I’m currently forty-four years of age, but that could differ depending on what year you read this, and unless some fundamental laws of nature change, I expect that number to only get higher.

I started working full time while in high school and haven’t stopped since. My illustrious career began with a smattering of service experiences at various fast food and restaurant chains, went on to fine jewelry, slipped into property management, morphed into corporate real estate, then landed in mergers and acquisitions.

During this long journey, I engaged in numerous self-improvement and self-study programs along with several degree programs and came dangerously close to completing at least one of those. I was also waylaid for a brief period of time in corporate communications, before finally escaping. And, as if working well into the wee hours of the morning at my “day” job wasn’t enough, I become a writer.

Though, originally from the North Chicago Suburbs, my current home is situated amidst the Smoky Mountains where I can sometimes see the shadows of clouds lying on the mountainside from my front porch. I am not yet snobbish enough to call the porch a veranda, but time will tell. I’m a great believer in the proof being in the pudding. Sometimes my young adult daughter joins me on the veranda… err, porch to admire the view. We enjoy watching the ducks in the pond from across the way.

My house is a modestly sized ranch painted in a boring light beige, but the walls make the perfect backdrop for my brightly colored Gustav Klimt canvas prints. Thanks to the support of my readers, Van Gogh has recently joined Klimt on the walls where they’re getting along famously.

More importantly than all I’ve just shared, you absolutely must know that my favorite color is purple. Not Barney purple, no offense to Barney, but more of a medium eggplant purple. I like to think of it as a “mature” purple, but deep down in my heart I know it’s really just purple.

Beautiful vista of small farm fields arranged in a checkerboard fashion over a mountainside with mist obscuring the peak of the mountain.

This is a panorama shot taken inexpertly by me, Lilo, from my front porch. So when I say that I can sometimes see the shadows of the clouds laying on the mountainside, I’m being quite literal. You are welcome to join me in the Smoky Mountains. It’s really lovely.