Happy Thanksgiving (yesterday)!

Nicole's taking a photo of the group of us...ravenous and ready to eat!

So Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I know, this post should have gone up yesterday, but then how would I have included the photos?! Plus...I spent the whole day preparing the meal, so yeah! We had a fantastic time with my mom, Cord, Nicole, Sammi and Mike - it's a meal and an evening I look forward to all year!


See me in the back there... Everyone did a good job of not digging in to the turkey before everything else was ready ;)


After dinner we entertained ourselves with games of Taboo, playing with Josie, and drinks!


And just before leaving us...Josie sat in the kitchen wishing for some left overs....


We had a wonderful day/evening, and I hope that all of you had as good a Thanksgiving as we did. I know that I am thankful to have my "Manhattan Family" to celebrate with, as well as having my mom out here too!

Conflicting Messages

Found this while searching old newpapers for my family history project...nice to see that even back in 1931 the newspapers were giving conflicting signals on body image...on the one hand you can lose 47 pounds of fat in 3 months! on the other hand...you've got new ways to serve that Oscar Meyer bacon! Yum! haha. I just had to share it with you!

Snapshots from the Past - Family History

Ara and Alice

I've been having a great time going through more old photos and old stories with my Aunt Miriam and all of my uncles. This Family project is really coming along, and I'm really starting to look forward to the end product! Here are just a few of the photos - a sampler for you all!


Bob and Sally, with the first grandchild - Laura


Ara Jr.


Marshall


Ron


Paul and Diane


Miriam at the Cotillion with Ara and Alice


Paul (Background), Dan(Dad), Miriam and David


Dan (Dad to me!) at Miriam's Wedding 1967

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

This afternoon I flew back to Madison for a long weekend. A friend is getting married on Saturday, and I took a few extra days to spend time with family. I'm hoping to get some of the interviews of the family done so that I can further my family history project along a little bit.

I arrived to Madison a bit early, about 4:15pm. The direct flight was nice, and well worth it. It was a bit hard coming in to the Madison airport, as the last time I flew in and out of the Madison airport it was when my dad died, and also around the same time of year. I flew by myself today too, Felipe is joining tomorrow, and that brought up enough memories as well. It was hard to walk through the airport and not think "This is the spot where I learned my dad died"... Difficult too knowing that no matter what I won't get to see him while I'm here. It's not all bad though (I don't want you thinking I'm super depressed!), my aunt Miriam came to pick me up, and I'll be staying with her while I'm in town. I like that I now get all of this quality time with her when I am in Madison.

After she picked me up, the two of us went to the Alliant Center for the Porchlight annual recognition dinner with my uncle Paul (uncle Marsh and my cousin Kathy were there too). He's worked/volunteered with the organization for quite some time. Porchlight is a pretty amazing organization in Dane County that helps provide services to homeless individuals and families, and has special services as well for mentally ill homeless individuals. They have a very large campaign right now to raise money to provide more housing for mentally ill homeless called Madison Cares. They've raised $2.8 million dollars and are just a few hundred thousand away from their goal of $3.5 million. I hope they get there, because it's such a valuable and tremendous service. I recommend taking a look at their website - donate too!

As for the rest of the trip, I have some family time planned out, and of course the wedding on Saturday. Other than that it is really play it by ear. My last visit to Madison was super ultra planned out, and I think felipe felt like we were going to meetings instead of hanging out with friends. Maybe I did go over the top in creating a schedule. So this time it's much more relax. My main priority is family and working on this history project. But I do hope to see friends a little bit...I'm just playing it by ear though ;) Feel free to let me know if you are available and in town!

Don't Forget to Vote Today!

Today are the mid-term elections, I won't get too into the politics here, but remember - it is ALWAYS important to be a part of the democratic process!

A Family Visit - Aunt Miriam in NYC

Last week was Aunt Miriam's visit to New York City... her first visit since 1992. I can't even tell you how much I was looking forward to it! We had a couple of really terrific walks around Central Park (the foliage is beautiful right now!):



We had lunch at Grand Central Station:


But my favorite was this last Saturday. We spent the entire afternoon wandering around Ellis Island, really enjoying our family's heritage and introduction to this country. We had a lot of family come through Ellis Island during some of it's busiest immigration years. I felt really happy to share Ellis Island, a place I have enjoyed twice before, with her and with Felipe. Each had meaningful connections, us with our family's history, and Felipe with his own immigration to the United States - very different from my great-grandparents experience, but in many ways the same.


Overlooking the Registry Hall, where her grandparents (my great-grandparents) were processed when they arrived in 1907.


By the Wall of Honor where Uncle Marty had our family's name engraved to commemorate their arrival at Ellis Island.


Mugrdiche and Aznive Kaprielian on the Wall of Honor


Felipe and I inside overlooking the Registry Hall


Immigrant v.2005 ;)

We had a wonderful time at Ellis Island, thoroughly enjoyed the Museum, and probably could have spent more time there if it weren't for the fact that we were already there until closing as it was! After that we had a lovely dinner at our favorite restaurant Virage. It was the perfect way to finish up a terrific visit. I am already looking forward to her next trip out here...which I hear will be spring of 2012!