Jello Shots, Dick's Burgers, and Gnomes...OH MY!

You know you're in for a fun night when a holiday party kicks off with cherry and lime jello shots and burgers from Dick's. That's exactly how my work team holiday party started off last night at my co-worker Stephanie's house.

We all had a great evening at the Moultries', filled with great food, tons of yummy drink options and many laughs. The highlight of the evening was the $10 (or less) White Elephant gift exchange. Most desirable gifts included a yard gnome, a Zen garden, Nerf gun, and the highly coveted bright blue monkey and banana covered fleece boxers (which I'm proud to say were my contribution).

Thanks for having us over for a fabulous evening Stephanie and Billy!

A few of my favorite photos from the night are below; the rest can be found here.

The hubby enjoying a Dick's hamburger.

The festive Jello shots.

Ready, set, GO!

The work crew: Tony, Doyin, Dara, Siiri, Stephanie, Stacy and I.

This Nerf guy was wanted by all the guys.

Boss man and his wife with their original presents (both were stolen shortly after this photo).

Everyone needs a pair of underwear for your hands, right?

Dara donned Billy's 6th grade jacket and showed off his moves.

Holiday Parties Begin!

I love the holidays - in addition to the all the obvious reasons, it means fun parties with our friends and co-workers.

Last night we kicked off the party season with the HMG holiday part at Brian and Eileen's house. Eileen cooked up an amazing spread so in addition to stuffing ourselves with great food, we were able to spend some fun quality time with all of co-workers and their significant others, and everyone had the chance to show their competitive side with a Balderdash-like game. This is really the one time all year that we're all together and it's so fun to catch up with everyone.

Next up: my T-Mobile team party tonight. Check back for details tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are some photos from our HMG evening.

Corey making friends with Frosty.

The festive dinning table. Love it!

HMG'ers: Niels, Matt, Pat, Brian, Natalie, Corey, Laura, Erin.

HMG gals - the ones who keep the office afloat.

Brian opening the host gift the HMG team presented to him and Eileen. Between the high chair back and glasses, he looks ready for someone to sit on his lap and go through their gift wish list.

Frisbee Fun

Who knew playing with a Frisbee could be so much fun, not only for Roxy but for us as well. (Make sure your sound is on!)

(Apologies for the darkness / poor quality. Had to catch this right when it happened and didn't have time to get all the lights on.)

Meet Moorea

The Reeders became puppy parents this week and last night, we had our chance to meet Moorea. Moorea is named after their honeymoon location and was born on their anniversary - how appropriate! She's a Goldendoodle (Golden Retriever / Poodle) and is absolutely adorable. She's eight weeks old and is only about 13 lbs. right now but is about Roxy's size.

Roxy is looking forward to an upcoming playdate in the Reeders' backyard.

Congrats Lisa & Jason!

A few photos from last night are below. The rest can be found here.

Playing with the toys we got her as a welcome home gift.

Hanging with her momma (who's in the 'throw with arms' that we picked up for Miss Moorea so she'd be allowed on the couch).

My cute hubby with Moorea.

Terrific Turkey Day

For Thanksgiving this year, Corey and I packed up and headed over the mountains with Roxy and Joan to stay with my parents for a few days. Luckily, even though there was heavy snow on the pass last weekend, our drive both ways was nice and clear.

We all had a great time during our relaxing three-day stay. While at home, we were able to visit with my parents and grandma, sneak in some shopping, see The Blind Side (LOVED it), and Corey, Roxy and I were even able to take our family portrait for our holiday cards! We're still full from all the yummy meals throughout the weekend.

A few photos from our stay are below. (Note: Photo to be used for our holiday card is not included below. You don't think we'd debut it before you receive our card, did you??)

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day!

The fabulous women responsible for a delicious Thanksgiving feast.

This was pre-turkey dinner. Imagine my dad post-turkey dinner.

Fam enjoying dinner.

It was a big day for a little dog.

Not to be outdone by Thanksgiving dinner, breakfast had to be equally over the top (no pun intended). (Or perhaps I should have read the recipe and stuck with 24 frozen rolls instead of 36.)

T-Mobile Brings on the Aloha!

Most of you know that Corey and I have a trip to Hawaii planned in March - first stopping in Kona for a few days with my parents, and then the two of us will head over to Maui for the remainder of our vacation. Well, after today, we now have another trip to Maui planned courtesy of T-Mobile!

I was one of the lucky winners of our 'Peak' Award today! About 200 T-Mobile employees and a guest of their choice receive this award each year and are treated to a top notch, 5-day / 4-night trip to Maui in February for some fun, rest & relaxation and a chance to meet the senior leadership team. I'm told we stay at the Sheraton in Kaanapali, get to choose several activities to take part in, receive breakfast and dinner daily, score all kinds of swag, etc.

Corey and I had a meeting with our financial planner this morning, so I sent a note to my boss last night saying that I'd be in a little late today. In the meantime, all the folks in my department received a 'surprise announcement' invitation for this morning, which overlapped with our financial planning appointment. We were all very puzzled as to what this announcement could be. Well, my boss called me this a.m. and told me I should really try to make the meeting as it was important that our whole team was there --- of course, this made me think it was something bad (i.e. layoffs, re-orgs, etc). He then called Corey and spilled the beans so Corey could ensure that I made it to work in time for the meeting. When they announced my name, I think my jaw hit the floor.

I found out I was the winner from our department this morning and I'm STILL in shock. I am so excited and am completely looking forward to saying 'alooooo-HA' to Hawaii in both February AND March now!

Check out some pics from the announcement this morning below.

Receiving leis and my pineapple 'award' from my team's director, LaSonjia.

Shock and embarrassed (note the pink cheeks) as 25+ of my peers looked on.

I was asked to give a speech, but not much came out since I was shaking / in shock.

YUM! They brought in a delicious cake to celebrate!

Happy Birthday Kels!

Fall is the time birthdays, I tell ya! Love it!

On Tuesday night, it was time to celebrate Kels' big 2-7. A group of us headed out to Black Bottle for some girlie time and to enjoy some Blasted Broccoli (if you haven't tried it, you're missing out). I hadn't been to Black Bottle in forever - it's so yummy!

Had a great time catching up with the girls. Hope you had a great birthday, Kels!

The gals: Chesney, Sara, Gina, me, Kels, & Tara.

Someone made out like a bandit! (Or maybe she's just well loved.)

T-Mobile Team Takes on Ballard

My work team planned a 2009 review / 2010 planning session and needed a location for our planning offsite. After some discussion, we realized that the conference room / media room in the lobby of our condo would be the perfect locale to allow us to be together as a team, plan for the coming year and have a little fun. Between Gina's bridal shower and our offsite, all that money that Corey and I put towards our condo dues each month is finally being put to good use!

Since we were in our building all day, I brought Roxy down to hang with us and not only did everyone love her, she was a very well behaved pup (other than the gas, of course).

And since everyone trekked all the way here, we made sure to take in all Ballard had to offer, including happy hour at King's Hardware and dinner at the Matador.

Love our team building time!

I think Roxy may have a little crush on Dara.

Team happy hours rock!
(Tony, Dara, Stacy, Siiri, Doyin, Stephanie and I)

Dara and Stacy = BFFs forever!

Night Out on the Town

Last night, we met up with the Reeders and Gossetts for dinner at a new restaurant in Ballard - The Counter. The Counter is a build-your-own-burger place, allowing you to choose from 312,120 different combinations - if that is not enough to satisfy you, then I don't know what is!

The burgers were delish and so were the fries, and with it being less than a mile from our condo, we'll definitely be heading back there in the future.

Apparently the burgers make you silly...

After dinner, we headed over to Capitol Hill to celebrate our friend Jennifer's birthday at The Saint. Had a great time with her and her friends and we were able to meet her boyfriend!

All in all, we had a great Saturday night out on the town catching up with our friends.

The Birthday Girl with her boyfriend Andrew.

Jennifer and I posing for a pic.

Jennifer's friend Emily from Cali, Jennifer and Lisa.

Corey and Jason.

Miss Natalie and Chris.

Us.

The gang.

I made Chocolate Cupcakes and Peanut Butter Frosting for the birthday dessert --- and was able to use the cupcake carrier that the Gossetts got me for my birthday.

Shots for the birthday girl!

Rockin' Out with Joshua Radin

Last weekend, we headed out to a Joshua Radin show.

We heard some of his songs on Grey's Anatomy and Eli Stone and liked his style so Corey downloaded his album, which we listen to frequently. Corey heard he was coming into town for a show at Neumos (which, coincedently, is where we had our first date) so he bought me tickets for my birthday.

We had a great time! His music is relaxing and fun and he seems like a really cool guy (and not to mention pretty cute!). Before each song, he shared a story about it - it was awesome to find out what each song was about and why he decided to write it.

We're hoping he comes back into town soon so we can check him out again.

Joshua Radin performing at Neumos.

Walked right out into the crowd for the last song! (He's the one in the gray shirt with a guitar strap on his left shoulder, facing away from the camera.)