Lunar New Year Begins

Next weekend is the New Year according to the lunar calendar used by Chinese and most Asian countries.

Welcome the Year of the Dragon for 2012 - a powerful symbol and indication of a good year: prosperous, positive changes and many blessings from the gods. We should only hope.

DH and I enjoyed a dinner at Merlion Saturday evening while the staff was sampling and deciding what their special New Year's menu would offer. Cannot wait to go back and see what delicacies they chose. My thought was to make Gado Gado Indonesian Salad , a crisp raw salad with many ingredients but on second thought JuJuBe's menu offers an authentic Gado Gado and I won't have to do all the prep. Maybe?

Did a workout class yesterday while DH was watching the Giants beat Green Bay. Took Allison's Rotating Hips! Belly Dance Fitness class and have the sore muscles to prove it. See Liberated Hips benefits. By taking the Thursday afternoon dance class and also doing this Sunday afternoon Rotating Hips (belly dance) class I am getting some real workouts for the lower back and legs. Have yet to fit the musical rhythm to hip movement but Allison actually said I was a graceful dancer. Thanks, I needed that. And the Giants will be playing again next Sunday; and after that somebody will be playing something, somewhere (?).

Am I the only one reluctant to use Facebook? Yes, I signed up for a Facebook page but use it rarely and am always getting these messages "You have messages."  I don't want messages. One quilting friend send me an inquiry about "where are all your pictures of family and pets?"  You have got to be kidding. First of all I have no children; the beloved step-children live on the west coast and Texas, we see them every couple of years. Second, we have no pets. Lastly, we have one potted plant as posted here last week when it got a face lift. So much for pictures of family and pets. As for quilts - that's another story but at the moment I have nothing new to show as the Quilt Room has been dismantled for the duration of selling the house and moving to Carolina Meadows. Perhaps after the upheavel is over we are settled I will have new images.

Meanwhile, my social life is picking up. The quilt guild meets this evening, have been invited by Muriel to lunch on Friday with a few Mermaids (Y Aquacise classmates), and next week the new neighbor ladies (villas 21-24), are meeting for lunch at the Bean and Barrel. A new place for me to try the menu. Looking forward to getting out and about.

No Afternoon Ballroom practice time today due to the MLKing Jr holiday - but next week we dance again on Mondays. I could take pictures of the neighborhood - if they don't mind being posted on Facebook....bbf