I got the JOB!

We moved to Birmingham in March of this year because Misha got a GREAT job offer to be a Nuclear Fuel Engineer with Southern Nuclear. This is the line of work he wanted to be in because it combines the nuclear engineering + the business side of things. Southern CO really takes care of their employees and has definitely taken really good care of us so far. Great benefits - health, dental, paid for all our moving expenses + more, provided a place for us to live for two weeks, provides a spouse employment program (which I'm not using for my job search, but I'm going to use them for my business plan development later), provides a FREE 24-hour nurse, and more! They have a nature/walking trail, gym & fitness center, and cafeteria for all their employees. Misha is off every other Friday too. He's already gone to Washington DC for business (I went too - details & pics to come) and will have to make several trips including San Fran, San Diego, and GEORGIA! Misha likes the job, we love the area we live in, and it's all really nice.

Anyway, all that being said, the focus of this blog entry was that I have been searching for a job here for four months. Jobs in the event planning field are hard to come by especially in this economy. I searched and searched and submitted my resume to seven places. I did interviews with 4 out of 7. The one that I really wanted was with a non-profit organization called Sav-A-Life. It seemed more down to Earth, relaxed, and flexible...plus it is a mission minded organization where I could "give back" instead of just trying to meet a quota or just plan conferences. Well, I got a call yesterday afternoon from their Executive Director offering me the EVENT PLANNER & OFFICE MANAGER position! I GOT THE JOB!!!!!







Here is what it's about:

Sav-A-Life is a mission minded pro-life organization that helps those in need make life-affirming decisions concerning their pregnancy. They also try to instill knowledge that brings needed restoration to their lives. Sav-A-Life has a pregnancy center that offers STD testing, pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, limited pre-natal care, counseling, and parenting classes...for FREE. They try to educate both the mother and father (usually just the mother) about options available to them rather than abortion. They have helped over 40,000 clients. They are a place that provides help & hope - physically, mentally, and spiritually. The above-all goal of Sav-A-Life is to reach out to these people in need and lead them to Christ through these services.

What a great place to work for! I can hardly believe that I will get to plan events that raises funds for this ministry! Now that is a worth-it cause!

Signing out for now ~ very excited & relieved about the job ~ DC details & pics to come as promised!

Alona's Baby Shower

Some of our best friends (Dima & Alona) are expecting! They are due to have a baby girl in September...although I am betting that baby Julia will make her debut in August. Anyway, I wanted to give Alona a 'traditional' American baby shower so here are a few pics from that day. Susan and I were the hostesses and you know we had fun planning, decorating, and preparing for the party. They are always so much fun!

Packing everything for the baby shower.
Yeah, I brought everything from Birmingham to Gainesville!

The diaper cake that I made.
It was ADORABLE and served as a decoration as well as part of my gift.
They are very easy to make and you can get super-creative with these.

Basically it's rolled up diapers, bottles filled with candy in the center of the 'cake', and whatever you want to use for decorations.
I used ribbon, faux flowers, gift basket stuffing, and a toy on top.
VERY CUTE!!!

The guest of honor!

Hostess (me) & Mother-to-be!

Alona (and Julia!) & Hostess Susie-Q

We had some delicious food.
Chicken salad croissants, broccoli salad, deviled eggs, pigs in a blanket, mini cranberry muffins, guacamole, spinach dip, fruit salads, cheesecake, candies, and cake!
YUMMY!

The food was SOOOO GOOD. Really! Not trying to brag, but it turned out great!

Yuuuuum! Notice the table cloth. It's really wrapping paper that I found at the dollar store. It was my inspiration for the entire shower.
Very cute and very inexpensive.
It goes a long way and really spices things up!

How cute? This was part of the "Cupcake Cake"

More decorations....add a personal touch by using pictures of the mommy-and-daddy-to-be.
They can keep the framed pictures too!

Present time! Alona is using a Winnie the Pooh theme for her nursery.

She really got a lot of useful things and not just all clothes.

Haha! This is one of the shower games that Susan came up with. You have several diapers and you put samples of baby food in each. For example, this one was Pureed Squash. EW!

Each shower guest has to try to guess what baby food it is.
They can touch, smell, or even taste if they want to.

It's hilarious and really makes some laughs!

Candid shots :-)

Candid shots (me & Anya). I think I was explaining the "Don't Say Baby" game.
That game was a hit too!

More candid shots :-)

Group picture!!! It was a wonderful shower and very special for Alona!

It was also extra special because we got to announce two other pregnancies in our circle of friends!!!! Here the three moms-to-be
(Anya, Alona, and Anastasia)
are posing with the diaper cake.
I guess two more showers (and diaper cakes) are in the near future! :-)


More blogging to come later. For now it's house cleaning + the continuation of the job search!

What We've Been Doing In Birmingham!

We have been doing lots since we've moved here. I have really been working hard on the house, yard, and my job search while Misha works during the day. More before and after pictures of the house coming later. All these pictures are the fun activities we do on the weekends when we aren't in Georgia or Florida.

Some of the fun things on the collage:

Crawfish Boil at Misha's Boss's House
Visits to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Hot Air Balloon Festival
Hiking & Finding a Waterfall
Date Nights

I can't wait to do more fun Birmingham activities with my hubby (and whoever comes for a visit!)

Here are a few of my favs if you can't see them on the collage:

Me & Susie Q with the beautiful tulips in bloom at the Botanical Gardens.

Posing with all the cherry blossoms at the Botanical Gardens. It's like snow!

Misha and I enjoy hiking at this preserve which is two miles from our house. We even found this waterfall there!
How cool!?!

Date night at one of our local favorites - Maria's. It's this very authentic Mexican restaurant with yummy (and cheap) margaritas. We usually hit up the dollar theater afterward too!

LOVE this picture! When Dima & Alona came for a visit, we went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival. SOOOOO cool and great photo op! They had great food, games, rides, crafts, and shows. Really fun and a definite to-do next year!

Summertime...

~ Took the boat out on the lake

~ Caught fireflies in a jar

~ Picked summer squash from our garden

~ Drank some sweet tea

~ Got a suntan on my pink float (shout out to Sarah Fiveash!)

~ Ate blackberries with milk & sugar

What a great summer day!

Getting the boat ready


Misha navigating. We had the mast up and were prepared to sail, but there wasn't really any wind, so we just motored around. :-)

Misha being so nice and blowing up my pink float for me

Pink float time!! Sarah, you would be very proud!

Our Garden

My Papa has always told me to plant your garden on Good Friday (the Friday before Easter). Well, Misha and I decided to plant a garden this year so, of course, we planted it on Good Friday as directed by Papa. :-) Well, look at our little garden grow! We have new potatoes, okra, tomatoes, squash, peppers, beets, peas, cucumbers, dill, basil, parsley, and mint! It's sooooooo cool to watch everything grow. We take a walk outside to the garden every afternoon to see if there is any new growth, buds or vegetables. It's so much fun and it's a great thing to do together! Plus, vegetables straight from the garden are so good!

Potatoes growing!


Peas (like on Jack & the Bean Stalk!) Who knew you had to provide something for them to grow up? I.e. string....Thank you Master Gardener Misha!

Pretty cucumber blooms

Look at those tomatoes!

This is the squash that Misha and I picked this morning. I'm going to make vegetable lasagna tonight for dinner!