Getting the balance back

This has been another very well behaved week for me, so far. I have decided that post-wedding I need to concentrate on not just eating cake at every meal, as amazing as that would be, but on trying to get enough balance throughout the week that by the end of the weekend I don’t feel gross and repulsive, but like I have still had a good time and plenty of chance to get out and about on adventures.

            This week has been my first proper effort, and it’s gone really rather well. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were set aside for very good behaviour, with gym sessions before and after work, and only healthy things for lunch, even when I met Jules for a catch up on Wednesday we still only went for vegan salads. Good work so far!

            Thursday was threatening to be a little bit trickier because we had a full afternoon planning session, which included lunches being ordered in, which normally means pizza for my team, but thankfully I managed to get out to the salad bar and order them all healthy food before anyone raised pizza as a suggestion, so I won one more meal along the way.

            Other than a few little lunch dates, I’ve had very little in my diary this week, so we’ve spend a little bit of time planning for some future adventures that are still to come this year.

            First up is our long weekend in Phuket over Chinese New Year next weekend. Then there’s Dubai for Erin’s wedding a few weeks afterwards, and now Hong Kong for the Easter weekend too. We have a few bits and pieces to sort before confirming a ‘glamping’ trip in Indonesia in June, and a KL adventure in May before our brief weekend at home for my birthday, but all in all, it’s starting to stack up!

            I had been worried that we would run out of holiday days before being able to do the final rounds of Asia that we need to get done before the end of the year, but judging by what we already have in the diary, I think we’re going to be ok!

Lucky Red Packets

In Chinese culture it’s tradition to gift friends and family with cash slipped inside red packets for all big celebrations, including Chinese New Year, which is fast approaching in early February.

            Whilst we don’t give our clients packets of cash (that would be skating way too close to the lines of bribery) we do like to give them some really pretty packets (with just a little bit of our branding on them) for them to hand out and share the TubeMogul love around Singapore!

Last year we had some pretty ugly cartoon style packets, which I was not very excited about, so I was thrilled that I got to pick the design this year, and I like to think that it’s a vast improvement! Fishes bring prosperity, and just look at all that shiny gold! 

New Office Hunting

It feels like only months ago that we were out trying to hunt out an amazing new office space, but we’re at it again!

            The last time that we moved offices we actually just ended up shifting our boxes from the 4th floor to the 7^th, but we’ve now out grown this space too, so there’s only one thing for it. It’s time to upgrade to a big old grown up office in the city!

            Last week we looked around some fabulous shop houses, which would mean we were spread over two floors, with space to spare for pool tables and entertaining. This week we’re going to be going into the city and looking at big shiny office blocks in with the big boys in the centre of town.

            It’s not yet clear which sort of building we’re going to be shifting to, but it will be exciting to have a change, and hopefully end up in a bit more of a central location near friends and clients. Fingers crossed the hunt will progress nice and quickly! 

Crash My Crib

In an effort to get the people from work socialising a bit more outside of the office, and to try and ensure all us expats venture a bit further from our usual haunts every so often, I have instigated a new game for us all to play.

            We’re calling it “Crash My Crib”, and once a month a member of the team will pick a venue for dinner and drinks close to their home, and we will all venture out for a casual team dinner somewhere new, and somewhere that we might not ordinarily have chosen.

First up, we made our way around 30 minutes out of town to an area called Joo Chiat, which is a much more ‘local’ part of Singapore, where you don’t find huge numbers of expats, but there are some great places to eat (including one of Nick’s favourite steakhouses). Our dinner was at Chilli Paid, a traditional local restaurant, where Malay style street food is served up on plastic plates of rice, and the only drinks on offer are fruit sodas or local Tiger beer.

            It was utterly delicious. If we had gone there without people in the know it would have been tricky to pick what to eat and what to order, but with two Chinese speakers in the team, we power through an impressive selection of dishes, each and every one of which was utterly delicious!

            Sadly this will be our last dinner with SQ as she is leaving us at the end of this week, but it was fun to go and see where she’s based and to try out her favourite dinner at her favourite restaurant too! I wonder who will be picking the venue next! I already have two options lined up, but I’m keeping quiet to ensure that everyone else joins in as much as possible. We’ll see how long we can maintain momentum on this one for! 

Farewell to SQ!

Just before the Christmas holiday our little team bid farewell to two people, and greeted two others. It felt like a lot of change all at once, but at least at the start of the New Year that’s almost to be expected.

            Now we’re a few weeks into 2016 and we’re saying goodbye to SQ too! Although she’s only been with us for around 9 months, those have been pretty tough months, but ones that she has been invaluable in helping me power through. It’s been tricky, and I don’t blame her for deciding that enough is enough, but it will be interesting to see who comes to join us next.

            We already have one person from the UK on their way over, and another from the US joining us in February. It seems likely that SQ’s replacement will come from our Canada office, but that’s yet to be confirmed.

            It’s all change in our office at the moment, so let’s just hope that it’s change for the best!

Merry Christmas Team

Following on from the success of our client Christmas event, this Friday we spent the morning at our internal team event to round off what has been a very stressful and super busy year.

            With so many of the team not really into drinking we set aside a full morning to get competitive in the kitchen, and spent a good few hours whipping up some real Thai delights, before sitting down to a Christmas lunch today.

            There was less turkey and stuffing and more tofu and Pad Thai, but it was delicious, and really qiute a lovely way to say goodbye to two of the welcome, welcome two newbies and celebrate the demise of a year that really has put me through the mill!