Happy Birthday Gabriel

today is gabriel's 27th birthday!!!!!

i just wanted to put up a quick post thanking my wonderful husband for being so patient and forgiving with me for the past year and a half. i dont always clean the kitchen, do the laundry, shave my legs, like to clean the toilets (yuck), i sometimes forget to brush my teeth in the morning, oops, i start to make dinner and then decide i dont want to do it anymore, i change mind every, oh i dont know, 2 minutes, i never make the bed in the morning, i read really late at night while the light's bright and your trying to sleep, i get us all motivated to run and eat healthy and half way through our run i throw a temper tantrum and want to go home and eat ben and jerrys, i am not organized, i keep the office a mess... but through all my shortcomings you still find beauty in them and how you do that will always amaze me.

i thank god so much for blessing me with such an incredible man. happy birthday babe!!!

Returning to Suburbia

the past couple weeks have been rad to say the least. i have found myself deep in central america, surfing in trunks in october, snorkeling in hawaii, and jumping from one plane to the next. and though it has been rejuvenating to leave behind wifi, and email, and cell phones... for the simple life, for a lazy afternoon with a couple of beers in a hammock, waiting for the tide to come up, i am amped to get back in the game. not to mention i'm stoked to sleep in my own bed.

so, carlie and i are about to pack up our bags and jump on our last plane for a while (until february at least), and leave the island life, for our daily life. i am sure orange county will be just as busy, as fast-paced, as we left it. and when we roll back into the neighborhood early tomorrow morning, after downloading all the photo & video from the past few weeks, i am actually looking forward to a nice dose of suburbia.


isn't my wife hot?!?! carlie chillin' in the jungle at waimea.

Bits and Pieces

four plane rides, a few rain storms, one wedding, and two big happy families later, carlie & i are back to our home and studio here in south orange county. i can't explain how blessed we are to live this life we have been given, to come in contact with such incredible people, to be wedding photographers, to do this together as a husband & wife team...

we definitely have some exciting stuff to share with you this week, and can't wait to get started on all of it. jamie & jr, we pray that the rest of your honeymoon in cancun is wonderfully relaxing. kacey & alan, we hope your trip down to puerto vallarta is a safe one, and the two of you revel in some much deserved time together. kacie & gregg, we can't wait to see you this next weekend in napa, and are sure that the excitement level is building as we approach your wedding day. and to all those emails sitting in my inbox, i look forward to piecing through the bits of life that have developed over this past weekend.

enjoy.the.story.

oregon has character.

Avalicious

big things are on the horizon for the duo here at gabriel.ryan.photographers. [aka me & carlie]. and, when big things are in order, new avatars are a must...

The Smell of a Memory

its character oozed from the signature dash. it smelled the same. it sounded the same. it took me back.

during my senior year of high school, i turned 17; a bit of a youngster for my class. i had just discovered a passion [or at least what i thought i wanted to turn into a passion] for snowboarding. one youth group trip to the mountains and i was sold on my calling in life: to shred.

so, being somewhat broke, having not fully invested my time in the workplace seeing as our local institution required my attendance in other arenas [aka 'school'], birthdays and christmas were my main hope in obtaining any equipment that would allow me access to pursue my new 'passion.' i didn't care what the 'rents got me, as long as it was snowboarding-related.

the big day came, 17 years old, and i opened my first box. the shape led me to believe in only two options: a sweater or some shred clothes, maybe a pair of pants, a wind breaker... who knew. seeing as i hadn't asked for any sweaters, the possibilities looked promising. as i peaked thru the tissue wrapping the first gift, the mysterious garment was rather disappointing. in fact, my sister immediately snatched the article from my grasp.

those are mine

sure enough... one pair of used athletic pants belonging to my younger sister, ashley. and, to add insult to injury, i found a note beneath the pants. it read,

no snowboarding pants here

haha i thought. very funny.

yet, the alleged humor did not let up. no gloves here. no goggles here. it seemed as if tradition had been broken, and unbeknown to me, my family & friends were throwing me on an un-birthday party. didn't they know what day it was? the reason we called this celebration? i saw a long, dreary winter ahead.

at about the peak of my frustration, i heard honking... yes... honking. i instantly knew. it was pat, my step-dad. you see, pat has a good sense of humor. however, his timing is usually off. i thought, he was coming home from feeding the horses, and thought it would be funny to pull the attention away from me, the big kahuna, the birthday man himself [yes... 'man' at 17], and bring everyone's focus on him for his grand entrance.

so, first i heard the honk. then the sound of tires squealing around the side of the house towards the party in back. wait a sec... what is pat doing driving that? he doesn't drive a bug...

at first i was confused. a little slow to react, i put the pieces together.

birthday + no snowboarding gear = brand new car for me

that was it; a candy-apple red, 1969, volkswagen beetle. and it was mine.

so, this morning, when eric farewell met me for a breakfast burrito and a surf, and he pulled up in his new surf mobile, it took me back. the burrito was filling, the surf was fun, but most of all, thanks for buying that car.

and thanks again, eric, for letting me slap on the new tilt-shift to shoot your new ride. i know it's a little soft, but it will just have to take practice to dial in all those knobs & dials.

rock.on.