Obelis 20th Anniversary

Friday we celebrated the 20th Anniversary of our company! It was a total blast! I can't believe how much fun it was for Kevin and I to get dressed up and go to a real party together. I wish opportunities for fancy parties came up more often! We schmoozed, we danced, we dined and had a fabulous time. I even talked with an Israeli C.E.O. who asked me (in between his glasses on champagne) "So, you're a Mormon. What does that mean?" Wow, talk about taking me off guard! We ended up having a really great conversation though and he said he will come to church with us when we're in Israel this December!

Which reminds me that I haven't posted any of that information yet! The company we work for does a wide variety of things, but the heart of their business resides in 2 places: what Kevin does, and what I do. Kevin works for the commercial side of the company. Our office serves as the European Rep. for companies around the world - particularly in Israel where they have a harder time getting into Europe. Obelis will do the marketing, sales, orders, etc. for the company in Europe. One of the biggest companies we represent is called PolyD-Zine; they manufacture polypropalene (like a really nice, strong plastic) products. Kevin landed a deal for PolyDZine with Staples here in Europe to supply polypropalene office supplies to all of the Staples locations. Oh, only a 6.5 million euro a year deal!! The biggest one they have ever gotten!!! Hope we get a piece of that :) Way to go Kevin!!! 

I work for the part of the company that is completely Obelis. Any manufacturer who would like to place a product within the European Union is required to have a legal representative within the community - a European Authorized Representative (E.A.R.). So, we serve as the E.A.R. for these companies, helping them make sure their product complies with all of the necessary laws and regulations and acting as the contact point for the authorities - and a lot more. Recently, there have begun to be several key environmental directives which manufacturers have to comply with. Basically, we researched these and started a brand new company. I spent a lot of time dealing with one in particular that will make the most money for the new company, and our boss asked me to present on it at the big seminar they are having in Tel Aviv, Israel this December - all expenses paid! I said "well, I guess." :) And, since Kevin has done so amazingly well, they asked him to come to Israel to work for PolyDZine while I'm there. They also asked us to stay on at Obelis until Israel, but we couldn't miss Jackson's homecoming!

Anyway, though this seems long, it is really a very short blip of our lives for the past 6 months. We have absolutely loved our jobs and have learned and grown immensely. We leave for Israel the day after Thanksgiving and get back 1 week before Christmas. The only bad part is we don't know who will hire us for the 4 weeks we have in between! Call us if you need babysitters! :)