Life on 19th

Sewing, reading, writing, dog loving, traveling, photo snapping, Pepsi drinking Physician Assistant

[lifeon19th]

Current view. #northdakota #montanaorbust #FindingOurFitzgeralds

[lifeon19th]

                                         #PitchWars Mentee Bio

Unfortunately, I am not skilled in the ways of the gif, so you get static photos to look at.

My name is Mary and I am a Physician Assistant. Which means I am totally okay with talking about gross bodily fluids and such while eating. The hubs and I have been married for almost 8 years. Besides the hubs, the light of my life is a 90 pound ball of white fur, aka Ty. After doing a DNA test, we learned he is lab and Great Pyrenees mix. Before we adopted him, he lived in Tennessee. I like to pretend he has a Southern accent.

I love to travel and hope to one day fill my passport and visit every continent. I taught myself to sew and even have an Etsy shop (marymule designs).  I also volunteer a lot, logging at least 50 hours each year. 

I love to read (of course). I will read anything by Maggie Stiefvater, Rainbow Rowell and Melina Marchetta. Other favorites include the Birthmarked series, Pride and Prejudice, Outlander, the list goes on and on…

Here are a few more random facts about me:

1. I am a freak of nature. So is my sister. We are identical twins, which do not run in families like fraternal twins. We are just something that happens. 2. I was the surprise twin. My parents did not know they were having twins until I popped out. So I guess I am kind of like the “free gift with purchase.” 3. I was in a TV commercial when I was 9. It was for a local furniture store. We had to eat raisins. I don’t like raisins. 4. I have jumped off of a moving horse. Twice.

5. I wish life were a musical. Seriously, how fun would it be if people just randomly broke out in song and dance? I can’t sing or dance by the way.

6. I won a hoola hoop contest in college. 7. I won a limbo contest in high school.

8. I have lived in 6 states, one of them at 2 different times: California (no memory, was a baby), Montana (twice), Washington, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin. Both my parents were in the military; moving is what we did. 

9.  The weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten was cuy, aka guinea pig. Tastes like chicken.

10.  I am researching my family tree and even did DNA testing for myself. I’m 25% Irish, 26% Italian, 26% Scandinavian and little bits of other ethnicities.

You can read more Pitch Wars bios here.

[lifeon19th]

PW Bio, rebooted.

[lifeon19th]

And so it begins...trip planning. And while technology and Google are fabulous tools, sometimes it's just easier to go old school with guidebooks, pen and paper.

[lifeon19th]

Coworker gifts this year: soap handmade by @willyjean8. #handmadeholiday #handmadesoap

[lifeon19th]

TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL GENEALOGY ROAD TRIP

1. Make contact before you depart. Call or email the courthouse/church/libraries you plan on visiting before you leave to make sure they have what you want, will be open and if there are any special rules you need to be aware of. In order to see the church records, we had to make an appointment. We learned the courthouse doesn’t allow cellphones in the building so knew to store them safely away. Some places may only allow a certain number of people in research rooms, some don’t allow pens, or scanners or cameras. Know before you go.

2. Be flexible. In addition to the cemetery, library, church and courthouse, we also had the regional National Archives (NARA) on our list of possible places to visit. However, it was an hour away from everything else, and ultimately the information we most wanted came from the other sources. We only had one business day available (the other being a Saturday) so in the end, we nixed NARA.  If our visits to the above mentioned places had turned out to be quicker than we’d planned for, we would have headed to NARA.

3. Bring snacks. We were so busy skipping to and from sites that we didn’t even think about lunch. But when our stomachs started to grumble, I had pumpkin bread ready to go and dad had a cooler of drinks. Genealogy fuel!

4. Prioritize. This means doing some research before you go. We came from several hours away and didn’t want to get home and realize we’d missed something. In order to maximize our time, we had a list of the top questions we needed answered. When we went to the courthouse, we had a list of names and death dates for those we wanted records on. 

5. Take a risk. At the courthouse, we found death listings for a man and a lady with our family name but we weren’t certain if they were part of our family. We ended up requesting the death certificates anyways, figuring we could at least rule them out. Turns out the man was our family member, but the lady was not. Boy am I glad we didn’t pass on those death certificates!

6. Pay it forward. After visiting our ancestor’s graves at the cemetery my dad turned to me and asked if there were any requests for photos on the Find A Grave website. And I whipped out a list I had in my pocket. Before we’d left the hotel that morning I’d checked the Find A Grave website and found out there were 3 requests from people to have their family members headstones photographed. So we cruised the cemetery and managed to find all 3 in a short amount of time. I uploaded them to the website later that evening.

7. Don’t forget the living. As I mentioned in my previous post, while searching for dead people I managed to learn more about my dad along the way as well. Talk to those relatives now, while you still can. A few weeks after returning from our trip we received news that my dad’s aunt had passed away. You never know when someone won’t be around.

[lifeon19th]

In the past year I have fallen down the genealogy rabbit hole and it appears I’ve taken my dad with me. At the start, I focused on his mother’s side of the tree. His father’s branch was very short because we were stuck. And then I stumbled upon a listing for my great-grandfather’s funeral records on a genealogy society website, shot off an email and just like that, we were un-stuck. Oh what a feeling. If you’ve ever researched your family history, you know that uncovering one mystery reveals two more in its place. Like pulling a gray hair.

Sometimes online records can only get you so far though. Which led to my dad and me taking a short road trip to find dead people. We headed one state away for two days in November, visiting 2 libraries, 1 courthouse, 1 church and 1 cemetery. And we had so much nerdy fun. Besides all the records we uncovered, the best part was spending time with my dad and learning more about his past. For instance, I’d never heard the story about him joining the Army with my uncle.

Now we’re home and already looking forward to our next genealogy road trip.

[lifeon19th]

DIY #writingretreat is in action. Crickets are providing the soundtrack. #amwriting (at Cataract, Wisconsin)

[lifeon19th]

Found the silver lining. #roadtrip #wisconsin

[lifeon19th]

Because everyday is #nationaldogday in our house. #dogsofinstagram

[lifeon19th]

                                         #PitchWars Mentee Bio

Unfortunately, I am not skilled in the ways of the gif, so you get static photos to look at.

My name is Mary and I am a Physician Assistant. Which means I am totally okay with talking about gross bodily fluids and such while eating. The hubs and I have been married for almost 8 years. Besides the hubs, the light of my life is a 90 pound ball of white fur, aka Ty. After doing a DNA test, we learned he is lab and Great Pyrenees mix. Before we adopted him, he lived in Tennessee. I like to pretend he has a Southern accent.

I love to travel and hope to one day fill my passport and visit every continent. I taught myself to sew and even have an Etsy shop (marymule designs).  I also volunteer a lot, logging at least 50 hours each year. 

I love to read (of course). I will read anything by Maggie Stiefvater, Rainbow Rowell and Melina Marchetta. Other favorites include the Birthmarked series, Pride and Prejudice, Outlander, the list goes on and on…

Here are a few more random facts about me:

1. I am a freak of nature. So is my sister. We are identical twins, which do not run in families like fraternal twins. We are just something that happens. 2. I was the surprise twin. My parents did not know they were having twins until I popped out. So I guess I am kind of like the “free gift with purchase.” 3. I was in a TV commercial when I was 9. It was for a local furniture store. We had to eat raisins. I don’t like raisins. 4. I have jumped off of a moving horse. Twice.

5. I wish life were a musical. Seriously, how fun would it be if people just randomly broke out in song and dance? I can’t sing or dance by the way.

6. I won a hoola hoop contest in college. 7. I won a limbo contest in high school.

8. I have lived in 6 states, one of them at 2 different times: California (no memory, was a baby), Montana (twice), Washington, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin. Both my parents were in the military; moving is what we did. 

9.  The weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten was cuy, aka guinea pig. Tastes like chicken.

10.  I am researching my family tree and even did DNA testing for myself. I’m 25% Irish, 26% Italian, 26% Scandinavian and little bits of other ethnicities.

You can read more Pitch Wars bios here.

[lifeon19th]

Rainbow blanket for #projectlinus.

[lifeon19th]

Hello Saturday. #lakemichigan #itscoolerbythelake

[lifeon19th]

Waiting for dinner view. #nofilter #lakewinnebago

[lifeon19th]

Feel like I robbed a bookstore! All these for 7 bucks at #Goodwill.

[lifeon19th]

TBT to July of 2002. I spent 6 weeks in Ecuador studying Spanish with a school group. On weekends we traveled around the country and at the end of the trip we spent about 4 days in the jungle at the Kapawi Ecolodge. Arrival to the lodge required a flight on a bush plane followed by a canoe trip up the river. It was a fun stay, with night hikes, camping in the jungle, mud fights, home visits with a local family and naps in hammocks.

[lifeon19th]

I finally added two more more keepsake boxes for some recent travels. I chose the smaller boxes for Poland because it was a trip my husband took without me and therefore there's no journal to go with it. And I used a small journal for our recent Madrid and Paris trip, so it fit in the small box. Highlights are the heart shaped rock from Omaha Beach in Normandy (a daytrip) and a bag of Polish soil. Each box also holds a "magic table," otherwise known as an itinerary in grid form.

[lifeon19th]

This part of our walk smells so good! #lilacs #summer #stopandsmelltheflowers