Lights! Camera!.. Actor!

Today is Actors Day, 

a day of appreciation for actors.

I would like to accept this day on behalf of all actors. First of all I want to thank God, because without him nothing at all would be possible. I want to thank my mother for coordinating the play that became my acting debut (in which I co-stared beside Mr Curtis Roth as a puppy belonging to Sherlock Holmes. I think it was a Christmas play... I was 4.) I would like to thank Miss Missy Armentrout McCollam for allowing me to apprentice for 2 years in her lovely theatre, Mr Phil Smith for teaching me the art of bitter sarcasm (which has little to do with acting, it just mostly took place at the theatre) and Diana Vera for being weirder than I am. And I would like to thank Mr Paul May for allowing me to work for Clear Vision Drama Company, especially without having auditioned. *bow*

November 12, 2011

So, try as I might, I simply cannot find a holiday for today! So I decided to focus on this week, instead of this day. This week in  is Random Acts of Kindness Week.

You know what the best kind of random act of kindness is? The anonymous kind. Do something kind and random...something you won't get acknowledged for. Trust me. There's nothing like it, and you won't regret it.

11/11/11 11:11

Its 11/11/11! Make a wish! At 11:11. Most epic wish ever....

Semper Fi

Today is Forget Me Not Day. Ironically I have to address the fact that I forgot yesterday's holiday, first. Sorry guys! Yesterday was Go To An Art Museum Today Day! Hopefully you all did that...

Okay! Today is Forget Me Not Day. It's a day to get in touch with people you've lost touch with. Pretty simple. Give 'em a card, mail them a packet of forget me not seeds or, lets just say it, facebook message them. Fun fact- Because of the shape of the stem and pattern of growth, it's not entirely uncommon for forget me not flowers to grow in a heart shaped pattern.

It's also the Marine Corps's 236th birthday. Semper Fi!  The birthday of the Corp is celebrated by Marines with birthday cake. The first piece is always given to the oldest Marine present who then passes it off to the youngest Marine present.

Vote for Chinese

It's Election Day! Get out there and vote for something...

It's also Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day. It may or may not have ties with the fact that it's Gordon Ramsey's birthday, but that's purely speculation since I couldn't find anything definitive on that.
I always thought of pungent as a strong smell, which it is. But did you know it's also one of the 6 tastes? I didn't. Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, astringent and pungnent. Fascinating. Pungent foods are hot, dry and light, like chili peppers, onions, garlic and scallions and herbs and spices like black pepper, ginger and chives.

So basically, anything with those foods... Hmmm. Good luck, and don't forget a mint afterwards. This has been Cooking with Lori.

Hug-A-Bear

Hey, it's Hug a Bear Day,.I'm not telling you how to celebrate, but I am strongly suggesting you pick a fake one, not a real one. Like me! I've shared my bear with you guys before and I'm happy to report- today I had lots of cuddle time with my main squeeze.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Today is all about all things cheesy and silly...musically, that is.

Today is Saxophone day, named after the inventor, Adolphe Sax. It's celebrated on the 6th of November every year, Sax's (the man, not the instrument) birthday. Bonus points to anyone who can name a famous saxophone player, not Kenny G. Bonus bonus points if you say me :)

In what is, I'm sure, a completely unrelated note (note, get it?) it's also Marching Band Day!
I wasn't really sure how to celebrate, so I wore a plume all day.... just kidding.

Did You Remember?

Remember, remember the 5th of November- the gunpowder, treason and plot.

It's Guy Fawkes Day!

Guy Fawkes was a Brit who fought for 3 years in the 80 Years War (British Catholics vs. Dutch Protestants). Then in 1604 Fawkes joined a plot to assassinate King James I (a protestant). His job was, um yeah, to guard the gun powder. They were planning on blowing up the Parliament House. 36 barrels of gunpowder they caught the guy with. He was to be hanged, but jumped first. The original purpose of 'celebrating' Guy Fawkes Day was to remind people what happens when you try to stand up against the government (hunger games, anyone?), but now it's been completely turned around and celebrated in honor of Fawkes's bravery in standing up to make a change. I'm not sure how to work it in, but V for Vendetta deserves a mention somewhere here.
Most people know the first couple lines to the poem, but if you've never heard the rest, here you go:

Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot ;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'Twas his intent.
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below.
Poor old England to overthrow.
By God's providence he was catch'd,
With a dark lantern and burning match

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip Hoorah !
Hip hip Hoorah !

A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope,
A farthing cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down,
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar,'
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head,
Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead.

Today's also Donut Day! Not National Donut Day, that's in June. But it's Donut Day. I definitely support two donut days in one year. Enjoy :)

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Today is Peanut Butter Lovers Day! And I'm not at all disappointed to say that to celebrate yesterday (Sandwich Day) I ate PB&J and today I'm doin the same!

J. H. and W. K. Kellogg (yes, Kellogg of the cereal empire) got a patent in 1895 for a "Process of Preparing Nutmeal" which produced a pasty adhesive substance they called nut-butter.

At some point, however, in the 1890s a doctor by the name of Ambrose Straub had a peanut butter making machine patented in order to provide protein to toothless elderly. Hmm.

Who knows who did what first, all I know is I sure do love Jiffy!








And this isn't exactly a holiday but in case anyone was wondering (I'm pretty sure you weren't) today is the anniversary of the discovery of Genie. On November 4, 1970, Genie, a feral child at the approximate age of 13, was discovered. She had spent her entire life in a basement strapped to a chair. She's the most severe case of documented social isolation in history. Her father was extremely abusive, not allowing her to vocalize and not allowing anyone to speak to or around her. At the age of 13 she had a vocabulary of 20 words (the equivalent of a 22 month old child). At first, a social worker guessed Genie to be about 6 or 7 and possibly have autism. After a lot of therapy, care and nurturing Genie learned social skills, grew her vocabulary and became a quite pleasant girl. She was studied mostly by scientists and psychologists with an interest in verbal development. The most interesting thing about her was her indescribable abilities to communicate non-verbally. There were several instances where, when in public, complete strangers would give her or her care-givers toys, etc, without having been asked. It's like Genie had an ability to draw people to her. Ahh, psychology.

Get In the Kitchen...

I noticed lately that I use the phrase "best day ever" a lot, which unfortunately I've realized is not only redundant but also makes me sound slightly like a valley girl. One (and by "one" I mean "I") might argue that I'm simply living life as it should be lived, every day better than the last...but I digress.
So maybe I don't say today is the best day ever, but rather I will infer that it's the most comical combination of days I've seen yet. For today is National Sandwich Day. And in an unfortunate twist of fate that's simply too funny to be made up, it's also... National Housewives Day.

Take all the time you need before continuing reading. I myself took about 5 minutes before I stopped laughing and making woman jokes in my head.

Let's begin with the sandwich, shall we? Named after, the one the only, John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who was a pretty avid gambler. During one particularly long and intense game of cards he ordered a servant to bring him some meat between two pieces of bread; he wouldn't have to stop the game, he wouldn't be distracted by eating and he could hold it in one hand. Perfect. He began eating this kind of meal a lot and it became known as the sandwich soon after his buddies jumped on the bandwagon and would chime in "I'll have the same as Sandwich!"

Let's all take a moment to eat a sandwich today and pay respects to Lord Sandwich  for his charitable contribution to society that changed the world. Fun fact: the most popular sandwich in the US is none other than the hamburger, followed by chicken sandwich. But I know personally every time I eat PB&J, I'll think of you John!

 Onto a completely unrelated subject that I'm trying to make no connection too... Housewives! The reason it's annually celebrated on November 3rd is to coincide with Roseanne Barr's birthday. Funny.
The typical way to celebrate is by asking a housewife in your life not to do their regular work that day. So uh, I don't think I have a high demographic of husbands reading this blog, but just in case- Hubbies, let your wives chill today. Housewives- tell your husband to read this blog.





I wanted to leave you with this. Only because the caption to this picture was "Atheists Eat Babies" and I couldn't resist putting it here. Bah ha! Happy ( [hopefully] Healthy, Legal and Moral) Sandwich Day, everyone!

40 States United

Some might not consider today to be the lottery of holidays, but as they say in show business- the blog must go on...

 It's the anniversary of statehood for not one, but two of my favorite Dakotas! That's right ladies and gents, on this day in history in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty nine, both North and South Dakota were established as the 39th and 40th States of the Union.

Now I'm not Dakota Fanning, but I am a fan of Dakota.
Bazinga.



Okay, that's all I have for today...

Tune in tomorrow for a (hopefully) more interesting ramble on the origins of the sandwich.

Saints and Great-grandmothers

Today is all about dead people. Awesome. Let's dive right in...

As mentioned in yesterday's blog, today is All Saints Day. It's a day to celebrate the Saints, all the Saints. All 10,000 + Saints, known and unknown. Most are martyrs, which explains the outrageously high number. Not all of them are the Apostle Paul, or Mother Teresa. But all of them have done something courageous, impressive and outstanding for the furthering of the kingdom. All have answered God's sometimes scary call, and have lived (sometimes died) for their faith. Cheers to you.
Honoring martyrs started as early as 100 AD, quickly became a very important Jewish tradition and remains a big holiday for Catholics and certain protestants today.

Today's also Día de los Muertos, which is a day of celebrating those who have past, mostly relatives, ancestors and friends. It's celebrated mostly in Mexico, some in a few other Latin countries. They have parades, prepare elaborate meals and...spend the night in graveyards. They place little alters by graves- food, marigolds, maybe something belonging to the deceased like a ring or shirt, and a photo.
It sounds a little morbid, but it's not a sad night. It's a celebration. Stories, jokes, memories, good food, creepy camping. It's part of how their culture copes with death. They fear it like we do, but instead of running away from it, they laugh in death's face. They live along side the dead.

Important Announcement BEFORE Tomorrow

I forgot to mention an important announcement!

Tomorrow is the first day of NoShavember, aka Novembeard. Meaning everyone needs to shave tonight. And then...not again. Until December.

It's basically a pointless month long celebration of manliness and competition of manliness. And, I would argue, womanliness. Yes, with a sigh of disappointment I regret to inform my lovely readers that in this day in age there are still undertones of sexism in our world, attempting to discriminate against women on this important and influential holiday. Not this year, ladies! I say we band together and fight back. It's important to note that my revolt is including only legs. Repeat: legs only!

Ladies, we cannot participate in Novembeard, but we can participate in NoShavember. So get 'em silky smooth, guys get those faces baby fresh and then more fun announcements throughout the month. Feel free to keep me updated on your progress, post pics to my facebook if you like :)

Best of luck, everyone. I'll leave you with a little hairy inspiration.

Halloween

Hallowe'en, All Hallow's Even, Hallow Evening! All Saints Day, Hallowmas, Hallowtide, All Hallows, All Hallow Eve, All Souls Day Eve...

It's Halloween!

Origins are somewhat sketchy:

Some say roots are found in the Celtic holiday "Samhain",a pretty important day in medieval Ireland and Scotland to celebrate the end of summer. They believed this, the last day of autumn, was also the day in which the natural and supernatural worlds were closest. To ward off negative spirits they built bonfire and offered animal and human sacrifices to appease the gods.

Others will say the origins of Halloween go further back, to Parentalia, a 9 day ancient-Roman festival of the dead and ancestors. 

Wherever and however it originally came about, there's no question Halloween has been hugely affected by religion, culture and time. One of the biggest influences on Halloween was All Saints Day, the Roman Catholic holiday (later adopted by certain western protestants) to celebrate the Saints, all Saints, on November 1.

But Halloween as we know it today has pretty much little to nothing in common with the origins. That's okay... I have fun dressing up in costumes, getting free candy, drinking cider, carving pumpkins, bonfires, haystacks, scary movies and haunted houses, corn mazes, scaring people, and adopting black kitties! 

I know Panic! At the Disco isn't everyone's cup of tea...but they have some awesome Halloween songs, and really how many good bands do that? You have to respect. He's some links if you want some jams for today to get you in the spooky mood:

This is Halloween
It's Almost Halloween

A Delicious Paradox

Today, the day before Halloween, is a celebration of perhaps the best exclusively "Halloween" candy ever invented. The candy corn. Although a bit of a paradox- a candy vegetable- I find myself unable to question this tricky treat because of said deliciousness. So here's to you, candy corn. Thanks for making my halloweens so confusingly yummy.

Oh, look. A link!

Happy Birthday to a Special Bottom Dweller

Happy Birthday, Pepe!

I wasn't really a supporter of the muppets, but I was a big fan of his work on the long john silver's commercials. 

Best. Day. Ever.

Happy best day of the year; It's Friday, a holiday in and of itself- it's the last game of the world series, which my boys won, and...Chocolate Day!

Appropriately enough, tonight was also girl's night in my apartment so we did all the best chocolatey girl stuff possible. Of course.

T. O. V. Day

I'm so sorry, I lied to you guys in my last post. Today isn't chocolate day, tomorrow is. And tomorrow is also Friday and game 7 of the world series...best day ever, just sayin.

 

Today is Turn Off the Violence Day. And it's as simple as it sounds. Cut it out. T.O.V. promotes education on violence and violent behavior, how to handle violent situations or people and how to stop it from happening. Their claim is that violence is a learned behavior; it can be unlearned. 

 

"Some day together we may reap the harvest in a world that thinks of violence only as the last resort, not the only option ... or the best." -turnofftheviolence.org

Hopefully it isn't a stretch to believe violence could never be an option.

Peace, love and happiness,
L

Zzz...

Today was probably the best day ever, and while I didn't get to enjoy it to the fullest extent that I would have liked, I did the best I could.

It's Sleep In Day. Unfortunately, in the life of a college senior, sleeping in only happens on Saturday. I couldn't afford to miss my 9 o'clock class, so I just slept in as much as possible. From bed to class in 20 minutes isn't exactly impressive but it is a personal record. *bow*Hopefully y'all got some sleep today.

Also, heads up for tomorrow- Chocolate Day, among other things. Commence extreme excitement

Monuesday

Today is Monuesday. What's a Monuesday and how do we celebrate it, you ask? Well... Monues isn't exactly the holiday it's the thing that happens when I don't write a blog on Monday and stay up way too late and wake up way too early and try to combine Monday and Tuesday and see if anyone cares. Monuesday.

Yesterday was United Nations Day, which is cool and awesome and cool, but there's not much to say about it. I like, nay, I love the United Nations. Happy day, UN!

Today is much more interesting. World Pizzamakers' Day! When I first realized this was a food holiday, I thought it was just any other food holiday- the kind where I'd find it barely mentioned in another blog or two and on Martha Stewart's website. But this is a LEGIT food holiday!

Pizza is believed to have been created for the first time in Naples, Italy in the 600s. I don't think any other food but bread has lasted that long, and I'm sure glad it did. God bless Italian food...but I digress. So, how appropriate that the day be greatly celebrated in Italy today. The Pope prayed a blessing over pizza, pizzamakers and the families of pizzamakers today in St. Peter's Square (the Vatican) in front of 50,000 which included 2,000 pizzamakers from all over the world. THEN! Get this, the pizza makers made and passed out 50,000 slices of pizza to celebrate. Holy mozzarella, that's a lot of pizza.

So take a load off, order in tonight and enjoy. Maybe even watch a little jersey shore and celebrate the fact that their time in Italy is coming to an end.

Celebrating the Impossible

So... yeah. Today is Mother-in-law Day.
I thought about celebrating, but alas... I cannot.
So then I thought about not blogging today, but I've been dropping the ball a lot lately.
So I'm going to celebrate Mother-in-law Day by celebrating NOT having one! Boo-yeah! I've got two parents, and their enough to worry about (right, mom?) so I'm celebrating the fact that I don't got no ball and chain and thus no mother-in-law to judge the cleanliness of my house or make passive aggressive comments about my cooking. Mmm :) it's nice...

Make a Difference Day

Today is Make a Difference Day which is quite simply a day of doing good, in whatever form that comes in for you. Basically, the idea is to come up with a way to make a difference- either make your own cause or join another- participate and report on it. Anything at all that makes a difference by doing good. Check out the website, it's pretty cool
http://makeadifferenceday.com/

Back and Catching Up

Hey y'all. I'm back! Mid-term kicked butt and now I'm all prepared to catch everyone up on all the days we, unfortunately, missed...

Friday:
World Egg Day, Be Bald and Free Day, National F.R.U.M.P. Day (that's  Frugal, Responsible, Unpretentious, Mature Persons. Whatever...) national lower case day, and National Take Comfort Day
Saturday:
I Love Lucy Day, Mushroom Day, Sweetest Day, National Grouch Day and National Poetry Day
Sunday:
National Boss Day, Dictionary Day, World Food Day, National Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day, Learn a Word Day and Let Them Eat Cake Day
Monday:
Gaudy Day, International Adjust Your Chair Day
Tuesday:
No Beard Day (I actually do not support the celebration of this day...except for girls, maybe) Black Poetry Day, Scary Black Cat Day and hooray, the anniversary of the day Puerto Rico became a US colony
Wednesday:
New Friends Day and Evaluate Your Life Day
Thursday:
National Fruit Day and Suspenders Day

Whew! That's so many cool days we missed out on! Sorry about  the mini-hiatus and thanks again for understanding. Now let's get back to the grindstone.

Today is Garbanzo Bean Day and...that's it. Okay, so maybe not the best day to return with a bang, but hey...before Fergie came along no one cared about black eyed peas either. Maybe today we give garbanzo beans the respect they could potentially deserve.

Holiday Vacation

Hey guys,
Just wanted to announce that we're taking a short break from holidays. I'm on mid-term break and spending it in Missouri, so whoo-hoo. Unfortunately, I left my calendar and notebook in Ohio so I'm a little lost. That's okay though, we're just going on a  mini-hiatus, and I'll catch you guys up on Thursday.
Thanks for understanding,
L

Doubtful, Thomas?

Today's International Skeptic's Day, otherwise known as 'cool if you want it to be'.
I'm personally not in support of this day and I offer into defense of my case what we will refer to as Evidence A and Evidence B.
Evidence A is what being a skeptic will get you.

Evidence A

Whereas Evidence B will show you where being awesome will lead you.

Still skeptical? Well, that's up to you to decide.

Bearbear!

National Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work or School Day!

 

Today is probably the best day ever... the point? Be a kid again. Share your life with your bear, and your bear with your friends and co-workers.  This is my teddy bear, Bearbear (aka Jerbear) which was a gift from my amazing and wonderful, loving boyfriend Jerrod. Fun bear fact- when you squeeze his paw he lights up! Which is perfect, because I'm 7 and also afraid of the dark.

So, what's the scoop? We all know you still have a teddy bear, don't lie. Whats your bear's story? Share it with someone today :)

Partay!

It's My Party Day! And yes, I did cry...because I wanted to. This is yet another one of those days where I found too much information on the holiday to ignore that fact that it's obviously a legitimate day...but not enough information to actually know what it is..or what it's for, or how to celebrate, or why. I'm going to have to assume it's exactly what it sounds like and just party it up.

Happy Thanksgiving, Eh?

Ah, today is filled with my favorite kind of holiday. No, not the 'crazy kind of food you have to come up with and consume' day, not 'random and abstract noun or verb for no real reason' day, though these days are fun too. Today is full of historical holidays! And I just love it!

First up, most of you guys probably know this already, but its Columbus Day. Welcome to America, Cristóbal. There's not really any awesome ways to celebrate this day, it's just a day of observance. Though most schools and government run businesses take the day off, unlike mine...

Today is also Thanksgiving in Canada! Nice! Their Thanksgiving isn't much different than ours, other than they get a 3 day weekend and we usually get a 4-5 day weekend :) The purpose of their Thanksgiving isn't different from ours at all. It's a chance to give thanks to God for what He's given us, originally for a bountiful harvest. They celebrate with family, lots of food, parades and even (that's right) football! And not the sissy "by 'football' we mean 'futball' so really we mean 'soccer'" kinda football, either! I mean real, live Canadian Football League double-header, a.k.a the Thanksgiving Day Classic. Finally Canada, something I can really respect you for.

Also they often use the 3 day weekend as a chance to travel. I can respect that as well.

Virginia celebrates Yorktown Victory Day today, the victory in the Siege of Yorktown, which was a very influential win for George W. (Washington, that is) in the Revolutionary War.

And if all this history isn't cool enough for you, then fine! Celebrate my last ditch effort holiday. Angel Food Cake Day. It's tasty and good for you. Now get outta here, and do something productive with your day!

Say cheese

Today is...well, sort of lackluster as far as holidays are concerned. All I could stir up for today is... dut dut dut duuuh! Moldy Cheese Day. So yeah. Enjoy. And as my dear friend Ellen would say... "That's disgusting."
That's all, thanks for tuning in. Tomorrow looks more promising (though, really, can you go downhill from moldy cheese?)

Tag, you're it!

American Tag Day

Tag, you're it! You could certainly celebrate today by running around and playing tag. It's beautiful here in Ohio! But the origins of American Tag Day are in animal shelters. In a study that included over 1,000 animal shelters across America, over the course of three years over 1 million dogs and over half a million cats were taken in as strays (tame animals taken in, not dropped off). Only 15% of the dogs and 2% of cats were ever reunited with their original owners.
So no I'm not going to go on some PETA rant, or link you to an ASPCA commercial. This is just a friendly reminder to make sure your animals are tagged, just in case it ever happens to you and your pet. Also... seriously. Go play tag. It's a beautiful day

Jeans, boobs and frappes (Oh my!)

Today is a pretty cool day, Lee National Denim Day. Lee is trying to raise money and awareness for breast cancer by asking for a donation equal to the amount you spent on the jeans you're wearing today. Watch the video at this link to see Mike Rowe (you know, Dirty Jobs) take off his pants in honor of his mother.

Also, today's an excellent day to stop by Starbucks and grab something tasty and filled with awesomeness. It's Frappe Day! As disappointing as this is, I do actually know of certain parties (who may or may not belong to cults) who don't like Starbucks. That's okay, I also highly recommend the Mocha frappe from Dunken Donuts and actually McDonald's isn't too bad either (blasphemy, I know...)

Most of all, today, just...enjoy! It's a lovely Friday. Do something awesome :)

Sincerest Apologies

Holy week of my life flashing by without me noticing it, batman! Dearest loyal and faithful National Lori Day followers- might I extend my most heart-felt and regretful apologies for dropping the blogspot ball.

Let me briefly catch you up on the days I've missed and pick up with today. I promise it won't happen again! (Or if it does, we should institute some vlogbrothers-esque type punishment system for dropping the ball. [here's an example of an aweful punishment for making a video too long, which is one of their rules of vlogging])

Saturday:
Homemade Cookies Day, World Vegetarian Day, Less Than Perfect Day , International Frugal Fun Day
Sunday:
Name Your Car Day, World Communion Sunday
Monday:
Virus Appreciation Day, Look at the Leaves Day, World Habitat Day
Tuesday:
 Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, National Golf Day
Wednesday:
National Story Telling Day, National Techies Day

And lastly today:

German American Day is celebrated every 6th of October in honor of the day the 13 German families landed in America who later founded Germantown, PA. In 1983 Reagan declared German American Day a holiday on October 6th on the 300th anniversary of German American immigration. There's no relation between German American Day and Oktoberfest, but that doesn't sound like a bad way to celebrate, huh?  ;)



Come and Take It Day is a day for the taking! And making...making it whatever you want it to be. It's sort of a grab life by the- well you know, sort of mentality. Today is up for grabs, take it and make it whatever you want it to be.

Other holidays to be celebrated today:
Garlic Lovers Day, really garlic should be celebrated everyday in my opinion.
Physician Assistant Day
Lawyers Day

So there you go. A weeks worth of catching up to do, a weeks worth of celebrating, an apology, a promise and Oktoberfest all in one blog. Brought to you by yours truly. Enjoy today, come and take it!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Today let's begin with some Catholic history, shall we?

 It's the Feast of Saint Jerome, who is extremely important to Catholics and Protestants alike, and very important in our history, though only a few will recognize his name. Jerome was known for being extremely intelligent, and it was noted by Saint Augustine that "What Jerome is ignorant of, no mortal has ever known." Aside from high intelligence, he was also quite well known for his sarcasm and fiery temper (I dare say are probably the most rare admirable traits in most saints). But what he's most well-for is his scholarly work. Jerome was commissioned by the Pope in the late 300s A.D. to work on a solid Latin translation of the Bible. Jerome's translation became known as the "versio vulgata" or Vulgate (sound familiar now?) which literally means the "commonly used translation." It became the official version of the Bible for the Roman Catholic Church. We celebrate Jerome's life and accomplishments on the anniversary of his death, September 30, 420.





 Other notable and relatively simple things to celebrate today:
Chewing Gum Day- grab a stick of Wrigleys, the oldest gum still in existence.

Ask a stupid question today, because that's exactly what today is: Ask A Stupid Question Day. I'm sure you've all heard to time-old saying "There's no such thing as a stupid question." Well, I challenge you to put that the the test!

A Wicked Awesome Day

That's right, today is a completely wicked awesome day. It's Broadway Musicals Day. So sync up that ipod and let her rip, shimmy til your garters break and all that jazz! Because I'm blasting Lion King, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera,West Side Story, (and mostly) Chicago today. If you could see any musical, what would it be?






Today is also Blackberries Day and Michaelmas, which are two holidays based on one cool Christian legend. It's Michaelmas to celebrate Saint Michael, the Archangel. The reason it's Blackberry Day is because it's said by some that after Lucifer was banished from Heaven he fell into a blackberry bush. Because of that blackberries shouldn't be picked after today. Hmm...

Well, I hope everyone enjoys their Feast of Saint Michael today. Eat the last of your blackberries and don't forget to set a little mood music.

Read, Run, Rosh

Reading and running and hashanah, oh my!

Today is Read a Child a Book You Like Day. Since I don't have quick or easy access to a child, I just read part of "The Myth of Certainty" by Daniel Taylor to my roommate, Jamie.
"Being reflective is both a blessing and a curse, a potential for strength and for weakness. It can lead equally well toward truth or error. Life can be richer, more textured, more challenging, more meaningful. Likewise, it can become more barren, more threatening, more overwhelming..."

Next up, it's time to dust off the ol' running shoes. Today is National Women's Health and Fitness Day. It's America's biggest annual push for women's health and over 1,000 groups held events for approximately 80-100,000 women today.

Then at sundown Rosh Hashanah began, the Jewish new year, which will last until tomorrow at sundown. For Jews this is a time for self-reflection and repenting. Not exactly the streamers and kiss at midnight us protestants are used to, but it still sounds pretty cool. Jewish people will usually eat apples and honey to represent a sweet new year. I can go for that.

Before you begin reading, you should set up some mood music. Here's the theme song of the day.

Today is fun and fancy free day! Anyone remember the Disney movie "Fun and Fancy Free"? It came out in the forties, so it's an oldie but definitely a goodie. Bonus features include...technicolor.  Here's the link to part 1.
So today, don't let your troubles trouble you. Be happy-go-lucky, just like Jiminy Cricket!


 Today is also Crush a Can day. So if you're just too stressed or grumpy to be fun and fancy free, take out some aggression on a can. It'll make you feel more fancy free! Don't forget to recycle.

Want even more awesomeness to celebrate on this lovely Tuesday afternoon? It's Ancestor Appreciation Day. Like every other American, my ancestry is sort of a hodge-podge. But I do have a lot of Austrian from my mom's side and Scottish from my dad's. Jordan was the Scottish twist on the french name Jardin. So maybe if you go back far enough, I'm French. Who knows?
So where do you come from? I encourage you to find a unique way to celebrate who you are and where you've come from today. If you don't know, look it up! There's plenty of awesome genealogy sites out there.

Johnnycakes and Appleseeds

Anybody else have parents that made Mickey Mouse pancakes when you were a kid and it pretty much made your day? Happy National Pancake Day :)
Pancakes have basically been eaten since the dawn of time, and there's something to be said about that. Anything that has been around since prehistoric times and is still pretty much a staple can only be described as purely fantastic. And just like anything else that's existed for thousands of years, it's evolved and changed a lot, and it varies a lot by culture. But the basic idea of a pancake remains universal- it's a combination of carbohydrate-rich flour and high-protein liquids (like milk or eggs). Anything else is pretty much player's choice. They can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert. Cover them in jelly or whipped cream.  Pair 'em with bacon and eggs, or ice cream. Mix them with chocolate chips or fruit. There's almost no way you can go wrong! I'm making pancakes tonight with my apartment and enjoying them with some good ol' fashioned syrup. If you go out today to enjoy your pancakes, don't forget to tip! It's also National Food Service Employees Day.

It's also Johnny Appleseed Day, which I remember learning every year in elementary school. I'm sure most of you did too, so we all know he wore a pot on his head and went around planting apple seeds. But here's a few things you may not have known, and a couple things they won't teach you in kindergarten:
He was a missionary for the Swedenborgian Church. What that means, I do not know. But it sounds cool.
He cared a lot about animals, and would go out of his way (including living in discomfort) to avoid inconveniencing an animal. He was also a vegetarian.
He fell in love once, and when we went to propose he learned that he was a day too late- she'd accepted another proposal the day before. Years later he took in an orphan girl and raised her, planning on marrying her when she was old enough. But then he visited her unexpectedly and she was holding hands with another man. From then on if ever asked why he didn't settle down he would reply that all women are not what they profess to be; some are deceivers, but you don't know which ones until too late. That, or he would claim that if he stayed single on earth, he would get two spirit-wives in the afterlife. Johnny, say what?!
So eat an apple, keep the doctor away, stay single and earn a double spirit wife. However you want to celebrate is up to you, with little judgment from me... Unless you're Swedenborgian, in which case I have questions.

Wonders and Heros

There are two holidays today and both involve celebrating complete and utter awesomeness...
just in two very different ways.

When I say names like Carl Douglas, Eric Carmen, Minnie Riperton and Toni Basil, what do you think? Anything? Ringing any bells? For most people, no. What if I asked you- what do M/A/R/R/S, The Weather Girls, a-ha and Los Del Rio all have in common? Have any ideas?
Here, I'll give you a hint... Kung Fu Fighting, All by Myself, Lovin' You, Mickey, Pump Up the Volume, It's Raining Men, Take On Me, and Macarena!
I'll bet no one recognized many of the names, but I'll every one of you has heard all of those songs. Happy One Hit Wonder Day, everybody. Today's all about enjoying those one people, what ever happened to them anyways, and the songs they gave us that we all know and love. My playlist today consists of Come on Eileen, Mambo Number 5, Sugar Sugar, Who Let the Dogs Out, Tainted Love, and I'm Too Sexy. What other one-hits can you think of?

Registering as a 9.2 on the richter scale of awesomeness, today is also National Comic Book Day (not to be confused with Free Comic Book Day, which is the first Saturday in May).
Be your hero of choice DC or Marvel, today is a day to not let "series" separate us, but let us all stand together united against the common threat- lack of knowledge. Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Flash or Canary. Captain America, Wolverine, Spiderman, Iron man or Hulk. Whoever your superhero of choice may be, spread the word! Tell someone awesome it's comic book day. Break out your old comics from the attic and enjoy. And in honor of greatness that is to come... a great example of standing united.

Bluebird Singin' in the Dead of Night...

Anyone know anything about gallbladders? Anyone? Bueller? That's okay, me neither. Until I learned today is Gallbladder Good Health Day! So I looked up some things about gallbladders that I'm sure you'd love to hear. For starters women are 3-4 times more likely to suffer gallbladder attacks than men. Ouch. What's a gallbladder look like anyways? Thanks for asking, anonymous blog reader who's suddenly very interested in gallbladders. It's about 4-5 inches big and they look like baby eggplants. Or so I'm told. It's located just under the ribcage and liver. The gallbladder is part of the digestive system and it also helps to keep your liver healthy. I'm told apples are particularly good, whereas fatty (fried or greasy) foods are bad for it.
Two of my apartment-mates have actually had their gallbladders removed, even though it's pretty rare for people under 40. To celebrate, I'm making them fried oreos... o:) Treat your gallbladder well today by enjoying a nice apple, or put it to good use by eating something fried.

C'mon, get happy! It's National Bluebird of Happiness Day. I'd never heard this before, but apparently different cultures across the whole world for thousands of years have all held similar beliefs and myths about the bluebird- all positive. Blue birds are pretty much universally believed to be a sign of happiness, cheerfulness, good health, good luck and prosperity. Some indigenous groups even hold it as a sacred animal.

Ever thought to yourself  "I just want to go kill an unsuspecting animal for sport in order to fully appreciate the beauty of the great outdoors" ? Well, today's your lucky day. It's National Hunting and Fishing Day. In 1972 Nixon signed the first proclamation of National Hunting and Fishing Day, and it's been celebrated the fourth Saturday of every September ever since. The idea is to enjoy outdoor sports and recreation as well as promote a respect for conservation. I must admit I won't be celebrating this day by hunting (though I do support conservation of nature), but I did have a dream last night I went fishing and caught a halibut. Does that count?

And! For. All... You, English; lovers? Out: "There"
National Punctuation Day! Which, according to the National Punctuation Day official website is "A celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotation marks, and other proper uses of periods, semi-colons, and the ever-mysterious ellipsis." I'm so scared I've used improper punctuation somewhere in this post...





If you'd like to celebrate you can enter the punctuation contest. Submit your entry here. Here's a list of official rules and guidelines:
Write one paragraph, maximum of three sentences, using these 13 punctuation marks: apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation point, hyphen, parentheses, period, question mark, quotation mark, and semicolon. You may use a punctuation mark more than once.
Entries accept through September 30th, best of luck.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Wondering how to celebrate today? Easy! Buy a Native American dog named President Checkers and roll around with him in the leaves. (the dog, not the Native American man... Sorry, Jamie)

Today is sorta, kinda Native American Day. It's not a national holiday, so not all states celebrate it and those that do don't all celebrate it on the same day. To my knowledge there's two days it's celebrated. Some states celebrate on Columbus Day, other celebrate the fourth Friday of September. Feel free to celebrate today by singing with the voices of the mountain, or painting with all the colors of the wind.

 You could also celebrate the first day of fall, or as I like to call it "mourning the death of the best season ever". Just kidding. As much as I hate to see summer go, fall isn't so bad. It usually has at least some of the heat of summer, with the added bonus of awesome tree art. Enjoy how beautiful God is today.

The country at large takes a natural interest in the President's dogs and judges him by the taste and discrimination he show in his selection... Any man who does not like dogs and want them about does not deserve to be in the White House.

-AKC Gazette, 1924

Dogs in Politics Day. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...We've got a day set aside just to coo over the pets of political leaders. And perhaps judge them on it. So who's got a dog, and will that change your opinion of them?  I'm not here to sway a bias, I'm merely presenting the facts! Lets dig a little deeper, shall we?
Obama has a Portuguese water dog named Bo, W. Bush had two Scottish Terriers and a mut, Clinton had a Lab Retriever, H. Bush had two springer spaniels (mother and son), JFK had a Welsh Terrier, FDR had 7 dogs, Lincoln had none, and George Washington had 18 hounds. So, how do you judge their tastes?




And last, but certainly not at all least, Checkers Day! If you ask me, well I wouldn't mind one bit if you celebrated Checkers Day by playing a hearty round of checkers. But it's my blogging duty to inform you, with heavy heart, that Checkers Day isn't about playing checkers at all. In fact, I have my suspicions it may have something to do with the origins of Dogs in Politics Day.
September 23, 1952 was the day that Richard Nixon delivered his "Checkers Speech". At the time he was running for vice president under Eisenhower when some questions were raised about a secret campaign fund. A report in the NY Post alleged that Nixon had a secret fund of over $18,000 and he may have been using the money for personal, non-campaign purposes. While the fund did exist, there was nothing illegal about it, or keeping it a secret. Though there wasn't anything questionable about the legality of the money situation, it was an embarrassment to Eisenhower's campaign which was really pushing an end to government corruption.
On September 23, he appeared for 30 minutes on NBC explaining the situation, tearing down his political opponents, and promoting himself and Eisenhower. After explaining the money, where it came from, and what it had been used for, in an attempt to make light of the whole thing, Nixon did say there was one gift from his campaign he would keep no matter what- a cocker spaniel given to his 6 year old daughter. His name was Checkers.

Five Reasons to Celebrate

Five holidays in one 24 hour period?! I hope you're ready for this...

1- Dear Diary Day
     I couldn't find a whole lot of info on this day, but I did find enough on it to say it is a real day. Also it's mentioned on Oprah's site so...legit. Oprah said so. I highly recommend journaling and here's two good reasons why: Firstly, it can be very therapeutic. It helps to organize your thoughts, get 'em off your chest and rationalize. [psych major moment of the day] Secondly, it's just plain hilarious to read your old journals later. I go back and read old diaries all the time. You want a good laugh? Reminisce on life through the eyes of a freshman girl at college. Bah ha!

2- Elephant Appreciation Day

Did you know that elephants are pregnant for two years before they give birth? And baby elephants weight between 220-240 lbs at birth? And they live for 50-70 years? Whoa. Any animal that gives birth to something the size of a full grown man gets my appreciation.








3- American Business Women's Day
     Since the dawn of time women have been in the kitchen makin' our men sammiches. But in America women in the workplace has been a process. Women having jobs outside the home existed before the 1920s but it really only become common then. During the depression, when jobs and money were few and far between, working women increased by about 25%. Then during WWII in the 40s, 6 million women entered the workforce, taking jobs women had never seen before, including many factory and heavy labor jobs. Many of them quit their jobs at the end of the war, making room for returning veterans. But not as many as predicted. In 1964 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was created, though it didn't begin to see female discrimination cases until 1970. On September 22, 1949 the American Business Women's Association was formed, and in 1986 Reagan issued a proclamation that September 22 would be the annual ABW day.

4- Ice Cream Cone Day

The invention of the ice cream cone is a little uncertain. There's three stories, one of which may (or may not...) explain the real birth of the cone. One story goes that in 1903 an Italian ice cream vendor invented the cone as a way of cutting costs (apparently cones are cheaper than paper cups.) But there is another story that an English man received a patent in 1902 for a machine that made edible biscuit cups. You decide if that sounds like a cone. My favorite story was of two venders at the World Fair in St. Louis in 1904. One was selling waffles, one was selling ice cream. The ice cream vender ran out of cups so the waffle vender rolled up some waffles to give to the ice cream vender. Voila! The waffle cone was born.

Whichever story floats your fancy, you should all watch this adorable little video of this adorable little cat eating an adorable little ice cream cone. It's adorable.

           5- Hobbit Day

Hobbit day is in honor of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, of the Lord of the Rings. The Fellowship of the Rings opens with Bilbo and Frodo celebrating their shared birthday, the 22nd of September. Now I'm as big a fan of the Rings as the next guy, and I'm all about celebrating Hobbit Day by watching the Fellowship, barefoot, while stuffing my face with a ton of food...but I'll bet you probably didn't know there was controversy with this holiday, huh? Yep. People actually fight over whether Hobbit Day should be celebrated on September 22nd (the day mentioned in the book) or September 14th, due to discrepancies between the Shire Calendar and the Gregorian calendar. I wish I could make this stuff up...