Washington DC

Misha was assigned to go to Washington DC for training at the US Department of Energy. We decided that I could go on this trip too since I had never been to the capitol before. We arrived on Monday and spent four days there. Misha had to train for Tuesday & Wednesday (but not me!!!) so I navigated my way through the bus stops, metro stations, and streets of Downtown DC all by myself! I was certainly proud. I basically just walked around, went into museums, saw monuments, and took pictures. It was so much fun! Misha and I had Thursday & Friday to ourselves - no training for Misha! We left Germantown (north of DC, where we were at for his meetings) and went to Dupont Circle to check into the Hilton Washington. What a SWEET hotel! It was in a really trendy area + the room was really nice + I got it for $79/night when their rooms sell for at least $300/night. Thank you Hilton Friends & Family discount! So basically, we spent four days in Washington for $200. Misha's work paid for most everything for him and we only paid for one hotel night at $79 + metro fairs + a few meals. We paid for my flight in SkyMiles. AWESOME!!!!

Anyway, Misha and I had SUCH a good time Thursday. We rode the metro everywhere, got to see all the sights, walked around at night (much cooler & nicer), took pictures, ate delicious food at some very hip places, found a Russian restaurant one block from our hotel, and really just enjoyed each others' company. :-) Friday we toured the Smithsonian Museums. I wish we could have gone to all of them and stayed longer, but there just wasn't enough time. There are a ton of those museums and they are all so cool. We went to the Museum of Natural History & the Air and Space Museum. Both were very interesting. Friday evening we picked up our luggage from the Hilton and began our journey to BWI airport. Walk six blocks + metro ride + switch metros + get on Amtrak commuter train + bus shuttle to airport (no we didn't have a rental car b/c it's so expensive plus it's a pain to have a car in DC). All that to get to the airport and figure out our plane had been delayed for several hours which meant that we would miss our flight in ATL which meant that we would have to spend the night in the ATL airport. YaY.

Other than the Delta mishap, our trip was so much fun and we will definitely go back. Maybe it can be a family affair. I would love to go to the Holocaust Museum, all the other Smithsonian Museums, the FBI Museum, and Colonial Williamsburg. I hear DC is beautiful in the spring time with all the cherry trees in bloom. :-)

Here are some pics from our trip:

Washington Monument

White House
(did you know that Michelle Obama started a vegetable garden on the front lawn of the White House? Pretty cool!)

World War II Monument
(lots of history - got to see some things I've heard Daddy & Granddaddy talk about)

Cool pic of the Atlantic Theater Monument

Lincoln Memorial
(this totally makes me think of Forrest Gump)

Yeah, not really sure what this one is. Just walked by and thought it was beautiful.
I should probably know what it is.

Outside the Museum of Natural History

Inside Museum of Natural History
(got to see everything from Dinosaurs to Human Origins to Mammals to Oceans)

Hehehe :-)

We got to see the Hope Diamond. They really aren't kidding when they say that thing is HUGE.

Smithsonian Castle

Mish inside the Air & Space Museum. He was loving it.

Yeeeaaah. Cute pic, but he actually KNOWS what that stuff is. Smarty.

Proud to be an American!

Also proud to be married to this guy. :-)

The sunset was BEAUTIFUL! Washington Monument is in the background.

What a great picture!!!!!

In front of the Capitol Building

Cool pic!!

This was in the Butterfly Gardens on "Smithsonian Row".
Great place to relax and to take a break from the heat by getting some shade!

MUAH!

It started getting dark, but we were still walking around and touring.
This was outside the US Botanical Gardens.

Looks like a firecracker doesn't it? It was some sort of cool dried plant.

Metro station. They were fun, but I'm sooooo glad I don't have to ride that EVERYDAY!

Ah! We were craving a smoothie and came across this place giving out free smoothie samples.

Our DELICIOUS Greek food. Hummus, pita chips, stuffed grape leaves, and calamari. OH.

Dining on the outdoor patio at Zorba's Greek Restaurant. Greek food is my absolute favorite.

We found a Russian restaurant one block from the hotel we were at! We had already eaten, but of course we wanted to go in. We had to rush back to the hotel and throw on some appropriate fancy clothes. They had pelmeni, borsch, everything (including over 120 vodkas from around the world. Geez, they are crazy about some vodka). Misha was so excited b/c he got to have a Russian beer. LOL

I LOVED all the road-side flower stands.

Ethiopian restaurant. We really tried a lot of different foods in DC.

Cooling off in the fountain by the Sculpture Garden.
Sooooo nice!

Fountain in Sculpture Garden

THE END!

Compliments of our Garden

Yesterday I went out to our garden to check on everything. We've been having some bad storms lately and it has really taken a toll on our garden. It took out some of the squash plants and basically flattened all the potato plants. We also have a huge pecan tree limb down in our front yard.


That happened while I was in Florida for Alona's Baby Shower. It was funny b/c Misha and I were joking that every time I leave and come back SOMETHING gets messed up. Whether it's the house (Misha blames it on Bugira, but really it's him doing something like shooting his BB gun in our basement), the yard, whatever....something ALWAYS happens.

Anyway, as I was saying, I went out to the garden to check on things. I cleaned it up a little bit and I still need to pull weeds - which I HATE pulling weeds! UGH! But I guess it's part of it. As I was cleaning out around the potato plants, I decided to check and see if we still had any potatoes that weathered the storms. I mean, the potato plants were flattened, but were still alive and potatoes are underground, right?

Well, check out what I found!!!

All these potatoes are from just a few of our plants.
I dug up an entire bucket full!

After washing them off. We have sooooo many!

This is part of what we had for dinner last night.
Everything in this dish is from our garden
(except the Smart Balance Butter that we use).
New Potatoes + Dill + Parsley = YUMMY

So far we have enjoyed new potatoes, summer squash, bell peppers, peas, cucumbers, dill, parsley, basil, and mint all compliments of our garden. We will have tomatoes very soon. We have five tomato plants and there must be at least 20 - 30 green tomatoes on just those plants. A few are beginning to ripen to a beautiful red color. We should have at least a few by the end of this week!

Well, my plans for the day are to cut & remove the pecan tree limb that is just chillin' there in our front yard. Going to mow our grass too! Better hop to it before it gets too hot outside. :-)

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!