What Happened to Two President's Days?

I remember Februarys of my school days fondly. Just back from Christmas break and usually a short January school month, we got 2 whole days off from school. We took February 12 off for Lincoln’s Birthday and February 22 for Washington’s. And we got to make Valentine ‘mailboxes’ from shoe boxes and pass out valentines at school – that was like another day off from schoolwork. Some years, I remember Mom going out to buy new sheets at the great “White Sales”.

And, to top it off, how cool it was to have a month go by with only 28 (or sometimes 29) days in it. I remember my Grandmother one February telling me it was her favorite month because she only had 28 days to spend her month’s money. (She and my Grandfather were retired) I guess we can look forward to Februarys in the future if our pensions and social security hold out...

So, how did we get around to only one holiday, always on a Monday and calling it “President’s Day”? I poked around and think I got it figured out.

Things changed in 1968 when Congress decided to create a system of federal holidays that would all fall on a Monday. The law took effect in 1971. Washington’s Birthday would now be celebrated on the third Monday in February. Congress also tried to change the public holiday to "Presidents' Day", but this never made it into law.

"It was the collective judgment of the Committee on the Judiciary," stated Mr. William Moore McCulloch (R-Ohio) "that this would be unwise.
Certainly, not all Presidents are held in the same high esteem as the Father of our Country. There are many who are not inclined to pay their respects to certain Presidents. Moreover, it is probable that the members of one political party would not relish honoring a President from the other political party whether he was in office, no matter how outstanding history may find his leadership."

Well, I gotta agree with that statement!

The term Presidents' Day is now more commonly used, I assume mostly for marketing purposes. Even though most states with individual holidays honoring Washington and Lincoln shifted their state recognition date of Washington's Birthday to correspond to the third Monday in February, some states, including California, Idaho, Tennessee, Texas and others, chose not to retain the federal holiday title and renamed their state holiday "President's Day”.

So whatever and whenever you celebrate have a Fantastic February!

What Makes Your Valentine's Day Happy?

Chocolates, flowers, romantic dinners, cards - what makes your Valentine's Day special?
There will be about 190 million exchanges of Valentines this year. The southern Maryland Loveville (yep, it's a real town) post office, a popular location for sending Valentines, gets over 100 extra pieces of mail a day in early February. Oops, forgot to buy a card until the last minute, just send an e-card - instant thoughtfulness...

Having a romantic dinner is one of my favorites, but my Valentine and I usually avoid the Februrary 14 crowds and just celebrate it on another night. Here are some great restaurants in California to choose from.

Personally, I like to unplug for a few hours with my husband - turn down the lights, turn off the TV, cell phones, and computers – and then just be with each other.

And I love getting chocolates -- so many to choose from.

A lot of roses go out on Valentine's Day, but all flowers are appreciated. And, you don't have to be someone's lover to send them a rose. Different colors mean different things:

Send someone red roses to say “I love you madly, passionately and deeply!!” The demand for red roses in February makes them more expensive in February.

Yellow roses express friendship and freedom or congratulations to newlyweds, graduates, Texans, and new mothers.

Pink roses are for gratitude, joy, fun, happiness and the fight against breast cancer.

And here's a really good one - Lilac roses; they mean that you have fallen in love at first sight with the recipient and that you are captivated.

Pure white roses stand for truth and innocence. Send them to the heavenly someone you love.

Peach roses speak of appreciation and gratitude and coral roses express desire.

Whatever you do, whether it is with someone you love, a friend, a family member or yourself, we at uscity.net wish you a very Happy Valentine’s Day!

Free Trip Cancellation - GO CARDS

It's been a rough couple of weeks of winter weather to kick off 2011. It's been reported that the latest storm spanned 2,100 miles, 20 states and 200 million people. That's a lot of unexpected travel delays and trip cancellations!

To weather the storms for the remainder of the season, Smart Destinations is offering you the ability the travel worry-free--in the form of free Trip Protection. This month's affiliate-exclusive coupon code is good for up to four free Trip Protection vouchers with each purchase.

With Smart Destinations Trip Protection for your GO CARDS (one voucher per card), a customer may return their unused cards at any time and receive a refund (less shipping) with no questions asked! That's up to a $20 value. Customers simply add the vouchers to their cart purchase and enter coupon code WORRYFREEWINTER during the check-out process.

Smart Destinations Go-Cards are a great value, so many attractions to see at each destination are discounted, saving you lots of $$$.

From Seattle to Miami and from Toronto to Oahu, check out the city destinations and all the discounts you can rack up. Just click anywhere on this posting.

Hurry, the free trip cancellation ends March 1

Our First Winner

Congrats to Ed of Louisville! He won our first Amazon Gift Card in the Late January Sweepstakes! Our Sweetheart Sweepstakes is going on now - so sign up, no worries about selling or sharing emails - I can definitely vouch for that. Good luck and thanks to Ed for saying we made his day because that made ours!

Sweetheart Sweepstakes!