~Smiles~ Unlimited!!

It is hard not to get into the spirit of St Patricks Day when almost everyone in the office is wearing something gorgeously green, a prize is up for grabs for the best dressed. We had a shared lunch too and no prizes for guessing what was on the menu, all ghaas poos.. literally had to force them down my throat…well.. there were some baked cakes and cookies with green icing, I didn’t dare touch them as me is on a healthy eating regime these days.

And for the ignorant, Saint Patrick's Day, colloquially St. Paddy's Day is an annual feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick, one of the patron saints of Ireland, and is generally celebrated on March 17. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for thousands of years. St. Patrick's Day is bursting with folklore from the shamrock to the leprechaun and to pinching those that are not wearing green. Today, the tradition continues with people from all walks and heritages by wearing green, eating Irish food, and attending parades.

Chicago is also famous for a somewhat peculiar annual event, dyeing the Chicago River green. The tradition started in 1962, when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges and realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the holiday. That year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river—enough to keep it green for a week! Today, in order to minimize environmental damage, only forty pounds of dye are used, making the river green for only several hours.