Gallagher Christmas Shoot!

Tis' the season to be jolly, fa lalalala, lalalala!!

Happy Hallow-thanks-mas.

That's what happens when you don't blog in the fall -- you end up having a funny title because so much happens this time of year. Well we've been enjoying all the firsts with baby Daniel, clearly as you can see here by his first Halloween. He was Rambo for part of the night and a bunny for the rest of it. I'm sure you can figure out which parent had their influence on costumes. :) 

Then there was Thanksgiving. We had three all together which was a lot of fun. And when I say "fun" I mean "turkey". But Thanksgiving has always been my absolutely favorite holiday, even more so than Christmas. It's a time to reflect on how much we are truly blessed in this life, a time give, a time to eat yummy food, a time before everyone starts to commercialize Christmas and definitely a time before people stomp walmart clerks to death to get a good deal on a flat screen. Makes me sick just thinking about it. Anyways, it was great to spend time with family and friends and that's exactly what we did. 

And now it's December. We just celebrated Daniel's 27th birthday (crazy) and we are loving our nice little twelve foot christmas tree we had plucked out of the Lassen National Forest yesterday with other friends. You just can't beat a ten dollar 12 foot Christmas tree!! And of course it's been fun to decorate the house with all the appropriate decor. We had the huge honor of our friends Lyn and Jesse hook us up with a photo shoot which I will soon post pictures of. Until then, hope you have a very merry christmas. 

-mg

How quickly summer days have come and gone. Well, actually in Redding it is more like summer days have come and are still coming. All I can really remember is trying not to breath in the smoke from the fires surrounding our quaint little town. Or wondering why Costco had to repave the whole parking lot in the hottest month of the year and watch as cars left turn marks and they drove off before their kirkland super premium vanilla ice cream melted. No doubt it was a classic Redding summer. But there were good things that came from this summer too. Like going to my little brothers swim meets, taking the baby to his first swimming lessons, working a few shifts at the MAC counter and being able to hang out with the girls, going to the lake with Daniel and having lots of bbq's with friends. Yes it has been a great summer indeed. 

Daniel's work schedule is much more consistent these days as well which is a huge relief. Baby Daniel is crawling like a champ and is ready to walk just as soon as his legs figure it out! I am branching out and starting to freelance on my own as a makeup artist and with the help of our friends, The Rostens, I am beginning to work on my makeup repertoire/portfolio. 

All in all, we are one happy family and we look forward to the next season and what it brings!

-mg

Finally sailed...

And I am hooked. Some of you know, and some of you may have heard from Michelle about my obsession with sailing. I don't remember when it started exactly, all I know is that it is always there.

I am a waterdog. Some of my fondest memories are all involving water, and of course some of my scariest memories also involve water. No matter the memory, scary or fond, they all have great stories to go along. Yesterday was no exception.

When Michelle and moved to the Bay Area for my job, I got all excited when I realized there was a sailing school about ten minutes from our apartment. I figured I would save my pennies and attend all the classes I could before the end of our "tour" in the Bay. But money has a way of slipping through my fingers rather quickly and soon we were planning to move back to Redding. So I turned my eyes towards smaller, lake-type, sailing vessels. Once again driving Michelle mad with my plans for yet another hobby. Sorry babe.

One day while I was working with one of my supervisors, he mentioned how he would rather be out on his boat on such a hot day. The mention of a boat immediately peaked my attention and I asked him what type of boat he had. "An older 34' sail boat". I explained my obsession of sailing to him and he shocked me again with the news that he was an instructor for a sailing school in Berkely for a long time. I offered my manual labor services and expressed my willingness to scrub the deck, scrape barnacles, and retrieve anchors released to the dirty depths of the bay... ok, maybe not the last one.

We made arrangements and I finally got to go for a sail on an honest to goodness sailboat. It was great. We motored out of the marina and onto the bay south of the San Mateo bridge. As we cruised along the windspeed starting picking up and soon we were in full on 30 knot winds. Sitting along the windward side, staring straight down into the water, I asked how fast of winds the races were usually held in. "15-20 knots" my supervisor replied, "actually right now we are sailing when most people won't, the small-craft advisory is at 25 knots". He glanced back over his shoulder with a border line maniacal grin as another five gallons of seawater sprayed over us. It was great.

I'm hooked, I want to sail more. I don't need a boat yet, but I would like to go get all my certificates so I can charter boats. I sense good adventures ahead!

- dg