34 The Courier sun • May 12, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Spring is a Time of Cleansing Lucky me, catching six grandchildren in one photo! Carly Bassen, a stylist, helped me cleanse my closet Victoria’s Secrets Reunion of friends, from trip with Chinese American Chamber of Commerce to China Dynamic $1500 off Lumineers $500 off Invisalign DENTAL WORK CALL FOR FREE CONSULTATION THE INVISIBLE WAY TO SOME EXCLUSIONS APPLY STRAIGHTEN TEETH Third Generation Dentist 175-15 Jamaica avenue, Jamaica 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106 I think as I get older, I have become a neat freak because I feel that there is something calming about order and the lack of clutter. But I have fallen into a pit of disorder and overload since my two wonderful grandchildren and beautiful daughter moved in. I needed help! I'm calling it a cleansing! And I found a wonderful book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo, a Japanese woman who has been bitten by the “tidiness” bug since she was 5 years old! I'm just catching up. Amazingly, at the LIC Flea and Food, I found stunning, stately Carly Bassen, who was in my life when she was just 6 years old when I was engaged to her grandfather, who sadly passed away when she was just a child. We immediately bonded and she shared with me that her passion is fashion and styling, and had taken a vintage clothing booth at the market. We met for dinner and shared what felt like a lifetime of memories. After all, it had been two decades since we saw each other. As we talked, I mentioned how I felt my closets were out of control. Since my Stu had passed, I had taken over his closets and mine. Since my size hasn't changed in years, my new stuff has been crowded with the old and it was getting ugly. Carly shared that she has a business as a clothing stylist and could help me go through my closets and eliminate and condense. We made a date. Besides enjoying my time with Carly, the time together resulted in five bags of donated clothing and the feeling that I had better control of my life. Then, a week later, I had the fun of going to my local library where they showed me how I can listen to audiobooks through my Bluetooth in the car. The librarian suggested her most popular audiobook: “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” Marie Kondo, the author, had been addicted at an early age to tidying up, even going so far as to throw out her family “excess” – they were all furious with her. Consent to throw out is essential! But she shared a case where a client had agreed to go through her things and eliminated multiple bags full. When she asked her mom if it was okay, her mom went through the bags, taking back half of the things her daughter had tried to shed! Lesson 1: Never ask anyone, just eliminate. Her best advice, which I took that weekend, is hold to up an item and ask, “Does this item bring me joy?” If not, get rid of it. The old idea that not wearing something or looking at it for two years means you should get rid of it doesn't fly in Japanese-born Ms. Kondo's advice. Well, it is spring so it should be an inspiration day by day to cleanse our lives. You, too, will feel better, I promise. Carly can be reached at carlybassen@yahoo.com. A Reunion of my China Trip Companions I had an extraordinary two-week trip to China in November to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Our group of travelers bonded, and I was delighted to have our fourth reunion last week. Marilyn and Richard Chuk have a modular housing construction company in NYC and China and hosted the group at the Royal Queen Restaurant, 136-20 Roosevelt Ave. on the third floor of the building on the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street. Joining us from the trip was Assemblyman Felix Ortiz and his right-hand man, Mita Alam, my King of Long Island Derek Law and his wife Cecilia Cheung, Wayne Moy, Jeffrey Liu and Mark Fang and his wife. The restaurant is in a mall with a supermarket on the first floor and micro stores with many boutiques, beauty products, nail and hair salons, and more, all on the second floor, and the massive restaurant is on the third floor. We ate in a private dining room imbibing a wonderful, full-bodied red wine with our dinner. The courses flowed one after the other, one more delicious than the next. My favorite (of the two dozen courses) was the Peking duck, crackling and crispy and not too fatty, both on the bone and in the traditional pancake. Unusual for me was the fried, crispy on the outside, succulent and soft on the inside, tofu and chicken dish. The sushi and sashimi were rich in flavor and texture. Flushing is now the go-to neighborhood for the best Chinese food in the city! Try it. You, too, will love it. Victoria SCHNEPS-YUNIS vschneps@gmail.com tweet me @vschneps Mother’s Day Celebration Dennis Reisman, Neil Landwehr, Mona Landwehr from my Brooklyn Media team, Amanda Landwehr and Danny DeMarco at our celebration of Mother’s Day
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