HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN!!! Check out who has joined the blogging world in my list of favorites (kyzer2020).

Throwing My First Bridal Shower

Earlier this month I organized a bridal shower for Caroline with the help of her two other bridesmaids. Caroline is a friend from high school who is getting married next month at the beach in South Carolina. As her maid of honor, I was really excited about having the chance to plan a shower and throw her a bachelorette party as well as come up with a speech that is not only sentimental, but also funny (well maybe a little more apprehensive than excited about that part). The bachelorette party is in just a couple of weeks and I must admit that I have not started writing that speech yet, although I have been thinking about it a lot.

We threw the shower at a restaurant in downtown Orlando and luckily had almost the entire restaurant to ourselves. The above picture shows the main table where we ate. The bags were designed by another one of the bridesmaids. She did such a good job and was really creative in the way that she used gift bags for the center pieces. We also ordered confetti with pictures of the bride and groom. The confetti below is actually from another shower a couple of summers ago, but I wanted to show you how great it turns out. You just go to http://www.photofetti.com/, upload as many as 10 pictures and then choose the colors that you would like to incorporate.

We ate first and had a great spread of pasta salad, salad, pizza and grilled veggies. We also had petifores and cream puffs for dessert.

After eating we tested Caroline's knowledge of her fiance (she did wonderfully) and then tested the guests about their knowledge of famous marriages and their ability to unscramble words and phrased related to weddings.

Lastly, she opened all of her gifts. Which included a wishing well full of ways to pamper herself.

Since Caroline and her fiance work for Disney we had the chance to visit Epcot while I was there. I became quite fond of the plant man below, but unfortunately had to leave him behind so that he could entertain more guests.

Celebrate Earth Day

Celebrate Earth Day by designing your own reusable shopping bag. Your bag will be entered in a contest and your bag could be sold at Kroger, which will probably never happen since there are thousands and thousands of entries. Since you may never see your design in stores, you also have the option to order it. The above is my design. You can view and vote for my design by typing 21228 on the vote for designs page (the title to this entry will link you to the website). Go Green! I can't wait to see everyone's designs.

Baptism

Steven's niece was baptized this past Suday at a Methodist Church in Buckhead (the part of town that Steven and his brother's family live in). She was born in October of 2007 and is now almost 7 months. Being the first grandchild, she has managed to wrap the whole family around her little finger. This picture was taken after the service at his sister in laws' parents house. We celebrated there and all had brunch together.

The dress that she is wearing has a really cool history. It has been in the family for 40 years and the name of each child and the date on which they were baptized in it is then embroidered on the slip. Even the boys have worn it. What a neat thing to pass on to each generation.

Recess Rejects

As some of you may know, the folks have been playing on a kickball team in Columbia for a while now. When they started playing the league was organized by WAKA (World Adult Kickball Association). After some time people became frustrated with how little they were doing for the players as compared to the money that they were paying to play. A group approached the recreation centers in Columbia and now play through them with improved services for a better price. They are currently playing for a team called FOOTLOOSE. As a team they are becoming closer and have been doing things together off the field. A lot of the team members came to a party they threw after the holidays and they just ventured to the beach together last weekend.

(sorry for the really bad picture, but at least you can see them in their uniform)

After moving to Atlanta and having a certain someone on the road way too much, I realized that I was going to have to make my own friends. Following in my parents footsteps, I decided to join GoKickball as a free agent. For $51 I get 8 weeks of fun and a team tee shirt. The Recess Rejects have picked me up and welcomed me as one of the three new players on the team. I was a little nervous at first, mainly about having to throw the ball accurately and be an effective player in the field, but now feel pretty comfortable and have a lot of fun playing the game that I have not played since elementary school.

As compared to Columbia's one league, the Go Kickball organization in Atlanta is huge. There are 13 leagues with any where from 6 to 15 teams each. You can choose almost any day of the week to play and can choose between competitive leagues and those that are a little more laid back.

We also have a league bar (Mellow Mushroom) that we visit after each game for some food and discounted league drinks. We most often order the house pizza and a kickball pitcher (of beer).

My team is currently 2-0-2 and in 6th place in our league. We play the number 2 team this week. They have won all four of their games. I just hope that we can pull out a win.

Visitors From Afar - St. Simons Island, GA

At the end of March we went to St. Simons Island in Georgia for a weekend with Steven's family and some friends of theirs that came over from Scotland and England. This is a favorite vacation destination for their family and also where Steven's brother was married several years ago. It is a beautiful island that is family friendly, very relaxing and quite scenic. While on the island we took a trip to visit Ft. Fredreca where for $3 you can explore one of the original British settlements. This settlement was meant to protect the colonies up the coast to the north from the Spanish that were further south in what is now Florida. The small fort was built facing the sound and was successful in protecting the other colonies from Spanish invasion.

You can find Spanish moss all over the island. It is nice to take a drive around the island so that you can see all the pretty vegitation and of course all the large homes of its rich inhabitants.

We even found a few orange trees while we were visiting the fort!

A Georgia Home - Part II

Here it is at last. A few of our fellow bloggers have been anxiously awaiting the unveiling of my new apartment in Atlanta. It is really not all that exciting, but I must say that it is much better than my last apartment in Philadelphia. It was cute, but because of its size and lack of amenities, it made me a little stir crazy.

This is the living area as viewed from the kitchen. The front door is to the right and the bedroom is to the left. There is also a door that leads out to the balcony to the left of the window.

This is the kitchen as viewed from the foyer. The living area is to the right.

This is the bathroom as viewed from the bedroom. The closet is to the left just before you reach the doorway.

So there it is! Now everyone will have to come to visit and see it in person.

Finding a New Job

At the beginning of the summer I began looking at job opportunities in Atlanta and then in July I began applying for positions and anxiously awaiting word. I had no idea when I began, that it would be such a long and frustrating process. Many would say, "that is just the way it is." "It takes a long time and you just can't expect a quick turn around." I must say that I have been more than a little spoiled. My interships during graduate school as well as my first job out of graduate school fell easily into my lap with a limited amount of effort on my end. Even my jobs before that and the part time position that I held during my first year, all came easily. Maybe I was just always in the right place at the right time or the competition was just so limited that I always managed my way to the top of the pile.

I have no clue at this point how many resumes I submitted. I know that I had to be well over 50 and that may be a conservative number. I will have to go back and count all of my cover letters that I have saved. From all of that, I only had three somewhat positive responses. That is a measly 4 - 6% return rate. Very sad! I seriously began to question my abilities and if I was even where I needed to be as a professional in order to find a job that I wanted. I do realize that some of the jobs I was either over qualified for or under qulaified for, the non profit job arena is much more limiting than the corporate, I only had a year of experience and I was living 700 miles from my potential new home, but come on.

After 6 months I decided that I needed to get closer and took a temp position at a consulting firm in Atlanta. I figured that would at least improve my chances - being that there was no longer 700 miles between me and my potential dream job. At the end of February I began the interview process with a company based out of Columbia, SC with a branch in Atlanta. I am now happy to report that after almost 9 months of constant searching I have accepted a job offer as a Grants Strategist with a for-profit grants consulting firm. Their main focus is on large (over 1 million) federal education grants. I will be helping clients through the granting process and then providing technical assistance on the back end of the grant (post-award). It is a really exciting small company that does a lot for its employees. I will have a large learning curve with this job and it will truly challenge me, but it should be a lot of fun and will allow me to learn a lot more about grants, especially large ones. My largest grant award at this point is $450,000. Jumping to the million dollar range is huge. I will also be traveling to Columbia as much as once a month and as little as every other month. I will get to stop by to see mom and dad quite a bit!

I start during the third week in April and am looking forward to a long career with them. I do not want to go through this process again any time soon!!