St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Who was Saint Patrick and why do we celebrate?

St. Patrick's Day is a global celebration of Irish culture celebrated on or around March 17th. It particularly remembers St Patrick, one of Ireland's patron saints, who ministered Christianity in Ireland during the fifth century. St Patrick's Day is celebrated in many countries with people of Irish descent.

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It's often said that everyone is at least a little bit Irish on St. Patrick's Day, and across America, it's certainly a giant celebration of green beer and tiny leprechauns. No St. Patrick's Day in America would be complete without a dinner of corned beef and cabbage. However that's not quite as Irish as you think it is. That dish actually comes from the early days of Irish immigrants in America, not the old country itself. Head over to Ireland, and you'll certainly find all sorts of parades, festivals, live music, and street carnivals, but you definitely won't find any corned beef on the table, (sorry!). An Irish St. Patrick's Day meal revolves around staple ingredients that have remained part of the Irish tradition for generations. It's not what you're probably expecting, but that doesn't mean that it's boring! When Americans hear the word "bacon," thoughts are filled with the idea of crispy strips of pig-sourced goodness. 

They're the stuff of BLTs and burgers, but head to Ireland, and you'll find the number one meat of St. Patrick's day is a bacon that's so different, it's worth talking about.  Bacon is loosely defined as meat (that's gammon), and it typically comes from the lion, belly, or collar.  That also means when you head to Ireland and order a hamburger with bacon, you're going to get a slice of ham on it. 

When it comes to St. Patrick's Day, almost every restaurant and countless dinner tables in Ireland will be serving up a loin of bacon (ham), cabbage and champ. The loin is boiled based on weight, and seasoned with things like peppercorns and mustard. Later, it's glazed with vinegar, honey, more mustard, rosemary, and sage. Cooked cabbage is a staple side dish, and as for champ, that's mashed potatoes with scallions, milk and butter. Sounds yummy, huh? One of my personal favs indeed.

Why do we get pinched on St. Patrick's Day?

According to folklore, you get pinched on St. Patrick's day for not wearing green because green makes you invisible to leprechauns, and leprechauns like to pinch people (because they can!) ... Lucky me, being Irish, having green eyes and my favorite color is green I don't get pinched often. So for you others out there go ahead and wear your finest green dress, tee, or whatever green that makes you happy on this special day! 

And with that being said, I will close with this bit of humor...

Patrick was a Saint, I ain't 🤣

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Happy Birthday Ivy

Happy Birthday 

Ivy Ling

February 28, 1966

Be My Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day to all my followers 💗

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day 1/20/20

After her super busy day at the salon and practicing her music Melody turns heads with all eyes on her as she sings for her local NAACP banquet honoring, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Testing 1-2 

As She Sings Out Loud

Equal Rights in '63

 Salon Day with Melody

Photo compliments of my little bro. mj

Photo compliments of my little bro. mj

Movie Night with Lea Clark

Let's sit back and enjoy the show.

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American Girl Lea To The Rescue

Lea Clark is born for adventure and her most exciting story awaits in Brazil, where she must find her missing brother and save the endangered exotic animals she loves!

Lea Clark

Girl Of The Year 2016

Lea is from St. Louis, Missouri and lives with her mom and dad and her older brother, Zac who nicknamed her "Cricket". She is 1/8 Brazilian and has a pet turtle named Ginger. She attends fifth grade at Lafayette Square Elementary School. Lea loves photography and also won third place in a national kids' magazine contest. Her friends are Abby Hudson and Camila Cavalcante, a girl who Lea met while she was traveling in Brazil.

A few personal photos of my good friend, Lea Clark. 

Recent D.C. Trip to Tysons Corner American Girl

Hi Everyone!  Wanted to share a few photos of my recent trip to DC, Tysons Corner American Girl to meet this years 2020 Girl Of The Year, Joss Kendrick. 

Myself along with many other fellow AGers get together quarterly for our Meet N' Greet / Birthday Celebrations at the AG Bistro. As always we had a delicious lunch, yummy birthday cake and ice cream, topped with a delightful daisy.  We exchanged gifts and continued chatting about our wonderful AG ideas and adventures.  Then onto shopping and getting to know our new GOTY. It's always a fantastic time! 

We are headed out to American Girl Store!

Caught blogging away :D

Violet and I love our new AG Trippers Tee 

mj and TM 25 are excited too.

Love meeting new AG Trippers

I just dig her new rainbow hair!

Visual Truly Me #61 surprised us modeling one of Maryellen's newest ensembles. There she received a darling Howdy Doody lunchbox from Joan one of our AG Trippers pictured below.  Thank you Joan!  

The beautiful Joan with her colorful dragon friend :)

What a great way to exit the Bistro...

I just had to tryout the crowning BD chair!

Looks like I was channeling Peewee Herman 🤣

GOTY Joss Kendrick

Melody Ellison

Happy Birthday Melody!  1/1/54

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