I was born in Slidell, Louisiana on May 27th, 1977 to Andrew and Barbara. I have one and a half sisters and half a brother. I lived in only one house while I was growing up.

I graduated from Northshore High in 1995 and went to UNO for an electrical engineering degree. I made some great friends in both high school and college, but I'm pretty lousy about keeping in touch with them, especially the high school friends.

I met my future wife in college, but that's a story for the center column.

After graduating from UNO in May 2000, I took a job in Los Angeles because, frankly, the job offers in and around New Orleans kind of sucked. One offer was only about half what I was offered out here. To be honest I also wanted the chance to live somewhere far away from everything I knew to see what it was like. Two-thousand miles is pretty far away. I also had subtle delusions of driving around in my brand new convertible in the eternally sunny southern California weather. Little did I know that, had I bought the convertible, I'd have spent most of the time stuck in traffic getting sunburned on my quickly balding head, at least when the fog wasn't covering the city.

Now I'm married, still working in California, and trying to get a job transfer back to the region I still call home. If I can't get a transfer, I'm going to join the Cerio World order as the minister of economic affairs.

I love Atomic Thump. They are the greatest band that ever was and ever will be. Someday, Atomic Thump will replace oxygen as the substance we breathe to sustain life.

If you don't understand that last paragraph, you probably weren't meant to.

I think my favorite movie of all time is a tie between Ferris Beuler's Day Off and The Goonies

One of my favorite TV shows of all time was a very short lived series on Fox in 2002 called Firefly. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend picking up the series on DVD.

Stacey:  We met at the University of New Orleans on November 4th, 1998.  Don't give me any guff for remembering the date - we met at our friend Charity's birthday party. 

Drew: Yeah, about a month after I started going out with my girlfriend at the time. 

Fortunately enough for me, right?  Anyway, I remember the first thing I noticed about him was how gorgeous his lips were.  I still think that. 

How embarrassing.

We were pretty close starting then.  We hung out all the time, with groups, without groups, at parades,

Don't forget the beer fight.

Ahh yes.  At one barbecue, the reason for which I can't remember, we started threatening each other with cans of beer, poptops at the ready.  We shook them up, got closer, ran away, got closer... I can't remember who opened theirs first,

I can.  It was you.

Ohhhhhh.  Anyway, fast forward.  We were the bestest of friends for the next two years.  Drew got a job in California, and I was pretty much devastated.  My best friend, my crush, moving 2000 miles away?  How dare he? 

It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

Yeah yeah.  So a few months later, we were on the phone (as we were almost every night), and he mentions something about mold being on a plate in his computer room because it had been sitting there so long.  I asked if he needed a housekeeper, he asked if I needed a job. 

I wouldn't have brought you out here if my roommate hadn't split the bill with me.  You owe Jeff our marriage.

Charity says the same thing, since we wouldn't have met had I not met her.  So I quit my job at the New Orleans Steamboat Company, packed up all my things (all 4 boxes of it), and made the big trip out west.  I moved out here October 16, 2000. 

How can you remember that many dates??

You married a freak of nature.

Already knew that.

I was a good little housekeeper until January 3rd, 2001, when my boss put the moves on me.  Nah, he was very respectful.  "I've been thinking - what would you think if I said I wanted us to start dating?"  Of course, I was elated.  I believe it was the next day we decided we would date exclusively, a week after that we said the "L" word, and a week after that we decided we were going to be married. 

Our love was like a cancer that spread.

It certainly was pretty quick.  We actually started planning our wedding before he proposed on February 1st, 2001, right outside of the Robbins Brothers, right after we had picked our rings.  He made this big production of going through our rings, then finally found my engagement ring and turned to me with a cheesy grin.  I told him if he was going to propose, at LEAST get out of the car.  I had dreams - one of them was not being proposed to over an emergency brake. 

And a stick shift!

So he got out, came to my side of the car, knelt down among the oil stains in the parking lot, and said "Stacey Janette Branson, would you marry me?"  I almost said "I woouullld, but..."  I didn't. 

So, we were married on March 15th, 2001. 

And that's who we be.

Bored yet?  Yeah, me too.  SHEESH.  Get to the good stuff.

I dropped out of UNO and got myself a jobby job, and had some of the best years of my life with the best friends a girl could have.  Drew decided to move to California, which broke my heart.  See middle column for full story. 

Now, I'm a housewife, after having had a 3-year stint at a home improvement company whose windows are the absolute best in the industry.  Seriously. 

I am politically involved, but my passion is waning in the face of such widespread apathy on the part of the American people.

I LOVE Burlap to Cashmere, the greatest band since Atomic Thump.  Unfortunately, the lead singer of Burlap to Cashmere decided to leave the band.  The remaining members have performed at The Bitter End in NYC once that I know about.  I love them so much that I sent my favorite New Yorker cousin Veronica to see them in my proxy.  Seriously, they're awesome.

Update!  Steve and Johnny of B2C have been seen together playing a few dates lately.  Come to the South, boys!  Please!

I love my Lord, my husband, my family, my goddaughters, my cats, New Orleans, and getting my eyebrows waxed.

I have an older half-sister, a younger half-sister, a younger step-sister, and a younger step-brother.  The older half-sister and step-siblings are on my mom's side, the younger half-sister is on my dad's side.  I also have stepparents.  I refer to all of my stepparents as if they were my parents and all of my half- and step-siblings as if they were my full siblings.  For example, "I visited my parents and sister in Indiana" means "I visited my dad, step-mom, and half-sister in Indiana."  Good times.

By the way, if anyone decides to Google me, I'm going to put my name and a few other points of relevant information about myself right here. 

Stacey Branson (my maiden name)

Castle High School Class of 1998 (my graduating class)

Newburgh, IN (one of my many hometowns)