Jo Ann Ortega

Hello to Nova Scotia!

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted anything and I do apologize for that delay. It is my intention to post something at least weekly. I have written and rewritten a post called “Christmas in July” about a hundred times and I still don’t have the heart to post it. It’s funny cause I amContinue reading “Hello to Nova Scotia!”

A Different Kind of Honeymoon

After my family and friends left the island following our wedding, Joan and I set out on what I have called, “a different kind of honeymoon”! We were already in one of the most beautiful locations on this earth, how could we beat it? We didn’t even attempt to. Instead, we used this time toContinue reading “A Different Kind of Honeymoon”

God blessed the broken road

Mom, Dad, Joan and I at La Boca, February 2010

God blessed the broken road

By the time February 2010 came around, I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I was going to spend my life with Joan and had started making plans to ensure that happened. I had spent time with him in April, June, September, November…and then it was finally time. Time for what, you ask?Continue reading “God blessed the broken road”

If I could turn back time…

On June 14, 2009, less than two months after my original trip to the Dominican Republic, I returned to the island with my friend Flora. You hear people say that the islands called to them, but I didn’t believe that was possible until the cries were deafening. I had given my head the stern lecture,Continue reading “If I could turn back time…”

Who am I and why am I writing this blog??

Welcome to my new blog!! I created this page many moons ago but never quite found the gumption to publish it or to do much with it! But today, I feel a sense of peace and, dare I say it lest I jinx my universe, even a glimmer of joy?! And with that peace andContinue reading “Who am I and why am I writing this blog??”

The first time ever I saw your face…

When I first laid my eyes on him, I gasped. Seriously. I had seen that word written in trashy romance novels my whole life and scoffed at the mere thought of gasping over a man! My mother had raised me to believe I didn’t need a man at all! Let alone gasping over one! But,Continue reading “The first time ever I saw your face…”

Goin to the chapel and we’re gonna get married…

Four years later, on October 19, 2013, that Animation Manager with whom I share almost the same name, became my husband – on a beach in Puerto Plata in front of our family and friends. My parents walked me down the sandy aisle to the sounds of my brother, Brian and my cousin, Ginny, performingContinue reading “Goin to the chapel and we’re gonna get married…”