Jessica - Rugged Real Estate

I'm so excited about today's holiday... Mardi Gras!! I, myself, am a huge fan of New Orleans and the extremely unique culture of the city. The food, the people, the history... If you haven't been there, you must go ASAP.

How people acknowledge Mardi Gras can change from person to person. Mardi Gras is technically referring only to Fat Tuesday. But a lot of people use the term Mardi Gras when they're actually referring to the season between Epiphany and Fat Tuesday, which is technically called Carnival. Whichever name you prefer to use, Mardi Gras ends at midnight on Fat Tuesday and then Ash Wednesday begins the following day.

The roots of this holiday are a popular debate. Some say it's pagan and revolves around celebrations of spring and fertility while others say it's Catholic and revolves around discouragement of meat and other worldly passions during the time of Lent. Mardi Gras arrived in America in 1699 and it's first celebration was actually in Mobile, Alabama! It wasn't celebrated in New Orleans until 1837, well after the city was founded in 1718. Twenty years later, six men organized a secret society called the Mistick Krewe of Comus, held a parade called "The Demon Actors", and organized a lavish grand ball... all of which brought into motion the famous Mardi Gras celebration that is still held in New Orleans today, attracting close to 1 million visitors.

Happy Mardi Gras! Comment below and tell me what your favorite part of Mardi Gras is! Mine is certainly the king cake!

Happy President's Day! I certainly had to acknowledge this holiday because it is very important. Despite any opinion, it's important to recognize and respect the authority that the President holds. That being said, this holiday also shares the day with another holiday that simply can't be ignored... National Pet Day! So today we shall learn about different Presidents in history and their pets that also lived, unnoticed, in the White House!

I'll start with the current President and the tabby cat his wife, Jill, adopted. After the tabby cat jumped up on the podium, rudely interrupting one of President Biden's speeches, Jill insisted on adopting it and naming it Willow, after her hometown. Willow ended up having to share her domain with a German Shepherd named Commander.

Cats and dogs are common Presidential pets; The Obamas had two dogs named Bo and Sunny, The Bushs had a cat named India, and the first Bush family had two dogs named Millie and Spotty. But there are quite a few eccentric pets that have also had the pleasure of living in the White House. John Quincy Adams (6th president) had silkworms, Herbert Hoover (31st president) had an opposum, and Calvin Coolidge (30th president) had a raccoon named Rebecca that he walked on a leash! The President that had the most pets was Theodore Roosevelt, with at least 32 pets while living in the White House. Don't even get me started on the pets that some Presidents received as gifts; James Buchanan (15th president) received a herd (yes... a HERD) of elephants from Thailand and Martin Van Buren (8th president) received a pair of tiger cubs from the Sultan of Oman. Are those gifts even legal??

Anyway, Happy Pets of the Presidents Day! Show me a picture of your pet!

Happy Valentine's Day!! I had to acknowledge the day dedicated to love but since it isn't a random holiday, I picked a different one to post about. You'll never believe what random holiday shares the day with Cupid... Extra-Terrestrial Culture Day!! Ha!! I am no alien expert and there's a shocking number of web articles about alien culture. So instead of possibly posting some false information, I decided to write about the culture of the one and only alien that we all know about... ET!

ET was originally created based off an imaginary friend that Steven Spielberg created for himself after his parents' divorce. ET was a part of an alien botanist group that secretly visited earth to collect specimens for research. He got separated from his group and left behind on Earth and was later discovered by Elliot Taylor. It took a simple trail of candy to lure him to the house where he showed the children all of his magical abilities. ET enjoyed John Wayne movies and dressed up as a ghost on Halloween. Ha! The more you know!

Do you believe aliens exist? Let me know below!