Valentines Day is Coming Up
It’s February, which means that Valentines Day is just around the corner!
Photo by Darwin Bell
This year’s Valentines Day is even more special for those of you who are of a Chinese or Asian decent. That’s because Valentines Day coincides with Chinese New Year!
Don’t worry though, because your colors aren’t going to clash. Both Valentines Day and Chinese New Year are big on the red.
Valentines Day Celebrations
Valentines Day is the holiday of love. Whether you’re in a partnership or not, you should take the time to tell those you love how much you appreciate them.
Yes, that might sound a bit sentimental but it is what the holiday is all about. Or at least how you might want to celebrate it to make the most of this time of the year!
So what have you got planned for this Valentines Day? Still looking for that perfect Valentines Day gift, or ideas?
Let me know in the comments! I’m here to help. 
St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations
When it comes to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, we all have different traditions. Of course there are some traditions that are more common throughout the world, and I’ve decided to share some of these with you this year.
Green Food for St. Patties Day
Eating green food on St. Patrick’s Day is lots of fun. How often is it considered cool to be drinking something green, anyways? Unless you’re a fan of green smoothies, of course. 
Now St. Patrick’s Day green drinks and food can range from green St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes, Green Candy, and even green beer.
Of course this year I’m going to recommend another type of green Patrick’s Day food: salad!?
Right after the holidays is when we tend to pack on the pounds. Why not use St. Patrick’s Day as an excuse to eat more green and leafy vegetables? It’s green, it’s eco, and it’s good for you. Who knows, it might just help you get over those green beer hangovers.
St. Patrick’s Costumes
If you’re going to dress up, or dress up your pet on St. Patrick’s Day, you need to know what costumes are popular.
Some common St. Patrick’s Day costumes include: the leprechaun, the bar wench, and the pot of gold. Of course you can get creative and choose a different type of costume: you could be a rainbow, a Shamrock, a gold coin, or even a glass of Guinness beer.
If you’re going to dress up your pet for St. Patrick’s Day, it doesn’t have to be hard. You can pick up a set of Shamrock headbands at your local pet store, or at the costume shop. Just be sure your pet is willing to don a costume, or you might get more than you bargained for.
If you’re not quite up for donning a complete St Patrick’s Day costume, you can still get into the spirit of things by applying some green paint to your face to draw shamrocks.
St. Patrick’s Day Parades
St. Patrick’s Day is known for its parades. There are parades throughout the world on St. Patrick’s Day. You will want to check your local listings to see if there’s one near you.
If there aren’t any St. Patties’ Day parades near you, you could try to organize one for the next year, or travel to the closest one.
Be sure to plan some accommodations, since most St. Patrick’s Day parades involve drinking beer. You won’t want to be driving home after standing outside watching a parade and drinking a few too many Guinness beers.
St. Patrick’s Day parades are great because they really pull the community together. You get to see people you haven’t seen for a long time, and look at some brave people wearing lots of green and St. Patrick’s Day costumes.
Happy St. Patty’s Day!
What Halloween Means to Me
Halloween has often been one of my favorite holidays, probably because autumn is one of my favorite seasons. Decorating for Halloween has always been a family activity at my house. Every year we would pull out our Halloween decorations, put on some spooky tunes, and start placing things around the house. A lot of my favorite family memories took place in October. I hope to share some of these memories with you, or at least help you to create your own Halloween decorating memories.
Coming up with a Halloween Decorating Plan
Although my family and I didn’t always plan our decorations out, we sometimes ended up designing a new Halloween decorating scheme year after year. Most of our Halloween decorating began after we bought pumpkins. So a trip to the local apple orchard, which also sold pumpkins, was a prerequisite to decorating. After we got the pumpkins home, we decided what kind of faces to draw on them.
After drawing out the outline for what kind of faces each pumpkin would have, the carving began. When I was younger, my parents would do the pumpkin carving themselves. Growing up I learned to scoop out the innards of the pumpkin, wash the pumpkin seeds, and lay them flat to dry. Depending on the year and the amount of sunshine, we would sometimes dry the pumpkin seeds by the window in the sunshine, and other times we would use the oven.
Once we had a few carved pumpkins, it was time to decide where to put them. Sometimes this involved figuring out what kind of outside decorations we wanted. For example, one year we created a scarecrow using my dad’s old clothes, and some leaves that we raked from the backyard. We decided to place one of our carved pumpkins as the head the scarecrow.
Figuring Out Inside Decorations
After we got the outside Halloween decorations, it was time to decorate the inside for our own enjoyment, or spookiness as it were. I personally enjoyed putting lots of fake spiderwebs in our windowsills. My mom might not have liked it as much, and I enjoyed putting fake spiders in each web.
It was also fun making arts and crafts decorations for Halloween. I remember making a witch out of cardboard in school. We hung the witch in our window, and it gave us a small fright every time we walked past. Sometimes we would even keep a few small pumpkins inside the house, either in the kitchen or in the living room.
Halloween Celebrates the Changing of the Seasons
I think one of the reasons that Halloween is such a memorable holiday to me, is that it seems to celebrate our humanity. First, there are so many symbols of bounty. After a harvest, we have so many vegetables and fruits to eat. That’s why we have symbols such as pumpkins and gourds, “candy” corn, and giving away sweets. This abundance obviously marked me as a child.
In addition, Halloween has a more eerie and finite feel to it. In pagan traditions, Halloween symbolizes the end of the year since winter signifies death, and where Spring is rebirth. So Halloween is like the end of the wheel. Although this might seem morbid to some, I think it’s actually comforting to know that the year is over, and there is a new one just around the corner.