My name is Stef and I was born in 1978, so you can do that math. The following bits of information are considered relevant to knowing my deal.

I was born in Syracuse, but grew up in Herkimer, NY. I was the valedictorian of my high school class. A grade A knurde. I do not believe that this has affected my life much beyond getting to make a speech. I went to RPI in Troy, NY for college, majoring in Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication (still not sure if those commas are in the right places). These were days of glory, comedy, squalor, and greasy late dinners that I would not trade for the world.

During my freshman year of college, my dad passed away unexpectedly. I also have a mom and a sister (2.5 years younger than me). After college, I moved to Syracuse again and worked at Borders. Obtained one gray kitty named Brand O. Thought about going back to school and almost ended up studying earth science at SUNY Plattsburgh (accepted, but chose not to). I was driving home from visiting there on September 11th.

During that time, I met Joe, who I married in 2003. Joe is a musician and is currently a contractor for Large Northeast Power Company. We lived for a short time in Bennington, VT, until I decided I did not want to do an MFA at and threw all my eggs into a basket for Cornell. Magically, Joe got a job offer for the Ithaca area at that same time, so we moved to Ithaca. I worked at a used book store (now closed) for awhile and that was the absolute worst job I ever had because the owners were sociopaths. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT WORKING AT BOOKSTORES, LARGE AND SMALL. I have stories.

Got accepted to Cornell for a graduate program in historic preservation planning. Loved loved loved it and my pals there. While in Ithaca, we obtained one orange kitty named Cheddar. Moved back to Syracuse and essentially bummed around for awhile, trying to finish my thesis and do some freelance web work. Learned to play the drums (or at least enough to start a band, now defunct, and play out a couple times with Joe and his brother).

Made semi-ill-advised decision to start a documentary film and history program at SU. In theory, not a bad idea, but in practice? I learned that I am done with school. Near the end of that, I found that I was laden with baby. This was not something that I ever imagined happening, but then I just felt like it needed to. Who knows?

Cecilia was born January 11, 2009 and is an Awesome Little Kid.

We bought a house in Syracuse and I worked at an architectural/preservation planning firm for a few years. Things were good and I learned about all the cool stuff tucked into Syracuse and served on the Board of Zoning Appeals and tried to be a Good Citizen. And then a lot of stuff happened and we now live back in my hometown, in my grandparents’ former house. And there we go.