No Brainer!

Today was a "No Brainer" day - a day to avoid all things that required any thinking and simply focus on the logical, easy, "no brainer" kind of things. It's fitting that it fell on a Saturday. Isn't what every Saturday should be? ;-)

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Three choices -- "Floral Design Day," "Public Sleeping Day," or "National Tooth Fairy Day"

Dreaming...

I loved fairy tales as a kid. Still do. So of the three choices to celebrate today (Carnival, Pistachios or Fairy Tales), it was a "no brainer". The problem however, is that a 16 month old barely sits still long enough for the opening "Once upon a time..."! So while I did attempt to read a fairy tale to my daughter in celebrate of today's random holiday, I'm afraid my dreams of sharing my favourite fairy tale with her will have to wait.

Until then though, I can sing her to sleep with a song from my all-time favourite fairy tale of all: Cinderella. Here's to sweet dreams my angel...

A dream is a wish your heart makes
when you're fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartaches
whatever you wish for you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
your rainbow will come smiling through
No matter how your heart is grieving
if you keep on believing
the dreams that you wish will come true.

Pish Posh Pistols

According to HolidayInsights.com, today was Pistol Patent Day; a day set aside to celebrate the patent of the pistol by Samuel Colt in 1836. But frankly... who cares? Especially when I'd rather celebrate my birthday! ;-)

So, with all due respect to Mr. Colt and his patent, today we ignored the random holiday calendar and celebrated yours truly instead. Here's to 37 years on this earth, and hopefully many many more.

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: There are three choices - "Carnival Day," National Pistachio Day" or "Tell a Fairy Tale Day."

My Favorite Things

My list of favourite things are simple pleasures really. Give me a good movie, a great cup of coffee, a warm blanket, some cozy PJs, and.... a plate of nachos... and I'm yours. So, today was an easy day to celebrate. It was National Tortilla Chip day!

We broke open a huge bag of tortilla chips and snacked on them throughout the day. And then for dinner, well nothing but a big pan of nachos with a side of cumin/spice blend rubbed pork tenderloin woudl do.

The best part? Enjoying the fact that my 16 month old loves nachos even more than I do! ;-)

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Pistol Patent Day... (oh, and my birthday of course!)

Wii Tennis

In honour of "Play Tennis Day" we talked about playing Wii Tennis. But alas, with the Olympics on TV right now, who cares about tennis! ;-) At least we talked about it. That counts right? ;-)

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: National Tortilla Chip Day (Now that's MY kind of day!!!!)

Humility

Out of the three options provided by Holiday Insight's website today, I chose to acknowledge "Be Humble Day." I was intrigued at the idea of finding a way to celebrate a day focused on humility. And while it feels odd to write about being humble, when the simple act of just typing those words feels prideful, perhaps my lessons in humilty today can help whomever reads this in their own struggles.

Humility does not come naturally. It takes work to put aside your own ego; to swallow your pride and acknowledge that someone else's way could be better than your own. Humility is about putting aside your own needs, wants, and desires and serving others.

I then considered the emotions I've been struggling with lately. As the mother of a now 16 month old, I often find myself feeling guilty for occassionally resenting the way my daughter has changed my life. Simple things like sleeping in, taking a long shower and leisurely getting ready for church, and even just sitting and quietly enjoying a cup of coffee feel like distant memories. And while I love her more than life itself, I have to admit to selfishly wishing on occassion that things could go back the way they were before we had kids.

So today, after a weekend-long battle with selfish resentment, I chose to spend my day of humility into a day full of the act of serving this little one. With each tear, tantrum, diaper mess, dinner mess, and mischeivous act, I chose (often with difficulty) to humbly remember that she comes first. That she deserves my very best. That it is a privilege to be the one who wipes her butt, nose, hands, face, feet, hair, the walls, the carpet, the windows.... etc. And as I did so, I was reminded of just how many times Jesus humbly served humanity... even when we didn't deserve it.

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Tennis Day

What a card!

Today was "Card Reading Day," a day set aside to... well... read cards. ;-) It must have been created by a greeting card company as a ploy to get us in their stores to buy what we read, but alas Hallmark, Carlton Cards, etc. made no money on the Lau family today. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of greeting cards. I could halk it up to the long summers I spent working in a card factory during university, but in all honesty it's more the high cost of the cards and the waste it seems when you simply throw the card away not long after you get it. That may sound cynical I guess, but my day can be brightened just as easily by a nice email or e-card. So if you are reading this and are tempted to send me a paper card for my upcoming birthday... think twice and send me an e-card instead! ;-)

That being said, if I do read, buy or receive cards I prefer them to be funny. The cheesy, sentimental, tear-jerking cards aren't for me. Bring on the giggles and your my friend for life. After all, laughter is the best medicine.

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Three choices -- "Be Humble Day", "Walking the Dog Day" or "International World Thinking Day"

Cherry Hoodie Hoo Pets?

Today's choices of "celebrations" (according to Holiday Insights) were as follows:

Cherry Pie Day - which would be fine if I was eating sugar right now... oh, and if I knew how to make a decent pie...

Hoodie Hoo Day - apparently a "northern hemisphere" celebration where you go outside and wave your hands as a symbol to "wave winter goodbye." Odd, but sounds fun. But alas we live in Vancouver where winter seems to have by-passed us (ironic since the "Winter" Olympic games are on right now...), so we have nothing to "wave goodbye" to!

Love Your Pet Day - which would be great if we had a pet of any kind. Do children count? A friend suggested stuffed animals...

So, what did we choose? Well, after failing in my search for a cherry pie to bring my husband, wearing t-shirts in our glorious +12 degree sunny weather, and killing the only non-human critter in the house (a spider), I give you my salute to February 20th:




What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Card Reading Day (greeting, not tarot)

Chocolate Minty Goodness

I find it increbily cruel that National Chocolate Mint Day falls during my lent fast from sugar. Nothing pleases my sweet tooth more than a chocolate mint dessert ... from After Eights (my fav candy and most memorable Christmas goody from my childhood), to my mother's yummy grasshopper pie, I love the combination of chocolate and mint.

But alas, I was unable to celebrate this holiday in the way it was meant to be celebrated. Instead I was forced to find other ways to honour the day. In so doing, I "googled" and found a variety of surprising "chocolate mint" named things. Check them out.

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Cherry Pie Day (Oye...)

Battery Powered

Today was the ode to the battery. And in the spirit of things I sent my hubby and toddler on a mission to find out how many battery operated or "batteries optional" (meaning those things that can use batteries or electrical power) things we had in the house. We were surprised to learn that our number of battery operated do-dads is 60+! Wow! From clocks to cell phones, wireless keyboards, and toys... even a pepper grinder in our house requires batteries! Who knew?

But this day also got me thinking about my own internal battery and the phrase so many of us use when we pursue some "down time," to "recharge our batteries." For some, it's sports. For other, the theatre. For me, it's music. Music soothes my soul. It refreshes and renews me. It gets me movin' and dancin', and lifts my spirits. What helps you recharge?

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: National Chocolate Mint Day

Giving Up and Giving Out

Today was not only "Random Acts of Kindness Day", but "Ash Wednesday" which marks the official beginning of Lent and the countdown to Easter. Lent was never something we practiced when I was growing up. In fact, it isn't something I really knew about until well into my 30s. Hearing others talk about it made me look into it; and when I considered the spiritual discipline practice of it, it made me want to try it. So a few years ago my husband and I adopted the practice, and we've found it to be rewarding, challenging, and renewing in our walk with the Lord.

This year I am giving up sugar for Lent. It's something I should do more often and yet with my incredible sweet tooth it's a hard thing to do. And that's the point of the "giving up" side of Lent... it should be something that is hard. Something that is a sacrifice.

But the practice of Lent isn't just about the "giving up" of something. It's also supposed to draw you to think outside of yourself. To pursue something of value; something that will draw you closer to God... something that will honour Him.

It seemed fitting then that today, the first day of Lent, was "Random Acts of Kindness Day" on the random holiday calendar. It gave me the idea to not only celebrate today as a day to do a random act of kindness, but every day for the 40 days of Lent. What better way, as I grow deeper in my faith journey, to put the focus off of me and onto Him, by honouring His heart of compassion and love for people? To pray for open doors each day to offer a word of encouragement, or do something nice for someone with no expectation of a "thank you."

So that begs the question... what did we do to celebrate today? My random act of kindness for today is actually still in progress, since the person I baked some muffins for is instead sitting in the hospital at the bedside of a family member. And while I could consider this a failed attempted at my random act, instead it's opened the door for ministry of a different kind... through phone conversations and texts offering prayer and assurances that we are a phone call away. Tomorrow they'll get their muffins... but today they get the privacy they need.

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: National Battery Day (huh?)

The Sandwich Grouch

It's not often we go through a day without one of us being "grouchy" at some point, so I figured today's day of celebration would be pretty easy. How hard could it be to find a grouch to do a favour for?

So I was surprised when I encountered an opportunity, outside of my immediate family, to do a favour for a grouchy person. It happened on my way home from a few hours in the office. I picked up some groceries and then swung by a favourite sandwich shop to pick up some lunch. It was there that I met.... the Sandwich Grouch. She seemed tired, frustrated and not at all pleased with the work she had to do. I placed my order, and as she asked me questions about I wanted on our sandwiches I did my best to be polite, thanking her, saying please and smiling. And you know... a funny thing happened. By the end of our transaction she was smiling too. She wished me well as I left, and smiled back. What started out as a rocky interaction between customer and sandwich maker, turned into a nice moment between two women who will likely never meet again. It felt good to make her smile, simply for being polite.

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Random Acts of Kindness Day (Love this one!)

Goody Gum Drops!

Oye, two days before my fast from all things sugar for Lent, and it's National Gum Drop Day! Good thing it didn't fall on Thursday! ;-)


In all honesty, I am not a fan of the sugar coated gummies, or any "candy" actually. I leave my sweet tooth for more refined delicacies like, well, pretty much anything chocolate. But in the spirit of this day of the gum drop I did do some reading on the Internet and watched a video on how gum drops are made. I had no idea there were so many varieties, or that you could even find a pretty easy recipe to make them at home! Wow! Maybe next year...

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: (love this one) "Do a Grouch a Favor Day"

V-Day

I can't believe I missed posting yesterday! First time since I started by 365 challenge that I missed posting! While the challenge is actually to celebrate each day, and we did celebrate, I'm still bummed that I forgot to post after being so good about it since Jan 1st. ;-)

That being said, I'm afraid my post wouldn't have been anything grand anyway. My hubby and I have never been big celebrators of Valentine's Day. And this year there was the added difficulty was the fact that February 14th was a big day, with it being the Olympics, Chinese New Year AND Valentine's day. But nonetheless my hubby did manage to pull of a small surprise in the form of a card signed by my toddler, and cozy a pair of Vancouver 2010 mittens. An easy way to celebrate all three "parties" at once -- the Olympics, a gift of love for V-day, and a new item in red to wear on Chinese New Year. ;-) And with that, we drove into the Olympic/Chinese New Year madness in Richmond to celebrate the latter with my inlaws....

What did you do to celebrate yesterday?

Today: National Gum Drop Day

New Names

In the spirit of the Winter Olympics, and in celebration of today - "Give Yourself a New Name Day," we chose to give ourselves sports like nicknames. Following in the footsteps of famous athletes such as "The Great One," I give you...

My husband... "The Animal"
My toddler... "SweetCheeks"
and me? Well, I'm "Hums-a-lot"

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Valentine's Day

Go Canada!

So today is bar far the easiest of the holidays to celebrate in my 365 days of celebration challenge. Marked on the calendar as "Winter Olympics Day," the fact that we live in British Columbia makes the Olympics even more real and exciting for us.

We've been watching the final leg of the torch run live on CTV all day, and look forward with much anticipation to the opening ceremonies tonight. We plan on having a picnic dinner on the floor with our toddler as we watch this historical event and look forward to telling her all about it in the years to come since she's too little to remember it. Tonights celebration closes off a fun week of Olympic-ness for our little family, and marks the beginning of two weeks of patriotic celebration as we cheer on our athletes.

Gooooooooooooo Canada!


How did you celebrate today?

Tomorrow: "Get a Different Name" Day

Easier Said Than Done

Today I opted to celebrate "Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day," because frankly... I needed to. I thought I was a "don't worry be happy" kind of person... until I had a baby. But my sweet toddler has taught me just how uptight I can be about silly little things.

So today was an attempt to focus on letting go, relaxing, and not letting the little things bug me. How did it go? Let's just say I desperately need some alone time and a looooooooooong bubble bath. ;-)

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Winter Olympics Day! (Now that will be an easy one to celebrate! Whoo hoo! Go Canada!)

Umbrellas

Well, the rain we were supposed to get didn't actually "hit" until dinner time, so we didn't get a chance to actually use umbrellas today. However, that didn't stop me from finding several pictures on the web of fun or down-right unusual umbrellas. Enjoy!





What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Three options -- "Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day", "Make a Friend Day" or "White T-shirt Day"

Toothaches

Today was an odd day on the holidayinsights.com random day calendar -- toothache day. It was hard to know how to celebrate it, aside from being more vigilant than usual with our dental care, so... that's how we celebrated. Floss, brush, mouthwash... ahhhhhhhhh. ;-)

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Umbrella Day (well, that seems appropriate given the forecast...)

Fly a Kite... errr Flag?

Of the three options given to us by holidayinsights.com, we chose to celebrate "Fly a Kite Day"... sort of. While not opposed to flying a kite (although frankly this day seems better suited for the summer months), flying a kite on today of all days seemed odd. Why? Because with the 2010 Winter Olympics just days away, flying our little Canadian flags a the torch relay ran past our house seemed like a much better way to celebrate!

So... here's our "Kite" for the day... Yeah Canada!


What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Toothache Day (hmmmm...)

They're In the Mail!

In the spirit of a holiday no doubt invented by the greeting card companies, we celebrated "Send a Card to a Friend" day today by dropping some hand made cards in the mail. Made lovingly by yours truly and adorned by my toddler with her very first "box" of crayons, these cards were our first attempt at "arts and crafts" with our growing, wiggly little girl. It was a fun project, and we hope that the special select group of people receiving them will enjoy them!

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: (there are three choices) Boy Scout Day, Clean Out Your Computer Day, or Fly a Kite Day!

2010 Lame Ducks

Today was "Lame Duck Day." I know, a head scratcher to be sure. I had to do some research just to figure out what it was we were supposed to be celebrating!

Apparently the term "lame duck" refers to someone in a position (job) that will soon be shown the door. So Lame Duck Day was created to honour (or mock?) those who are on their way out after serving in a given position. Whether it be someone who has been let go from a job, or someone who has retired, it's supposed to be a day to support them in their impending change.

That got me thinking about the 2010 Winter Olympics. Given the fact that we live in the host city for the games, it seemed appropriate to use today to "celebrate" VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee) as they near the start of the games. As I listened to the chair of the committee talk about all the work they have done on the news the other night, it occurred to me that his excitement no doubt must be mixed with two other powerful emotions - relief and sadness. Relief, because the HUGE job that loomed before them is almost over and he can finally get some sleep! And sadness because once the games are over and the clean up has finished, he's out of a job!

So in the spirit of today's day of celebration, and in the growing anticipation in our house as Vancouver 2010 fever starts to build... here's to the Lame Ducks of the Winter Olympic Games! Thank you for the work you've done (despite the fact we have done our fair share of complaining about it). Thank you for the passion you've had through it all and the excitement you've inspired in all of us. And thank you, for what will likely be memories we will never forget as a family as we look forward to the next few weeks of festivities!

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Send a Card to a Friend Day

Weather You Love Them or Not

It's time to celebrate the men and women who, despite their inability to control it, do their best to predict the weather for us. Those men and women that we praise on sunny days, and curse on bleary days. Today was a day to celebrate our weathermen/women.

We happen to love our local weather guy - Wayne Cox of Global BC, so taking time out to thank him for what he does was easy. I fired off an email to him today, commenting that even on the bleakest of weather days, his sunny personality and corny jokes always make it seem sunny outside. He makes watching the weather report fun.


So here's to Wayne, and all the other men and women out there who faithfully study and report on the weather for us. Weather we love them or not... we need them. How else will we know what to wear tomorrow? ;-)

How did you celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Lame Duck Day (? huh?)

Going Postal

I had good intentions about thanking our mail carrier person today, but I'm still trying to figure out when our mail is delivered to our complex, and fear that it may coincide with my daughter's morning nap. So alas, I didn't catch our mail carrier today. I considered sticking a note on the mail box to offer my thanks... but with a teething toddler I was leaning more towards "going postal" today than being a thankful frame of mind.

None the less, I am grateful for our postal service. It's amazing when you think of how far we've come, and how quickly you can receive a letter from the other side of the world now adays. There is something special about getting a letter - a hand written letter - in the mail nowadays too.

So here's to our mail carriers! Thank you.

How did you celebrate today?

Tomorrow: National Weatherman's Day

The Day the Music Died

It seemed like an odd day to "celebrate," trying to find a fun way to celebrate the death of three "rock n' roll" stars of the 50s. But as it turns out it was kind of fun! I remember listening to my mother talk about the death of one of her music idols when she was a teen (Ritchie Valens), and today I spent some time listening to his music, along with the music of Buddy Holly the Big Bopper, as I worked. I even introduced my toddler to "La Bamba" (which I didn't know was Ritchie Valens song), and in so doing I felt like I was passing on the torch from my mom, to me, to my daughter today. Kinda sweet. ;-)

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Thank a Mail Man Day

Groundhog Day

This day makes me wish I lived in Punxsutawney! I've always wanted to be there one year for Groundhog day, just to take in the festivities! ;-) But alas, we live on the opposite side of the continent, so we had to "live it" thanks to the web and the hundreds of online videos that captured Punxsutaweny Phil seeing his shadow today. Bummer... six more weeks of winter.

Happy Groundhog Day y'all!

What did you do to celebrate today?

Tomorrow: The Day the Music Died Day

Freedom

Today was National Freedom Day, a day (in the US at least) set aside to celebrate freedom from slavery and recognize America as a symbol of freedom. It was a good day to reflect on the freedoms we enjoy in general - the freedom to vote, to worship, to pray, etc. We are blessed as a nation and continent.

But it was good to reflect too on the freedom we have in Christ. In my day to day work, I am reminded constantly of the suffering in this world. I often sit and wonder how anyone, who does not have the hope found in Christ, can endure the trials that come their way. So today I thanked God for freedom - freedom from the hopelessness of this world, freedom to pray and worship Him openly, the freedom to work openly for an organization that serves Him and is devoted to His purpose, and most importantly the freedom I have from the bondage of my own sin. What a freedom!

How did you celebrate today?

Tomorrow: Ground Hog Day! Bill Murray... here we come!