Going Green on St Patrick's Day

The world goes green on 
St. Patrick's Day!

Go fullscreen, sit back and enjoy 

In Ireland every day is green!
- wish you were there!

~Irish Blessing~
May your troubles be less
and your blessings be more
and nothing but happiness
Come through your door

Check out St. Patrick's Day Selfies at 
We All Love Ireland

Visit my other posts:

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day Cookies

 

#GoGreen4PatricksDay

edited 3/17/17

Celebrate Pi Day 3/14/15

Pi Day Cake
by Endlessly777

"ONCE IN A LIFETIME MATH MOMENT ON SATURDAY'S PI DAY, 3/14/15 AT 9:26 AM"

Enjoy the instant of Pi!

Want to know why Pi matters? Read more

Read my previous Celebrate Pi Day Post Click Here

Image Pi Day Cake by Endlessly777
Creative Commons

Celebrate National Lemonade Day

Lemonade

How do you Celebrate National Lemonade Day? Celebrate by mixing up your favorite flavor: You can make regular lemonade, pink lemonade, strawberry lemonade and even watermelon lemonade.

Lemonade is a sweetened beverage made from lemons, sugar, and water. This cooling drink has been popular in the Southern United States for years! Sweet tea and lemonade are practically trade marks of the south.

Try Watermelon Lemonade! The mild flavour of the watermelon blends nicely with the tart lemon juice.
~Mix 6 cups watermelon in blender with 1 cup water
~1/3 cup sugar
~Best to heat sugar and water to make a syrup before adding 1/2 cup lemon juice

Watch this video to learn how to make Easy Homemade Lemonade  - Old Fashioned from Divas Can Cook
Get the recipe here 



Or try Fresh Peach Lemonade Recipe : Easy, Homemade Get the recipe here My idea of the way to spend a hot summer afternoon?

 "Give me a lazy warm day, a magazine, a front porch swing and a glass of homemade peach lemonade and I am content for hours. Whew talk about refreshing!" ~divascanccook.com

Impress your friends with this elegant beverage Dispenser. Click the image to see more.

Elegant Hammered Glass Beverage Dispenser with Scroll Iron Stand

How about a recipe for Frozen Lemonade Pie to help keep you feeling cool and refreshed!

image Lemonade CC Public Domain
edited 8/19/18

National Watermelon Day

August 3 is National Watermelon Day, 
one of the days we celebrate this month. 

Watermelon is a staple at family picnics and cookouts during the summer. But given the health benefits of watermelon, you might consider adding this yummy fruit to your diet year round if you can get it.

Watermelon is yummy and healthy

Did you know that watermelon is one of the high-lycopene foods. Lycopene is a carotenoid phytonutrient that's especially important for our cardiovascular health. 

In recent research studies show watermelon to be high in lycopene. An increasing number of scientists now believe that lycopene is important for bone health as well.

Watermelon is also a good choice for anti-inflammatory and antioxidant health benefits that can provide us with great fiber benefits at a low calorie cost.

How to Eat a Watermelon

Are you going to need a good knife to cut you watermelon? Try this one made especially for cutting watermelon, cantaloupe, or honeydew melon with ease!



  Read more Watermelon Recipes, Stories, History & More

National Scotland Day

Tartan

We're celebrating National Tartan Day again, a time for celebrating the full, rich culture of Scotland! Tartan Day commemorates the Scottish Declaration of Independence, signed on April 6, 1320. In Canada and the US it’s a huge celebration, particularly for more than eleven million Americans who claim Scottish and Scotch-Irish roots and are proud of their ancestors.

The Declaration Of Arbroath

In 1320 51 Scottish nobles and magnates sealed the Declaration Of Arbroath, "a statement of intent sent to Pope John XXII confirming Scotland as a sovereign state."

This document was the inspiration for The 1776 US Declaration Of Independence. Hence Senate Resolution 155 and the Presidential Proclamation that decreed April 6 National Tartan Day. This proclamation refers to the predominance of Scots among our founding fathers and it recognizes the huge contribution they have made to the building of this nation.

"So today America celebrates all things Scottish with marches, Saltires, food fairs, gigs, fashion shows, tattoos, bagpipes, drums, dancing, speeches and parties — even miniature Falkirk Kelpies will be unveiled." ~Donald MaCleod

It’s Tartan Day — let’s party like it’s 1320

How will you celebrate? If you are not of Scottish heritage, I bet you know someone who is.....you know me! Take me to TEA!

Brodies Tea, Scottish Breakfast

You might know a few Celtic Women, some of them might have some Scottish blood!

If you are of Scottish heritage, reply to this message. Let's have some fun!!

To order your Tartan, click this link to start your search:
Light Beige Tartan Lambswool Scarf Gift

Here are some links you might want to check out:
Celebrating Tartan Day 2013

Celebrating National Oreo Day

March 6 is National Oreo Day! 

For over 100 years the world has enjoyed the Oreo Cookie! In 1912, Nabisco had a new idea for a cookie – two chocolate disks with a creme filling in between. Little did they know that this sweet white cream sandwiched between two chocolate biscuits would become the largest selling cookie of all time.

Did you know Oreos were first created in a New York City bakery with British customers in mind? Today they can be found in more than 100 countries.

It remains a mystery exactly why the cookies are named Oreos. They were initially named “Oreo Biscuits.” But the name changed to the “Oreo Crème Sandwich” in the 1940s and to the “Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie” in the 1970s.

The first Oreo cookie looked very similar to the Oreo cookie of today, with only a slight difference in the design on the chocolate disks, but the ingredients have changed. 

My friend Shinichi Mine loves to eat, travel and cook. You can follow him on adventures through new food discoveries on YouTube as he comes up with unique recipes in his tiny kitchen in Tokyo. Here is his recipe for Oreos!

Festive White Chocolate-Covered Oreo Cookies

Oreo cookies covered in decadent white chocolate with sprinkles make everyone happy! Easy to make and yummylicious!

The original Oreo recipe included pork fat for the creamy center!!

In the mid-1990s, health concerns prompted Nabisco to replace the lard in the filling with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Starting in 2006, Oreo cookies replaced the trans fat in the cookie with non-hydrogenated vegetable oil. Oreos became Kosher in December 1997.

When they first debuted, there was also a lemon meringue flavor of Oreos, but those were discontinued in the 1920s. 


Do you think this is true?
I've read that women rather than men are more likely to pull their Oreos apart before eating them.

It's easy to order a box of Oreo's Click Here

 Images from Public Domain and Amazon 

Updated 3/15

Today is Toss Your Fruitcake Day

One of my favorite holiday traditions as a kid was enjoying my grandmother's fruitcake. Have you ever tasted a really good fruitcake? My grandmother made the most awesome fruitcake in the world! Assumption Abbey Bakery in Southwest Missouri makes an awesome fruitcake almost as good as my grandmother's! The Abby is located near Ava, Mo., nestled in the foothills of the Missouri Ozarks.

Jasper Mirabile, Jr. recently interviewed Assumption Abbey’s Father Cyprian on his ‘Live! From Jasper’s Kitchen’ radio show and wrote an article about the interview on kansascity.com.

He writes that "only eight monks, tirelessly and lovingly work at producing these cakes each day" and that "the task begins early each morning when one of the monks begins cracking 265 eggs."

What makes the cakes so good? Mirabile writes that the fruit is first soaked in burgundy wine, added to the batter then baked. Then the monks inject each cake "with over 1 ounce of rum and then soak them in corn syrup." After each cake if finished, the monks gather and pray over each cake.

This is a quote from the Abby's website:

"O GOD, CREATOR OF ALL THINGS
BLESS NOW THESE CREATIONS OF OUR HANDS.
THAT THESE CAKES MAY BE RECEIVED
AS TOKENS OF YOUR LOVE
AND SHARED WITH FRIENDS AS HINTS
OF YOUR EUCHARISTIC FEAST...."

If you're not a fruitcake lover, this dark, rich, traditional style fruitcake will make you one! Each cake is made with raisins, pineapple, currants, citron, walnuts, and wine and laced with rum.

The monks of Assumption Abbey produce 125 fruitcakes a day! That's almost 25,000 cakes per year. You can order you cake here:  Assumption Abbey Bakery  It comes in a decorative, re-useable tin and weighs about 2 lbs.

A good fruitcake is aged. If it contains alcohol and is wrapped in alcohol-soaked linen before storing, it could remain edible for many years. 

Tell me about your fruitcake experience in the comments!

Happy National Sugar Cookie Day!

Tea Cup Sugar Cookies

Today we honor a food that is simple, versatile, and delicious.

The recipes for sugar cookies are simple with 6 ingredients and they can be dropped for an everyday treat or cut out with themed cookie cutters and decorated with frosting or sprinkles for a special celebration.


Love this photo of Tea Cup Sugar Cookies used with permission
from Oh Sugar Events




How To Make Sugar Cookies with Icing

Do you have a recipe for sugar cookies? 
Share it in the comments.

More Cookie Photos
Cookies: Teacups

Check out this 101-Piece Cookie Cutter Set
Looking for cookie cutters for that special occasion cookie? Try this cookie cutter collection. Click the image to see what shapes are included and get the current price.

These can also be used for playdough!

Today is National Go Barefoot Day!

Why can't every day be a barefoot day? I love to go barefooted as often as possible. I love to feel dirt, grass or sand between my toes! Today is a good day to go barefooted and a good day to show your support for charities like Soles4Souls, a global not-for-profit institution that collects new or used shoes and clothes for people in need.  They also help to create jobs in poor and disadvantaged communities.

Let's Celebrate today with dancing to BAREFOOTIN! Who doesn't love to dance to this music by Robert Parker (Video by Ardman Animation)

Want to make every day Go Barefoot Day?

National Go Barefoot Day shares this day with  National Running Day. Do you run?

And here's another special day that deserves attention today! National Trails Day is the first Saturday in June. 

 

Everyday is a great day to celebrate.

Click here to find more days to Celebrate in June! 

Edited 6/1/19

Celebrate National Senior Health & Fitness Day

tai chi man by Hren Design

Always set for the last Wednesday in May, National Senior Health & Fitness Day. The common goal for this day: to help keep older Americans healthy and fit. 

Here's a tip! Try singing and chanting for your health!

Singing, laughing and chanting make the sternum (the breast bone) vibrate which stimulates the immune system as the oscillations boost the Thymus, a small gland in the chest behind the sternum which controls the production of the body’s key defense cells called T lymphocytes. When you sing or shout, pray or chant, or listen to music, whether it be recorded or played live by many musicians, the Thymus is stimulated.

Unfortunately, the thymus becomes smaller and smaller with age and almost disappears in old age. Some researchers believe that different infections and cancers in old people are closely linked to the decline in T lymphocyte production. So stimulating the thymus in some way either through laughing, chanting or singing can be helpful in maintaining or improving health as we age.

Vibrations in the throat also stimulate the thyroid, the gland which produces hormones that regulate metabolism which affects the body’s energy consumption and body weight.

Read more about the Thymus, health and sound at my Cultivating Balance Blog

So now you know! The Fountain of Youth was inside YOU all the time. Keep laughing and singing for a long and healthy life!

Here's a video that will keep you seniors singing! Remember this?

The Song That Never Ends

What are you doing to stay young and healthy? Please leave a comment.

I use Anti-Aging products from NuSkin. Want to see a more youthful you? NuSkin is committed to helping you achieve the best version of you. - click here

Learn more about them here: 
Learn more about Chanting  

Check out these links for Health and Fitness   

Green Tea for Health   

Qigong For Health  

Staying Young With Okinawan Longevity

Read more about National Senior Health & Fitness Day Click Here

edited 5/22/16

International Children's Book Day

My grandson eating his first book!

Today we are celebrating International Children's Book Day, a yearly event sponsored by the International Board on Books for Young People. This day is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books.

Instilling a love of reading promotes a lifetime of learning and enjoyment. I have created a page Best Children's Books For The Early Years that promotes the books that I enjoyed reading to my children and my grandchildren.
 
 "There is a whole host of fabulous children's books out there waiting to be discovered - not just by children but by adults who are young at heart too!"

To find out more about the day and events happening near you, visit International Childrens Book Day website.

What is your favorite children's book? (or 2 or 3)

Click here for More April Holidays and Celebrations

Happy Saint David's Day For My Welsh Friends

St David. Late 19th Century.

Happy Saint David's Day 

(Welsh: Dydd Gŵyl Dewi) to all of the Welsh people who celebrate.

March 1 is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, in remembrance of the death of Saint David in 569. The date was declared a national day of celebration within Wales in the 18th century, and a public holiday in 2000.

Public celebrations of Saint David's Day are held in Wales with an annual parade, concerts are held in pubs, clubs, and other venues, and food festivals.

The Los Angeles St. David's Day Festival - National Day of Wales is the largest annual event of its kind in the United States. 

For more celebrations see:

March Holidays and Celebrations
Celebrate Everyday

Update 3/3/15
I found a lovely site that I want to share with you here. 
Tuesday Cuppa Tea, St. David's Day, 
Shelley Daffodil Time Teacup, Things Welsh


Image: Stained glass window in Jesus College Chapel, Oxford, showing St David. Late 19th century.
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic

A Busy Week For Celebrating

This week is a busy week for celebrating. As this is the midpoint between Winter and Spring, and some of us are suffering from not enough sunlight, spending too much time indoors and sometimes unfriendly weather, the holidays this week come at a good time to lift spirits and help us remember that life is to be celebrated.

Today is the new moon which means that in addition to being the dark time of the year, it's also a dark night. Chinese New Year officially falls on the second new moon after the Winter Solstice.

Holidays we will be observing this week.

Chinese New Year
Celebrated around the world 2013 is the Year of the Yin Black Water Snake - The year of feminine wisdom & renewal. This holiday is also called the Spring Festival  and the the Lunar New Year.

Mardi Gras
Observed by various locales usually historically associated with Catholic populations, Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday," the day before Ash Wednesday/ It's also called "Shrove Tuesday," or "Pancake Day".


Lincoln's Birthday
Abraham Lincoln's Birthday is a legal holiday in some U.S. states including California, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Indiana.

It is observed on the anniversary of the slain president's birth on February 12, 1809. The day is marked by traditional wreath-laying ceremonies at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

Celebrate Lincoln's birthday by seeing the award winning film Lincoln.

Will you be celebrating one of these Holidays? How will you celebrate?

Paper Cut-Out Art - Chinese Zodiac - Year of the Snake
Mardi Gras Image cc by DoctorWho
Lincoln Image cc by  Jeff Kubina

edited 2/9/16

Celebrate National Pie Day

billy.bebop CC BY 2.0

The American Pie Council promotes January 23 as Celebrate National Pie Day. They say the pie-sibilities are endless! According to them the apple pie is America's favorite (of 231 varieties, not sure where they get these numbers), followed by pumpkin pie which seems to me is a seasonal favorite and coming in third is the pecan pie, which my family only ever ate during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays.

I grew up with sweet potato pie as my favorite until I went to Miami and ate real key lime pie....  mmmm!! Sweet potato pie is probably the healthier choice! 

What is your favorite pie? Leave me a comment!


Image billy.bebop CC BY 2.0)

edited 1/23/17

National Day of the Cowboy

Do you celebrate National Day of the Cowboy? Are you a Cowboy or do you know someone who is? What do you know about Cowboys and Cowgirls?

National Day of the American Cowboy was founded in 2004 by American Cowboy Magazine. This event was created as a day meant to celebrate the cowboy's and cowgirl's contribution to American heritage, to preserve, protect and promote the cowboy and Western heritage.

Click this link to read more about the National Day of the Cowboy

Read more about our western heritage, click this link:
The Best of the West: Anthology of Classic Writing From the American West  This book is a treasure of stories, a "collection of classic and contemporary fiction and nonfiction evoking the unique spirit of the West and its people, selected and introduced by one of today's premier chroniclers of the Western landscape." (Amazon)

Cowboy photo Creative Commons Copyright by Moyan Brenn

July is National Ice Cream Month

photo credit ruffin_ready (CC BY 2.0)

July is National Ice Cream Month (USA)
National Ice Cream Day is 3rd Sunday in July

“We dare not trust our wit for making our house pleasant to our friend, so we buy ice cream.” ~~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Vanilla continues to be America's flavor of choice in ice cream probably because it is the most versatile, mixing well with toppings, drinks and bakery desserts. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, America's top five favorite individual flavors are vanilla, chocolate, cookie 'n cream, strawberry and chocolate chip mint.

“My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy the ice cream while it’s on your plate.” ~~Thornton Wilder

Want to know how to healthy up your favorite frozen treat:  Just because it's dessert doesn't mean it has to be unhealthy - check out these nutritious additions perfect for summer.  Healthy Ice Cream Tips

What are your favorite ice cream flavors?

Break Out The Bagpipes And Drums!

It's National Tartan Day! How do you celebrate? It's important to celebrate one's cultural heritage. In the United States and Canada, people with Scottish heritage celebrate the legacy of our shared heritage every year during March and April--Tartan Week! Tartan Day Read More...

And for some great Scottish Music check out Arvel Bird, Celtic Fusion Recording  Artist

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

"Best wishes and congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year."

Also called the Spring Festival, this is China's major traditional holiday and is one of the most popular festivals in China and in other parts of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam where New Year's Day is called "Tet", Malaysia, Taiwan, and of course, Hong Kong. It is also known as the Lunar New Year.

Photo by sanxki (Flickr)

Year of the Rabbit
Is this Year of the Rabbit your Lucky Year? If you want to know more, check out Chinese Astrology.

See Photos of Chinese New Year 2011

Suffragist Jeannette Rankin's Birthday

Jeannette Rankin

Courageous pacifist and suffragist Jeannette Pickering Rankin (1880 - 1973) was born on June 11 in Missoula, Montana. Rankin opened the way for women in politics and for the movement for peace.

Jeannette Rankin was a woman ahead of her time. The first woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1916, she was Montana's representative in Congress. She was the first woman in the House of Representatives before women in other states even had the right to vote.

"What one decides to do in crisis depends on one's philosophy of life, and that philosophy cannot be changed by an incident. If one hasn't any philosophy in crises, others make the decision." ~Jeanette Rankin

Rankin was the only member to vote against declaring war on Japan in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

I would love to know what you think. Don't forget to leave a comment!

Read more about Rankin
Click here

Want to know more about women in history?
Click Here for Women's History

See more June Holidays and Celebrations


Image Jeannette Pickering Rankin By U.S. Congress [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Edited 6/22/16

How will you celebrate Pi Day?

For most of the world, today is March 14th, or 3/14. To most, that date doesn't have any special meaning. But to math nerds, it means today is Pi Day!

There are a large variety of ways of celebrating Pi Day and most of them include eating pie and discussing the relevance of π.

Jim Stingl writes:
"Math geeks and calendar freaks collide today. Pi is 3.14, and the date is 3/14."

By the way, today is also Albert Einstein's birthday.

I'll get you started on pi: 3.141592653589793. The mathematical constant goes on without any repeating patterns right into infinity...

Read more of Stingl's article Geometry fans rejoice - it's Pi Day

Check out EducationalRap.com’s Pi Day Rap page, including quite a few Pi rap songs you can listen to. Lines like “If I’m buyin’ rims for a car – circumference – hey, yo, 2 Pi r…”

Also, TeachPi.org has a Pi music page with downloadable lyrics to several songs.

Leave a comment and tell me what is your favorite thing about Pi?

Learn more about Pi Day from Wikipedia.

Image Pi Pie at Delft University 
Public Domain

updated 3/122/17