Lesson #1: The easy G chord

Place your finger on the third fret of the last guitar string. Only pluck 4 out of the 6 strings. And voilee! You can play Frere Jacques! This adorable student is 3 years old!

Other news on the homefront, today I watched Alex drive off in my Subaru for the very last time. No, my husband didn't R-U-N-N-O-F-T (any O Brother Where Art thou movie fans out there?) We officially sold the Subaru today. Long story short, I somehow lost the TITLE to my car. You know, between graduation college, moving to Hawaii, living in Kona, moving to Waimea, and my (very functional) general state of Messie Jessie-ness, I lost the title to my car. Pretty important piece of paper when buying or selling a car. So I had to call a million phone numbers, get a zillion signatures stating that yes, in fact, I am the registered owner of my vehicle. It felt like a down to the wire relay race: Get all the signatures from Toyota Financial (yes I bought my Subaru through Toyota), fed ex it overnight to my house, wait (patiently) tapping my foot on the front porch for Fed Ex to arrive on Monday, I get the hand off from Fed Ex, zoom down to Kona to the DMV, zoom to my Kona lessons to teach!

And finally, it may be awhile for the next blog post as I will be busy with company! Summer vacation finally starts for me!

ArtiMokes

My artichokes have reached the end of their season. We snipped the last cluster tonight. We walked down to the stream at the end of our road and Moki took an evening dip. (which is why he is wet in the photo!) Artichokes are $5 EACH at the store here in Hawaii so I decided to give growing them a try. I like free food!

I really just wanted today to be about my hair cut

I really just wanted today to be about my new hair cut. I chopped more than half of it off. It was a big deal. It was very exciting. And now, I am cooped up in the house on a rainy crummy day, with ANIMALS bouncing off the walls! We apparently just nursed KUJO back to health. (oh please for the love of dog click the word "Kujo" to see what I feel like we just rescued). Two craps on the carpet today officially brought us to the completion of our honeymoon stage. I work from home. But I still WORK from home. How can I possible work when I have a cat 5 times bigger than Riblet...I mean Kujo....intent on stalking and killing her. Moki is the gentle giant and seeing this interaction sends him into a whining tizzy. Which brings me to a funny story.....I was teaching a piano lesson to an adorable little girl. We were babysitting a small dog for a friend and my student noticed her in the music room. She says in a sweet voice "My dad won't let me get a small dog". I said "Oh really? Why?" and she said "He says the only thing a small dog does is yap and crap". Well put my dear. 

(2 hours later after starting this blog entry): Well, I found a wonderful home for Ribs. My neighbors best friend was looking for a little dog just like her. I know she will be well loved. She really IS cute. Of course I was smitten. So feeling a little bit sad and blue over the whole unexpected whirlwind ordeal, I took Moki on a nice long walk. To remember what I DO have. A wonderfully well behaved big active dog who is my side kick. Did I mention that my mother in law told me on my wedding day that life will never be boring being a Woodbury?

Riblet

Oh Alex, what have you done?

I taught all day in Kona yesterday. It's 7pm and I'm heading back up to Waimea and Alex calls.

Alex: "Hi Jess...Ummm....do you want a chiuaua?"

Jess: "Noooo...whyyyyyy?" (I say apprehensively)

Alex: "A little chiuaua dachtshund mix has chosen us to be her family. She's really cute"

Jess: "Oh. No."

So I get home and low and behold, she IS cute. I don't even LIKE little dogs. And I'm an animal person. I hate little dogs in fact. But I think this dog took a class on how to win a potential owner over in 30 seconds or less. She is so stinkin' cute! And SO well behaved.

But no, you guys. I can't. We travel. We are lucky Alex's parents so willingly look after Moki every time we leave. We can't impose yet another animal on them to watch.

So, I'm going to use my blog as a method of advertising. Hoping that maybe one of my 1140 viewers out there might consider adopting the world's sweetest little 4 pound cutie! I could hand carry her to Seattle from Hawaii no problem if any of my Washington readers are interested. I would literally take her in a heart beat, she is that sweet. But I have to be considerate to my in laws!

Weekend Woodbury fun in Kona

At this point in the day, Moki is smiling and quite comfortable on the paddle board
My two surfer dudes!
Moki and I heading out for a paddle board adventure. I couldn't keep my balance with my 70 pound counterpart!
So I kicked him off my board to give standing a try!
The active Woodbury family. Mama Cathy and Shaye in the 2 man canoe, Mike in the one man canoe, Alex and Cleo on the paddle board, and Moki swimming out to join the party.

Moki's first moment on the board. You can tell he's a little bit nervous.
Mama Cathy's Birthday party at Grandma's house. My cousin Ryan lives right next door.
And we have bloomage people! These are the first blooms of the season!
Moki swimming, sending out an S.O.S, and paddle boarding videos!

Four Years ago TODAY

My mom's dahlia's were in full bloom!
Dancing until the wee hours......
Our cousins are bonding
Which hula dancer is real?
My mom singing the beautiful solo "In my daughter's eyes"
Our dear Bellingham friends. Their baby (our Godson) was born almost exactly a year after this picture!
My sister Kimi and my sister in law Shaye. Our sistah's got Seoul!
Fiddling with my grandfather Beebop!

So four years ago TODAY we had our Seattle wedding. It was a summer full of celebration! I was glad to get a second use out of my wedding dress. Transporting leis to Washington was the hardest part. The weather started out cold and rainy, and I think everyone prayed for a sunny wedding because it turned out to be a cloudless, bright blue, almost 80 degree day!

Something in the water

Sniff Sniff. Today we lost 3 of our giant Koi (Big Mama, Tipsey, and Fronk) We emptied half of the pond to clean and pump it yesterday. When we put new water in, and the fish went into shock. We aren't sure if we didn't oxygenate the water properly, or if the county has treated the water with something the fish don't like. After the earthquake in 2006, we lost every single fish when we added new water to the pond.

I was so incredibly sad today. But Alex said "Jessica....this wasn't your dog. It wasn't your cat. It wasn't one of your friends. It wasn't a member of your family. It was a FISH. You eat those for dinner!" Ok Ok...Granted the fish I eat for dinner don't have individual pet names, but whatever. I didn't have animals around growing up. I don't handle animal loss very well. And I especially don't like watching something die. Watching a fish drown is spookily unsettling! It's going to take years and years to get Koi that size again. I'm just glad Harpo and Goldilocks still have each other to school around with.

This One's for you Dad!

With four guitar/vocal students lined up this fall, I've been practicing my guitar every day! Alex has been working late hours downstairs and I told him the other night "You know Alex, with you working so late, it's just going to make me more of an AWESOME guitar player!" I bought a capo the other day, so now I can play some Coldplay and other fun songs in different keys. This Bob Marley song required me to put the capo on my 3rd fret. I know I have a long way to go before I truly am an "awesome guitar player", but the thing is, I have never picked up a guitar and tried to learn it in my almost 30 years of existence. I grew up in a household with the world's best guitarist. And I jammed with dad on my violin. The guitar and violin are such a great duo I think it deterred me from wanting to try duo guitars with him. So this is me on my guitar after a week of self teaching. I want to squeeze in some lessons with dad when I go out to Seattle this summer!

Human Body Detective recording studio

One of our child vocalists in the recording studio. We went in one at a time. I had the opportunity to harmonize WITH myself. We recorded me singing the melody. And then I sang over that track singing harmony. I called myself Jessie Past and Jessie Present. Karl called me Melody and Harmony. I told him my parents were THIS CLOSE to naming me Melody. Part of me really wishes they had, since music has been such a leading role in my life. But then my clients may think I was some hippie who changed my name since it would have been such an allegorical name!
Charles Brotman watches Karl in action. I can tell from this picture he's looking at us in the studio singing and matching it to the Garage Band file on his computer.

Ever wonder what Grammy winners do with the gold trophy? I sure did. Charles Brotman's sits in his recording studio on his desk. It's sort of mingling with wires and sheet music.

We are still waiting to see the final product!

Happy Four Year Wedding Anniversary

Four years ago today, on a beautiful Sunday evening, Alex and I got married at sunset. You would think for a classical musician,I would've been conventional and have a string ensemble play Pachelbel's Canon in D. But I went for a "techno-y flamenco-y style remix" version of Shubert's Serenade by Tosca. I can't find an online example of the song, except for in it's original version HERE. The version I picked wasn't as melancholy as the way Schubert wrote the original. But it's a beautiful melody that has always been stuck in my head since I was a child. When I hummed, I would sing a tune close to this Serenade. And one day I heard Schubert's serenade and it reminded me so much of the tune stuck in my head! 

It's funny in a way to say that Alex and I are celebrating four years, since we started dating when I was 19 (10 years ago!) But in many ways I still feel like the giddy teenager who thinks Alex is just the coolest person ever. 

So my dear husband, this post is dedicated to you. Thank you for growing up with me into the people we are today, thank you for choosing me to be your lifelong adoring partner, and I can't wait to see where the next many years of marriage brings us on this journey! 

I told Alex I purposely picked July 3rd to get married because it feels like everyone is celebrating! Fireworks will explode in the sky! Sparklers will magically sizzle and sparkle like fairy wands in people's hands. And it's a holiday weekend!  HAPPY 4 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ALEX. I love you.