This year has been filled with many events and responsibilities – Full-time employment, school, graduation, trip to Hawaii, marriage, moving – all of these are great; and all of these have helped contribute to a backlog of several thousand, unsorted, unedited, unblogged photographs. Over the last month I have removed the un’s from the aforementioned photographs, resulting in over one hundred that I’d like to show to you. These photographs are of my trip to Hawaii, my marriage, honeymoon, and various other things that I have seen during the last 6 months.

Starting with this post, I am going to begin posting several photographs every day; making up for all the posts I should have made earlier this year.

Don’t be shy – I welcome your thoughts, critique, and compliments – I’d love for you to comment.

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Now, enough of the shameless advertising. Here’s one more photograph…

This is my friend Joe Derse, and his mother; he graduated this May.

Today Fed-Ex delivered a long awaited package. A month ago I ordered a second ring from Reflective Images, a jewelry studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The artists, at Reflective Images, handcraft some amazing jewelry and I have been very thrilled with the rings. The first ring I purchased was an engagement ring for Alyson (my fiancée). I wanted a unique ring, so I spent some time searching for a jeweler that had the right style. I found Reflective Images and their wedding ring site, and they had exactly what I wanted.

I decided on the Continuous Garden Gate design and bought the narrow wedding band to use as the engagement ring. When I presented Alyson with the ring, she was surprised and ecstatic. For the wedding ring, we choose the same style with the addition of a 1/4 caret diamond. As you can see below, it’s pretty stunning. (Alyson, purchased me a wider ring, of the same style, with no diamonds.)

I really appreciate the helpful, friendly service and the incredible artistry of the people at Reflective Images.

Below are some quick shots (the close-ups are reverse macro) I took before the sun set. I’ll probably borrow a friend’s light box/tent sometime in the near future and use it to shoot some super sharp pictures of the rings.

My fiancée and I made fajitas for dinner tonight, and I decided to make some fresh salsa with a mango I had.
Here’s the result and recipe.

Fresh Mango Salsa

1 ripened mango - chunked
1 medium tomato - chunked
1/4 of a medium, mild-tasting onion - minced
1/4 to 1/2 of a red bell pepper - chopped
1/2 of a lime - squeezed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh minced garlic or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. habañero pepper (optional)
Small amount of chopped cilantro - to taste (optional)

The mango can be substituted for 1-2 ripened peaches or 1 papaya.