Breakthrough!

After years of researching my dad's side of the family tree, I finally made a break-through on my mom's side! {We've tracked my dad's maternal side back to two sons of Henry III of England, Edward I and Edmund Crouchback.} Both sides of her family have been incredibly hard to track in the past, but I found a long-lost cousin on her paternal side (via Ancestry.com) who so graciously sent me a photo of my great-grandmother Jenevieve.

{My great-grandmother Jenevieve around 1940}

My mother's maternal great-grandmother, Rose Polczer, was born in Lovaszpatona, Veszprem, Hungary in August 1884. Rose and 2 of her cousins (Julia Horvath and Rosa Klesitz) left Hungary in October 1907 aboard the Pannonia. They left to join Julia's brother Josef in Buffalo, New York. The girls arrived in New York City on November 7, 1904. We know that Rose lived in Buffalo and attended the St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church. She met my great-great-grandfather Karoly Racz in 1909 and they were married at St. Elizabeth on January 22, 1910. Karoly was born on July 2, 1887 in Szentgyorgyhegy, Zala, Hungary and arrived in New York on March 20, 1904 aboard the SS Statendam.

The two sides of my family tree are so completely different. My dad's side has been here since the 1600s and were always well established. My mom's side came over in the 1900s as hard working immigrants who came to make a better life for themselves. I'm pretty darn proud to be a combination of all of them! :)

Playing catch up!

It feels like forever since I've blogged! We've been staying pretty busy, but it's just been the daily grind -- nothing new and exciting. I'm not doing a very good job of meeting my once a week blog post goal for this year so it's time to get cracking!

Jim is retiring on the 29th and he and Mar are moving down to the gulf. While I'm excited to have them so much closer, I'll be honest and say that I'm really going to miss visiting Scottsboro. It's a beautiful little town and the surrounding area is just gorgeous! Hopefully Brett and I can get a little cabin in Mentone some day down the road. We're going up there this weekend for an extended trip to help them back and to celebrate Jim's retirement. We've got a ton of packing to get done, but we're all going to take next Thursday as a play day in Chattanooga and officially celebrate his retirement! So far the agenda includes the Missionary Ridge Battlefield {for Mar and I!} and dinner at the Bluewater Grille. I'm sure we'll sneak in Rock City or Ruby Falls while we're there.

On a completely un-related note, my love affair with Sephora keeps growing! I ended up buying a few new goodies and I absolutely love them. The Naked palette is probably the best thing ever! Seriously. It's a little pricey, but it's well worth the money.

{I apologize for the sideways photo. I can't flip it on my phone. Ugh.}

Happy Fat Tuesday! :)