Tuesday, May 31, 2011

30th Birthday continued or Jolie learns the mandolin

I don't know if I ever mentioned but I had no idea what I wanted for my birthday. Beau wanted my gift to be something special and so rather than get something just to get it, we decided to wait until we had figured out a gift that had some meaning that would last.

A couple weeks ago it hit me! I've been dying to learn to play an instrument...side note 1-I can play the clarinet, I was first chair throughout my 6th grade band experience prior to quitting and joining chorus. You may find this surprising but those clarinet skills don't really translate into day-to-day life as well. I wanted to be able to play something I could sing along with. So I've been wishy-washy about what to learn: guitar?, accordion? (yes, I've seriously considered it), or ukulele? (wouldn't it be fun to play, you'd feel like you are an a Hawaiian vacation anytime you pick it up). Finally though, we settled on mandolin.

I love it and I can't wait to start officially taking lessons. It is so much fun to finally be on my way to one of my life goals (to learn to play and instrument past the 6th grade level).

So here are some photos of our impromptu jam session Sunday evening. I can play all of one song right now...Yankee Doodle! So needless to say it was more Beau and his friend Blake playing but I hope to be able to hold my own soon after some lessons.



Side note 2: If you think I'm crazy for considering the accordion some things to consider are #1-I'm part Polish, it's in my soul to love the accordion and dance the Polka and #2-The BowerBirds. Check out their music and you'll dig the accordion too.
Side note 3: Truth be told, this was Blake taking a break from impromptu Yankee Doodle jam session to help Frankie recite some Shakespeare...Sunday evening it was decided that sitting Frankie upright and helping her to use her hands to recreate some of the Bard's famous monologues was hilarious. Chalk it up to one of those "you had to be there" experiences unless you have a Shih tzu of your own to try it with :-)

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