Well hello there! How the heck are you? Why yes…yes, it is mid-month and I’m just getting around to writing a few planning notes down for of September. Yeah, August was a doozy, between the farm/animal care, my daughter being home from all day every day after eight weeks of summer day-camp, and present life…
Tag: genetic genealogy
3+3 – August 2025 (Needles & Haystacks)
Welcome August and a renewed opportunity to reflect on what has been accomplished over the past month + what I intend to focus on in the coming month! July was my first attempt at (officially) laying out three goals for myself and holding myself accountable. Being a Hobby Family Historian and Genetic Genealogist offers a…
3+3 – July 2025 (A New Approach)
Welcome July and a new approach to attacking my ever-hopeful and never-ending task list: 3+3! As I mentioned in my last post and in bits and pieces elsewhere, we family historians tend to be quite passionate about the research and documentation of our families. Sometimes, that passion can turn on us, though, leading to guilt…
Everything is Family History
As a hobby family historian and genetic genealogist, I sometimes give myself a hard time for not devoting all of my copious free time to the depths of family history research. You know, accomplishing more and more towards that ever-elusive unicorn of a “finished tree” and holding in my hands every document available ever. Those…
My NPE Experience on the DNA Surprises Podcast
If you have experienced an NPE event, I imagine you know how earth-shaking it can be to have the very fabric of your being ripped apart and woven back together into a 3-D tapestry with brand new threads. Had you asked me in 2019 if I thought I might talk about the whole experience on…
Folding Time on a New Platform
If you’ve been around for a while, you might notice that the site looks a bit different today than it did last week! That’s because, after two years of genealogy blogging on Squarespace and micro-blogging on Instagram, I’ve decided to switch it up and move to WordPress. Why is that? Well, while Squarespace offered an…
DNA Testing & Sibling Season
Sibling Season falls in the space between Winter and Spring and is roughly eight weeks long. It is the space between one gifting a DNA test to someone, that person taking and submitting that test, and their results being published to the site.
No matter why the test was given or taken, statistics show that surprises are more common than many of us would like to believe.
Heritage Journal – Intro & Pedigree
Welp, after a nasty bought with COVID and a little recovery/catch up time, I finally carved out a couple of hours to sit with my new heritage journal, write out a few words on the first two pages, and complete the first spread! I’m quite pleased with how it turned out.
What all does it include?
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Photos of Scotland, England, and Ireland (the lands of the majority of my Ancestors)
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A map of Santa Fe (where I was born and raised)
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A DNA helix
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A copy of my pedigree through my 2x great grandparents…
Integration & Healing Through Creative Journaling
It’s been a little over three years since I confirmed my biological father and half of my genetics…
Since I found my three half-siblings…
Since I learned so many details about so many strangers who I never knew existed and who are my kin.
I spent months upon months talking to siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins…
Gathering data and facts…
Staring into photos and details
Looking for all of the pieces of a massive puzzle that I hoped would come together succinctly to make it all of this history make sense in my head and my heart in present time.






