If you would have told me a year ago where I would be today I would have never believed you. I was certainly happy with where things were going at that time, but now I can’t imagine my life without Stephanie and Emma.

My friend Bridget has long been describing to me how when her and Andy started dating they just knew it was right. She always said when it’s right you will just know it without question. To be honest I had always thought she was full of garbage. I also used to think it was ridiculous when people would get engaged without dating for at least a year or two. But then I met Stephanie. She is more than I have ever hoped for in a wife, so needless to say that I am thrilled that she is the one who will come into my old house and make it a home. Bridget told me she thought that Steph could be the ‘one’ the first time I mentioned her, and as it turns out Bridget knows a lot more about relationships than I had given her credit for!

At any rate, I am excited for what lies ahead for the 3 of us and am thankful for all the support from our friends and family. Things are so drastically different than I would have expected a year ago, and yet my life has never felt so complete and full of purpose and direction as it does right now.

We are doing this color code personality thing and we’ve had a lot of fun discussing each others personalities. As it turns out I am a YELLOW personality, though I have a significant amount of WHITE – after learning about the colors, no surprise there. It also turns out that my complimentary opposite personality is BLUE, which is great because that happens to be Stephanie’s personality color.

It has to do with your inner motivations. Not what you do or how you act, but what motivates you to do so. Apparently I am primarily motivated by a need to be having fun in life. Which I find fairly interesting because many of my YELLOW traits are in direct conflict with my WHITE traits. Guess that explains why I am the way I am.

If you want to find out your primary color you can go to this web page. Feel free to post your results here!

Here is a condensed version of my personality, though like I said I think I’m just as much WHITE so I am not quite as simple as a single color.

Yellows are motivated by Fun. They are inviting and embrace life as a party that they’re hosting. They love playful interaction and can be extremely sociable. They are highly persuasive and seek instant gratification. yellows need to be adored and praised. While yellows are carefree, they are sensitive and highly alert to others’ agendas to control them. Yellows typically carry within themselves the gift of a good heart

Yellows need to look good socially, and friendships command a high priority in their lives. yellows are happy, articulate, engaging of others and crave adventure. Easily distracted, they can never sit still for long. They embrace each day in the “present tense” and choose people who, like themselves, enjoy a curious nature. Yellows are charismatic, spontaneous, and positive; but can also be irresponsible, obnoxious, and forgetful. When you deal with a YELLOW, take a positive, upbeat approach and promote light-hearted, creative, and fun interactions.

I should also point out that the report says “The combination of yellow and white is the most well-liked and personable of all personalities…” Go me!

I’ve always loved the mountains. When I was about 5 or 6, my mom’s entire side of the family took a road trip out to Colorado, and I was very excited to see real mountains first hand. We drove through the night, eventually stopping for breakfast at a Village Inn in the dark hours of the early morning.

As we were eating, the sun gradually started coming up and one of my cousins proclaimed “you can see the mountains out the other windows!”. So with much excitement I ran across the restaurant to see for myself. I’m sure to everyone else it was perfectly routine to see the sunrise reveal the distant mountain range, but to me it was a truly spectacular sight.

Anytime I visit places with mountains now it’s always exciting to catch that first glimpse in the distance. To this day I always anticipate the spot on I-70 in eastern Colorado where on a clear day the front range first becomes visible (it’s mile marker 370).

Over the years I have seen many a mountain range come into view, but my very first sighting from the dining room of a Village Inn will probably always be one of my favorite memories.

Going to church makes me feel religious, and like I’m doing the ‘right thing’, but it doesn’t necessarily make me feel truly closer to God. The sermon gives me guidance, which I need, but otherwise, being in a large man-made structure, singing someone else’s songs, and watching some mesmerizing patterns of light projected onto a screen…to me it’s usually entertaining at best. But that’s probably just because singing isn’t a gift or desire that God gave me.

-click for larger version-

So what does make me feel more connected to God? Things like this sunflower next to my house with it’s perfect double spiral pattern. Every time I see something like this I feel as though I’m standing before direct evidence of God’s presence among us. Humans can make a cheap plastic imitation, but only God can make a tiny seed that converts water, dirt, and sunlight into flower that forms these bright colors and patterns without any human intervention. And if the design alone isn’t enough, it interacts symbiotically with countless other creations. Seeing things like this reminds me that I am not here by sheer coincidence of two colliding stars in a universe without purpose.

While it doesn’t make me a better person, being out in the world that God created, and appreciating His works of art make me feel much more connected to Him in a way that simply attending a church service surrounded by all things man-made can seldom do. In a way I suppose taking this photo and showing it off to the world is, albeit unconventional, my song of praise to our creator.

[SinglePic not found]I’ve had so many people tell me I should sell some of my photos I’ve finally decided to give it a shot. The result of this idea is my newest web creation, Shortleaf.com, which features my latest and greatest (mostly) nature photos. They can be viewed much larger than on this site, plus they are available for sale in a variety of sizes and options. It’s fairly limited now, but as most things, it will grow with time. To the right you can see how very excellent these look hanging on a wall! (Click image for a larger view)

The name Shortleaf comes from my obsession with conifers and Missouri’s native Shortleaf pine – one of my favorite trees. A guy in Maryland had already registered the domain, but he was kind enough to let me have it for my site! So a big thanks to him.

Also, I am not alone in my creative web ventures… Bridget is making neat earrings, Ian & Co. are doing a project with Adam’s grandpa’s treasure-trove of old slides, and Shelf-life is making some pretty cool “hang-downs”. So I must know a lot of creative people. I bet all of these project doers are left handed.

Anyways… this concludes the promotion of my new photo site for the time being!

One of my favorite, yet most inconvinent traits is my left handedness. I don’t know why, but for some reason I am very proud of this fact. Something that most of you (who are right handed) probably never think about is that many every day objects, tools, etc are designed to be used with your right hand. There are lots, but today I will focus on one that I recently ran across that I found surprising.

I bought this new ultra concentrated bottle of laundry detergent (not the one pictured btw) and every time I go to use it, I find it very awkward to pour. The spout was at a weird angle, and the way I held the bottle, the detergent would just kind of spill and dribble over the side and miss the spout all together. After using the bottle several times, I thought to try pouring with my right hand. Sure enough, the detergent poured straight through the spout nice and neat.

Just one more thing I can add to my list of right handed biased products.