From the ankles up, the attorneys and staff at English, Lucas, Priest and Owsley looked their best – dress slacks, button-down shirts, and suit jackets.

But instead of oxfords, stillettos or loafers, the footwear of choice at the Bowling Green law office Friday was warm and cuddly bunny slippers from local business Runaway Rabbit. At an impromptu party complete with bunny-shaped coconut cakes, employees including attorney Whayne Priest – whose heels hung off the backs of his too-small slippers – listened while managing partner Regina Jackson spoke about the cause that brought them all together.

&#8220I feel a little bit silly in my bunny slippers, but sometimes silliness is good for the soul,” Jackson began. She went on to read a proclamation signed Thursday by Mayor Elaine Walker declaring Friday &#8220National Wear Your Bunny Slippers to Work Day.”

&#8220It really is a privilege and a joy to participate in this day’s activities, and we’re excited to participate in such a unique and fun way,” Jackson said.

The somewhat obscure holiday made its way to Bowling Green at the hands of Gayla Warner and Laura Jones, co-founders of Runaway Rabbit. The stay-at-home moms started the company last year, and have since joined with national company A Gift of Adoption, which helps families financially unable to adopt children. The ladies will donate 10 percent of their profits to A Gift of Adoption, and have taken it upon themselves to get everyone stirred up about their cause.

So far, Warner said, the ladies have attracted the attention of television stations in Dallas, Milwaukee, Wis., and New York City, as well as a Connecticut newspaper.

&#8220People like the connection between home and bunnies, and home and babies,” Warner said.

Pairing Runaway Rabbit with A Gift of Adoption was &#8220a perfect fit,” Jones said.

&#8220We just can’t wait to see how many kids get to go to a home because of something we did,” she said.

The ladies have committed to work with A Gift of Adoption until the end of this year, Warner said, and so won’t likely have a total contribution amount to announce for quite some time. She and Jones are primarily focused on thinking about the children who may find a home through their efforts, she said.

In addition to their all-out media blitz for Wear Your Bunny Slippers to Work Day and A Gift of Adoption – the ladies sent press kits everywhere they could think of, including to Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa – Warner and Jones have been busy designing baby bunny slippers to complement their current line, which is available only in adult sizes. The child-size slippers should become available around the beginning of March, and a line of Runaway Rabbit-themed pajamas are forthcoming as well.

There’s also a secret project they’re working on, the nature of which they wouldn’t admit even off the record, that should be ready for consumers by the fall, Warner said.

&#8220I don’t think we ever thought (Runaway Rabbit) was going to be little,” Jones said.

&#8220Because, why bother?” Warner finished.

Runaway Rabbit items will soon be featured in the Dallas-based Room Service Home mail-order catalog, and several stores in Tennessee have contacted the ladies to ask about offering their products there.

&#8220We’re kind of amazed ourselves,” Warner said. &#8220What we learn the most is how little we know, so the potential is great to learn more.”

The ladies hadn’t really kept track of what local businesses were planning to participate in Wear Your Bunny Slippers to Work Day, but were thrilled at the nearly two dozen English, Lucas, Priest and Owsley employees who said it with slippers.

For her part, Walker was happy to sign the proclamation, and proudly wore her bunny slippers Thursday afternoon and Friday morning in celebration of the holiday.

&#8220I have a friend, a couple, that adopted a child, and I watched how that adoption transformed their lives and I know that it has transformed their daughter’s life, and I think that it’s so great to have a product … that actually helps benefit programs so people who might not be able to adopt can take a child into their home that they’re going to love,” she said. &#8220I just had to (sign the proclamation).”

Jackson and her husband know firsthand the joys of adoption – they brought home their now-17-month-old daughter Leah from a Chinese orphanage in June.

&#8220She is a beautiful, precious, sweet – did I mention beautiful? – child, and I cannot imagine how we ever managed without her,” she said.

The holiday is a fun way for normally buttoned-up attorneys and staff members to let their hair down and have fun for a good cause, Jackson said. Employees lounged along the walls in the conference room, enjoying their cake and laughing at their slippered feet.

&#8220I think you can already see it’s going to become a tradition for us,” Jackson said, smiling.