First Celebration of Corey's Birthday Weekend

Corey's big 32nd birthday is on Tuesday,9/2, so tonight, his mom Joan came over to help kick-off the celebrating. She also wanted to meet Roxy! In honor of Roxy, one of Corey's gifts from Joan was an adorable yellow UW Husky rain slicker. Roxy didn't mind it a bit - until we put the hood on her. She looks so cute in it!


The UW Husky rain slicker.


Roxy seems to like it. Now it just needs to rain a bit
so we can really try it out.


More fun in the rain slicker.


Doesn't like the hood so much.


Our little Roxy - so ladylike.


Corey, Joan & Roxy.


Roxy found a nice place to cuddle up for a nap.

She's a great puppy. Right now she has coccidia so it makes for a little more clean-up for Corey and I, but that aside, she's such a good dog. She's almost completely paper trained, she's eating really well, she plays really hard (and often times even without us) and she likes naps!

As for Corey's birthday, we have a fiesta celebration at our place tomorrow - complete with Mexican music and a pinata. More to come then!

Roxy's here!

We went and picked Roxy up in Portland this morning. She's SO cute and was very good in the three hour car ride home. She didn't even have one accident and we stopped to get her to go to the bathroom about half-way home and she didn't even go then!

So far, we've played with her and some squeaky toys, she's discovered that she can climb under the couch and we aren't able to easily reach her there, she's able to sit when we dangle puppy chow above her (sometimes) and she has only had one accident putside of her den. She is able to go to the bathroom in about the same spot each time on a piece of newspaper we have set up in her den. We are trying to get to go in the litter box but we'll have to work on that some more tomorrow.

When we put her in her den, she whines a bit but right now she's pouting in her kennel (which sits within her den) since we didn't come get her when she was whining while we were eating.
:( Poor puppy! Now we are just hoping she'll eat some dinner - she hasn't eaten a meal since we picked her up this morning.

Tomorrow we'll be calling the vet to make an appointment for her first visit early next week and she's all signed up for puppy kindergarten which starts late next month.

Here are some photos and videos we took today.


Must have found something yummy here...


Trying out the collar and leash.


Looking for a good place to go to the bathroom.


So calm and happy during the ride home!


Pretty sure she's mocking Corey here, while he's
driving and she's getting cuddle time.

Roxy's first video! Not doing too much...just playing,
but she's still so cute!

Here she's playing with the treat we gave her for
sitting on command.

Our Condo

While many of you have seen our condo since we moved in just about a year ago, not everyone has had the opportunity to see the final flooring or our new bedroom furniture. That said, I thought you all might want another peek.

We just bought and assembled our new bed and nightstands, which you'll see in the photos. The new bedding we received as a wedding gift from various folks is in place as well.

There aren't any photos of the guest bedroom as that is a bit of a mess right now. The current bed set is going to my brother for his apartment in Bellingham and we are in the process of moving our old bedroom set into the guest room. We'll still need to purchase a new mattress for that room so our guests have something nice to sleep on when they come visit!

The only other thing we're waiting on is the properly configured couch. The one in the photo below is the exact opposite of what we originally ordered. The new configuration should be here any time now - only one year late!

All the photos are posted on my Flickr site but here are a few of my faves.

Love that we were able to showcase some of

Corey's great photos on the shelves in the den.

We spend the most time here. It's super comfy (great

for naps!), the colors are fun and I love the wall

decorations.

This showcases the entry to our home and highlights

the other room we spend a lot of time in (or at least

Corey does!)

I love, love, LOVE all of our new bedding!

Team Outing!

Today was our T-Mobile Channel Management team outing! My team, which consists of Stephanie Moultrie, Stacy Barrick, Tony Stout (the big boss), Doyin Sobowale, Siiri Vanaja and I, put on our out of office messages and spent the day bonding together as a team.

First we headed to Peso's in lower Queen Anne for a yummy breakfast. After that, we hit up Jimmy's (a bar across from Safeco Field) and then we headed on over to Safeco for the afternoon Mariner's game against the Minnesota Twins. We sat in the Hit it Here Cafe, which is out in right field and it was GREAT! The seats were perfect and we had own server who brought us all the food and beverages we can ask for - and because with each seat in this section, you get a food / beverage voucher, we were all set!

While it was cool and cloudy this morning, the weather shaped up and it got nice and sunny for us. Even though we lost 6-5, we had an absolute blast. Now if only we could do this every Wednesday! :)

Check out some of the photos of our outing below. The rest can be found here.


Yep, that's me in the mitt outside Safeco Field!


Tony just wanted to keep on working, but we finally
convinced him to put the phone away.



Stephanie, Doyin and Stacy sitting in our Hit it Here Cafe seats.

What a great day - thanks team!

Whistler Wedding

Well we just returned from Whistler, where we attended the wedding of our friends Alex & Jen! It was my first time at Whistler and it's such a fun place! We stayed right in the middle of the village and were just a few steps from various shops, restaurants and the gondola. We had a great time.

We rode up with the Reeders on Friday and spent some time exploring the village and then Saturday was spent relaxing and walking around Lost Lake with the Reeders and Gossets. Alex & Jen's wedding took place on Saturday evening at the Nicklaus North Golf Course, which is just a short drive from the village. It was a gorgeous location, everything was decorated beautifully and the bride & groom were very happy and very much in love. We had a great time at the reception, dancing and catching up with our friends.

When we woke up this morning it was absolutely pouring, which made for a long ride home, especially when having to wait at the border for 2+ hours! Luckily, Corey and I were able to enjoy the company of the Reeders and Lisa's singing the whole way back.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend. You'll find the rest on my Flickr site.


Corey with the village behind him.


Corey and I in front of Lost Lake.


Alex & Jen are so happy together!


After the wedding, we had to get a photo with the beautiful view in the background.

We're Going to be Puppy Parents!

We made it back safely from Oregon and on the very long drive back (6+ hours - ugh!), we talked and decided we are ready to become puppy parents! Next Friday, 8/29, Corey and I will meet the dog breeder in Portland to pick up our cute, black French Bulldog. We've already picked out a name - we're going to call her Roxy!

We can't wait to have a puppy and have been reading various training books. While we feel ready, I'm sure we'll be asking our friends with dogs all kinds of crazy questions, especially during the first few weeks. The breeder also seems really open to helping us as we get Roxy settled into our home. What a relief!

Corey and I made our first Petco run today and let me tell you, I think getting ready for a dog must be like getting ready for a baby! There are so many toys, beds, grooming supplies, foods, etc to choose from, we were there for over an hour trying to make sure we were getting the best stuff for our puppy.

We can't wait for Roxy to get here. She'll be 12 weeks old when she arrives and she'll still be very tiny (she's only 5-6 lbs now!) so she'll need lots of attention and love from us, I'm sure. We're looking forward to showing her off in person and through Flickr once she gets here (for those of you that know Corey, you can only imagine how many photos he'll take in the first weekend, especially since it's Labor Day and he'll be home for 4 full days with Roxy!)

If you have any great puppy advice, let us know! Until then, we'll be enjoying our last few weeks as puppy-less parents. :)

PS. Just in case you are interested, here are some pics of Roxy that the breeder took.

Busy Week & Weekend for the Morans

It's been a busy (but very fun) week for us!

It started out with a surprise birthday dinner for Natalie at Momoya. We had some great sushi and were able to catch up with the Reeders, Gossetts and Bishops. This is the same bunch of folks we'll be going to Seabrook (a new beach community on the Washington coast) with in October for some R&R.

The crew, before enjoying some yummy sushi.

The following evening was 'Girls' Night' at Nick & Gina's. Gina finished her last class before nursing school (which she's in the process of applying for now!) and was ready for some girl time. It was great to catch up with all the girls - I hadn't seen them all at the same time since Maui!

Nick and Gina, fixing us a delightful dinner.

Me and my girls!

In other news, we're getting ready for a little road trip this weekend. Corey and I are headed to Roseburg, Oregon to look at...PUPPIES! Before the wedding, we started talking about getting a dog sometime later this year but as soon as we got back from the wedding, we decided we were ready for a dog! Corey bought some puppy books so we could study up on housebreaking, training and how to handle a new puppy. Corey did some great research and found two French Bulldog (his breed of choice) breeders in Oregon, one of which we'll be visiting on Saturday. The second breeder is pretty close to the first and we may be able to visit them as well.

More to come after we visit with the puppies!

New Hair, Good Times & Great Food

As many of you know, I've been growing my hair out for about 10 months so I could have good 'wedding hair' (i.e. hair long enough for some sort of updo for the wedding). Now that the wedding is over (so sad!), I decided it would be a good time to get a haircut (that coupled with the fact that the hubby prefers me with shorter hair). I love the new cut - I am so excited it's back to being short! Take a peek at the before and afters below!


Before...


After #1


After #2

While we were downtown for my haircut, Corey and I also hit up Macy's to purchase the remaining bedding items on our registry, which we're very excited about! It's so nice to have a nice, full, matching set. We are ordering a new bed as well and as soon as it's here, we'll put it together and finish it off with our new bedding set - can't wait see how it all looks!

After Macy's and my haircut, we met Lisa and Jennifer at Purple Cafe (one of my faves!) for a yummy dinner and then we all headed to the movies to see Pineapple Express (not highly recommended). Here's a photo of the girls at the show:


Jennifer, me and Lisa

And what trip to the movies would be complete without a fun, fancy pair of Prada heels? Check out Lisa's Pradas that she got FOR FREE from a co-worker who didn't order the correct size. I'm so jealous!


The fun Pradas (you can't tell from the bad photo I took, but these are peep toes).

The night ended with Lisa giving us a photo album that she and Natalie had put together with photos from our Meet & Greet and our wedding. The album is great - it was so sweet of them to put it together for us! They did a great job on it. It'll be right on our coffee table for those of you who want to check it out next time you're over. Thanks gals!

The Morans Take on Kauai

After our wedding, Corey and I jetted off to Kauai for some rest, relaxation and fun in the sun. Neither of us had ever been there so we were very excited to check it out!

We stayed at the Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club, which was just a short drive from the airport. It was a great hotel which included 5 restaurants, a huge pool, a private beach right near the pool, several stores and a spa.

Since it was our honeymoon, we went all out on the activities to up the fun factor.

Day 1 was spent driving to Wailua Falls followed by an hour-long couples massage in a cabana on the beach. If you haven't had a massage on the beach before, I highly recommend it! There's nothing like relaxing while listening to the sound of the ocean.

Day 2 was spent at Secret Beach, a very beautiful deserted beach that is about a 10-minute hike to from the parking lot and then we headed off to Smith's Luau on a lovely 32-acre botanical garden.

On Day 3, we hit up a zipline tour through Kauai Backcountry Adventures. It was so much fun! The ziplines are set up in the middle of 200 private acres so it just us (a small group of about 12 zipliners) and the beautiful Kauai backcountry.

We spent Day 4 driving up to Waimea Canyon (the 'Grand Canyon of the Pacific'), which was amazing. We followed that up with a sunset dinner cruise on a huge catamaran. Though we weren't able to capture the sunset on film (it was a tad cloudy by that time), we had a blast and got soaked when we hit the large waves.

By Day 5, we were ready for some real rest and relaxation, so we spent almost 8 hours out in the sun. Both of us ended up slightly burnt, but we thoroughly enjoyed the day.

On Day 6, we drove over to Po'ipu to check out the Spouting Horn (a lava shelf that water spurts up through) and then to Kalaheo to get some of the best pizza on the island from Brick Oven Pizza to get some lunch.

During our stay, we ate dinner at some great restaurants (Gaylord's, Mema's and Cafe Portofino to name a few), got some great photos and had a truly memorable experience. Needless to say, going back to work yesterday was just a tad hard...:)

Here is one of my favorite pics from our honeymoon. To view the rest of my photos, check out my Flickr site. If you're looking for some really good photos, you'll have to check out my husband's site.



Can't be too safe when ziplining.

My awesome team at work bought us a video camera as a wedding gift (they totally spoiled us!) so we put it to good use at the wedding and on our honeymoon. Here's a video of Wailua Falls:



Several tips / fun facts regarding Kauai:

• It rains / mists almost every day, though it usually just lasts 5-10 minutes.
• PT Cruiser rental cars are very popular. We were lucky enough to snag a BRIGHT blue one.
• The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook will be the only map / sightseeing guide you need. This is a fabulous resource for any of you planning to go to Kauai (thanks to the Reeders for letting us borrow theirs!).
• There is a ton of sightseeing to be done in Kauai. You'll want to figure out your top attractions on each side of the island (using your Ultimate Kauai Guidebook, of course!) and try to to get to each side of the island on separate days.

Mr. & Mrs. Moran!

Well, we finally did it! We are officially 'Mr. and Mrs. Corey Moran'! As we begin our life as a married couple, we thought it would only be appropriate to start a blog to keep y'all updated with our activities and for our first post, it seemed fitting that we fill you in on our recent wedding.

Corey and I were married on July 26th at the Seawatch Restaurant in Wailea, Maui (in Hawaii, for those of you who don't like to leave the mainland). It was the most beautiful, fun and memorable wedding we've ever been to, though you may say that we're a bit partial since it was our own wedding after all. ;)

We were so fortunate to have 30 of our closest friends and family members join us to celebrate our marriage. The festivities began on Friday night with a 'Greet & Eat', which Corey's parents hosted for all of our guests. This took place at the Rusty Harpoon in Whalers Village in Ka'anapali. This was a great way for everyone to finally meet one another - many of our guests had met some of the other guests, but very few had met everyone that attended our wedding.

Here are a few photos from this event and you can review the rest here.

The entire Persson, Moran & Fobel clan.

Corey and I outside the Rusty Harpoon.

The following day, Saturday, July 26th, was our wedding day. I was so lucky to spend the day with my three fabulous bridesmaids - Kelsey, Gina and Sara. Kels did my hair and made my gorgeous jewelry (it's out there now, Kels, so get ready for the calls to start pouring in!).

My mom joined us in the afternoon to get ready and then my dad joined us to take some photos with us before meeting up with the rest of my family to head to the Seawatch together.

The wedding was perfect and went more smoothly than I could have ever imagined, especially considering that we hadn't even met our officiant, DJ, photographer, videographer or ceremony coordinator. We can't wait to see the photos, which come in 8-10 weeks, or the DVD, which should arrive in 6-8 weeks. We'll be sure to post these here so check back soon!

In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite photos so far, but feel free to check out my new Flickr site to see the photos that friends and family have sent me in the past few days (set aside a large block of time when you're ready to review 'em - there are a ton of photos!).

My dad, mom and I before we headed to the Seawatch.

Corey and his mom, Joan, before the ceremony.

Our officient, Ken, began the Hawaiian ceremony with the blowing of a conch shell.

My beautiful bridesmaids and I during the reception.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Corey Moran!

Following our wedding, Corey and I stayed at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea before heading off to Kauai for our sunny, week-long honeymoon.

We're still working to get our honeymoon pictures fully uploaded but as soon as they are, we'll be sure to post a blog entry with details and photos from our honeymoon.