Stuff I Love: Weather Forecasting Rodents

It's finally February! January lasted about 700 years so let's all breath a sigh of relief for the end of that mess. The end of January also means it's time for my annual February tradition: Stuff I Love! I guess you argue this entire blog is about stuff I love, but in February I focus on special things I love.

I love random holidays. Give me a food themed holiday or a holiday that celebrates being nice to people and my day is made. February includes one of the greatest animal themed random holidays ever - Groundhog Day. If you don't know about Groundhog Day, I'll give you a quick overview. Groundhog Day was first celebrated in the US within German immigrant communities in Pennsylvania. The first recorded celebration was February 2, 1840. It's derived from German traditions where groundhogs and badgers were used as weather predicting animals (as one does). If the groundhog sees his shadow when he emerges from his hole, we'll have six more weeks of winter and Phil goes back in his hole to go back to napping for six more weeks. If doesn't see his shadow, spring will arrive early.

The Punxsutawney, PA has become the hub of Groundhog Day activity. The first Punxsutawney celebration was in 1886. According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club website, their resident groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, is the only true weather forecasting groundhog. The town celebrates in a huge way and it sounds amazing. I have never visited, but it's a future winter trip.

I don't know when my fascination with Groundhog Day began, but I love it. I don't celebrate Valentine's Day, despite my very successful turn as the first "E" in my third grade Valentine's Day concert, and I'm not a huge fan of Christmas. As winter holidays go, Groundhog Day is my more my speed. Ultimately, it's about a surly rodent who holds the weight of the winter forecast on his tiny shoulders. Little dude just wants to continue sleeping for the rest of February, but no, we need him to tell us whether we have to suffer through more of winter. Punxsutawney Phil is all of us on a bitter cold morning; we'd rather stay under the covers rather than walking to the gym in 19 degree weather. I feel you, Phil.

The 1993 gem of a movie Groundhog Day also plays a role in my love of this holiday. If you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a favor and check it out this year. AMC usually runs a marathon every year (which is funny). Bill Murray stars as Phil Connors, a weatherman who travels with his crew to Punxsutawney to cover the festivities. Phil is a jerk to everyone and has zero interest in rodent-based weather forecasting. Phil finds himself caught in a time loop, where he relives Groundhog Day over and over. He spends the bulk of the movie doing everything from learning new things like how to play the piano, committing crimes, saving people, being nice to his cameraman, Chris Elliott, and falling in love with his producer, played by Andie MacDowell. The time loop keeps going until Phil learns a lesson because that's the way movies work. One of the greatest scenes in the movie is when weatherman Phil kidnaps Punxsutawney Phil and they drive angry. It's magical.

I hit peak Groundhog Day love in 2011 when my wonderful mom sent me a Groundhog Day care package. I was living in California at the time and my mom found all sorts of goodies for me to enjoy. The box included Punxsutawney Phil postcards, a DVD about the magical day, chocolate, and the pièce de résistance, a groundhog cookie cutter. My mom gets me...or indulges my weirdness. I'll let you decide which. The cookie cutter led to my creation of a new Groundhog Day tradition, baking groundhog cookies.

My first batch:

Who doesn't love jaunty scarves and bow ties on weather forecasting rodents? Then there was the year I made top hats:

Edible paper still tastes like paper. Adorable, but still paper.

This year, I decided to go all out for the big day. I made Groundhog Day cards and sent them to my friends and family. People have been enjoying them which makes me happy. A little whimsy in the mail never hurt anyone. Surprisingly (or maybe not), there are a ton of groundhog stamps available online. I'm not the only one who loves this little guy.

I also continued my tradition of making the cookies. I'm almost eight months into my new job and I haven't really done much baking for work. I admit I haven't felt like baking all that much in the last few months, but my croissant class last week was an inspiration. I'm not going to bake something every week, but I feel like I have my baking groove back. Hopefully, my new co-workers enjoy whimsy in their day and eating delicious cookies shaped like weather forecasting rodents. 

Here's hoping that Punxsutawney Phil doesn't see his shadow and we get an early spring. It's the least Phil can do for us.

Movie meme

Stuff I Love: Mandatory Fun

It's February! Is everyone excited? February brings us many things: groundhogs, a holiday about love, and the promise of getting closer to the end of winter. This year we're even treated to a leap year - a whole extra day to really enjoy all that February has to offer. I thought I'd spend February discussing "Stuff I Love." I know I'm not Oprah but I feel like if she gets her favorite things, I get "Stuff I Love." That's how the world works.

Up first: mandatory fun.

What's that? You don't know what mandatory fun is? Mandatory fun or "Mandofun" is actually a military term.  It's something that you're "invited" to attend (i.e. told to attend). I don't recall my parents ever using it when we were growing up. However, I can definitely recall multiple events from my childhood that fit nicely into this category. This includes but is not limited to multiple trips to the air show and a picnic that included a group of mildly inebriated Army officers singing the Oak Ridge Boys song "Elvira." Memorable but not really what I'd call fun. In non-military terms, this could apply to things like a company holiday party or that really awkward happy hour you have to attend with senior leadership team members. Y'all know what I'm talking about.

It's also the name of Weird Al's latest album. I saw Weird Al in concert for the first time last summer. If you haven't seen him live before, make sure to catch him the next time he visits your town/city/fair hamlet. It's a fun show; lots of costume changes and cool lighting effects and multimedia elements. He plays a ton of songs from his extensive catalog including all the hits and some songs I had no idea he ever did. His band is awesome - they can play just about any type of music and have fun doing it. Weird Al's latest album is called Mandatory Fun and this phrase has become a mantra of mine. Given the album artwork, Al knows where "mandatory fun" comes from

Personally, I like to use the term to refer to those little oases in the day that allow you recenter yourself and take a little break from what's going on. I'm more on the introverted side of life and I find little mandatory fun breaks help me focus during the day. It's also important for me to have opportunities to be creative everyday. In my job some days are devoted to doing things like reserving conference rooms and updating whether or not a person has attended an education program I run. Neither of those things are fun, interesting, or creative so I have to get that elsewhere. Mandatory fun helps.

Over the summer, several of my co-workers decided that we needed to get on the adult coloring bandwagon and dedicate lunch once a month to taking a coloring break. If you're not familiar with what adult coloring is, check out this article or this one. Lots of people, including doctors and other mental health professionals, see coloring as a way for adults to calm their anxiety, relax, and create something. So for a few lunches over the summer, a group of us spent our break in a conference room, coloring, eating lunch, and chatting quietly. We didn't eat lunch at our desks for a change. We created a little moment of quiet and calm in the middle of busy, often over-scheduled days.

After our first coloring lunch, I started joking with people that I'd really like my title at work to be "Director of Mandatory Fun." In addition to having a coloring book library and art supplies at the ready, I have Legos available whenever anyone needs a building break.


It's fun to be able to spend part of the day coloring or building something cool out of Legos or reading or whatever else fits into your definition of mandatory fun. It's easy to lose sight of all of these things when there are deadlines to meet and people to train and other important work stuff to do. We all spend a lot of time at work so we might as well enjoy it while we're there. Mandatory fun doesn't have to feel like those company parties and military command picnics we're all so used to. Mandatory fun can be just that...fun.


What other stuff do I love? Up next a special Valentine's Day post devoted to the best musical moments from Quentin Tarantino films. "Stuck in the Middle with You" is the obvious one but there are more surprises to come.