St. Patty's Day Breakdown!

Hello Lovelies!




Approaching quickly is the every Irish gal’s ( me included) favorite holiday... St. Patrick’s Day!!!



Scene from movie Leprachaun 3 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113636/) featuring one D&E's crap tables  



St. Patrick’s Day is traditionally a Catholic holiday which celebrates Ireland’s patron saint, St. Patrick. St. Patrick is said to have escaped slavery in Ireland with the word of God, which he then studied in Britain. Later he returned to Ireland and utilized the shamrock as a visual aid to instruct those of “pagan” religion on the holy trinity. In modern times, the holiday has progressed into something of a more secular nature. Most folks align St. Patrick’s Day with Leprechauns bringing good luck and the subsequent discovery of pots of gold. For others March 17th is the day to hit the local Irish Pub and drink some good Guinness and Potatoes.



My first thought, why restrict fabulous Irish beer and some hearty potatoes to select days of the year. Secondly, the correlation that is drawn between the Irish and Luck, is noteworthy and deserves some closer attention. There are several contributors to the popular conception of the Irish:

The national symbol of Ireland, the Shamrock, is oftentimes mistaken for the good luck clover that is found any standard deck of cards.

Irish mythological creature, the leprechaun, are attributed with the power of granting 3 wishes to any human carries out a successful capture

Historically the Irish have been exploited and colonized and maybe quite unlucky

In California, many Irish were very successful in gold and silver mining, and were consequently associated with luck

See the connection to Leprechauns and Pots of Gold!





Well that is just a tidbit of history in-hand, I hope that you enjoy the holiday and start planning how celebrate this day now. Let us know what your favorite St. Patrick’s Day activities are here or on Facebook.



Your Blogger,



-Holly-

Eco-Friendly Party Tips

Hello my readers!!! I hope everyone is more than fabulous this Monday. I am feeling a bit drabulous with this less than desirable weather, but alas not my subject topic for today. On the flip, today I bring you a public service announcement regarding... Carbon Footprints!

We produce harmful greenhouse gas with most of our activities including; food, housing, transportation and most everything else. Greenhouse gas is implicated in climate change and other detrimental environment effects. Thus, it is quite important for all of us to become more conscious of our behavior and contributions to atmospheric damage.



I want to highlight one place that we can change our behavior: Party preparation and throwing. A few ways to green up your party:





Buy party produce organic and local.

Organic food is cultivated with less harmful chemicals and given that it is locally grown, there is less emissions produced by crop transport.



Ditch bottled water.

Bottled water has a huge carbon footprint — it's bottled at one location in small plastic bottles and shipped all over. Rather than serving water bottles, provide guests with pitchers of water flavored with fruit. Tasty and sustainable!



Serve meat Alternatives: Seafood and Vegetarian Dishes

Estimates by the UNFDA speculate that the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Raising of livestock also contributes to fossil fuel dependency. The average feed lot of beef utilizes 40 calories of fossil for every calorie of meat. Websites like epicurious.com and cookinglight.com provide great meatless recipes that will please party-goers of all forms. .



Setup carpools

One of the biggest ways that we can reduce harmful chemical levels, is by reducing the amount that we emit with vehicles and other technology. Arrange for guests that live close to one another carpool. Make it easy on guests and pre-organize groups and drivers...





Well that’s all for now folks! i hope you enjoy and feel free to post any additional eco-friendly ideas or inquiries.



Live well, be well.



Your Blogger.

Elimination Blackjack.. Tournament Style Blackjack

HELLO READERS!!!! And no I am not an Animaniac….. However, I do have a fun topic for us this week: Blackjack Tourneys or Elimination blackjack.


Similar to a Texas Hold’em Tournament, Elimination Blackjack events result in one discernable winner who is designated from the original player-pool. Players are subtracted from the competition via elimination rounds and other rules of engagement.



One round of Elimination Blackjack consists in thirty blackjack hands. Each player begins the tourney with a designated number of chips. Every organization may have their own specific rules, but they following represent the most common rules:



The house must hit on soft 17 and anything below, and must stay on hard 17 and anything above.

Excepting aces, A player may split pairs up to four times.

The game is dealt from a 6-deck shoe.

Surrender is allowed: one half of their original bet can be recovered following the abandonment of one’s hand

When the house shows an ace, players have an opportunity to buy insurance.

Hands greater than two cards cannot be doubled down on

Each player must act on their hand within forty-five seconds.

Soooo the next question: How is one eliminated from play:



1. Losing all of their chips/cheddar/dough/benjis

2. Lack funds to make a minimum bet

3. On designated “elimination” hands, possessing the least amount of chips in comparison to fellow players



On a more obvious note the last player remaining is the tourney winner. Fun stuff!!!



Already widely organized in Vegas, Elimination Blackjack is gaining popularity for private parties. Unlike the sometimes daunting texas hold’em games, Blackjack is accessible to people from a larger range of ages, personalities, and backgrounds.



Anywhooos, check it out and holler at us with any personal tourney experiences.



Your Blogger,
 
    -Holly-

Princess Ellie and the Magical Blue Bird

Love is in the air... love is in the air... everywhere you look around! Happy early Valentines Day! Valentines Day is a holiday that traditionally celebrates the love and affection that exists amongst friends, family, and lovers. To be quite frank, I am not a large proponent of the holiday. My objection is not to love itself, but intead the commercialization of relationships. Your care and excitement for another individuals cannot be restricted to one day a year, and furthermore love cannot be expressed by candy and flowers. Its not a tangible phenomena, and thus we must celebrate it as such.

D&E Casino has a love story of its own. The owners and operators of D&E Casino, Dan and Ellie Bingham, are the subject of today’s tale.



Many years ago in a country far far away, there was a beautiful princess from Illinois that had taken refuge in a bustling city, Glen of Lakewood. Princess Ellie was amazed by her new surroundings, all the people and events were of great fascination to her. Unfortunately Princess Ellie’s evil father would only allow her to leave the house for school. Watching all of the other boys and girls play outside, Poor Ellie sat in her room crying sad sad tears. One day a magical blue bird came to Ellie’s window “chirp chirp come closer,” said the bird. Surprised but intrigued, Ellie walked to the bird. Without any notice, the bird puffed itself full of air, beat its wings, and Ellie was transported away form her room and to the wooded glen that surrounded the city.



What awaited her was beyond comprehension. A gushing strwam played sweet music as glowing children, river nymphs, and spring elfs danced in the reeds. Large golden fruit lay in floating baskets and plum wine sprang from rocks. Ellie was swept away by the dancers and played until daybreak. The magical bird arrived and transported her back to the gated prison that was her home. After school the next night the bird arrived again and took Ellie to magical glen..



This happened night after night for the next year, until finally the Evil King suspected that something was amiss with his daughter’s behavior and barred her windows with thick iron beams. Ellie cried and cried until the blue bird arrived. “oh little blue bird, I cannot go tonight,” She cried and cried. Her tears grew so heavy that Ellie’s room started flood. As the water level rose higher, some tears spilled out the window and touched the bird’s feathers. Within seconds, the feathers fell away, wings grew to legs, beak to nose, and finally a handsome prince appeared. “ Prince Dan at your service;” he cried. Slashing the bars with his scepter, Dan took Ellie away to wooded glen where they stay till this day. Far away from the Evil King and his frolicking bans, they spend their days eating rich fruit, dancing, and singing everyday.



Love does exist, if you know where to find it :)