All in Holidays/National Days
After 6.5 years of blogging about giving out thoughtful pinches to celebrate many national days, I’m not sure how I have missed writing about National Cookie Day. I mean, I have written about National Sugar Cookie Day, but not about National Cookie Day. So let’s get going!
I am an ambassador for the company NationalDayCalendar.com and what I love about the company is that they keep us updated with every national day. The main reason why the information is important to me is because national days are opportunities to show thoughtfulness. Since National Candy Day is on November 4th, I checked out their website to see if I could relate to the theme of “candy” day. Jackpot! Nationaldaycalendar.com is loaded with great information about candy.
Oh yeah, it’s time to get funky! Today, October 5th, is National Get Funky Day. So come follow me; we are going to “get funky” by learning a few things about this national day.
What do you think of when you hear the words “trail mix”? I’ll share what I think of: sunshine, 75 degree weather, mountains and a John Denver song playing in the background. Pretty much the backdrop of Colorado most days of the year. Trail mix is the perfect food for any activity that involves outdoors, hiking and/or camping.
This is so surreal. Today I am writing a blog post about a national day that was actually founded by me! Last year was the very first year that we celebrated National Thoughtful Day and this Saturday, August 28th, we will be celebrating Thoughtful Day again. Pinch me. Am I dreaming or is this really going to happen every year?
Besides getting late night munchies at Taco Bell or Carl’s Jr. as a teenager and young adult, I never fully appreciated the convenience of a drive-thru until I moved to Minnesota. We had arrived to our new home in August which gave me plenty of time to get the lay of the land while running errands with a baby before the first snow came down in November. It didn’t matter, I still struggled for years whenever I schlepped the baby(s) around for errands.
Are you someone who dreams about winning the lottery but actually never plays it? I used to be one of those people. I would sit and day dream about what I would do with all my winnings. I thought if I just wished hard enough I could win. We all know that the formula for winning the lottery would work better if I actually bought lottery tickets. My chances increase from zero to at least one in a trillion. I remember thinking that all that money would solve all my problems.
Thank you coconuts for being so versatile that it seems like there is really nothing a coconut can’t be used for. I’m actually surprised that we can’t use coconut oil instead of motor oil in our cars. And even though coconut is officially listed as a tree nut (but it’s drupaceous fruit), it is rare for people to be allergic to any derivative of a coconut. Which supports my theory that we can use the coconut for so many things, it’s like the “thneed” in the Dr. Seuss book.
Alright, don’t judge me on the organization of my spice cabinet. Sure, I have to lift up each spice jar in order to see what it contains. Jars are always falling over when I am looking for the garlic salt. Obviously, that is an efficient way to spend all the free time that I have - especially when I am cooking. And of course I have spice jars from when I moved from CA to Chicago in 1997.
While we were in Denver a few weeks ago, I found myself totally clueless about bubble tea. We had been looking for houses (my least favorite thing to do) and it was suggested that I reward myself by having a bubble tea. Yes, please! Due to Covid, we had to use the drive thru at the bubble tea shop named Mini Moo’s Tea Shop because the walk-in or dine-in options were not available. Looking at all the options on a billboard, while in a car, knowing that there are cars behind me, made me panic. I didn’t know what to order because I didn’t know what bubble tea was. Everyone else in my car knew exactly what to get. I ended up getting a watermelon flavored milk tea with bubbles.
When I recently learned that there was such a day as National Pretzel Day, I searched my file of gift ideas to look for a certain pretzel company to help with this special occasion. My cousin Jay-Jay had sent us a “You Lucked Out” gift pack of pretzels this year for St. Patrick’s Day and it was such a bit hit. For National Pretzel Day, I am using the same company, Eastern Standard Provisions Company. A few days ago, I ordered some thoughtful pinches and I’m hoping that the pretzel gift packs arrive in time to celebrate!
I don’t want to assume that everyone knows what an empanada is but I also don’t want to bore everyone else with an intricate description. Let’s just say, if you know what a Hot Pockets is then you are on the right track. The difference is that empanadas are far better in quality than Hot Pockets and the flavors of the fillings varies from region to region.