Our Lovely Ladybug

Last Halloween, I was walking around in Ballard and saw tons of kids and dogs dressed up in cute costumes. This year, being new puppy parents, we didn't want to miss the fun. We found a ladybug costume at Petco that fit Roxy perfectly.

After we both got home from work tonight, we took Roxy out for a walk around Ballard. While we didn't see any other dogs dressed up this year, we saw quite a few cute kids in costume and Roxy had a great time. She got all sorts of attention, scored a few pieces of beef jerky, took some time out for some license plate sniffing and was able to mingle with tons of little kids, which is something we hadn't yet had the opportunity to do with her. She did great - she likes to jump on them and lick them just like she does adults; no biting or barking at all. (We'll keep working on the jumping part in doggie class.)

She didn't mind the costume too much, except later this evening, after we'd been home for awhile, the antennas start drooping and quickly became a chew toy.


Our cute little ladybug.


She greeted me in costume when I got home from work - made my whole day.


All worn out after our walk.

It's still Thursday...

10/30/2008
Originally uploaded by C. Moran

We went to Azteca for dinner. It's a Mexican restaurant in Ballard--although it's actually a chain of restaurants that you can probably find on Google Maps. Google Maps is really handy and I think it will become big one day. Azteca is owned by the Ramos family but I haven't met any of them at the restaurants; although maybe I have and didn't even know it.

I had a chicken fajita burrito. It was good. It has chicken in it that has been cooked like chicken fajitas, which is why they call it a chicken fajita burrito. It also has rice and beans and grilled green peppers and onions in it (also keeping with the fajita theme). There's a sauce they put on top which really helps. I had chips and salsa, too. Jenny had a taco salad, which she used to get more often, but has been getting the tostada salad instead, which is pretty much the same thing, just doesn't have the big, crunchy shell. She had guacamole on it. She likes guacamole. Guacamole is made out of avocados. Our friend Lisa likes avocados. There are lots of avocados near Palm Springs (a couple we met on the cruise this year told us). Jenny's from the Palm Springs of Washington (Yakima), which isn't the same thing, but they might have avocados, too.

Okay, it's almost time to watch TV shows. I remember when Friends was on Thursdays. There are still good shows on Thursdays, but it's not the same. I like the Office. If I could only watch one show live on Thursday nights it would be the Office. Kath & Kim is pretty good, too, but it's new and we'll see if it stays funny. And Thursday Night Football starts soon. When that does, I'd probably rather watch that live more than the Office.

If you're reading this, I can't believe you made it all the way to the end. Asinine Blog Post Thursday is now over...

EDITOR'S NOTE: For the record--and clarification--the "Asinine Blog Post Thursdays" posts were in no way, shape or form intended to poke fun at the primary "Meet the Morans" blogger, Jenny.  It was in fact intended to make light of some bloggers (to remain nameless) and the topics on which they post.  I would also like to note that all the details contained within these Thursday posts have in fact been true.  I hope these posts do not adversely impact the readship of "Meet the Morans".  Good day.

Asinine Blog Post Thursday

10/30/2008
Originally uploaded by C. Moran

So, today is asinine blog post Thursday. It's a gray day and I'm wearing a little bit of gray. This morning I had a donut (their spelling, not mine) from Top Pot on the way back from Cruise West. Yum. It was good. This afternoon I'm having a cup of coffee. Here's a picture of it.

Halloween Fright Fest

Last night, Corey and I headed to the Reeders' house for their 2nd Annual Halloween Fright Fest get-together. The Gossetts were there, along with some of Lisa's co-workers / friends and Jason's friends. We had a great time, had some yummy food and desserts and even made it to the Nightmare at Beaver Lake (a haunted trail of sorts) again.

The scary spider cupcakes that I made for the shindig.

The whole crew - Katie, Jennifer, Natalie, Chris, Elaine, Jon, Lisa, Jason, Dave and Jamie - posing before heading off to the haunted forest.

One of the characters from the haunted trail really took a liking to Lisa. Everywhere we turned, there he was. He even chased and Jason out of the end of the haunted trail and down the road.

Whew - we made it out alive.

Roxy's Newest Trick

Last night was Roxy's first 'Basic Obience' class and it was a blast! Lulu (her Lab friend from Puppy Kindergarten) is in the class so Roxy's in heaven. We even talked to Lulu's owners about some puppy playdates, which we're all excited about.

The focus of the first class was on getting the dogs to learn / respond to 'come', 'sit' and 'down'. Roxy did great - she's mastered all these commands (though she may still need some work on them when she's distracted by things outdoors). Next week, I think we learn 'drop it', 'leave it' and 'stay'. We're especially looking forward to her consistently listening to the 'stay' command - what freedom we'll have then!

The trainer also showed us how to do 'shake', which he said isn't required and isn't part of the class but is a fun command if you're up for it. Corey did a little work with Roxy last night and she's getting pretty good at it!

Check it out.

Birthday Cocktails for Gina's Birthday

On Sunday, Sara, Gina, Kels and I got together at Greenlake Bar & Grill to celebrate (with cocktails of course!) Gina's 26th birthday! We hadn't seen each other in awhile so it was great to catch up and to help Gina celebrate.

We totally lucked out - the weather couldn't have been better for a trip to Greenlake. After our cocktails, we headed out to sit by the lake and eat our Baskin Robbins ice cream (wouldn't have been a true birthday celebration without it!) and enjoy what may have been the last nice and sunny day of the year.

If you haven't been to Greenlake lately, you should head there soon before all the leaves disappear from the trees - it's beautiful there right now!

Gina, Kels and Sara enjoying their ice cream in front of the lake.

Bath Time = Swimming Time

This morning, we decided it was time to give our cute, smelly puppy a bath. As you know, she doesn't love baths yet so of course, she shivered and looked ready to climb out the entire time. As I picked her up to move her so I could continue to rinsing her off, I realized that she thinks she needs to 'swim' when held above the water. Check out the video below:



And here's a cute photo Corey took during bath time:



Other new photos of Roxy are on Corey's Flickr site. Look for the one where she's yawning - it's a classic.

Dania Finally Delivers!

Can you believe it? We FINALLY got our couch today - it's only been 13-1/2 months since we were supposed to have it! For those of you who don't know the full story, here's a quick summary:

We ordered our original couch 1-1/2 years ago, about 6 months before moving into our condo. The couch arrived before we moved in, so Dania stored it in their warehouse until we moved in. On moving day, we scheduled the couch for delivery but it turned out to be the wrong couch (we wanted the lounge part of the sectional to be in front of our living room window vs. in front of the TV). We kept the couch and they re-ordered the proper configuration. After waiting about 4 months for that one, we found out it was lost so they re-ordered it yet again. The third one came in May but of course, it was the same (wrong) configuration. They re-ordered AGAIN and finally, we have the right couch!

Check it out below!

Passed Puppy Class!

Roxy had her last puppy kindergarten class tonight. She's loved the class (and so have we - it totally tires her out!). It was a great class for the pups to socialize with each other and learn how to interact / play together. Though Roxy had an accident (or two) every class (oops!), she had a blast and received a class completion certificate and giant milk bone. The finished which she finished in about 20 minutes - she cleaned every last crumb out of the carpet.

Here are a few pictures from tonight:


All the puppies wanted a treat from this doggy mama (even Nigel (the big dog), who is the trainer's dog).


Proud papa (and proud puppy checking out the bone).


I think she likes the bone.

Next week, we start Basic Training, which is a 6-week long training course where the dogs learn the basic commands (sit, stay, down, etc). Should be fun!

Girls' Night + Southside

The Wunderman gals (Alison and Terri, who are both still Wunderman peeps, and Brooke and I) met up for dinner in Fremont last night. We then headed over to The High Dive to see two of the Wunderman guys (Ryan and Shane) perform with their rap band Southside.

The girls had a blast catching up and it was awesome to see the guys perform - they did a great job!

Shane (left) and Ryan (middle) jamming with the band.

Alison played band manager / groupie and got the guys beers.

Brooke (hiding second from left), Shane (middle with the red hat), Ryan (second from right) and Alison (far right) posed with other band members before calling it a night.

Roxy's Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' Would Make Limp Bizkit Proud

Corey was recently able to get Roxy to 'roll over' on command. She loves it so much that she often keeps rolling after we give her the treat we used to entice her to roll over the first time.

Tonight, I was able to get her to take 'roll over' to a new level - she rolls on command and pauses when I'm not specifically telling her to roll over. Check it out below!

Roxy Takes on the Country

This weekend, we took Roxy to Yakima to visit my parents. It was her first trip to Yakima and her first trip to the country (no leashes needed, lots of grass to play and roll in!). She met my Grandma for the first time, whom she loved. She was also able to meet my parents' terrier mix, Maggie, and their cat, Nikki. Maggie was indifferent around Roxy at first but then would bark at her when Roxy tried to play, but the whole time, her tail was wagging, so we knew she didn't mind her too much. The cat hated Roxy - her tail got big and she ran off to not be seen for much of the weekend.

Roxy loved being off her leash and running around the yard. My parents live on an acre of land so she and Maggie had all kinds of fun running and playing fetch. She even got Maggie to play fetch and play with toys, neither of which she normally likes. Both dogs were pooped last night and today - they pretty much slept straight through the day today.

This morning, my dad and I ran the Suncity Half Marathon, which is a race that we started running together five years ago. We had a great time together (except for the running part) and though we finished around 1:55:48, which few minutes after our best time (1:50:30ish or so), we felt good throughout most of the race. Neither of us were able to do much training for this race, so we are happy with our time.

Here are some pics from the weekend. The rest can be seen on Corey's Flickr site (scroll to the bottom of the page and then be sure to also click 'Next' to see a bunch of others) and on my Flickr site.

Roxy loved giving my dad kisses.

My dad pretending he was a puppy too.

Roxy loved playing fetch off-leash in my parents' yard.

Roxy and Maggie playing fetch.

All pooped out after a day of fetch.

It got chilly out over night so we had to bundle Roxy up.

And we're off!

Finish line - whew!

Seabrook Getaway

Corey, Roxy and I headed to Seabrook this weekend with the Reeders, Gossetts and Bishops for some fun and relaxation during our first annual Seabrook Getaway weekend.

Seabrook is new beach town on the Washington coast. It's very quaint - a new neighborhood with about 100+ cottage-type beach houses that are available to rent at decent prices. And the best part is that it's directly across the street from the beach.

Though some of the weekend included heavy downpours, we had a great time playing board games, chatting, listing to Nate play his guitar, cooking and watching the three dogs: Roxy, Avery (the Bishop's Chocolate Lab) and Maggie (the Gossett's Lab). We ventured out into the rain on Saturday morning, but as we were walking down to the beach, it starting pouring and poor little Roxy was drenched and shivering so we had to end our walk a bit early.

Last night, everyone helped me celebrate my birthday with cards, presents and beach-themed cupcakes. I was totally spoiled - what great friends we have!

We had a great time and are looking forward to our 2nd Annual Seabrook Getaway next year!

Here are a few great photos I 'borrowed' from Natalie's set (thanks, Natalie!) and you can see all of my photos here.


Me, Roxy, Lisa, Ashlie and Avery prior to the rainy hike down to the beach.


Us, the Gossetts, Reeders and Bishops in front of our house.


Lisa, Natalie, Ashlie and I in front of our house before our departure this a.m.


Nate has his hands full while we posed for our picture.


Avery and Maggie trying to figure out what Roxy is doing in Nate's guitar case.


The yummy beach-themed cupcakes Natalie made for my birthday!