In the past few weeks

Here's what happened recently...

• For those of you who don't know... we have 4 kittens(1 of them is our neighbour's, but it comes during the day to play with the rest of our cats) and two puppies! It makes our life complete :) I love animals, especially babies. Unfortunately I don't get much time with them. I see them once a week on Saturdays. Gosh, they get a lot bigger in a week! I have to catch up on playing with the cuties.

• There will be 4 of my little articles in the next Edinstvennaya magazine that comes out in December! (well, not so little - they are all 1-page long... for TV Ekran that would be huge)

• I think we finally broke our vacuum cleaner - it was so close to dying, but started coughing just yesterday after sucking in quite a bit of wood dust. I really hope it will recover. Our poor blue babe.

• We had a corporate party, Jamie came with me. I think he will agree that we had a good time. The next day my chief editor deputy said to the whole office: 'Dasha's husband is so cuuuute!' Is she right, or what! He IS cute! :)

• Next week we're both invited to Bee Movie cinema preview. Enjoy, Jamie!

• I finally got myself some winter boots! Yeah! I had this burden hanging over me for a while. I like shopping for fun. But not when you know exactly what you need... And when there are several important aspects that limit your choice... like price, size, height - definitely up to knee!, material - it has to be genuine leather and fur, otherwise it's too cold and not worth buying... oh, and you have to be able to wear them both with a skirt, dress pants and jeans... SO - feminine, but not with high heels... Blah! Anyhow, it's a tough process, I'm sure everyone will agree. I didn't have the time or desire to go through it, so I just peeked into the only shoe store we have near our village, tried the only pair of boots... and bought them. No more burden! Dunno about you, but I'm ready for snow :)

• A friend from work brought me a Blast, Swingin Bach and Dizzy Gillespie DVD :) Percussion art is in favor of many.

• I was just interviewed by a friend of mine! She invited me for coffee (sly) and came with a notebook and a pen! :) Asked me about that corporate thing that she didn't go to - cheater... :))) - everything said about Alina was said in a good mood with no shade of frustration. I love her!

Emm... That's it for today. What's new in your lives?

Not for vain

My new magazine has a charity fund that collects money for humanitarian aid. For little children with terrible diseases who don't have parents to take care of them.
Last Wednesday I went to see a boy named Vanya who has inner organ transposition and a really bad heart disease.






He is 1,8 y.o., so cute! Big blue eyes with long black eyelashes and a cheerful smile. Looking at his shiny face you can not believe that he is actually dying.
When he desperately needed a surgent's help the doctors in Ukraine didn't even want to try, he was too young for a surgery that could help him. The doctors in Germany agreed to operate him realising the risk. A BIG sum of money was collected by our fund, 85 ooo hrn brought in by the readers of our magazine and 100 000 hrn added by one of our oligarchs, Mr. Surkis (he owns Dynamo FC). After a very successful operation there was hope. The boy was adopted by a young couple who have two of their own children. They were visiting Vanya long before the surgery, but weren't adopting him because there was nothing they could do to save his life. No money - no hope.
Now little Vanya has a family, people who deeply love him and will do everything they can for his sake.
The problem is that a second surgery has to be done in order to save Vanya's life. The first one was done in order to prepare his little body for this one. It has to be done not later than January, otherwise the risk is too big. A surgery after the deadline might not be helpful at all.

My job was to organize a photo session for Vanya and to write an article about this situation calling out for help. I really hope and believe that people of Ukraine will find mercy and kindness in their hearts to save this angel's life. It is only by God's will that he'll survive, but it is only through our readers' help that Vanya's new parents will be able to do it.

What I realised from this little task of mine is that the work I do now is actually not only to entertain the readers of our magazine. Through this fund God actually saves people's lives. I felt so right when realised that what I do daily is actually good, I finally see how I can really serve Him through my job. Official job. It's so great to know that you're useful to society. God is good.

***
By the way, if any of the ones reading this post feel like being part of this act of mercy, you may contact me for the fund information or use the coordinates below to support our fund.

Получатель: Благотворительный фонд журнала «Единственная»

р/c 26001000671000 (в гривнах)

р/c 26004000671900 (в евро)

в АО «Калион Банк Украина» в г.Киеве

МФО 300379

Код ЗКПО 26548008

Назначение платежа: фонд в помощь Юрочке Бражнику.

Or in English...

Calyon New York, New York

Swift code: CRLYUS33

Receiver: charity fund of Edinstvennaya magazine

Account number - 26004000671900 (will in be exchanged into EUR)

Purpose: Yura Brajnik's fund

Thank you for your generosity

I am such a blessed person

Dedicated to TV Ekran

Professionally I'm very glad I got promoted. Working for one of the most popular and interesting magazines in the whole country is way more than I could only imagine. It's glossy, for goodness sake!!! And I'm extremely excited to be here.

I'm not complaining, I'm in no right to complain. I just now have something to compare.
The team I used to work with is SO great! I don't know how to describe it. I think it's mostly the chief editor's influence. She is young, beautiful, energetic, optimistic, with great sense of humor. She never shows her despair or disappointment even if everything is out of control. She is the spirit of the whole team. I'm sure that's why the atmosphere is so warm and friendly. Though it's a weekly magazine and the speed of work is just amazing, even the air is tense... there's always a lot of laughing, sharing joys and sorrows, support and encouragement, real personal relationships. I'm not even talking about the parties and all the good times we had together. With all of that, believe it or not, we always worked very productively. A real team work, that's what it was.

Here, at my new table, I have this content feeling 'I'm here to work'. Everybody is much more melancholic and candid. Everybody minds his/her own business. People don't talk as much. I guess that's what work is about.

I'm just gaining experience with every minute of my life.
What I can say for sure is:

Dearest TV Ekran,
.... and I will always love you....!!! (Good thing you're only 3 minutes away from me ;)

A new page of my life

Guess what! Today is my first day at a new table!! I got promoted! I work for one of the most popular and loved magazines in Ukraine! It's been existing for 10 years already.

All I can say is:

I'm really happy
and
GOD IS SO GOOD TO ME!!!!

It's 2 a.m.

... and I'm not in my cozy warm bed next to my 'sleeping beauty' Jamie... because I love coffee too much :)
It was such a nice cup of coffee, worth every minute of this sleepless night...

Good thing about being a journalist/editor is that you can always do your work (or improve it, or add to it, or check and correct) just whenever you feel like it. Last week was too hectic for me, somehow my partner and I got a whole WEEK late on our magazine section. We were working like mad, typing thousands symbols per hour, discussing hundreds of problems and answering as many questions that kept falling at us from our boss, advertisment department our designers etc. Busy week, not much of an inspiration one. So tomorrow (or actually today) I have to plan the topics for our next magazine while I still have a couple of articles I have to write for the previous two magazines. So I thought, why not use this sleepless time for creativity. So I did. This will make tomorrow much easier for me :))

Good Monday to everyone. Have a great week!

Otherwise I'll forget...

Even though it's not Halloween yet, I have to share this with you now, so you can get some ideas for youe unique pumpkin carve-craft.

Try this to see how good your ideas look on a pumpkin :))

Attitiude

The other day (on Monday) walking on the street towards my office I caught up with a girl from my work. I should say, it was a really cold day, with northern wind blowing you all the way through. It became cold very suddenly... Everybody has to realise that fall has come. For good.
Anyhow, I greeted her cheerfuly. And she literally barked at me! :)) I don't mean it this way, but she was so frustrated and upset, her whole body saying 'Don't mess with me!' So, I was like 'wow, you don't seem very happy today'. Turned out that she and her husband were moving that weekend. She didn't know where anything was, she couldn't cook, she couldn't even find any warm clothes. She looked cold in her sandals and shirt (and summer bag). It sounded like she was the most unhappy person in the whole world. And she complained and complained describing in details how unconvenient this whole moving situation is.... And then I laughed and told her I completely understood her. Cuz Jamie and I moved that very same weekend. I told her about my adventures while looking for teapot and at least one cup. She looked a little relieved knowing that someone else is going through the same process right then. We had a good laugh together that morning.

We're home...

It's hard to believe but this time it's for real. We spent our first night in our new house! Yesterday Jamie and I ordered kitchen and came back to my parent's place around 9 p.m.(that's where we stayed for a while). Had a late dinner and were preparing to go to bed when grandma said ' so. are we going to spend the night in our new house? Why don't we have our tea there?' And we were like 'Now?!' But in a few seconds we said 'Sure! It's now or never!' so we took our slippers and pajamas and stepped into the darkness. Everything is done except for the stove (it's not connected) and there are a few problems with electricity (grandma and another person were shocked hardly when mopping floor). No serious injury, but not very pleasant.
But as for the rest of the house, it's done and clean. And whatever it is like, we don't care as long as we are... at home :)))

Fresh 'Genesis' Post!!!