Amazing Family History

I've been working on some family history stuff for a while now, creating a family tree and scanning old photos. Today the project went into full force. Felipe and I arrived in Madison today and we'll be staying with my aunt for the next couple of days. My aunt has kind of been the official keeper of the family documents and some of the old family photos. I consider all of it to be a treasure, but today we found something truly special, a real gem.

We were going through an old tin filing box that my grandmother had kept, with old family documents dating back to 1899! My family arrived to the United states at the beginning of the 1900's through Ellis Island in New York City. I've often thought that it is so interesting that they arrived in 1906, and I came to New York City almost one hundred years later in 2005. Just knowing that I was living in the same city as them, and experiencing such a new place just like them (albeit a very different New York City than their own), was amazing.

The gem we found today was a copy of my grandfather's birth certificate. The birth certificate lists his father's place of residence, and his place of birth - the same address, at 217 West 68th Street. This is within 10 blocks of where I live in the city, and I pass it each day on my bus home from work! Here I am, a century later in the same neighborhood in New York City that my grandfather was born in! We're practically neighbors, in a time traveling sense. Of course the apartment he was born in is no longer there...it was long ago replaced by other buildings, which have now been replaced by a large luxury glass condo building. But this connection feels as if it has gone full circle.

I wonder what other treasures I will uncover during this project....

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! Felipe and I are pretty lucky to have such loving dads, and think about them both every day! And of course, Happy Father's Day to all the other dads!


P.s.- missing my papa every day....

Mr. Ratolino

Meet Mr. Ratolino (if you have not had the pleasure already!). He's a sort of mascot around our apartment, and every once in a while he gets around. We first saw Mr. Ratolino at Ikea, among his many family members...and almost took him home. Unfortunately we did not. We remained rat free for a while, that is until Felipe took a trip back to Spain, where he discovered his sister had taken Mr. Ratolino home. We had a good laugh, and then when Felipe arrived back to New York City - we discovered that Mr. Ratolino had made himself a stow away in Felipe's bag. Now he comes out here and there. And today he made an appearance on the Gothamist blog, and so I thought I would share some of our photos with you. He's appeared on Gothamist before too! I think maybe a few more photo sessions will be necessary in the future...so rest assured, he'll be back!

It's CONAN O'BRIEN!!! at Radio City Music Hall

Tonight Felipe and I went to see Conan O'Brien's show at Radio City Music Hall. I had a blast! I've never actually been to Radio City Music Hall before, so that was exciting as well to finally see the inside of such of a famous theater.


The Marquee


The stage before the show.


The opening act was Reggie Watts. I hadn't heard of him before, but really enjoyed his act. He's clever, has a fantastic voice and a great presence. I would definitely look forward to seeing him perform again! I recommend taking a look at his site, I think he has some clips on there.


After much waiting, the band finally took the stage - opening with La Bamba singing a song. It was fun to see the band back in action...I miss Conan and the gang being on television.

And then the Man came out

Surprisingly hard to photograph - he's so pale, combined with the spotlight, it was almost impossible not to overexpose his face! He did a long stand up routine, he showed videos, and then sang songs.


Here he is rocking out with the back up singers. Strobe lights and all. What a rock star!


A picture of him with the whole band. I think Andy Richter came out and joined them right after this, unfortunately I don't have any good pics with him in it.

Conan had several special guests join him towards the end of the show, including Eli Manning, Jon Krasinski, and my all time fave - Pee Wee!

Who even did the tequila dance off the stage! Man what a treat!


Doing his version of Cake's version of "I Will Survive"


And a special encore performance with Max Weinberg joining the band.

Overall it was a great show! Felipe was disappointed that the guests weren't as stellar as the night before (see this New York Times review), but it didn't bother me too much. Conan was the man I was there to see!