Christmas Fun at Work

The Thursday before Christmas, my work had some fun things going ton. We had an ugly sweater contest, a cubicle decorating contest, cookie party, and potluck. My little team had fun with all the festivities. Here I am with two of my coworkers in our ugly sweaters in front of our cubicle, which we tranformed into a gingerbread house.

I've never owned an ugly sweater, so my coworker brought me one to wear. It was a kid's sweater that was too small and super awful. Unfortunately, I didn't win the contest, though.

Cookie Party

Last Saturday night, I headed up to Edmonds for a cookie party hosted by Heidi. It started at one in the afternoon, so I figured we would be baking cookies for a few hours and I'd head home early that evening. I had NO idea what a Taffera cookie party was all about! I was there for over seven hours and we made TONS of cookies. It was unbelievable.

Before the guys left us alone. :)

Heidi's friend's new baby, Cooper. He was the only boy allowed at the party and he stole the show!

Shasta

Heidi rocking her new apron. SO 50's housewife, no?

Hanging out, drinking wine, and having snacks before the baking begins.

Me, Cooper, and Cooper's mom Mo.

The makings for Holly Leaves.

Seriously, he stole the show.

Half of our sugar cookies.

I had such a great time hanging out with the girls, but I swear, I was exhausted at the end of the night. AND my favorite cookies made that day were the Holly Leaves and I think I got to eat one of the 10 I took home. Apparently, they are also Joe's favorite. haha

Another Trip to Snowflake Lane

Friday night I rushed home after work, walked and fed the dogs, and then rushed back out to downtown Bellevue. Joe and I were planning to meet a work friend of mine, Stacy, and her boyfriend, Jon, to watch Snowflake Lane. I was driving there and Joe was taking the bus from Renton. Well, it didn't work out quite like we hoped.

Traffic of course was crazy and I barely got parked and made it up to the street before the show started. There are thousands of people who come out for the show and I weaved my way through the crowds in search of my friend but never found her. And Joe was stuck on a bus in traffic and missed the whole thing. So, I watched the show by myself, but it was still amazing. :)

When the show ended, we all met up at the bar in Red Robin. Stacy, Jon and I had drinks and waited for Joe, who was stuck on the bus for an hour. Once he got there, we ordered some appetizers (happy hour started as soon as he arrived, so it was actually good timing), and we had a good time.

But seriously, Snowflake Lane this year has been hard to see! First, Joe had to miss out because he had to wait for a table at ZTejas while my mom and dad and I enjoyed the show. Then, we tried to go with friends but it was pouring down rain. Then we tried to go with other friends and never found each other. Crazy!

We're going to have to plan better next year.

Movie Night with Friends

A friend of mine from work had said that she wanted to check out Snowflake Lane. I told her Joe and I were planning to go Saturday night, if her and her husband wanted to join us. She agreed. However, as Saturday evening progressed, so did the monsoon outside, so we decided it probably wasn't a good night to stand out in the rain. So, we invited them over to our place instead, and told them to bring their dog, Batman, to play with Jackson and Ava.

Usually Jackson is a little territorial with other dogs. We wanted to have the playdate, but figured we might be on edge a little bit, watching Jackson to make sure he behaved himself. But we were surprised with Jackson immediately started playing with Batman and SHARING his toys! We all had a fun and relaxing night. It was great.

Jackson, Ava, and Batman

Ava watching the action.

Hanging out.

Batman with Jackson's fish.

Saying goodbye.

The Cutest Cheerleaders in the World

Yesterday our friends Ed and Jessica invited us over to hang out and watch some football. We had so much fun catching up with them and playing with their adorable twin girls. And Joe was in heaven watching football on an actual t.v. instead of catching what he can on ESPN3.

The girls were so dang cute in their little Seahawks cheerleader outfits (their dad is a huge fan!)

Seriously - how cute??

Hanging out with mom while dad checks fantasy football scores in the foreground. :)

Here is a good shot of their little Seahawks cheerleader outfits!

Busy busy girls!

We're going to have this great family over to our place soon to introduce the babies to the doggies. That should be an adventure!

Weekend

Not really a lot to report lately. It's been pretty quiet here, which is pretty remarkable considering... wait for it.... we're getting married this week!! *woot!*

We had a pretty relaxed weekend, and I think we both needed that. Well, I know I did. Saturday Joe went to work and when I woke up I realized that it was 11:30! I haven't slept that late in years, so I'm guessing I needed the rest. Maybe I've been more stressed than I think? I took the dogs for a long walk, and then crawled back into bed and watched TV on the computer until Joe came home from work. It was awesome.

Stuart flew into town on Thursday, so Joe and I took a drive out to Port Orchard (where his family lives) to visit him Saturday night. We had a great time catching up, and I was happy to have a relaxing visit before all the craziness of the wedding festivities begin.

Sunday we ordered some more last-minute things for the wedding and went to the library to pick out some books for the honeymoon. Then we came home, packed for the honeymoon, and spent the rest of the night dancing around to our reception playlist, making some last-minute tweaks. (Okay, maybe I was the one dancing...)

So that was basically our weekend. Now it's back to work for four days, after which starts the biggest event so far in my life. Can't wait!

Fun with Friends and Twins

On Sunday, Joe and I headed over to our friends' house for dinner. We haven't seen Ed and Jessica since we moved back, and the last time I saw them was back in March, when my friend Heidi flew me home and hosted a wedding shower for me. At that time, they had just had their twins, and boy, have those girls grown up in the last 6 months!

We had such a nice visit and had SO much fun with the girls.















The pictures speak for themselves, don't they? I especially love this last one of them both sitting up on the couch, happily playing. They are SUCH good babies, hardly cried at all, and were smiling and giggling and playing the whole time we were there.

We look forward to many more visits with this awesome family. :)

Labor Day Weekend in Canby

After Joe got off work on Saturday, we headed down to his hometown of Canby to visit family and friends (some we hadn't seen since we moved to the East Coast). I had been feeling pretty under the weather, but a weekend of rest and fun with family and friends definitely worked in my favor, as I'm feeling a lot better now. :)

From the home base of Joe's parents house, we were able to head out and see a lot of people. First, we visited with Joe's best man, Bryan, and our flower girl, Marleigh. I haven't seen Marleigh in two years, and it was so sweet because she was so excited to see us! She got a big smile on her face and said, "I'm so excited for your wedding!!" Too cute, right? She is going to be the best flower girl ever. :)

Bryan shared with us some big news as well, and we were able to meet his significant other, Aleina. it was just so nice to catch up.

Next we visited with Marleigh's mom, Kari, and her new baby boy, Zander. Well, new to us! He is a year old now, but we had never met him! He was just the most beautiful, happy, smiley boy and really loved his 'Uncle Joe'. He's walking around and just so sweet. We had seen Kari and her significant other, Scott, when we first moved back to Bellevue (they came up for a Red Sox game), and it was great to see them again.

Next we were off to see another good friend, Brad, and his nine-month-old baby girl, Peyton, another new addition that we hadn't met yet. Peyton is this sweet tiny little girl who took a bit to warm up to us, but made up for it with huge adorable smiles. And while Joe caught up with Brad, I had a great time chatting with Brad's wife, Erin, who is an awesome girl and who I think I'm going to be very good friends with. :)

Then it was off to Joe's sister and brother-in-law's house for a crab feed. They had just returned from the beach where they caught 66 crab. Joe was in absolute heaven. And Shane, Joe's brother-in-law, who is basically a carnivore and thinks I'm pretty weird for not eating meat, was so nice to BBQ up some awesome veggies that were to *die* for. We had such a great time eating and catching up, and drinking wine. Lots and lots of wine. Everyone else left and Joe and I stayed and hung out with Cindy and Shane and just had a blast.

I'm really mad at myself for not taking any pictures. The only picture I have from the whole weekend is one that Joe's niece took of Ava sitting on Shane's lap. Ava picked the biggest, gruffest guy to totally cuddle up with. I told Shane he must have great energy because Ava just doesn't do that. How cute is this?

This morning we spent some time with Joe's parents and then went out to lunch with Joe's friend Brenton, who is also in the wedding. Joe and Brenton traded chiropractic stories and we all had a great time. It's just so crazy that we haven't seen all these people for so long. Too long. It's nice to be back.

And now we are home and getting ready for the week. Only five weeks to go 'till the wedding. Things are about to get crazy!

City Dog Mutt Mixer

On Wednesday last week Joe and I (and Ava!) went to an event in downtown Seattle. The event was put on by City Dog Magazine, called the "Mutt Mixer" and it was so much fun! We had all gone three years ago, before we moved to the East Coast, and it was so fun to go again. This time we were joined by my two co-workers, Stacy and Akvile, and their dogs, Ellie and Batman.

Stacy, Ellie, Akvile, Batman, me, Ava, and Joe

Love this picture!

Where's Waldo? Do you see us in the way back?

Batman... duhnuhnuhnuhnuhnuh.... Batman!

A DJ was spinning tunes, and they had free apps and a cash bar. It rocked!

It was a packed house.

Batman and Ava - where are our treats?

Gorgeous Ellie girl!

Ava taking stock of any food she can scrape up.

The Trupanionistas!

Ava battling it out with Magnum, a Great Dane.

We had so much fun! We even saw our friend Amanda, who was there with her new puppy Wren. It's nice to have an event with other dog lovers. Everyone is on the same page!

Gelato Tweetup

I went to another social media event last night, and this time dragged Joe along with me. It was a fun night, and it was great that Joe got to finally meet one of my coworkers. Even though this particular event didn't serve wine (whaaa?), they did serve authentic Italian pastries and gelato. The event was sponsored by Gelatiamo, and they unveiled a new flavor - raspberry honey cream. (I didn't care too much for it, but Joe ate two bowls, so he gave it a thumbs up.)

It was held at Microsoft Studios, so we also got a tour of the facility. It was really interesting. I had no idea about all the things they did there. They had a few studios that they filmed in, they had voice over rooms, and millions of dollars worth of equipment. I kept telling Joe to watch me, because I have a tendency to knock things over. I'm clumsy that way.

So here are some pictures of the night:

I was so cold, and I know I look it in this picture.

My coworker, Akvile. She called us the Trupanionistas!

The green screen in one of Microsoft's studios. We were pretending we were in Paris.

I love Seattle because it seems like there is always something like this going on. Tonight we are headed to another event - a Muttmixer in downtown Seattle put on by City Dog Magazine. Ava will be attending as well!

*Thanks to Akvile for taking the photos last night!

Last Night Out with Friends

Currently I am sitting at a Red Roof Inn in a little town in Ohio called Holland. We have successfully completed the first leg of our cross-country trip. We drove about 8 hours today, and arrived around 8:00 p.m. We got a little bit of a late start this morning, since we had some re-packing and cleaning up to do after our fun last night in Washington D.C.

Yesterday was a great day. Stuart took the day off work to hang out with us. My friend Laura also took the day off, so I headed out to pick her and her boyfriend up in Maryland while Joe and Stuart played video games.

Note to all of you - don't try to drive anywhere in D.C. on a work day. It took me forever to get up there, and then after having lunch and stopping by my old work to say hello to my friends there, it took forever to get back to Stuart's. Luckily, we made it in time to have some drinks and head out to dinner. :)

Laura, Trey, Stuart, Me, and Joe in Chinatown

Stuart's 96 oz beer at dinner. Crazy, right?

At dinner.

Drinks in downtown D.C.

Stuart put chopsticks in my hair. They were my 'weapons' for the night.

My friend Claudia came and met us out after work!

Laura and Trey (her boyfriend, the rock star)

Trey's 'scary rocker' look.

Trey said, "I'm not a rock star, THIS guy is!"

Since we were being papparazzi, I had to have my picture taken as well.

I was so happy to be able to spend my last night in D.C. with all my friends. It was really a ton of fun, even though we totally got lost at one point.