SFFF - February Fun Facts!! & L&S Photo A Day 1-3!!

Welcome to the first Fun Fact Friday for February – how’s that for some alliteration!

If you are in England or certain parts of the states you are no doubt feeling the cold – as I write this it’s approx -2 degrees here – lets just say I’m glad I didn’t put my warm clothes away.

On with the facts:

February first appeared when the Roman calendar was expanded from 10 months to 12, it comes from the word ‘februa’ which means clarification or purification, and reflects the rituals they used to undertake before spring. I imagine this as the Romans doing a spring clean! For Laura and me, February is when we get out of our January post-Christmas work haze and start planning our year ahead. January is hard work, but February is the where we start to see the light and the fun in the upcoming year.

The name ‘February’ is only 100 or so years old, before that it was ‘Februeer’ and back in Shakespeare time it was ‘Feverell’. The Anglo-Saxons called it Sol-monath (cake month) as they offered cakes to the gods during the month, the Saxons called it ‘sprout-kale’ – I kid you not, it’s because the kale/cabbage sprouted then! – How original! And then the Welsh called it ‘y mis bach’ or ‘little month’ because it only has 28 days in non-leap years.

Speaking of Leap Years, we are in fact having one this year. It happens every 4 years, and means that there is one more day in this year than the next three – February 29^th. Fun fact, jailbird rapper Ja Rule was born on February 29^th of a leap year – does that mean he only gets to celebrate his birthday every four years? Talk about aging slowly!

Did you know that in Idaho, Laura’s home, February is officially the month of the potato! Oh yes, our favourite state is having an entire month dedicated to my favourite vegetable (see HERE)! It’s organised by The Idaho Potato Commission and helps celebrate the wonder of the Idaho Russet Potato (now also available in ASDA in the UK)!

It is also the month for chocolates because of Valentine's Day. Apparently, Americans consume about 13 pounds of chocolate per person each year...5 lbs of that are consumed during the month of February. Obviously there are a lot of lucky-in-love ladies stateside!

In the USA, Groundhog Day is celebrated on the 2^nd February every year. On Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil, the famous Pennsylvanian groundhog, emerges from his hovel, and makes a weather prediction. Yes, you read that right. If Phil sees his own shadow when he emerges, gets scared and runs back inside, we will have six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, Spring will come early! Now I thought Laura was joking as I’d only ever heard of ‘Groundhog Day’ in the Bill Murray films, I didn’t know it REALLY existed - but in FACT it does. This year, Phil saw his shadow – signalling a longer winter. However, his rival, groundhog Chuck of Staten Island predicted an early spring and a Giant win at the Superbowl! Let’s hope Chuck is right.

Other events that go on in February:

• Valentine’s Day (we’ve got a post coming dedicated to this) - it was originally thought to be the day that birds chose their mates. That’s adorable!
• Candlemas is celebrated on the 2^nd – a traditional festival to commemorate the purification of Mary, 40 days after the birth of Jesus.
• Kissing Friday – follows Shrove Tuesday & Ash Wednesday – traditionally it was the one day a year that boys could kiss girls without punishment or rejection. This ended in the 1940’s. In Sileby, Leicestershire, they had their own twist and called it ‘Nippy Hug Day’ – this basically meant a man could ask any woman of his choice for a kiss, if she said no then he was entitles to ‘nip’ or ‘pinch’ that ladies bum! What a tradition!
• On the 22^nd, it is officially ‘Thinking Day’ – well it is, for Scouts and Guides – as they remember their founders, Lord & Lady Baden-Powell on that day. 

February Photo-A-Day!!

And finally, now you have all the unnecessary yet interesting facts, I shall leave you with a an update on our February challenge – spotted on http://cinnamon-bubbles.org/ we are posting one photo per day in February. As it’s the 3^rd already, we're on a mission to get our first 3 photos up by midnight tonight - so check back later!

SO - here we go!!

Day 1. Our view today - 

We chose the view from our office - of Lower Grosvenor Park in Victoria, London - SW1W, baby! We are lucky enough to work together, and as our desks weren't inspiring enough to photograph (Laura's looks like a paper bomb went off - she was told by facilities the other day that she's a fire hazard!) we chose to go for our lunchtime view - we love working in Central London!

Day 2. Words -

This is a picture frame that Laura made for me when we were living together in Australia and I left her for ten days to visit Bali with my Mum and Aunts. She worked on making this frame every day that I was away - out of a box of Diet Coke - and painted it with watercolours and everything! The lyrics are from one of 'our songs' - 'Lucky' by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat.

'They don't know how long it takes, waiting for a love like this. Every time we say goodbye, I wish we had one more kiss. I'll wait for you, I promise you I will...' Awww.

Day 3. Hands -

Here are our hands - exciting, we know. We are sitting in our lounge at the moment, so you might wonder why we are wearing gloves. IT'S FREEZING. London's frozen over and our little radiators simply can't handle it, so we are combating the cold with gloves, cute furry heart blankets and lots of cuddling! No complaints here! xo

We'll keep you updated!

See you soon!

Sarah & Laura

P.S. if you liked this facts check out the other SFFF HERE!