Breaking News

Singapore - Maybank Singapore has appointed McCann Worldgroup as its creative agency and Initiative as its media agency.

The news was confirmed in a statement released by the bank last night, and went on to thank incumbent Saatchi Lab which was its agency for the last four years. The statement read 'Saatchi Lab was behind successful campaigns such as iSavvy online deposit product launches and home promotional campaigns, amongst others.'

Commenting on McCann Worldgroup's latest win, its regional director for SE Asia and CEO for Singapore and Thailand, Mark Ingrouille said "What got us excited was one word: potential. Here was a big bank with great products that was still a great challenger brand. This paired with their humanity and decency lead us to be convinced that Maybank is the bank of possibilities."

He added, "We’re really looking forward to working with the team at Maybank. Great brand; greater potential."

The Maybank Group is the largest banking group in Malaysia with over 1,200 employees in Singapore.

Shopaholic!

You often think of a shopaholic as a female who just can’t stop shopping. She is absolutely thrilled by shopping and often leaves stores with hands full of bags and a huge smile on her face. She gets such a 'high' from shopping that it's really retail therapy for her. But let me tell you something surprising…. Shopaholics can be males too. I know because I am living with one!

Joe is a real shopaholic! During our honeymoon, he wanted to spend the whole day shopping when I wanted to visit more attractions. After leaving a store, he sings a little jingle of total joy and with a silly grin on his face. Somehow everyday he's always thinking of something to buy - be it clothes, accessories like cuff links or household items like bed sheets and towels!

For me, I am the total opposite... I dun really like shopping, I only shop out of necessity. For example when my shoes are falling apart and I'm actually down to my last wearable pair, I will rush to the stores to find a suitable pair. You know how females see shopping as a social activity and love going shopping with their friends? Hmm... that's not me too... I prefer shopping by myself cos well I can get my shopping done chop-chop! Hee... for many years, I do wonder why I dun love shopping just like any typical female? But now that I have a husband who's the anti-thesis of the typical male who HATES shopping, I can take comfort that I am somewhat "normal". Hhahah!

Paella

A must-try when you are in Spain is paella. It's a dish that originated from the region of Valencia but is now popular all over Spain. It's very similar to what we know as fried rice, only that the rice is not fried, but boiled in a flat pan.

Being Asians, the paella was our rice fix, in "bread-crazy" Europe. The rice is flavoured with saffron, giving it its distinctive orangey-yellow colour. We ate 3 varieties when we were there - seafood paella, mixed paella, and a vegetable one.

Not one to keep a good thing to ourselves, we bought a paella pan that comes with paella mix and rice, wanting to whip it up for our family =)

You can see the step by step paella preparation below:

Step 1:

Heat up the mix in the pan till it boils. Disclaimer: It's a pre-mix so I can't really tell you what goes into the mix! =P

Step 2:
Add in the rice and continue boiling it until the rice absorbs the mix.

Step 3:
Viola! It's done!

Step 4:

Mix it up well and you are ready to tuck in! =)

Here we are washing the dishes after everything =D

Breakfast of another kind

The past two weeks, we have been having breakfast of a different kind. The packed in plastic container kind that church gives out after our morning prayer. Apparently so many people were carrying it around that my colleague noticed it and asked me where I got my free breakfast! =p

Other than feeding the tummy, it has been a tremendous time of filling up our spirits before we face the 'real world'. Who said you can't wake up early to pray? I think our morning prayer from 7-8am has proved a point and has also shown me that I can wake up early to pray!!!! And I really hope that I can continue to wake up early to pray but now in the comfort of my own home!!

See you at the prayer meetings for the rest of this week!

Breakfast in the morning

It has been one month since we got married! It has been quite a journey - daunting at times adjusting to each other's quirks and expectations now that we are living together under 1 roof, mixed with feelings of missing home, plus having to really grow up and do housework (!!), but...... many times also feeling a great sense of bliss. =)

Something that we really enjoy doing together since getting married is .... having breakfast! With the busyness of the day yet to creep in on us, we sit down at our dining table, sipping on our favourite Lipton malt tea, shaking off our sleepiness and munching on the goodies of the day. Mmmmm... just looking at the photo makes me feel excited about tmr's breakfast. =) Have breakfast, it's good for your soul =)

Our Wedding

Still trying to settle down into our new place and our new life (!), so updates to my blog may be slow... so pardon me!

The wedding was almost a month ago and it was really memorable, especially for us! Linking to several blog entries from our frens about the big day so you can experience it from their point of view.. while our point of view will come later.... =p

Link here, here and here.... for our wedding highlights video, click here..