June 23 - Pink Day

Pink Day is an unofficial holiday, yet it is still one of my favorites! Pink is my very favorite color and if something comes in pink, I have to have it! Housewares, office supplies...you name it and I probably have it. One of my most beloved belongings is my pink KitchenAid mixer. I even have a matching cover for it so it stays clean.

Wear pink today! Eat pink foods! (OK, there aren't too many pink foods that I can think of, but you can always make it pink by adding food coloring.) Take pictures of pink things or make some art or crafts with pink as the focal or accent color!

Here are some of my personal pink pics:




Enjoy!

May 23 - National Taffy Day

National Taffy Day

When I hear "taffy," saltwater taffy first comes to mind. And when I think of saltwater taffy, I think vacations.


For some reason, my family would always buy saltwater taffy when we were on vacation, even if we were nowhere near salt water! I distinctly remember going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to visit the Great Smoky Mountains. There was a store in the touristy part of town that, if I remember correctly, had a taffy pulling machine in the front window.


So, because I think of vacation destinations when I think of saltwater taffy, I assumed I wouldn't be able to find saltwater taffy at my local grocery store (even though I live in Los Angeles, a major tourism spot). I wondered how difficult it would be to make my own taffy at home. I found this very helpful site that explains not only how to make taffy, but why you put in certain ingredients. I like that. I also found lots of fun sites explaining how to throw an old-fashioned Taffy Pull Party. Or who can come to your party and show you and your guests how to pull taffy, if you'd rather do that.


The easiest solution to celebrate Taffy Day would be to just pick up some Now & Laters or Laffy Taffy. However, when I was at the hardware store the other day, I happened to come across a bag of saltwater taffy! I bought it without a second thought. I'm glad I did.

April 3 - Tweed Day

April 3 - Tweed Day
More Info


I don't actually own anything tweed, but here is one of my favorite pair of shoes. It's not quite tweed, more like bouclé. But close enough for me.

March 17 - St. Patrick's Day

March 17 - St. Patrick's Day

I was going to post earlier in the day but I got caught up in making dinner, then eating it, then recovering from it. I made a traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage with boiled potatoes and Irish Soda Bread. Ok, so it may or may not be authentic, but it is traditional in my (Polish) family.

Take a piece of corned beef. Mine was about 4 lbs. Rinse off all the crap that is packaged with it. Place it in a pot and cover it with water (you are gonna need a big pot). Add 2 bay leaves and 20 black peppercorns. If you're like me, you don't have any peppercorns, so just toss a palm-ful of ground black pepper in. Bring the water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, then cover it and let it simmer until a fork goes easily into the middle of the meat. This may take about 3 hours (mine did). About half an hour before you expect the meat to be done, grab a head of cabbage and cut into wedges. Put that in with the meat.

Like I said, I served with boiled potatoes. Hopefully I don't have to tell you how to cook those. I tossed mine with butter and fresh parsley.

As far as Irish Soda Bread goes, everyone has a different idea of what consistency it should be and how it should taste. I prefer a soft, dense bread with raisins. I used this recipe, but I added 1 cup of raisins. Caraway seeds or anise seeds would also be a good addition.

I'll leave you with tasty thoughts and some St Paddy's videos...

March 16 - National Craft Month

March is National Craft Month
Official Sponsor

Un-official song: She's Crafty!

When I was young, I used to think it was dorky that my mom enjoyed arts & crafts. Now that I’m older, I think that arts & crafts are fun. Then again, I am a dork.

I enjoy many different crafts, and crafting in general, but my favorite hobbies are painting and crochet. Currently I trying to teach myself how to knit and hope to soon pick up on sewing. I am using Craft Month to finish up some projects that got set aside. One thing I like about my hobbies is that I can do them while watching television. This keeps me from eating while I watch television.

If you are one of those who still think that crafts are dorky, you need to check out Craftster, stat! On Craftster, you will find some of the most talented people sharing their projects and ideas. It ain’t yo momma’s crafts.

If you’re like me and Jo-Ann Fabrics or Michaels is one of your favorite stores, you may already have a favorite crafting site online. If you haven’t already, you need to check out Craft magazine and Anticraft.

Don't forget to look online for how-to videos. When I began knitting, I turned to YouTube for beginner lessons.

My favorite crochet website
My favorite cross stitch website
Amazing embroidery patterns
Best craft fair ever

Here is a sweater I crocheted for myself last year:

March 13 - National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day

March 13 - National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day


You may have heard that it is considered to be unlucky if you open an umbrella indoors. However, some have said it is only unlucky if the umbrella is black...


if it was a gift...



or if it has never been used outdoors.



Goody. Mine is blue, I bought it myself, and I have used it outside.