Happy 25th Birthday!

Kate and Lehi just moved into their new apartment and hosted my 25th birthday party! We celebrated along with Jenna and Clark on Friday night so we could spend V-Day with our lovers. Kate and Lehi cooked up a wonderful dinner and Jeremy made the birthday cake! (Honestly he did it all on his own and it was a very delicious cake. Thanks hunny!) Thank you for making my b-day special! On the actual day, Jeremy made it very special and all about me! He made us french toast for breakfast, complete with strawberries, he did the dishes and had several different itineraries planned for the day. I just had to choose which one I wanted. I skipped out on the hotel stay and the other adventurous plans (I'm 7mos pregnant need I say more?) and went for the low key option. We went shopping for baby Crew and had dinner at Swensens.(They have the most amazing ice-cream, and the foods not bad either) Then spent the night at home with Daisy watching some good flicks. It was the perfect end to a great day. Thanks babe for being so great!

Here's the famous cake, made by Jeremy. Kate didn't believe that Jeremy had frosted it because it looked so nice. (She doesn't know that Jer is a little OCD. . . well I guess she does now.:)

This is a terrible picture but I thought it was so thoughful! Lehi typed this up and hung it outside their apartment door. He also had balloons all over inside. Thanks LEHI!

Oh and thought I'd throw these in here as well. What fun the growing belly! Daisy didn't want to be left out of the picture. Can you see her hiding behind my leg?

Wow pretty attractive, I know! Even though my clothes aren't fitting any more (my belly is starting to hang out of all my workout clothes) at least I am healthy and have been feeling great. And I guess it could be worse. The little chinese women here keep telling me that my tummy is so 'neat'. Is that a nice way of saying it is perfectly round like a basketball? When my shirt is down, it really looks like I'm hiding a basketball underneath.

The New Office and the Lion Dance

Last week Jeremy helped open the new office and a new store for his company. In Singapore, when there is a new store opening, they have a tradition of the Lion Dance. They wear a lot of red to scare away the bad spirits and the loud noise from the drums and cymbols are to wake up the good spirits. Once this has happened the lions dance around the room spreading good luck over the store. The lions then do a ritual of 'eating' tangerines and lettuce. They continue to throw the peels and the lettuce at you, which you are supposed to catch to bring you good luck and prosperity. It creates quite a mess, but as it is good luck they leave it all over the floor for the entire day. It was a great experience except I had some ringing in my ears afterwards. :) Crew wasn't even phased, I think he slept right through all the banging! (At least I didn't feel him moving at all.)

Here the lions are getting ready to perform their dance, this is the plate that has the tangerines and the lettuce that they will soon eat and throw at the crowd.

The Lions spreading good luck throughout the store.

This is what is left behind once the lions stand up. The Chinese believe that even numbers are good luck and bring good fortune.

This was after the lion dance for the store opening. (It's out of order)

This was the second lion dance. They did one for the new office and the new store.

After the dance the lions are eating the food. This is when two of the people under the lion outfit is peeling the tangerines and creating the Chinese Symbol.

You can see the mess that is left behind!

I hope I explained it well enough. I probably should have had Jeremy do it, since it is sorta of complex. But now you've all had a taste of the Lion Dance. (Although without hearing the instruments AKA pot and pan banging, that go along, you haven't experienced it to the fullest. :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

As you may know Chinese New Year is a big deal over here in Singapore. It is like our Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years all in one; and it lasts almost the entire month of January and part of February as well. This past weekend we took Daisy on her first Singapore adventure to the Chingay Parade. It was the world's longest parade! (Ok I don't know if that is factual but Daisy and I had enough after about 3 hours of it and it still wasn't over! I was falling asleep because it was soo hot out. And as many of you know, I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere. . . even at a crowded, noisy street parade!) Even though it was long it was entertaining and we saw some amazing local dances and performances. It was a great cultural experience.

Before the parade started Jeremy got some snaps of the city view from the bay.

This was a floating dock in the middle of the bay. Daisy wasn't allowed on, so we sat right outside while Jeremy took some pictures.

I think these trees with the flowers are beautiful, and so Asian looking.

Traditional Chinese New Year decorations.

This was one of the first floats. I thought it was awesome. It's a huge lion. All the dancers were also dressed as lions and they did a cool little performance.

Such a cute little family! (Of course Daisy wasn't looking at the camera!)

A dragon float.

This was proabably the most exciting part of the parade. Those guys you see in the bottom right hand corner, would take balls of burning embers out of the can of fire and toss them in the air. Then the other guy would smack it like hitting a baseball and sparks would go flying everywhere. It was sorta like really dangerous homemade fireworks. The sparks would fall all over their bare backs. I'm not sure how they didn't get burned.

Here's a picture of all the sparks flying everywhere. Just beautiful! Something you would never see at a parade in the States.

All in all it was a great night. Especially since Daisy actually got to come. She was a trooper allowing the local children to mal her all night. And she didn't even complain about the hot, sticky, humid weather or the loud banging noises! I'm not sure Crew will be such a good sport once he arrives. ;) We sure can't wait to find out.