Happy St. Paddy's day!!

Are you wearing your green today? lol
Here are a few facts & fictions i learned :D
Fact: St. Patrick definitely lived. Where he came from is a bit of a mystery, but historians figure southern Britain. As a teenager, he was captured and brought to Ireland by Irish marauders and sold into slavery. After escaping, he left Ireland only to return as the missionary who overthrew these pagans, brought this belief system to the country and earned his patron sainthood.

Fiction: He did not charm these slithery creatures off the island of Ireland, since they weren't there in the first place. And he has no direct lineage to one of these or that cereal box mascot. (For the full story on his life, search for who was St. Patrick?)

But let's get down to business. When it comes to St. Paddy's Day, sure, we want our fun runs, corn beef hash and soda bread, but isn't raising a Guinness what we crave most? Here's a particularly useful search map to find St. Patrick's Day pub crawls in your area. And if you're new to a crawl, check out where and how to pub crawl.

Still, some of the nontraditional among us prefer their beer green. And St. Pats is the only day of the year we can get away with such a thing. And check this out: Search tipped us off to a Green Beer Day—a drinkers' holiday devoted to the emerald ale celebrated by college students in Oxford, Ohio.

But one of the most stunning green spectacles happens in Chicago. Every St. Paddy's Day, the city turns the Chicago River a glowing emerald color. The transformation happens with 25 pounds of green vegetable dye, which is gone by the next day and doesn’t harm the river's fish.

Since one search often leads to another, we got to thinking: How did Ireland's respectable holiday feast—which kicked off in the early 1700s—morph into a day of parades and beer guzzling in the U.S.?

Think: 1845, Great Irish Potato Famine, which sent an influx of Irish immigrants to America. Once stateside, on St. Patrick's Day, this disenfranchised group gathered in the streets for impromptu-style celebrations. This gradually turned into parades. Nowadays, St. Paddy's Day parades are held across the globe. They even show up in the unlikeliest of cities. This year, St. Patrick's Day is officially recognized on March 15, not its usual March 17. Some parades, like the New York City parade will still happen on March 17th; but Boston is having theirs on March 16 and Chicago, March 15. Why? Here's the scoop.

But what's St. Patrick's Day without a few jabs at the Irish, who can take a joke better than anyone. So let us suggest a search for Irish jokes to take with you on your pub crawl. And if you, um, tell a few jokes too many, then search for a safe ride home and have these hangover remedies on hand.

But maybe you won't need them. You could wake up the morning after the festivities feeling great. For that, thank the luck of the Irish.

—Tatyana Mishel is an MSN editor.

i hope you learned something there, as i sure did :D
here''s another church sign, i found, they are fun!

Have a BEAUTIFUL day and thank you so much for visiting!! Have a safe St. Patrick's day!