Celebrate Every Day

Welcome to February 6th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate by saying no to the fork and frozen freedom of choice.

Fans of Asian cuisine may have noticed that chopsticks from Korea are different from chopsticks found in other Asian countries. Rather than bamboo or wood, Korean chopsticks are made from metal. According to one legend, this began around the year 500 AD when the royal family switched from wood to silver utensils. If their food had been poisoned, the silver would change color and alert them to the danger. Metal chopsticks then became commonplace in homes across the entire country, though most people used steel rather than silver. Metal is perfect for picking up meat from Korean BBQ grills and is much easier to clean. Celebrate National Chopsticks Day with takeout from your favorite Asian restaurant and say no to the fork.

Frozen yogurt brings out the DIY artist in all of us. Ever since the 1970s, soft serve machines have allowed us to build our own sundaes and to celebrate freedom of choice. For some it’s a splurge, with combinations that feel like a healthy version of our favorite desserts. And that’s okay too because somewhere under all those gummi worms and cookie crumbs there are plenty of vitamins and probiotics in the frozen yogurt itself. For Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan it’s a feather in her cap to have added a fro-yo machine to the Supreme Court cafeteria. For this feat she has been named the Frozen Yogurt Justice and on National Frozen Yogurt Day, we say, “Let Freedom Ring!”

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 5th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate predicting the unpredictable and a hall pass for your inner child.

Until the 1860s, if people wanted to know what the weather would be, they had to rely on looking at the skies or using “weather wisdom”—a knowledge of patterns they’d gained over the years. This method was very popular with sailors and farmers, who paid special attention to wind and temperature changes. It was inexact, but necessary. Then came British admiral Robert FitzRoy, who established the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade. The Met, as it was known, would collect data on wind speed and storm conditions around the British coast, then deliver them via telegraph from one port to another. This system warned sailors and fishermen of bad weather and saved many lives. On National Weatherperson’s Day, we celebrate the people who give us a heads up on weather conditions and also something to gripe about when the predictions are off.

Anna: Hey Marlo, ever had ice cream for breakfast?

Marlo: Is that a thing?

Anna: It is at my house. I consider Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey a breakfast combo of banana ice cream, walnuts and chocolate. What flavor would you eat for breakfast?

Marlo: On Ice Cream For Breakfast Day, celebrate your inner child who has had enough of the healthy stuff.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 4th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate sticky mascots and outstanding service.

Bubblegum had been around for years when Bazooka gum was first introduced to the market. The thing that made this gum unique was its mascot, Bazooka Joe. He wasn’t just a smiling cartoon on the packaging, Joe was an integral part of the product. Upon opening the wrapper for a piece of Bazooka bubblegum, people were greeted by a small piece of paper folded around the gum. On it was a cartoon, featuring Bazooka Joe. And a fortune. From 1953 until 2012, over 1500 cartoons featuring the eyepatch-wearing mascot were created and are now considered collectors items. On Bubble Gum Day, it’s easy to celebrate with your favorite brand: unwrap a piece, get chewing, and pop some bubbles!

Benjamin Franklin founded the United States Postal Service in 1775. Since then mail carriers have been delivering mail for more than two centuries. We may take this service for granted or complain when it doesn’t work in our favor, but postal workers have successfully delivered letters in the trillions. And sometimes this happens in mysterious ways. Take the story of Susan Heifetz, who received not one but three letters that had been lost since 1969. A birthday card from her mother, a letter from a boyfriend sent overseas to Vietnam and another card from her brother, all arrived within one week of each other 45 years later. On National Thank A Mail Carrier Day we celebrate those who get the job done come rain or shine.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 3rd, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate vegetables for dessert and an odd twist of fate.

Carrot cake is one of those foods that seems odd on paper. Why on earth make a dessert out of something otherwise seen as healthy? Well, for starters, carrots actually have a pretty high sugar content for a vegetable. In Medieval Europe and the Middle East, sweets were not readily available. Sugar was not the everyday item that we have today, so people needed to get creative. They’d boil the carrots, mash them up, add flour and butter, then serve the dish as a pudding. Eventually, that evolved into a cake. On National Carrot Cake Day, celebrate the chance to eat your vegetables and get dessert at the same time.

On this day 63 years ago, a plane crash claimed 3 of music’s brightest young stars. The Winter Dance Party tour was traveling across the Midwest, with Buddy Holly as one of the headliners. After several shows, he had grown tired of the long, cold drives via tour bus and chartered a plane for the next leg of the trip. Holly intended to travel with his 2 bandmates, Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings. But neither traveled with him that fateful night. Before they parted ways, Holly teased Jennings and told him, “I hope your bus freezes up again.” Jennings replied, “Well, I hope your plane crashes.” Waylon Jennings was haunted by this comment for years. On National Day The Music Died Day, we celebrate Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper and those who dance with us through this thing called life.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 2nd, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate weather predicting rodents and striking potato gold.

Today is the midway between the start of winter and the spring equinox. It used to be a pagan celebration of the coming of warmer weather. Christians in Europe adopted aspects of this celebration to create Candlemas. One of the traditions associated with Candlemas was the belief that a sunny day meant another 40 days of cold and snow. Germans put their own spin on this tradition, declaring that Candlemas would be considered sunny only if a badger saw its shadow. When German immigrants came to America, they swapped out the badger for a lovable groundhog and—voila!—Groundhog Day was born. Hopefully today is cloudy and Punxatawney Phil will let us know that Spring is about to be sprung!

The brothers Nephi and Golden Grigg were farmers barely scraping by during the Great Depression. They made a bold decision to mortgage their home to purchase the frozen foods plant they had rented along the Oregon Idaho border. The Food Company now known as Ore-Ida began producing frozen corn, but Nephi knew the big money was in French fries. The problem was that the equipment used to cut the fries left an abundance of irregular potato bits, which were at first used to feed cattle. Nephi didn’t like throwing away profits and soon devised a way to pack the peelings into tater tots. By 1964 Ore-Ida turned an annual profit of $31 million. On National Tater Tot Day take a tasty bite of the American dream.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 1st, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate unbeatable spirit and the Lone Star State.

The 2003 movie Seabiscuit, based on the novel by Laura Hillenbrand features the intersections of three men and a horse and epitomizes the spirit of “getting up when life knocks you down.” Based on the true story of Red Pollard, a bruised and broken jockey, Tom Smith a down on his luck Wild West showman and horse trainer and Charles Howard a pioneer car manufacturer stricken by the death of his son, this story delivers on inspiration. The men rally around a horse, who is their equal as a long shot because he was trained to lose but born to win. If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie in a while it’s an amazing pick me up! At a time when the Great Depression, Hitler and Mussolini made the headlines, this long shot team reminds us of American courage to bet against the odds. On National Get Up Day celebrate the things in your life that remind you to do the same.

Austin, Texas, is home to the state capitol, beautiful parks, and a vibrant music scene. But if you want to see something a little out of the ordinary, take a trip over to the Congress Avenue Bridge. There, you’ll find the largest urban colony of bats in the world—nearly 1.5 million of the nocturnal creatures. Each evening at sundown, the bats take to the sky in a swirling cloud that temporarily blocks out the night sky. Don’t worry. They don’t care about people and ignore spectators in favor of insects. It’s a spectacular sight that would make the people of Gotham City jealous. On National Texas Day, we celebrate the Lone Star State, where everything is bigger. Even its oddities.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to January 31st, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate life in reverse and popping your stress.

Doing things in reverse is usually best done slowly. But not always. Take, for example, Pal Onnen of Hastings, Minnesota. She set a record by spelling 56 random words backwards in a minute. Or Aaron Yoder who can run a mile backwards in under 6 minutes. And then there’s Daniel Abt, a professional driver who got an Audi RS 3 up to the speed of 130 miles per hour in reverse. Though we don’t suggest trying that at home. On National Backward Day celebrate by doing things like starting your day with dinner and ending it with breakfast. Or maybe put your clothes on backward. But leave the record setting to the pros.

Anyone who’s ever held a piece of bubble wrap can hardly resist the urge to start popping it. But we all know it was made for wrapping things and not as a toy, right? Actually, that’s not true. When Alfred Fielding and his business partner invented what we know today as bubble wrap, they were creating 3 dimensional, plastic wallpaper. But when that idea didn’t work out, they began marketing their invention as a way to protect items during a move. The new strategy paid off big time when IBM became their first client, buying bubble wrap to ship their latest computer. After scientists unwrapped the new computers, we can only assume that they celebrated by popping the bubbles. On National Bubble Wrap Day, pop open your own celebration of this innovation that doubles as a stress reliever.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to January 30th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate influential tea totalers and fancy crescent rolls.

The English love tea. In fact they built a global trade empire around it. But the beverage was actually introduced to the country by someone from Portugal. Tea had already been brought from China to Europe, but the Brits didn’t really care for it—they were using it as medicine. Then Catherine of Braganza of Portugal married England’s Charles II and moved to the British Isles. She drank tea every day, something that soon caught on with the rest of the nobility. Word spread about the queen’s habits and soon drinking tea became all the rage with the people of England. How is that for an influencer?! January is National Hot Tea Month, a great time to warm up with a delicious hot cuppa.

You probably think croissants were invented by a Frenchman, but surprisingly the baker who came up with these light, buttery rolls was an Austrian in Paris. In the early 1800s August Zang took an existing bread recipe and added layers of butter to the dough through a process called lamination. This involves folding and pressing butter into the dough over and over again and the crisp, flaky results are well worth it! His Viennese bakery put the crescent shaped pastry on the map. On National Croissant Day, celebrate by visiting your own local bake shop and be sure to thank them by exclaiming, “Viva la croissant!”

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to January 29th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate puzzling pastimes and corny adventures.

Putting together a puzzle is a fun way to spend a quiet day indoors. Of course, depending on the number of pieces, it can get frustrating. 100 pieces? Piece of cake. 500 pieces? A bit of a challenge. 1000 pieces? Now we’re getting a little crazy. But, let’s put things into perspective. According to Guinness, the most pieces ever used in a single puzzle is 551,232. It took 1,600 students in Vietnam around 17 hours to put it together. When completed, it measured over 48 x 76 ft. and depicted a lotus flower with 6 petals. No word whether there were any pieces missing. On National Puzzle Day, cozy up with your beautiful challenge.

We Americans love our crunchy snacks. Thanks to Elmer Doolin, this includes corn chips and a household name that began on a road trip. In 1932, he was traveling through San Antonio, TX where he discovered a local favorite called friotes. Doolin bought the recipe from a man who wanted to quit the corn chip business. Little did he know it would be the best 100 dollars he ever spent. Doolin perfected them in his mothers kitchen and started selling the chips from the back of his Model T. But sales really took off when his mom Daisy came up with a recipe campaign called Cooking with Fritos. This led to a partnership with Herman Lay and today Fritos are a corn chip legend. On National Corn Chip Day enjoy your favorite chips with salsa and cheese or even a recipe from the Daisy Doolin kitchen!

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to January 28th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the buzz on kazoos and our inner Big Wig.

Today we celebrate a uniquely American instrument that was first known as the Down South Submarine. We know it better as the kazoo. This musical oddity was invented in the 1840s by a man named Alabama Vest and the German watchmaker Thaddeus von Clegg. The kazoo has created some buzz over the years, but it’s mainly been treated as a toy rather than a legitimate instrument. That said, it has been featured in blues and jazz music, though it’s rarely taken the spotlight. Still the kazoo has had its place in the sun. In fact, it has its very own museum in Beaufort, South Carolina. If you happen to be in the area, swing by the Kazoobie Kazoo Factory to celebrate National Kazoo Day.

Anna: Hey, Marlo, why are you wearing that ridiculous wig?

Marlo: What are you talking about? This is my natural hair, I’m just styling it differently.

Anna: I know you’re a redhead but that looks a bit like bozo the clown.

Marlo: It’s National Big Wig Day, Anna. In honor of the Look Good Feel Better Campaign, folks across the country host a party to raise money for cancer patients who could use a boost with locks of their own.

Anna: I’ve heard about that! People get their inner Big Wig on and take on the role of philanthropist. There are charity events around the country that raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the cancer charity of their choice.

Marlo: I think I’m rocking the bozo look by the way.

Anna: It is Have Fun At Work Day too!

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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