Born: April 4, 1974 in Caldwell, Idaho
I was born April 4, 1974 (on Dad's 32nd birthday) in Caldwell, Idaho. I lived in Caldwell (in the same house) for the next 18 years, attending Caldwell schools as well as Grace Lutheran Church. After graduation from Caldwell High School (also Mom and Dad's high school), I headed off in the fall of 1992 to Sewanee, Tennessee, to attend The University of the South, a small liberal arts college set in 10,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau. While there I spent a semester traveling with Sewanee's European Studies Program, visiting Edinburgh; York and Oxford, England; Paris; Madrid and Granada, Spain; Rome, Florence, and Venice, Italy; and Amsterdam.
After graduating from Sewanee with a B.A. in Mediaeval Studies, I returned to York for a one-year M.A. program (also in Medieval Studies). This allowed more opportunities for travel--various locations in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Norway. Meanwhile Matt had moved to Charlottesville, Virginia to attend graduate school at UVa. In the summer of 1998 I moved to Charlottesville, also, to share a house with Matt.
After a handful of temporary jobs, I was hired at the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) in June 1999, which in May 2004 changed its name to CFA Institute. Matt and I shared two different rental places in Charlottesville and also adopted a crazed rescue dachshund named Lucky. In October 1999 a friend of Matt's from graduate school (who also worked at AIMR) set Matt up with Cheryl Likness, yet another AIMR employee. After the first group get-together, where Matt and Cheryl hit it off, they went on their first real date on October 17, Cheryl's 27th birthday. Matt and Cheryl became engaged (with assistance from me and a pink bunny named Friendly) in 2001, and they were married on June 8, 2002. Matt and Cheryl moved into their first (rental) place, and Lucky and I also moved into our own place.
In March 2004 Matt and Cheryl purchased a home of their own in a housing development near Palmyra, Virginia. In April 2005 I moved to Waynesboro, a town of about 20,000 in the Shenandoah Valley, about 25 miles from Charlottesville. Lucky the Wonder Dachshund has now gone on to the Happy Digging Grounds, but eventually I am sure to have more dachshunds roaming about.
Matt and I enjoy playing as part of an old-school country band called The Corn Hog Association. So far we mostly play for tips and free coffee, though in the summer of 2006 we will have our first paid gig. With the rest of my spare time I enjoy genealogy research, collecting family stories, and working on my ever-increasing collections of antiques and books (200+ cookbooks at last count...).