Girlfriends Traditions

Speaking of getting together with girlfriends (I had my get college roomie get-together this past weekend.), I found an awesome website called Girlfriend Celebrations that's all about strengthening women's friendships.
Girlfriends are such an important part of lives and this cool website serves as a resource, gathering place and forum for women interested in forging, honoring and strengthening female friendships. In addition, the site offers awesome ideas for girlfriend celebrations.

The Celebration Index is my favorite because many of these celebrations would make great girlfriend traditions too. You gotta check it out!

Getting Together with Girlfriends

If you're like me, you know that it's often difficult to find a time to get together with old friends... especially when you have more than two or three people. I have four wonderful college roommates and while we're all close, it's rare that we all together at the same time. So it was really a treat to spend some quality time together this past weekend in Milwaukee. We'd been talking about it for months and finally found a date that worked for everyone. Of course, we ate a lot! Talked a lot! And laughed a lot! Overall we had a great time and a lot of fun. Everyone wants to do it more often.We're planning on seeing a Brewers game this spring/summer and expanding the fun to include husbands too!

We also made our weekend visit a bit educational. We visited the Body Worlds exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum. If you haven't heard about it, the exhibit features authentic human specimens preserved through a process called Plastination. This preservation technique replaces bodily fluids and fat with reactive plastics, thereby preserving human tissue in its natural state. It's an amazing look at the human body. It was especially interesting for my two roommates that are a doctor and a nurse to see the body in such a unique display. I was surprised that many of the bodies were not behind glass, but were right out in the open. On many of the bodies, you could get up close and personal to see the minute details. It was truly a remarkable show that left us talking about the amazing body and the controversial nature of the exhibit.

St. Patrick's Day Tradition - Dyeing the River Green

I was in Chicago this past weekend and got to witness the famous St. Patrick's Day tradition of dyeing the Chicago River green. Boy, when they say green, they aren't kidding! The river turns a beautiful shade of emerald green.
Witnessing it for myself, I decided to learn a little bit more about the unique tradition. Here's what I found. First of all, they've been dyeing the river green for 40+ years. It's a privately funded operation by the Chicago Plumber's Union and the monumental task is pulled off by a group of volunteers. They head out in boats and dump 40 pounds of a vegetable-based dye into the river.

So how did it all start?

The Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union #110 sponsored the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Chicago since 1957. In 1961, Stephen Bailey, the head of the local Plumber’s Union was approached by a fellow plumber wearing white coveralls that were covered with splotches of green coloring. The splotches were the result of the plumber using dye to locate a disconnect in a waste line emptying in the Chicago River. That’s how Bailey came up with the idea to dye the river green to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day and they’ve been doing it ever since. The dyeing takes place on the same day as Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The downtown parade is held every year on the Saturday before March 17. The dye is dumped into the river about 10:30 a.m. and the green color lasts for four or five hours.

The magic of a Leprechaun?

Believe it or not, the actual dye that is dumped in the river is orange in color, and it turns green when it hits the river. I think it's probably a little Leprechaun magic that turns it into the perfect emerald green color.

Shopping In Style

I just saw an ad for the day after Thanksgiving sale at Kohl's. They said the store is going to open at 4:00 am! Is that insane or what?!? When I was younger I used to look forward to the Day After Thanksgiving (DAT) sales. I would wake up at the crack of dawn and brave the crowd. I would get to the department stores early enough to get the special savings ticket or whatever little gimmick that lured me there. For the last 5-10 years, I've spent the DAT at home. I just don't have the patience to do it anymore... that is until I heard this.

I was talking to a friend of mine about DAT sales. She said last year when she was shopping she ran into four women who were wearing sweatsuits and hot pink boas and having a great time. She asked them what the boas were for. They apparently have a DAT tradition where they rent a limousine to drive them to all the stores so they don't have to deal with parking. They stock the limo with mimosas (champagne and orange juice) and snacks to get them through the day. They make shopping into a party and they have a great time because they make it unique!
I don't have my limo rented for this year, but I'm seriously considering adding this tradition to my list. And, if I ever decide to wake up early enough to make it to a 4:00 am sale, I might just bring my pillow so I can get a little shut eye in the limo between stores.

Do you have any Day After Thanksgiving traditions that you celebrate? Shopping, baking, decorating? Please share them here.

Two Blogs to Share

I recently discovered two cool blogs that really make you think. The first I found a few months ago. It's called "Post Secret" (http://postsecret.blogspot.com) and it's a compilation of secrets mailed in by people all around the world. In addition to revealing very interesting information about people, the secrets are miniature works of art. The site is absolutely fascinating on so many levels. If you haven't checked it out, I encourage you to do so.

The second blog is called "To Do List" (http://www.todolistblog.com) and it's pretty similar to the Post Secret blog. It's a compilation of to-do lists from around the world. I guess I never realized how interesting a to-do list can be. The site (and the lists) really reveal a lot about the people that wrote them. You have to check it out!

That's all for me today. I'm off to update my to-do list.

Sorting Through Magazines

I was paging through some old magazines and found a few things I wanted to share. This is a list of very cool ideas that make family dinners more fun (submitted by the readers of Better Homes & Gardens).

• Once a month, the kids spin a globe and put a finger on it. Whatever country the finger lands on, we scour the library for information. Dinner is based on the recipes we've found and each family member shares what he or she has learned.
• On a cold winter's day, I make friend chicken, potato salad, and baked beans. We spread a quilt out in the living room, bring out the paper plates, and play a cassette tape of ocean sounds. The kids talk about the beach and what it would be like to go there.
• We have theme dinners based on something our kids are learning in school. A dinner about the letter "B" would include broccoli, baked potatoes, beef and brownies. At dinner we would use as many "B" words as possible in our conversation.

Do you have any fun traditions to share that make your family dinners more fun. Tell us about them.

Fox News Chicago Called Today

Today I got a call from Fox News in Chicago. They're thinking about doing a story about Cafe Traditions (www.CafeTraditions.com) I'm so excited! It sounds like they'll probably come to Madison to do the story and tape at my house. I think it's a great opportunity to spread the word about the website. I'll keep you posted when I know more.

On a somewhat related note, I checked out the Fox News Chicago website (www.myfoxchicago.com) and ran across a list of cool websites. I thought I would share a few of my favorite (from their list) with you. You'll want to be sure to check these out.

* www.regiftable.com -- the rules of re-gifting, plus some pretty funny re-gifting stories

* www.elfster.com -- helps you organize and enliven your Secret Santa exchange. Who would have ever thought that Secret Santa would go high-tech?

* www.plasticjungle.com -- buy, sell or trade your unused gift cards.

* www.wheresgeorge.com -- find out where the money in your pocket has been.

* www.iusedtobelieve.com -- a funny and bizarre collection of ideas that adults thought were true when they were children.