"You're Eat, Pray, What-ing?"

I bought a ukulele.

After a bit of research and a few conversations with a group of somewhat confused musicians, I bought her. Apparently they couldn't make sense of why I was so intent on buying a quality ukulele, how I possibly had the time to teach myself, and what on earth this had to do with any sort of personal/spiritual journey.

So I informed them of my attempts to Eat, Pray, Love my way through this time in Hawaii. Learning ukulele is on the list. Ukulele is my project, my teachable moment, and a dive into something I'm passionate about: music. I'm still not sure they fully comprehended the great personal victory of this purchase. Yet one sweet gentleman asked me to write down the name and author of the book I mentioned... he thought his wife might enjoy it.

I straightforwardly told the younger gentleman that I am not buying this uke for novelty sake. I want an instrument that will last. No, I do not want your inexpensive starter kit. What uke would you buy for yourself? He smiled, laughed, and asked, "So you're eat, pray, what-ing?"

He then picked up the Kala long neck ukulele that I would soon after bring home.

I can officially play several chords and am attempting to learn as many songs as possible. Apparently you can play a number of popular tunes only knowing 4 or 5 chords. I've made a personal promise to etch out practicing time daily and have even taken some free lessons from my skeptical friends at the shop. I also hope to be playing on the street next month. My mother thinks I'm joking about this.

And boy, Ingrid Michaelson and Jason Mraz sure make it look effortless. Although, I'm Yours has been my song of choice today and I have to say it's coming along. I'm already getting blisters on my fingers. I'm told this is a good sign.



Here she is, beautiful new love of the moment:


On another note, in a letter from a sweet friend today:

The earth is speaking to us, but we can't hear because of all the racket our senses are making- Sometimes we need to erase them, erase our senses. Then-maybe-the earth will touch us. The universe will speak. The stars will whisper.

-from Stargirl