Virtual Christmas Card Photo

One of our biggest highlights of 2005 was a trip to the Grand Canyon.

It's a canyon that is so huge, it's... What's the word... Grand.



Does this canyon make my gut look small?

Christmas Quiz

Test your knowledge of Sean and Catherine’s lives in 2005 by finding the false answer:

Sean traveled to Atlanta in 2005 to:
1. Attend the premiere of his musical SUPERHERO HIGH.
2. Teach acting with Catherine to hyperactive junior high kids.
3. Attend the Art Within Playwrights’ and Screenwriters’ Seminar.
4. Try out as relief pitcher for the Braves.

While at the San Diego Comic-Con, Catherine:
1. Attended some cool voice over seminars, and a rockin’ Jim Henson retrospective.
2. Laughed out loud at the woman’s t-shirt proclaiming: “These are not the ‘droids you are looking for.”
3. Hung out with friends Vicki and Cory, saw Joel’s musical parody FELLOWSHIP and stood in line at friend Kelly’s autograph booth.
4. Decided her husband isn’t a geek after all, sold all of her belongings to obtain a mint edition of BRAVE AND THE BOLD issue #54, and opened up a thousand dollar a week account at the local comic book store.

Sean got side benefits while traveling this past year, because when he taught at:
1. …the Lillenas Music and Drama Conference in Kansas City in February, he lost weight by freezing his butt off.
2. …Castro Valley Christian Writer’s Conference, he got to watch Catherine go stir crazy, as she spent the whole weekend in the motel room watching him get over a bad cold.
3. …Biola University, he got paid to watch movies and talk on and on about them – something he does nonstop at home anyway.
4. …an Act One conference in New York, he stayed at a monastery, and engaged the monks in polite continuous conversation – totally unaware that he was violating their time of Grand Silence.
5. …the Advanced School for Barney Imitators, he got to sing the “I Love You” song six hundred and eighty four times, a song he can never get enough of.

Catherine kept her artistic skills honed by:
1. Directing a reading of Sean’s short film, IT’S A LIVING.
2. Directing DOUBT and acting in TEN UNKNOWNS for Caltech’s Playreaders.
3. Acting in a reading of friend Shon’s play for Vox Humana.
4. Acting in numerous videos for our church, including a hilarious turn as a professor replacing the angels announcing the birth of Christ with a lecture on the Greek meanings of the words used in the proclamation.
5. Sitting down with Constantine from American Idol and Keanu Reeves from the film CONSTANTINE to discuss the importance of pop music in the fight between angels and demons.

Sean surprised Catherine on the tenth-anniversary-of-the-day-they-met by:
1. Secretly arranging with her boss for her to take a day off work, without her knowledge.
2. Whisking her away for a weekend in Santa Barbara.
3. Flying down good friends, the Vances, to share the weekend.
4. Making a fur coat by catching six thousand caterpillars, and hand stitching their fuzzy skins together.

Catherine surprised Sean on his fortieth birthday by:
1. Taking him on a surprise trip to the Grand Canyon.
2. Stopping along the way in Needles, California, home to Snoopy’s brother Spike (where he writes postcards to Snoopy while sitting under a cactus).
3. Capping off the trip with two days in Las Vegas.
4. Making a fur coat by catching thirty-eight Barney imitators, and hand stitching their fuzzy skins together.

Sean’s new writing projects included:
1. Becoming Story Editor and Head Writer for a revamp of CBN’s animated children’s series, SUPERBOOK.
2. Developing a television comedy series pitch with Joel McC. that makes fun of the bureaucracy involved in the afterlife.
3. Developing a swords and sorcery style comic book with Will Z.
4. Tattooing the entire U.S. Constitution on the ankle of Angelina Jolie, all the while muttering, “At least it’s a writing gig.”

Highlights of the year included:
1. Catherine going on a simple, “exercise and eat right” diet and reaching her goal of fitting back in to her college wardrobe; but upon re-discovering those oh-so-fashionable massive 80’s shoulder pads, settling for a shopping spree instead.
2. Sean wiping out on the Alpine Slides while playing with the Reohr’s at Mt. Hood, Oregon, burning a hole through his coat, and continuing to proudly wear the coat as if it were the Purple Heart.
3. Catherine finding out in book club that she enjoyed DRACULA, but really is afraid of Virginia Wolfe.
4. Visiting, and being visited by, Matt G., Jennifer M., Klindworths, Steins, Deasons, Lunds, Schuchmanns, Lais, Vances, Leilani W., Dave H., Reohrs, & many Pleis types. (2006 reservations available now.)
5. Sean and Catherine being chosen by Fox Television to be the new Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchey in the upcoming season of THE SIMPLE LIFE.

Many blessings to you and yours!

With love, Sean & Catherine

gaffney@gaffneyinkwell.com

http://www.gaffneyinkwell.com/

Inspiration

This is a real place. (Though it looks like a clip out of a movie.)
It's amazing what a trip around the Grand Canyon can show you. Sean & I took a leisurely drive up the east side, through the painted desert and found this amazing vista near the Vermillion Cliffs. Talk about "off the beaten path."
I guess we've been inspired to share vistas like this with others. And maybe even a few random thoughts along the way.
Enjoy. Welcome to the world of the Gaffneys!