Two incredible days that just got better and better and ended with a bang! I loved every bit of both the days but there is simply too much to cover, so am just gonna do a list.
So here's everything that made me smile/cheer/jump with joy etc. over the last two days.
a) My super successful presentation and the offsite - I had been working my ass off the last couple of months to put together this "action plan" offsite at work. I was leading it both in terms of general organization as well as the prework, agenda, content, etc. etc. It was finally D-day today and since it was the first time I was organizing something of this scale, I was hoping and praying that things go well. And it did! People said it was a very useful session and everyone seemed to have a great time! Also, I had presented a bunch of materials I had been working on for so many days now and those were well received as well. It made all that work worth it!
b) The lovely Screening Room - it was the venue for the offsite and I loved everything about it! It was nice and cozy and had a restaurant that served some of the best food ever (but hey, let me cover that in a separate point).
c) All that yummy food! - Everything from the breakfast to the lunch to the tea time snacks at the Screening Room rocked! I loved the chocolate cookies and the mayo-veggie sandwiches they served for breakfast, the absolutely lovely coriander-veggie soup, the super awesome fried prawns with rice, the delicious mutton kebabs and the yummiest cake for lunch, and last but not the least, the samosas and pastries for tea!
d) Team time - The offsite was also a good time for me to spend some casual fun time with my colleagues, something which we very rarely do these days. I quite enjoyed that!
e) Power of You Gold - Post the offsite, the boss thanked me for my efforts in putting everything together including the presentations. I thought it was really nice of him because he highlighted all the specific contributions vs. a very generic formal note. But most unexpectedly, he also declared that I am to receive an internal recognition award called the Power of You Gold for my work over the past couple of months! That was most unexpected but needless to say, I felt quite touched by the gesture. This was the second time I am winning this award over the last six months, even though it is usually pretty rare (the one I won before that was about 4 years ago!), so I felt very encouraged.
f) Hubby's great presentation - The hubby and his team at Teamie (that's what his new startup is called) were competing at the Startup Arena, an Asia wide pitching contest for startups, and he did his presentation for the same today. Half the shortlisted contestants gave their pitch today and the others are to give theirs tomorrow, after which the results would be announced. Usually the hubby is highly critical of his work but today he said that his presentation did go well and that a couple of investors showed interest in the company! That was pretty awesome and I felt super happy for him because he had been working really hard on this event for a while. While we don't know the results of the contest yet, it was good that he was satisfied with what he's done and he seemed to be very happy too.
g) Celebration at Clarke Quay - To celebrate the hubby's good presentation as well as my successful offsite, presentation and the award, we went to Clarke Quay and had dinner at the Renn Thai there. Over Green Curry Chicken, Hotplate Tofu, Tom Yam Soup and Rice, we chatted for a long while. It was nice to take time out on a Thursday evening and have a small celebration to ourselves!
h) "And the winner of Startup Arena 2012 is... Teamie!" - Yes, the hubby's startup won the competition today!! It was AWESOME, really! OK but wait... I must write about how it all happened. I knew that the results were to be announced sometime around 5pm today. I was busy at work the whole day but my thought kept going back to this. Being top 5 in this contest would be really awesome for the hubby and his team and would be a much needed motivation. So I was really crossing my fingers for a top 5 spot for them! At about 5 pm, I was in the middle of a discussion when it suddenly struck me that results are probably already out! I quickly called the hubby... the phone rang but he didn't pick. I tried again and this time it was switched off. I gave up on him and instead decided to check on the contest organizers' website. There were no updates there when it struck me that maybe their Twitter feed would have faster updates. I went on Twitter and found them but again, there was no update. Just then one of my bosses came over to discuss something. Just as he finished I glanced at my computer screen and I saw the highlight "1 new tweet" and I knew that would have the result. I was a bundle of nerves when I opened it... and immediately my eyes first fell on "Teamie"... and then I read the rest of the tweet "And the winner of Startup Arena 2012 is... Teamie!" I squealed at the top of my voice, sitting in my office! I was SO happy... ! I don't think I've ever reacted that way to anything before. I was clapping my hands and punching the air in excitement! Needless to say, I made a fool out of myself, much to the amusement of my colleagues around but what the heck!
i) Sharing the news - The hubby called soon after and talked to me briefly before he got bombarded with interview requests at the other end. I couldn't control my excitement, so I called up my in-laws and parents and shared this awesome piece of news, even without waiting for the hubby (but I did get his permission to break the news to them myself)! It was super nice to share the happiness and excitement with all of them and I had a ball bringing them up to date and hearing all their excitement!
j) Birthday party - Later, once the hubby was free, he and I met up and together we went to the birthday party of his partner's son. The little one had turned 1 today, right on the day his dad and his company won a super cool contest! How awesome is that?! The party itself was fun and we spent a few good hours there... chatting, eating, taking photos, watching the magician who was around etc.
k) More celebration - After the birthday party was done, I felt that it was still not time to end the night because surely there must be more celebration! So I called our close friends and together we went to Cafe Iguana and downed two pitchers of margaritas together with other drinks. Post that, we decided to continue the celebration but this time at the Wine Connections in Robertston Quay. There we popped a champagne and had another run of fun over some crazy conversation, all the way until 2 am or so.
It was indeed two super awesome days!
194 more to go.
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