National Waffle Day

Really might have been one of the best holidays so far. This might look ordinary but it was DELICIOUS! Chocolate chip waffle with peanut butter and whipped cream on top. Amazing.

Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and It's Abolition

First of all, I would like to say that, in all seriousness, this is a day worth remembering. It is sobering to remember that at the founding of our country, men were enslaved by other men. It is even more sobering to remember that the enslavers were humans just like us. Which means, that we are capable of equally horrible acts. Our time is wasted if we spend it judging the evil actions of the past. Instead, we need to focus on preventing those evil actions from ever happening again.

Sarah and I have been spending a lot of time recently discussing the repercussions of slavery and discrimination. We are interested in discovering how many social ills today are still directly or indirectly linked to slavery and to segregation. And then we are interested in curing all of those social ills. If you are interested in joining this discussion, please come over to our house for a glass of wine and some good conversation.

Today, in remembrance, I read some brief biographies of Harriet Tubman. A woman who risked her own life to save hundreds of others. We, as young people in America, have easy lives and often lose sight of the fact that a happy life is not necessarily a comfortable life. We were put here for so much more than our own pleasure. Tubman didn't just live, she changed the course of history. We have the same power within us. Sarah has a quote in her room that says, "We are all greater than we think." It's time to take hold of that statement and begin acting instead of talking, to begin thinking instead of dreaming. It's our turn to stand in the gap.

Harriet Tubman sang the following spiritual as a warning to warn escaping slaves to move from the path into the water in order to throw off pursuing dogs...

Wade in the Water

Chorus:
Wade in the water,
Wade in the water children.
Wade in the water
God’s gonna trouble the water

Who’s all those children all dressed in Red?
God’s gonna trouble the water.
Must be the ones that Moses led.
God’s gonna trouble the water.

Chorus:

What are those children all dressed in White?
God’s gonna trouble the water.
Must be the ones of the Israelites.
God’s gonna trouble the water.

Chorus:

Who are these children all dressed in Blue?
God’s gonna trouble the water.
Must be the ones that made it through.
God’s gonna trouble the water.

National Men's Grooming Day

Today we want to highlight a man who is an expert in the art of manly grooming: Jackson Nahoum. Jackson, we love you with the full beard, with the handlebar, and even when you're cleanly shaven. Thanks for showing all the men out there how it's done. Keep up the good work.

National Aviation Day

Today is National Aviation Day. We had hoped to go meet and interview pilots about their careers today, but sadly Anna was unable to slip away from her professional development event in Newark long enough to visit the airport. However, the universe was conspiring with us today. Unbeknownst to me, my trek to Rockaway Beach took me past the Floyd Bennett Field: Brooklyn's home of Naval Aviation. It piqued my interest; here is what I have learned.

Floyd Bennett Field was a national center of WWII naval aviation, deploying offensives both over the Atlantic against German U-Boats and to take part in some of the major battles of the war in the Pacific. During WWII Floyd Bennett Field was the busiest naval station in the country. Men and women built and delivered enormous quantities of planes to the field.

Today the field is no longer an active Naval base, but in the old hangers vintage planes are refurbished and the north end of the park has been converted into Aviator Sports and Events Center, providing fields and camps for families in southern Brooklyn.

Bibliography:

National Parks Services: Floyd Bennett Field, http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/120floyd/index.htm

Remember to say thank you to our nation's pilots.

Sarah

Cupcake Day and Bad Poetry Day

Big shout out to Jonathan Seale for helping us celebrate this important day. He created a bad mad libbs poem about cupcakes (wow!).

Here's a picture of Jon crafting the poem:

And here's the finished product (I italicized all the words that were filled in through mad libbs):

Bad Cupcake Poem

Oh my purple love

Your toe is

like a marvelous cupcake.

Your eccentric yeast rises

like the sun.

Your ring finger

is like icing

and your voice

runs like sprinkles.

Bake me in your oven

of integrity.

Every hour with you

is like an ugly dessert.

The Meaning of "Is" Day

I'm just going to warn you - I'm going to get deep on you today. If you're not ready for it, don't go there.

What IS the meaning of is?? Is means "to be" does it not? We use all forms of it to describe ourselves. I am a girl. I am a teacher. I am from Texas. The word "is" defines us. But who am I really? Am I who I say I am or who you think I am? Am I what I say or what you see? Can there be more than one true me? Which of us can really claim to know the true meaning of is?

Example:

What IS in this picture? Is it some weird type of bouncy ball? Is it a strange type of food? What do you see?

Now, look at the next picture? What IS that? A flower? Some leaves from outside?

The answer: they are one and the same! My tea that I drank tonight started out as a round hard ball and then blossomed into a beautiful tea leaf flower. Even though they are both very different, each one IS still the same tea.

Lesson learned: look twice before you decide the meaning of "is". Especially when you are looking at people.

FYI I'm going to start giving you a weekly preview of the holidays that are coming up. Usually I'll do it on Sunday, but not this time.

Wednesday: Cupcake Day, Bad Poetry Day, Mail Order Catalogue Day

Thursday: Black Cow Root Beer Float Day, Aviation Day, National Medical Dosimetrist Day

Friday: Men's Grooming Day, Virtual Worlds Day

Saturday: Daffodil Day, Hug Your Boss Day, National Homeless Animals Day, Poet's Day, Senior Citizen's Day

Blame Someone Else Day

I didn't post yesterday. And it's not my fault. It's yours. And yours. And yours.

In other news, tomorrow is Navajo Code Day! See ya there.

National Presidents Jokes Day

Dear Faithful Readers,

I failed you today. I was pumped and excited about National Presidents Jokes Day. I was prepared to unleash a barrage of Presidential Jokes. And I didn't. I tried, I honestly tried. I told people about the day and no one seemed to buy into my enthusiasm. To make up for it, however, I will leave you with one joke:

Q: What do you get when you cross a gorilla and the 16th President of the United States?

A: Ape Lincoln

See you tomorrow for IBM PC day, Sewing Machine Day, International Youth Day, and Vinyl Records Day.

National Duran Duran Day

Here's to you Duran Duran. A little round table discussion in their honor.

I want to give you a heads up for tomorrow's holiday because you need to prep for it a little bit ... It's National President's Jokes Day so get your presidential jokes ready and wow your friends and coworkers tomorrow.

Particularly Preposterous Packing Day Part 2

The NYC subway system preposterously packed me yesterday! I tried to capture the packed-ness in a picture (keep in mind that this was after some people had gotten off, and so it was already a little less packed than it had been a few stops back):

Someone must have told the metro system about this holiday because they certainly were trying to help us celebrate! They even shut down several subway lines so we would all have to cram onto the same trains. I'm not sure if I appreciate NYC's dedication to celebrating Particularly Preposterous Packing Day. Riding for about 30 minutes with a fat ladies arm in my face was not fun.

I hope all of you had a better day of celebrating than I did.

Thank goodness today is "Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night."

Particularly Preposterous Packing Day

The pictures tell it all:

#1 Beginning of the day

#2 End of the day

National Fresh Breath Day

I think this video speaks for itself. I want to give big props to Sarah for doing this several times while we were on our way home ... she even swigged and spit on the subway. The girl knows how to celebrate that's all I can say.

I would like to add that if this is not a holiday you celebrate daily ... please start now.

See you tomorrow for particularly preposterous packing day!

Anna

International Beer Day

Today is the day we've all been waiting for, at least all of us over 21 (or 18 in Europe...or 12 in Russia...): INTERNATIONAL BEER DAY! So after getting excited about it last night, Emma and I trekked out after work to the other side of the park to buy groceries for dinner and the all important, international beer.

A few months ago I invested in a Whole Foods 32 oz. growler- a container like a jug used to carry drat beer purchased at local brewpubs. (courtesy of www.byo.com/resources/glossary) Upon moving to Brooklyn in July, I was told that I could take this Whole Foods growler and have it filled at the same discounted price at the local brewpub, "Bierkraft." Well, today, after a long hike up and down Mount Prospect, which actually facilitated a good catch up convo with a close friend, my excitement and anticipation was dashed to pieces as I found out that only 64 oz. growlers could be filled at Bierkraft's taps. Well, Plan B, what international beer should I choose to celebrate this special day? After consulting a helpful salesman--not hiding well my utter disappointment--he pointed me toward the Koenig Pilsner (www.koenig.de) imported from Germany through Anna's very own College Station, TX. He said it was a light refreshing versatile Pilsner that would compliment well the bison tacos Emma was preparing back home. And the biggest plus: it came in a can.

I took his word for it, bought the beer and turned around to make the long journey home. A rejuvenating conversation with a friend from college brought me out of my inability-to-fill-a-32-oz.-growler-funk as did the amazing aroma of Mexican food mixed with fresh-baked cookies that met me upon opening the front door. Emma had worked her magic and dinner was almost ready. Throwing the international brewskies in the freezer to cool down quickly, I helped heat tortillas as she put the finishing touches on her cookie dough. When Anna arrived home, we sat down to a Mexican taco feast, not complete without the Jenni Schmidt Salad. With a toast to international beer and a quick thanks for food and good friends, we dined to the heart's content. I do have to say bison and Koenig inspire great, deep conversation.

I hope the rest of you enjoyed this day as much as we did. Three cheers to the breweries of the world. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip hooray!

Sarah

National Coast Guard Day AND National Chocolate Milk Day

National Coast Guard day was touching, heartwarming, and all of the above. Let me set the story up for you ...

Sarah cooked a grreeaatt dinner tonight and invited her cousins over. While we were eating, there was a lull in the conversation and so I thought it would be a great time to mention that today is National Milk Chocolate Day and National Coast Guard Day. I thought everyone would be happy about the first, but not really care about the second. Bu

t it was the complete opposite! The whole family got excited when I mentioned Coast Guard Day and it turns out that their grandpa (papa) was in the Coast Gu

ard! The cousins called him and wished him a Happy National Coast Guard Day ... awwwwwwwww. That part was pretty funny too because they had him on speaker phone and he's hard of hearing. It made for an interesting conversation. Needless to say, National Coast Guard Day touched lives today and brought families together. What a day.

And here's Caleb (the awesome Schmidt bro who came and visited us this week) partying hard in honor of National Chocolate Milk Day. (By partying hard I mean, drinking a big glass of chocolate milk).

Cheers!!

Watermelon Day and ALMOST National Night Out

So let me tell you about what went down today...

I checked my calendar before I left school and saw that it was "National Night Out." I was pretty tired and not that motivated about celebrating and so I hopped on the subway to go home. As I was exiting the subway station, about 6 policemen were coming in. They were the BEST-LOOKING policemen I've ever seen. I wondered what was going on - anytime you see 6 cops going anywhere you think there's trouble - but they didn't look like they were chasing anyone. I started my walk home wishing I had talked to them. I should have said something! When I got home, there was a sign taped to our door that said "National Night Out Against Crime" and it was hosted by the police department! I realized that's where all 6 of the good looking cops were going. This was perfect. A way to celebrate a great national holiday and get a second chance to talk to these guys. So, I looked at the address on the sign. It said "Bedford Ave and Rogers Ave." I looked up the spot on my phone. It was a 20 minute walk - no problem! And I took off walking. And walking. And walking. And walking. I finally got to the intersection of Bedford and Rogers and there was noooooooo event happening. I thought, "well maybe I'm at the wrong spot and it's around here somewhere." I kept on walking all around the area. I walked to any place that I thought this thing might be. I got a great walking tour of BedStuy and Crown Heights (2 of the worst neighborhoods in Brooklyn), but it was nowhere to be found! Thanks Brooklyn Police Department for nothing. I could have married a cop, but now that chance is gone.

I walked home defeated and decided that I had no choice, but to celebrate today's other phenomenal national holiday ... Watermelon Day. I stopped at a fruit stand, bought a watermelon, and here is the result ...

Sorry I didn't take any pictures of my walking tour. I already stood out enough without stopping for photographs.

Respect for Parents Day AND Friendship Day

Today, I celebrated Respect for Parents Day by calling my mother.

Then, I celebrated Friendship Day by texting my best friend and saying "Happy Friendship Day! You are the best!!" (Because she really is the best. Ever. I mean who else loves Harry Potter AND Coffee AND brownies AND Transformers??)

And then I kept celebrating National Friendship Day by listening to this song by this man:

Packing up the dreams God planted
In the fertile soil of you
I can't believe the hopes He's granted
Means a chapter of your life is through

But we'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end