Today is National Cousins Day. This July 24 holiday honors and celebrates your Aunts and Uncles’ kids. They are those great kids who are likely close to your age and endure countless family get-togethers with you. If it wasn’t for cousins, these family events would be much, much longer.

This is a great day for your cousins. Now, hold on a minute. If you have cousins, that means your cousins have cousins. And, that’s you! Therefore, today is your day, too.

Are You Kissin’ Cousins? This is a common term, usually meant to describe cosines who are distant enough to have a relationship to marry each other.  There are laws, which vary by state and country, about cousins marrying one another. Most people will agree first cousins cannot marry each other.  Beyond that second or third cousins can marry each other in most areas. We recommend you check your local, state, and federal laws.

Today’s Greeting: “What’s buzzin cuzzin?”

Today is a sweet musical day to listen to your favorite songs with a twang. It’s National Country Music Day…hee haw! This July 4 holiday is best enjoyed while wearing a cowboy hat and boots. But, if it’s too hot (and it most likely is), listen to country music in your bathing suit at the beach or by the pool. Of the dozens of music genres, it is among the Top 5 in popularity. 

Country music has been a popular music style in America for many decades. It represents a whole lifestyle. Other styles of music have taken the country by storm, only to burn out or fade away. Country music continues to play on as its popularity grows. Recording artists abound to bring you a wealth of songs.

As we researched this special day, we fully expected a country music organization or group to have created and sponsored this day. We were amazed to find no such connection.

Where’s the epicenter of country music? It’s the Grand ‘Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

Who’s that good-looking dude in your mirror? Who’s that gorgeous gal staring back at you as you comb your golden locks or fix your make-up? Today is Compliment Your Mirror Day, a July 3 holiday. My mirror is so nice. How’s yours!?

Now, here is what you need to do today………

Stand in front of your mirror with your eyes closed. Put a big smile on your face…. a big smile. Now, open your eyes. Isn’t the picture of the person in your mirror absolutely stunning!? The person in your mirror is beautiful (or handsome).  

Do not let this special holiday be overshadowed by the Fourth of July. Make sure to compliment your mirror for displaying this beautiful person. 

National Different Colored Eyes Day has two reasons to celebrate.  First of all, this July 12 holiday celebrates the diversity of eye color. Wouldn’t the world be boring, if everyone had the same color eyes? Jeanne Quinn, the creator of this day says it’s “a good day to celebrate the uniqueness of people…. especially those with different colored eyes!”

Secondly, it recognizes an eye condition called Heterochromia. People who have this trait,  have two different colors of eyes. One eye may be brown, while the other is blue. Famous people who have Heterochromia include Dan Akroyd, David Bowie, Demi Moore, Jane Seymour, Max Scherzer, Keifer Sutherland, and Christopher Walken.

Your eyes are an important part of your appearance. They are also important in communications. When you look into your lover’s eyes, you need to like what you see. Making “eye contact” just wouldn’t be the same without different colored eye. Isn’t it great that we have a variety of eye colors to set us apart from one another? 

Eye colors include:

• Shades of brown
• Shades of blue
• Shades of green
• Black
• Grey
• Hazel

Celebrate National Different Colored Eyes Day by taking particular notice of the eye colors of everyone you see. Another way to celebrate is to wear different (not matching) shoes, socks, earrings, etc.

Theme Song: Don’t it Turn Your Brown Eyes Blue? Honorable Mention: Brown Eyed Girl and  Green Eyed Lady.

Favorite Music Album: ‘Ol Blue Eyes is Back, Frank Sinatra (1973)

Wow, two holidays to celebrate and enjoy chicken wings. National Chicken Wing Day and International Chicken Wing Day are both in the same month. I’m all for it. Let’s chow down with some wings! This extremely popular appetizer is consumed during sporting events, parties, restaurants, and every day of the year as a meal or for a snack. 

Buffalo, NY is the home to the Buffalo Chicken Wing. Teressa Bellisimo of the Anchor Bar and Grill in Buffalo, NY invented them in 1964. She served her creation as a late-night snack for her son Dominic and his college friends. It immediately became wildly popular there. The recipe spread, and it rapidly became wildly popular in the United States, and ultimately worldwide.

Today’s holiday is a celebration of a very popular snack and appetizer. However, it’s actually more than that. Some people eat them as the main meat course of their lunch or dinner meal.

Chicken wings are extremely popular around the world. In the U.S. over 27 billion wings are consumed every year. They are most popular at Superbowl parties. Over 1.25 billion wings were consumed during the Superbowl game alone!

We hope that you celebrate both International Chicken Wing Day and National Chicken Wing Day with a big dish of Chicken Wings covered with your favorite sauces.

Today is a celebration of a very important annual event. It is International Cherry Pit Spitting Day. On this day, people compete to see who can spit a cheery pit the furthest. This tournament began as a joke. However, it quickly evolved into a serious contest, complete with awards for the winner and recognition in the Guinness World Book of Records for breaking the world record.

In 1974, Herb Teichman of Eau Claire, MI. Held a cherry pit spitting tournament as a joke, at a picnic. It was a real hit, and has been held annually since that very first tournament in 1974. Little did Teichman know at the time, that this would become an annual event, and spark the creation of International Cherry Pit Spitting Day.

The timing for this holiday on the first Saturday in July is perfect, as the cherries are ripe. As we hold the Fourth of July and summer picnics, fresh cherries are available in abundance.

For the Record: Are you looking to break the record? Well, you’d better start practicing. In 2004, Brian “Young Gun” Krause spit a cherry 93′ 5.5″ at the International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship in Eau Claire, Michigan. On the same day, he spit a cherry 110′ 4″ in the freestyle competition.

Question on Everyone’s Mind: Do you eat the cherry before you spit the pit? Of course! We hope you like them.

About the date: Herb Teichman, the originator of the Cherry Pit Spitting contest, set the first Saturday in July for this annual event. There are some references to this day always being on July 7th. This is erroneous. It is not a fixed date.

This is a holiday that isn’t too good for your diet or your waistline. But, it is oh-so-good for your taste buds. You can’t resist a piece of cheesecake today because it is National Cheesecake Day. As food holidays go, this July 30 holiday is one of the tastiest of treats.

Carbs, calories, and cholesterol, cheesecake has it all in ample amounts. Despite being rich, high-calorie, and cholesterol-filled, cheesecake is a very popular dessert. Why? Because it tastes so good. It is enjoyed plain, or with your favorite fruit topping.

While an apple or any other piece of fruit is a far better health choice, today is not a day for the diet conscious. Rather, enjoy the day with a piece of cheesecake, along with your favorite topping. If you have time, make the cheesecake yourself.

Happy National Cheesecake Day!

It’s a terrible feeling to be lonely. It leads to depression. Nothing good comes out of it. Sometimes all it takes is a little attention or a small act of kindness to change a person’s entire day for the good. Cheer Up the Lonely Day is an opportunity to make a lonely person happy. Any time you can make someone happy, you’ve done a good thing, and should be proud of yourself. And participating in this July 11 holiday will make you feel good, too.

Lonely people usually have few friends and loved ones. They may have lost loved ones and friends over the years. While we often think of elderly people as lonely, loneliness can affect people of any age. Perhaps you are lonely, too.

Use this day to make a difference in someone’s life. What a lonely person needs, is face-to-face time with other people. Spend some time today cheering up lonely people. It’s easy to do…..just spend some time with them. When you visit, bring happy things to talk about. Keep the conversation upbeat, and lively. When you leave, give them a big hug and let them know you enjoyed the stay.

Today’s Theme Songs:

Only the Lonely (1960) by Roy Orbison

Mr. Lonely (1962) by Bobby Vinton

Something fishy is going on today. It’s National Caviar Day. Now, just what’s all the roe about this July 18 holiday!? Today is all about a very pricey hors d’oeuvre. You can pay over $7,000 USD for some of the finest caviar on the planet.

Caviar is salted fish eggs, or “roe”. It is considered a delicacy. Caviar is enjoyed by the upper class and those of us who occasionally can afford a little of it, just so we can say that we had some. Russian Caviar is reputed to be the very best, most sought-after of all caviars. There’s red caviar and black caviar, along with other colors. Black is considered the best. Perhaps you should do a taste test.

The most prestigious, and best(??) caviar comes from sturgeon found in the Caspian Sea. But, other fish, including whitefish and salmon, are less expensive alternatives. Which caviar truly tastes the best? We’ll let you be the judge.

Did You Know? The highest price paid for caviar was $34,500 USD. The roe was golden white and came from a sturgeon.

Happy National Caviar Day!

July evenings are just about the best time of all. A gentle breeze wafts through the warm air. The sun is putting on a dazzling display in shades of yellow, red, orange, and purple.  It’s the perfect time to hold Capture the Sunset Week.

Sunsets are one of nature’s prettiest pictures. Not every night produces a brilliant tapestry of color at sunset. The conditions have to be just right. When a brilliant sunset does occur, it can take your breath away.  So, it’s only fair and proper, that we take a moment to show recognition and appreciation for glorious sunsets, and to snap a few pictures to capture the moment.

The sun sets every night. But, many nights it is hidden by clouds. Some nights, the sun just sets into the horizon, with just the reddening of the sun. On other nights, clouds keep the sunset from view. As a result, we need a full week of watching sunsets, in hopes of catching one or two brilliant, magnificent sunsets. When this happens, grab your camera and capture the moment. Then, share it with others on social media. Or, frame it for your living room!

Sunset-watching tip for the guys: Watching a beautiful sunset with the young lady of your dreams can create a magical moment. Make sure to tell her that while the sunset is indeed beautiful, it is not nearly as beautiful as her.

Happy Capture the Sunset Week!