogs did.

Rain, rain go away - photo by Malicia

Floriana legendary potholes - photo by Malicia

All in all, it was an amazing experience and definitely brought some Christmas spirit to the season that people tend to spend in the shopping malls ad in front of the TV.

Office decoration - photo by Malicia

I for one, given the opportunity, would that again.

[Edit: 12/03/2012] Wow, 76 hits in one day. Must be a new blog record^^. I was asked to run through the photos and see if there were some other images that I haven’t shared. Among those that were duplicates or simply bad takes, I have managed to findthree more and I am adding them below as a bonus to the post above.

They document each of us choosing a leash before walking the dogs (a good leash is essential!) and some of us having more fun with the dogs. Sometimes it’s a dog that strikes a funny face in the photo. Also you can see that my two colleagues had a struggle with the animals after the walk (they didn’t know that the dogs were Olympic champions in sumo wresting).

Choosing a leash - photo by Malicia

Dog strikes a funny face - phoot by Malicia

Chaos, panic and disorder - photo by Malicia

Thats all folks, Hope you had fun reading this (and looking at the photos).

Laters,

Malicia

Can I have the attention please? 🙂

Photo by Rita

I was planning to make this post two weeks ago, but life got in between. So since I had a day off today, I decided to make some announcements. As you know, February, besides being the shortest month of the year, is also considered to be the most romantic one. Many people start making plans and somehow the jewellery purchases are on the rise too. Those two facts are linked together as well. You probably know by now, where this entry is going (maybe except for the Couple as they have no clue about this post and will be reading it along with everybody else).

I want you to meet them:

Photo by Malicia

Rita: painter, events organizer, hell raiser and my twin sister. Zodiacal Scorpio and a proud redhead. Avid gamer, Star Wars enthusiast and all round pop-culture specialist. Huge fan of Death and Better than Ezra (among million of other acts).

Photo by Malicia

Matt: comic artist by night and IT specialist by day, archer and enthusiast of RPG`s. Also a nerd and a gamer. He is secretly a metal head enjoying acts such as Machine Head. Relaxed and optimistic chap who is friendly and always eager to help.

Photo by Mal

Photo by Malicia

Those two met years ago on Dead or Alive forums, both being fans of the series, and as they say, the rest is history. This February 14^th, the critters decided to make a big step in their relationship and went official.  They are happily engaged and the whole clan is ecstatic. We can’t wait for the (wedding) party 😉

Last year in April, Matt and Rita were holidaying in Malta and I took some (compromising) photos. I decided that this is a good occasion to share some of them with our readers and hopefully, they will tell you more about the Couple, than I would ever be able.

You see Matt and Rita do a lot of things together.

They go fishing together. They go ballroom dancing together. They are environmentally friendly and feed stray animals, even those really big and scary ones. I have it all on record below:

Photo by Malicia

Photo by Malicia

Photo by Mal

photo by Malicia

They also attend social events together and generally look like a nice couple should look like. Jokes asides, I am proud of them both and wish them all the best, as they are one of the most hard working and genuine folks I have ever encountered. They kick ass (mine for example) too.

Arent they looking good together?

Matt and Rita at a party

So if you two read this (before you will go after my sorry behind), know that I am really, really happy to have you both in my family and you should have done that a while ago anyway  😛

And here is a tune for you both. Congratulations.

Love and kisses
Malicia
(on her way into hiding).