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.

Christmas in the Country and Snowflake Lane

On Saturday, Joe had to go to work, so I had the whole day to spend with my parents. First, we took the dogs for a walk.

There was frost on the ground, so Ava had to wear her pajamas. :)

Then, we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island for 'Christmas in the Country'.

On the ferry with my dad.

Basically, there are a bunch of shops that you can travel to around the island who show off their wares. We know one of the shops (owned by my uncle's brother) and we hit a few more while we were there. We bought some wine, jelly and homemade dips. It was pretty fun.

At a winery.

My mom buying wine.

An outdoor fireplace at one of the shops.

Inside one of the shops.

When we got back from Bainbridge Island, we picked up Joe and headed to downtown Bellevue for dinner and Snowflake Lane. We got there a little late, so Joe got us a table at ZTejas while my parents and me watched Snowflake Lane.

(FYI, Snowflake Lane is a nightly performance in downtown Bellevue where a band plays Christmas music, there is a light show, and fake snow falls from the sky. It's awesome.)

My mom and dad in the middle of the crowd.

A drummer on stilts.

Me in the middle of the crowd.

Then, finally at dinner at ZTejas.

It was a very busy but very fun day. When we got back home I totally crashed. I was exhausted!

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!

First Seattle Snow

This morning there were a lot of angry, stressed-out, scared, and otherwise unhappy people in Seattle. Joe and I were not two of those people. We love this stuff!


Sure, it took me two hours to get to work this morning. I was 30 minutes late. Joe had to walk farther up the street to catch the bus that was on a 'snow route'. It was incredibly cold and a little slick.

But it was beautiful! It just started snowing as we walked the dogs this morning and it was dark and quiet and it was so peaceful. Then the snow got heavier as I headed off to work and I have to say - sitting at a standstill in a traffic jam is so much better if you have some snow to look at. (It didn't hurt that the radio station played a couple Christmas songs to try to calm the more stressed-out people down.)

I say bring it on! If it's going to be cold, it might as well be snowing. It's the only redeeming factor of cold weather! And much better than the typical Seattle rain. Plus, it's the holidays! White Thanksgivings and especially White Christmases are all the more merry!

What do you think about the snow?

First Trip Back to Magnussen

Since Joe had Monday off, and it was actually a rare sunny morning in Seattle, he decided to take Jackson to our favorite Seattle dog park - Magnussen. We used to go to Magnussen quite a bit when we lived in Seattle before, but hadn't been there since moving back. I admit I'm a little sad that I didn't get to join the boys, but I was happy they had such a great time.

Making new friends.

Taking a break.

Crashed out back at home.

Date Night at the Outback

Joe has Mondays off, so if we decide to do something after I get off work, it's usually Monday so we don't have to worry about the dogs. (He stays home with the dogs all day as opposed to the dogs being home alone all day.)

So this previous Monday we decided to do date night. For a wedding shower gift, Joe's Uncle Larry gave us a gift card to Outback, one of Joe's favorite restaurants (he's a steak man). So we used that for an almost-free night out! It was great!

That's a happy man right there. And I love to see my man happy. :) I was impressed that the Outback now has a vegetarian option on the menu - their parmesan fettucini with seasonal vegetables. I used to have to order off menu.

Anyway, we had a great time. Thanks Uncle Larry!

Home from the Honeymoon

Monday, October 18

We sadly left Cancun on Monday. We had such a fabulous time and made sure we said goodbye to all the staff who had been so kind to us the entire week. It was actually the perfect time to leave. We had thought it was weird to be so alone at the hotel, but by the time we left more people had showed up and they were noisy and rude and we missed our quiet little vacation. haha

My luggage tag. :)

Of course, we couldn't get out of the country without a little drama. :) When we went to check in for our flight, the airline couldn't find our flight. Apparently, the computer said we were to connect in Charlotte, but our tickets said we were to connect in Phoenix. That took a bit of time to figure out, but they finally found our flight.

Then they asked for our immigration forms. Now, no one told us to keep these forms after we filled them out to get INTO the country, so I never paid any attention to them after we got to our hotel. We looked through our stuff and I found mine, but we couldn't find Joe's. "That is your ticket back into the U.S.," the lady said.

"Um... well, we don't have it," I said. (Joe at this point was FREAKING OUT, but I was just trying to go with the flow.)

They sent us to the U.S. Airlines office in the back of the airport. They reviewed Joe's passport and took a copy of the stamp he received when we came into Mexico. Then they sent us to immigration.

Immigration asked Joe a bunch of questions. I felt like we sounded guilty because one of the questions he asked us was if we had the same last name. I was all, "Well, yes, but no because... well, technically NO, but we just got married, so..." They just kind of looked at me and shoved a new form to Joe.

Joe filled out the form and everything ended up being fine. :)

I had a Fanta with a fancy straw to celebrate.

Then we went through security and because fate likes to screw with Joe, his bag got pulled for inspection. :) Actually, the security guy was pulling almost every other bag for inspection. We got to watch a lot of people get searched before it was our turn. It's funny the different reactions people have. Some people were super apologetic because they forgot they had a bottle of water in their bag. Some people were so pissed they couldn't even speak because the security guy had to take away a pair of tweezers. Funny.

They just checked out the cords for Joe's iPod and phone, and sent us on our way.

Whoever designed the Cancun airport is brilliant because you have to walk through the duty free shop to get between security and the gates. We decided to buy a bottle of Don Julio, Joe's favorite brand of tequila, which is usually super expensive. It was a lot cheaper and we thought it would be a fun reminder of the trip.

Well, we forgot that we had to go through Customs once we landed in Phoenix. And since you have to go back through security after Customs, they won't let you bring any liquids through. The airline made an announcement to say that if anyone bought anything from duty free, to place it in their checked luggage before going back through security. We didn't check any luggage.

We thought it would be pretty ironic if they made us pay the $25 to check a bag so we could send our tequila that we saved $20 by buying in duty free, home with us. Luckily, the airline allowed us to check one of our carry on bags for free.

We arrived safe and sound back in Seattle around midnight.

And that was our trip!

Pumpkin Filled Weekend

I interrupt our honeymoon recaps to tell you what we did this weekend.

So, I was reading one of my favorite blogs the other day (Enjoying the Small Things), written by someone I so admire, and she was explaining that there are two catagories in life - moments that fill and moments that fuel. And she said we all need to focus on the moments that fuel. The moments that fill us with happiness and love and make us enjoy every moment.

This weekend we continued a much-loved tradition and it definitely fell into the 'fuel' catagory. :)

First, we headed to a pumpkin patch to pick out our carving pumpkins. I had never visited a pumpkin patch until Joe and I moved to Maryland and that was the thing to do. And I loved it! And after that we decided to find a pumpkin patch each year. It was a little harder in Seattle. The nearest one we could find was in Snohomish, about 40 minutes away.

And even though it was a rainy day, and the pumpkin field was a muddy sloppy mess, we had a great time. And after browsing through all the pumpkins, we finally found the ones that felt right.

Muddy mess!

Scary corn field at the edge of the pumpkin patch. Yikes!

Our chosen pumpkins - My short fat one, Joe's tall thin one and a little one for the pups!

Corn dog and roasted corn to celebrate our pumpkin picks.

We got home around 5:00 and I made dinner and covered the living room floor with flat paper bags. Joe got out all the carving supplies and huge bowls for the 'guts'.

When dinner was done, we popped in the movie "Halloween" (this movie must accompany pumpkin carving to keep with the tradition) and we got started.

Joe looks so surprised in this picture.

The night's entertainment and the Dia de los Muertos scull we bought in Mexico.

Cleaning the pumpkin while watching the movie. Ava's wondering where she can lay down and still be close to me. She ended up curling up between me and the couch... it looked very uncomfortable.

The final products!

All lit up on our porch.

The movie ended, but we still had the final act to complete our tradition - roasting the pumpkin seeds! So we put in another movie (Stephen King's Carrie, which Joe had never seen) and got to work.

Ready to be roasted.

Everything turned out fantastic, like it always does. The pumpkins looked great and the seeds turned out delicious.

It was a happy day. A fueling day. And I love finding the fuel in life with my new husband!

Hurricane Honeymoon: Sunday Night & Monday

Sunday, October 10 & Monday, October 11, 2010

Our wedding was fabulous and soon I'll get up some of the many wonderful pictures my family and friends took during all the festivities. But for now, we'll have to start with the honeymoon. (Why we're calling it the "Hurricane Honeymoon" I'll get to in another post!)

For the night of our wedding, we chose to stay in a nice hotel in downtown Seattle - the Alexis. Although we were only there for about 9 hours total, it was worth it to be pampered in style that night! I would definitely recommend the Alexis. It's a nice hotel, so it's pricy, but it's amazing and dog friendly!

When we got to our room (a Spa Suite), we were greeted by a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a welcome note from the hotel, congratulating us on our wedding. It was so nice!

So yummy - thanks Alexis!

The room was gorgeous - a long hallway leading to a nice big bedroom with an armoire, table and chairs, and lounge. It was simple and elegant. The bathroom had a huge jacuzzi that sat up high - you had to walk up a few stairs to it. A huge framed mirror took up the entire wall where the jacuzzi sat. Just gorgeous.

We ordered room service for dinner and opened the scarily-overpriced bottle of wine in the minibar. (Never would do that normally, but threw caution to the wind that night!) It was so fun and out-of-the-ordinary for us.

I refused to take off my wedding dress for the longest time, knowing I would never wear it again. I loved that dress and wanted the feeling to last as long as possible.

I'm hesitant to post the next picture, because when people see 'honeymoon' and then a bed, they think dirty thoughts, but I promise you that is *not* what was happening here. (I do keep some things private!!) But I love this picture because I think it's so pretty and I thought the bed was so pretty. :)

Love that dress! :)

We went to bed early, knowing we had a very early wakeup call to get to the airport on time. I had thought we were to get up at 3:30 a.m., but apparently, as I was fast asleep, my mother called Joe to tell him that the flight was actually an hour earlier than we thought, and that she'd need to pick us up an hour earlier. Joe didn't tell me that until we were on our way out of the hotel. That man woke me up at 2:30 in the morning that day after our wedding! The horror!

Anyway, both my mom and my dad picked us up to see us off at the airport. I asked them to bring the dogs as well, since I hadn't seen them since that previous Friday. I missed them! She agreed, so we were picked up by a full house!

We got to the airport and said our goodbyes, then grabbed our luggage to go. Ooops - Joe's backpack was missing! And his backpack had our passports in it! My mom had forgot to bring it along, so she and my dad jumped back in the car and rushed back to retrieve it. An hour later, they were back and we rushed to get checked in and get to our gate. (Joe loves to rub it in that it was a good thing we got up an hour earlier!)

We made it in plenty of time, so no worries there.

6 hours later we got off the plane in sunny Cancun, Mexico!

New Vet

Ava needed her prescription refilled, so we were finally forced to find a new vet here in Seattle. I hate looking for a new vet, I stress so much about it. I have had some bad experiences, and with a 'special' dog like Ava, I have to be certain that if something flares up due to her condition, the vet will do all he or she can to help her. I had that in Cheshire (I told you about crying, yes crying, when I left my vet there, right? Embarrassing, but true.)

Anyway, usually I visit half a dozen vets in the area, tour their facilities, the whole nine yards before making a decision. Well, I didn't give myself enough time to do that, because Ava needed her meds. So, last Thursday, Joe took both dogs into Elliott Bay Animal Hospital, which was recommended to us by some people I work with.

Joe took them because it was his day off and I had to work. But he said that he was very impressed with the amount of time the doctor spent with Ava, looking her over and asking a ton of questions about her condition.

She spent about an hour with Ava, then checked Jackson over in about ten minutes. Ah, I love my mutt!

Two nervous dogs.

I hope this vet works out. I may go ahead and check out a few others, just to make sure.

First Work Event

I was invited to my first work event the first week I started at Trupanion. I'm in the social media department, and we rely on Twitter to connect with customers. A Twitter application, called CoTweet, hosted an event at the Hotel 1000 in downtown Seattle and I attended, along with one of my coworkers. I had such a great time!

Hotel 1000

The panel of speakers, including @Starbucks, @AlaskaAir, and @Microsoft.

My coworker (on left) and her friend, tweeting away at the tweetup. So geeky. (Okay, so I was doing it too!)

My company goes to these events a lot, so I'm really excited to get involved. Yay for working at a company that actually believes in social media!