The Celebrate! Project

For over three years I've been using the holidays as an excuse to get people to join me in trying new things and getting back to living their lives.

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Year 3 - Day 148 Today is #NationalHamburgerDay.  It’s also #HamburgerMonth! Day! How will YOU celebrate? Use #thecelebrateproject to share YOUR photos/videos showing how YOU celebrated today!

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Today's Holidays! June 9th - 2014

Good morning, everybody! Today is #StrawberryRhubarbPieDay, #DonaldDuckBirthday and#AbusedWomenandChildrensAwarenessDay. Tomorrow: #IcedTeaDay, #HugHoliday, #WorldPetMemorialDay How will YOU celebrate today? June is also: Adopt-A-Cat Month  Adopt A Shelter Cat Month Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month  Audio Book Appreciation Month Beautiful in Your Skin Month  Gay & Lesbian Pride Month Great Outdoors Month International Childhood Cancer Awareness Month International Men's Month International Surf Music Month  National Accordion Awareness Month National Aphasia Awareness Month National Camping Month National GLBT (Gay,Lesbian,Bisexual & Transgender) Pride Month National Candy Month  National Fruit and Veggies Month (Also September) National Ice Tea Month National Migraine Awareness Month National Pet Preparedness Month  National Rivers Month National Rose Month  National Scoliosis Awareness Month  National Smile Month  National Soul Food Month National Steakhouse Month National Zoo and Aquarium Month

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Today's Holidays!

Donut Day Drive-In Day Yo-Yo Day Russian Language Day Tomorrow's Holidays: Pencil Day Chocolate Ice Cream Day

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“I realized something on the ride. I realized if I wait until I'm not scared to try new things, then I'll never get to try them at all.”

Marie Sexton, Between Sinners and Saints

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Getting Back to Basics

  I'm entering the FOURTH YEAR of this crazy project next month.   It's been an amazing journey full of incredible people, fantastic moments, heartbreaking stories, triumphant incidents and something that can't continue to grow without all of YOU helping spread the word about it.   For the last couple of months I've been trying to figure out how to get this thing going again in a way that I'd always hoped it would...that it would become a tool for people to use to help them try/do/learn something new on a regular basis to enrich both their own lives and the lives of others.

  Expect a LOT more activity here now that other things have sort of ended for me. 

  This project is something that's personally VERY important to me for reasons I'll reveal as the project goes on in year four.   Like I said...I need YOUR help.     From time to time I'll be requesting video clips and photos to create videos showing everyone celebrating together.  You might not understand what I'm doing with the photos and videos that  you send me but you can trust that I would NEVER use the material to make you look dumb or stupid or make fun of you...EVER.   How this works is that the more people who celebrate with me, the more fun the videos become.  The more fun the videos become with more contributors?  The more you might just help inspire someone else to get up and try something new even if it seems like a ridiculous idea!   I'll be posting "Missions" where I'll be requesting specific photos or video clips.  I'll give you all the instructions you need...but I need to recruit a small army of awesome people who can regularly follow these simple instructions and help me get this project out into the world where it can take on a life of its own!   I'll stop talking...   There's a lot to do before July 1st.   I hope you'll join me for another ridiculous year of celebrating crazy holidays!   All the best to all the awesome people who've been following along,   Tony

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Today's Holidays - 3.4.2014

Good morning, people!  Today is: 

#MulledWineDay, #ColdCutsDay, #WorldWildlifeDay,

#NationalAnthemDay and #ReadAcrossAmericaDay!

Tomorrow: #InternationalPancakeDay, #PoundCakeDay and

#LearnWhatYourNameMeansDay!

How will YOU celebrate!? Don't like those holidays? March is also: Red Cross Month Berries and Cherries Month National Craft Month National Frozen Food Month National Kite Month National March Into Literacy Month National Kidney Month National Peanut Month National Play the Recorder Month National Umbrella Month

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Today's Holidays!

Good morning, everybody! Today is #NationalIndianPuddingDay and, more importantly #WorldKindnessDay! How will YOU celebrate!? Need more excuses to do something a little different today than you did yesterday? November is also: American Indian Heritage Month Aviation History Month Banana Pudding Lovers Month Epilepsy Awareness Month Family Stories Month Historic Bridge Awareness Month Lung Cancer Awareness Month National Adoption Month National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month National Care & Hospice Month National Georgia Pecan Month National Life Writing Month National Novel Writing Month National Peanut Butter Lovers' Month National Plum Month National Pomegranate Month National Spinach Month

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Almost forgot your montage music for celebrating today!  You better freakin' dance while you're celebrating a holiday today!  Now...stop standing around!  Go! Celebrate!  Reply with a photo and show me how YOU celebrated today! (see my earlier post for all of today's holidays)

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Let's get back into this!

Hey, gang!  It's been a while...let's just roll into it....

Today is #WorldEggDay and #NationalGumboDay! TOMORROW:  #NationalYorkshirePuddingDay!  How will YOU celebrate!?  Use these holidays as an excuse to try something new!

October is also: Bat Appreciation Month Bullying Prevention Month National Apple Month National Bake and Decorate Month National Blindness Awareness Month National Book Month National Cheese Month National Chili Month National Pear and Pineapple Month National Pizza Month National Popcorn Poppin' Month National Raptor Month National Roller Skating Month National Spina Bifada Month Photographer Appreciation Month

Seriously...there are a TON of excuses to try something crazy throughout the year.  In 2011 I decided to set out on an adventure for one year and celebrate a holiday(s) each day.  It was an amazing experience.  I learned SO much, made some amazing friends and experienced some pretty incredible things.

The point behind this project is to use these holidays as a springboard to jump-start your life a little bit.  This whole thing started because several friends of mine had basically given up on being the awesome people they were inside.  They said they just didn't know where to start u dor what to do. I've always been a fan of ridiculous holidays but never really celebrated them.

Then suddenly it clicked and I decided to show people that by using these holidays as a starting point, you could try something new every single day or once a week or once a month. 

Here I am in the THIRD YEAR.  It's nowhere near as intense as that first year but I continue using these holidays to continue learning to cook (something that NEVER would've happened had a not started using food holidays as an excuse to get into the kitchen), meet new people (I've met alien abductees, ventriloquists...you name it), try new skills (like woodworking) and just take the time to live a little more than I was doing before.

The effect snowballed and a lot of good has come from this silly idea.  People from around the world including Tokyo, Hawaii, Canada, Switzerland and across the US have joined me in doing something outside their comfort zone on a more regular basis.  It's been exciting, terrifying, heartbreaking and eye-opening.

I hope that you'll join me as we roll through the third year of this project!

Post your photos, videos, stories or anything else if you decide to celebrate with me!  I would freakin' LOVE to hear from you guys! How will YOU celebrate today!?

Go.  Be awesome today.

Good luck!

Tony (send me a friend request on Facebook..let me know you found me and the project on Tumblr...I LOVE meeting new people!)

You can also follow the project and me here:

My Twitter: @TijuanaTaxi

My Instagram

Follow the Celebrate! Project here:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

“Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ― Mark Twain

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Whats your IG? I need it for thelastmedia com

Sorry I've taken so long to respond...My IG?

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Your video of the day.

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TODAY'S HOLIDAYS:

April 18th - Day 290 - 75 Days Left to Celebrate!

Today is:

National Golf Day

Tomorrow’s Holidays:

National High-Five Day

March is the month of:

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month

International Guitar Month

Keep America Beautiful Month

ASPCA Month

Autism Awareness Month

Amateur Radio Month

National Pecan Month

Prevention of Animal Cruelty Month

National Woodworking Month

National Welding Month

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Moments like this perfectly captured the project during that first year...International Day of Awesomeness - Year 1 - Skydiving!

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I never get tired of posting this song...to all of you who keep going...no matter what anyone thinks of your crazy ideas.  Thanks for the inspiration!

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Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

Thomas A. Edison

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Sometimes you wonder....

It's been a VERY long time since I tossed an update here.  Between my two jobs and some other projects, this project has become something different during this second year.

It's evolved.

During that first year I celebrated holidays every single day.  It was crazy, intense, gut-wrenching...just a total roller-coaster of an experience.

I was hoping that it would grow into something even more amazing during this, the second year.  It did...but not in the way I'd anticipated.

I was hoping that even more people would join in the celebrations with me.  They did...but again, not in the way I'd anticipated.

As a matter of fact nothing about this second year was what I'd envisioned.

Nothing.

It's been quiet.  I stopped asking people to help me celebrate.  Most people were always busy anyway and I think most thought that it'd ended after the first year was completed.

It's still going on.

Celebrating holidays has become a part of my life now.  I use them to try new things which was the purpose of this whole project in the first place.

Now I use the holidays to find people, places and things that would help me celebrate a particular holiday and I just go out into the world and celebrate.

Mostly alone.

But some of the most amazing things have happened because I never stopped doing what I love...learning and helping others out.

I was hoping that I'd get it right the second time.

I kinda' did...but not in the way that I anticipated.

I was hoping that I could help more people...

I kinda have...but again...not in the way I anticipated.

I was hoping that I'd learn more about myself and what I was capable of if I just kept trying...

I did...

In ways I could never have anticipated if I'd never tried at all.

The Celebrate! Project Facebook Page

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Someone I know had never seen this...it gave me chance to watch for about the billionth time.  One of the videos that inspired my own crazy project.  I get emotional every time I watch this.   Take your ideas out into the world...you never know when something so simple will mean so much.