R is for...

R is for...
Originally uploaded by JD'na

Roots.

I'm 100% American. 100%.

My parents are American. Their parents are American...and their parents are American. That's all I know. That's as far back as I've been told. I can tell you I am of mixed race...but what I am totally (each sliver of the pie chart) I'm not sure. I just know snippets. But what I can say without blinking...is I am American...and for once, I truly feel that is enough.


Now that's change I can believe in...all the rest is just extra. :o)

Q is for...

Q is for...
Originally uploaded by JD'na

A dog is one of the remaining reasons why some people can be persuaded to go for a walk.
-O.A. Battista

I have been a dog lover ever since I could remember. We had dogs every where we lived...but for whatever reason we would have to give them up when we moved. There was Bear a HUGE mutt (I say huge, but I was also 3) in the Philippines and then a black lab Maxie and a golden retriever Goldie in New Mexico. The last two are still sore subjects. Mom and Dad got rid of them without telling us...which is awesome.

But when we picked out our Chocolate Lab Cocoa...our lives would never be the same. She was the sweetest, smartest, most loving dog in the whole world. She'd follow me around the back yard as I cut the grass, sit by the door when she knew I was coming home and lay by the bathroom door as I got ready for my day. I loved that dog with all my heart.

She passed away in 2005...she lived a long doggie life. My parents still can't fathom getting another dog...and I totally understand. They watched her get older and sicker. I don't know how I would have handled it.

A year later, I saw Charlie's face. It was an out of focused washed out picture on the interweb. He was scruffy and cute as all hell. We drove up to the Humane Society and Charlie quickly ran to the window to see who was coming. I fell in love right there and then. I had no idea what changes he was going to bring to my life...

It's been Charlie and I ever since. He follows me around the house. Sits next to me on the couch even if there's company. He sits at my feet while I'm on the computer. He sits in the passenger seat in the car. He wakes me up, tells me when I've been up too late and gets me to take 3-5 walks a day....because we both need it.

It was on one of these walks when a happy skinny waggy puppy came running towards us, with no tags, no name but a lot of love. I settled with the name Snoopy because he followed Charlie all over the place and did this happy dance before we would go outside just like Snoopy does in the cartoons. They're a handful...but they are my handful. And when I went to www.realage.com to find out how old I really was, one of the questions was if I had a dog. By clicking yes, that helped me to not be so old. :o)

Gotta love that, huh boys?

P is for...

P is for...
Originally uploaded by JD'na

I still can't get over that Polaroid film will be no longer available soon. But I'm milking it! I'm going to use it until I can't find it anymore.

O is for...

O is for...
Originally uploaded by JD'na

I cannot tell you how proud I am to be apart of a movement that has hope and change on the agenda. It's not about power struggles and getting rich....it's about making our country the best it can be. And you have to love that....

Monday is about the dream. Tuesday is about Hope. Wednesday is the beginning of change.

Let's hope the history books are kind to us when they write about this part of our lives.

N is for...

N is for...
Originally uploaded by JD'na

....Not New York!

I have a dear lovely close friend whom I get into conversations about who's better, The Red Sox or the Yankees, that goes WAY beyond baseball. She thinks that the Yankees opitimises what America is, the American dream and all that jazz... But I think the exact same thing...but about the Red Sox.

I think the Yankees stand for everything other countries think we think we are. Big, powerful, rich, always winning and always thinking we're going to win.... you know...them. :o)

But I think the Red Sox are closer to what we as Americans are really are. Counted out year after year, but we always show up. We're hopeful and never give up in our pursuits. Others make fun of us...but we keep our heads held high. We stand together as a team as a unified front when times are good and bad. Sure we don't win all the time...but we're appreciative when we do.

I may be romanticizing this....or maybe there really is two Americas.

M is for....

M is for....
Originally uploaded by JD'na

Musician!

Once a musician always a musician!

I don't remember the moment I feel in love with music...but I did and the love affair is still going on to this day. I know my father introduced me to music. He did it in the way music enthusiast do. There's so much pride and pageantry to it. Almost like you're about to be allowed into an exclusive club. He sat me down, put on a pair of oversized earphones on my head and proceeded to tell me the whos and whats. And then the curtain started to part.

Behind the curtain there's lots of records/CDs, lots of concert ticket stubs and memories....and snobitude. I know that's not a word...and yet you know what I"m talking about! :o)

An ex once told me that I was a music snob in a middle of a conversation. I remembered looking at him and smiling and saying, "yeah...and?" hahaha...

But I think I'm allowed to have so much passion for music. I mean...I am a musician. I may not practice my clarinets every day...or every year for that matter....but tonight after I took this picture...I played for about an hour. Just like riding a bike. If that bike was the same bike you rode for 7 years straight. :o)

I know they may appear to look like three of exactly the same thing..but they are all three very different and for three different uses. :o)

G is for....

G is for....
Originally uploaded by JD'na

...well...I guess guitar is obvious...hahah...but there is another G thing in there too! Girl!!!! :o) I got this guitar for Christmas back in 2002, and I quickly signed up for lessons. Boy did I NOT take those seriously. It didn't help that my instructor was too busy trying to save up money to get out of town and move to Nashville...

Instead of teaching me how to play the guitar...he taught me how to play some songs...which as it turns out isn't the same thing. I'm not a music dummy...I played in band from the 5th grade all the way up until the very day I graduated high school. I just can't wrap my head around this doohickey! But I haven't given up yet! I'll conquer this thing one day! :o)