New Job, New Car

My second week at my new job has started and it's been great fun till now. To be fair, it's been rather quiet since I joined during print week so everyone was busy with that, while my area, which is online, isn't affected by such deadlines. 

However, I'm envisaging a lot more work coming my way in the coming days and I'm looking forward to it. In the meantime, tomorrow is a public holiday in Malta which is always very welcome :) A day off in the middle of the week? What more can one ask for? ;)

In other news, my brand new car is now on the island! I sat inside it today when I went to sign the registration papers. Now I'm just waiting for it to be baptised with license plates and then I'll be able to drive it! I'm hoping that I'll have it by Friday at the latest. Possible even Thursday. 

This is a mobile pic of my new set of wheels!

The G Mobile

Add my Button!

I've created a button for my blog which you can add to your blog or website. Please try it out and let me know whether it works or not. For some reason it was really fiddly!

You'll find it to the right hand side of your screen!

Last One Out Switch off the Lights

Today is my last day at my current job. On Monday I shall be starting my new job. I've given my handover, tied up all loose ends (I hope!) and prepared my office keys to be handed in. I've also prepared a list of what I need to take with me. I've cleared most things from my desk but not everything. I've still got my bling mouse, my mug, my mobile phone charger and a couple of other items to remove. Then the desk will be de-Gified and will become a plain, regular desk until someone else makes their mark on it.

If there was ever proof that my work is finished this screen shot is it!

Summer Wine

Did you all have a great weekend? I had a pretty good one that included a birthday party, a hen's night (or bachelorette as you might better know it) and two late lunches in the sun with some vino. Always got to have a nice chilled bottle of wine when lunching in the sun :)

Saturday's lunch was fabulous starting off with a tomato bruschetta, followed by a delicious smoked salmon salad. I love it! I could eat smoked salmon all the time. That and rice. Though not together.

It's now my last working week at my present job; my last day is Thursday, so I'm slowly clearing out my desk and desk area. Thankfully I don't have too much stuff to go through because we moved offices a year ago and so I went through all my stuff then, chucking away what was unnecessarily cluttering my drawers. I must remember to take my coloured pens, my bling mouse and my purple vase with flower however.

Feel Good Friday

Wedding Tasters

Pumpkin Soup with Linseed Oil

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, it was Paul's birthday this week so we both took the day off work which proved to be a very sensible thing to do because we were able to go for our wedding meal taster session. Yes, there's still a lot of time left but we don't want to rush things at the end.

Traditional Maltese Bragioli (Beef Olives)

So we went to the hotel where the reception is going to be held and we were treated to a sumptuous lunch. We thought that we'd be given taster portions of each dish but instead we were presented with the full dish so that we could see the presentation of the food as well as taste it. That meant three starters each! It was a shame to see food go to waste but we had to leave some of everything to leave space for what was yet to come. We each had our intermediate course which was divine and when it came to the main dish they (thankfully) made one of each dish and we were able to share those. For the dessert plate we each had our own - there's no sharing when it comes to the sweet stuff!

I am so impressed with the food and it's just made me look even more forward to the big day. Slowly but surely, we're getting closer :)

New Job

 

The title of this blog post (not to mention the image) is pretty much a dead giveaway as to the rest of the content; however, I've moved on from subtle titles that play on puns and hints. I treat my titles as an email subject line ' what's the email about?' - that's what your subject line should be.

So, back to explaining the title in more detail. I've been hired as the online editor for one of Malta's leading magazines.

What's that? You think it's cool?

Yeah, me too! 

I'm looking forward to a new challenge and to meeting new people and networking my way around. I'm currently working my notice period and will start in my new role towards the end of the month. Exciting times ahead!

Kindle or iPad?

I've just been asked whether I would recommend the Kindle and my answer is a resounding Yes! I know that people are wary of it because of the 'coldness' of the gadget and the loss of the feel and smell of books and I understand that completely. However, I haven't stopped buying books simply because I have a Kindle, what has changed is the type of books that I buy. 

I enjoy my chick lit reads however I'm fine with not actually owning the book so they're perfect Kindle purchases. Cheaper, take up no physical space and still yours to own. For other books that I really want to own, perhaps they're of a favourite author or part of a series then I will buy a paper version. And I think that's a really good balance to have. 

A Kindle is the perfect gadget to take abroad and to keep in your bag just in case you're stuck in a waiting room. I take mine to the hairdresser. 

Another time I was asked whether it's better to get the Kindle or the iPad. There's no comparison. You're comparing an eReader to a tablet. The basic functions are fundamentally different. When I got my iPad 2 I thought that my Kindle was now redundant because of the Kindle app - I was wrong. The iPad is heavier than the Kindle and after a while you'll need to lay it on a surface because it will get too heavy to keep holding. You don't have that issue with the Kindle. The iPad is a tablet computer with tons of apps and functionalities. It's got a colour screen. The Kindle has internet access but it's not made for long term browsing. You can read a quick email and reply. You can access Twitter. But it won't give you the same browsing experience.

I wouldn't trade either of them; so when in doubt just get both!

Paul Turns 33

Last Monday was Paul's birthday so, because weekends tend to be favoured by people when it comes to celebrating, we had some friends over on Sunday afternoon. The door was open from 4:00 pm and only got closed at 11:00 pm! We're able to leave our front door open because we live in a complex that's street facing, however, we're not at street level so it's highly unlikely that a stranger is going to make their way into our house.

We prepared tuna dip, olive dip and bigilla dip (typical Maltese dish made with broad beans); there were also sandwiches on brown and white bread; paprika crisps and ready salted crisps and different flavoured crackers. 

Later on in the evening I brought out three types of chicken satay and chicken nuggets. And then there was the cake :) 

Paul opted to have a carrot cake so I baked the first one but it didn't rise very much, so I made another one and placed it on top of the first one. In that way it was high enough to have a 2-layered filling. Bottom filling was vanilla whilst the top filling was home-made Gozitan strawberry jam. I coated the entire cake in vanilla icing and added milk chocolate and white chocolate sprinkles. I must say, it was very tasty indeed. And here you can see what it looked like. There are six candle on the cake because they're grouped into 3 + 3 = 33 ;)