Nan's Farewell Part 2 - 26 June 2008

If you've read Part 1, you'd know that my colleague Nan is leaving the company. So, the department, plus our ex-director of Marketing and ex-head of Special Projects, decided to take her out for a farewell dinner at one of her favourite places - Delicious (yes, that the name of the restaurant and so far, the food lived up to the name!)

The "goodbye girl", Nan..

I must say, all of us in the department are major foodies - we really love our food. We eat a lot and snack quite frequently and when we're not stuffing our faces, we'd be talking about food! Haha..
The foodies anxiously awaiting their food!

Rozmah with her steak & asparagus.. Gulnaz with her Vietnamese Salad.. Indra with his fettucine carbonara..

Jasmin & I decided to share a Caesar Salad with grilled chicken and a 3-Cheese baked marcaroni..

Jasmin diggin' in..

Fred taking a pix of his cheeseburger.. Fred's cheeseburger up close..

Shamala and her Salmon sandwich.. Nan and her Garoupa whatchamacallit.. not sure what it's called..

Shamini and her Lambshank something or other.. also don't what it's called but sure looks great, no?
Green Chicken Curry set gets the thumbs up from Rafidah!
After all that we shared some desserts..

The gorgeous Banoffee pie.. love it! Tiramisu.. ok la.. and the sinfully good chocolate cake - so good it was, we had to get a second!

Then, Fred got the ball rolling by giving Nan her farewell gift.. Nan posing with Fred's gift, a watch, which Fred had aptly coined a "timely gift" (so clever.. so corny too! Hahaha!)

Me handing the gift from the rest of us - more gift vouchers! Now, you can understand why it was so hard for me to let go!

Instead of getting her a regular ol' card for Nan we decided to get a little booklet to write all good wishes in..

We also signed on Nan's placemat.. One group pix for the road..

Overall it as a good evening.. the food was great, as with the company and the ambience of the restaurant. We were having so much fun that we didn't even notice that it was pouring out there! Thankfully it was a Thurday and the restaurant wasn't packed 'coz we were a riot! And, thankfully none of us got emotional & bawled! Like Fred & I told Nan, we ain't gonna cry' coz we know we'll meet again and we'll probably stay in close contact. So, no goodbyes from us.. just "Catcha later, Nan.."

UH-OH, FOUR-OH!!

Yes, the big 4-0 is finally here! How do I feel? The same la.. One of my colleagues actually asked me if I was gonna get all emotional.. Eh??? It's just another day actually..

Ok, I did plan a little ritual of sorts at first to usher in my new year. Got home earlier on the eve of my birthday, planned to have a quiet evening.. chill, watch some TV, put on the aromatic oil burner, light some candles (I have some new candle holders!), have nice long, relaxing shower and have a restful night's sleep. Alas, that was not meant to be - an ex-colleague decided to pay a visit and we ended up chatting for quite a while... which is still a good thing la.

Got my first few gifts from Carol, Aunty Connie and the kids on the Saturday before. The scented stuff from the Luke, Jade & Nigel was really sweet.. ang pow from Aunty Connie - dosh is always good and awesome Popular Bookstore vouchers from Carol. Yay! Can go get more books!

Yes, I was at work on my birthday and it was a day full of meetings! My colleagues got the famous *Devi butter cake for Fred & I (Fred's birthday was earlier in the month on the 6th) and I got more book vouchers.. this time for Kinokuniya from my colleagues and Fred gave me this fantastic book entitled "101 Things You Need to Know.. and some you dont!. Yay! SO my kindda book!

* Devi is my colleague Nan's cousin who bakes these amazing cakes from home.

The yummy butter cake..

Me & Fred (seen here staring down the cake!).. card & Kinokuniya vouchers from my colleagus..

Cool book from Fred..

Card & Gift from our Ad Agency.. more vouchers! WAY cool!!

And, this one is from my colleagues Daniel & Ash.. The choc was great.. the coupon is better and I look forward to collect.. a durian buffet perhaps.. mmm.. I love durians!

Overall, it was a pleasant, productive, uneventful (in a good way - no drama!) With all the gifts, I have every reason to be happy.. I SO look forward to my shopping spree!

The face of happy 40..

Nan's Farewell Part 1 - 20 June 2008

It was truly sad (and some were shocked!) when we first heard Nan after was leaving after 6 years with the company but we were also happy for her 'coz it meant a great career advancement. Nan is my couterpart in Advertising & Promotions section and we sit right next to each other... so, yeah, gonna miss not having her around.

Our advertising agency decided to take Nan out for a farewell makan at Chilli's at MidValley on a Friday.. of course the rest of the department was invited too. It was just the 5 of us from the department (the 3 mothers couldn't make it) and 4 from the agency. Chilli's was crowded (tho' at times I can't understand why!!) and noisy which made conversation a bit strained.

The agency on the left and the client on the right - talk about segregation! Haha..

I call this pix "A toast to Nan"! Hahaha... Nan & Fred..

Farewell gift in hand - shopping vouchers. Cool! The lot of us.. (from left) Yours truly, Jasmin, Feisal, Nan, Tim. Marziana, Fred & Indra.

The night ended really early at 9.30pm

Luke's & Nigel's Birthdays

My nephews, Luke & Nigel, share the same birthdate - 9 June. Being a Monday, Carol decided to to have a makan-makan at her place on Saturday, 7 June instead.

So, when I had to go gift buying, I decided to bring Jade (their sister) along.. not that she was all that much help! Haha..

We left for town at about 10.30am and our first stop was at a pet shop. Jade loves animals and was quite happy, especially since there was an adorable Siamese cat there. Then, at about noon we headed off for lunch at Nam Heong Chicken Rice shop. Ah.. this place never fails me - it's ALWAYS good!

After makan, we headed off to a couple of toy shops looking for a particular toy that Nigel wanted - no luck! Then, it was off to Peter Hoe's for tea and to buy some stuff. I was quite disappointed - the quality of the cakes had taken a plunge.. Jade's brownie was crumbly and mysteriously indented (it looked fine on the tray!), her orange juice super sour, my apple whatchamacallit was super sweet and my coffee (flavour?) was not in the least to my liking.. but at least got to buy what I came to buy.

Then, we hit Popular Bookstore downstairs and finally picked out gifts for the boys - Indiana Jones Books 1, 2 & 3 for Luke and a whole set of Ratatouille stationery for Nigel. And, of course, I got some books for myself.. at a bargain too!!
My book buys.

The makan-makan the next day was great.. lotsa food! There was Spaghetti & meatballs, claypot chicken rice, roast duck (YUM!!) a nice salad with meatloaf..

(Below) The cake with candles all lit up.. The boys making their wishes before blowing out the candles and contaminating the cake! Haha..

Group pix.. a must!