Stephane left Montreal for the Turks and Caicos Islands in 1999, accepting a position as a renovation carpenter for Club Med.   After a couple of years of the world renowned Club Med craziness, he opted to move on to a cabinetmaking position with Southwind Millwork.  In 2003 he found himself back at Club Med, only this time not as a G.O. but as an outside contractor hired to build a new DJ booth.   Stacie arrived on island as a set designer for Club Med in April of 2003, and within the first week had spotted the tall, very tan, very handsome woodworker.  One afternoon, Stephane wandered backstage in search of a few tools to borrow, bumped into Stacie hard at work, and the two struck up conversation.  As they parted, he penned his number on paper.  Not only was he nice to look at, his handwriting was equally so!  By January of 2004, the two moved in together and the rest is history in the making.

We pleasantly pushed aside the topic for 5 fantastic years.  After settling into our thirties, suddenly it was popping up; the plusses (no more looking at eachother from opposite ends of the room in airport immigration lines), and the minuses (those married insert gripe here_________________) "Let's just do it"(ahhhhh sweet romance) Steph said to me during an April 2009 Sunday brunch by the beach.  Both happy to put the topic on the back burner again, now that we had finally decided on the matter, it crept up on us quicker than expected this June with my 97 yr old grandmother's passing.  Edna asked often her last 2 weeks when the wedding would be.  Thinking deeply about her life, our families, and the finality of death really brought the definitive decision to the forefront.  It suddenly seemed silly to be fearful of marriage, and waiting, as we so like to do, involves the assumption that we have all the time in the world, when in fact, we don't.  When the family gathered for her funeral in Wyoming, I announced our engagement.  I think Edna sported a triumphant smile as she was laid to rest.  The family was asked to set the date and a unanimous decision was made to escape the winter cold, thus January 9, 2010!  Long story short, we had the date set, the wardrobes purchased, and the wedding vendors solidified all before we had the proposal, which came 30 minutes after my fed-exed ring (charlotte pieces) arrived in Montreal. 1 day before we headed back to island and 2 days after Stephane's hernia surgery.  Stephane (painfully) walked me around the corner to a tiny neighborhood park near the St Laurent river, a charming spot with a bench for two,  then (very painfully) bent on one knee with only me, a mother duck, and her furry little ducklings to witness.

Born and raised in Wyoming, Stacie found her love for photography on the western plains in abandoned barns and quiet streams.  She earned her Associate in Arts degree from Cottey College in 1998, where western landscapes evolved into small town Midwestern photos of things long forgotten, trains sleeping in a rusty warehouse, farming machinery left to sunbathe and host the lush, creeping vegetation.  That education introduced women’s studies, cultural anthropology, world religions, and the byproduct was a whole new way of thinking about art.  Stacie continued her education at UMass-Dartmouth where she entered the visual design program.  Two professors there left lasting impressions.  Elaine Fisher, a photographer who paved her own way  into the art world in the 1960’s, who taught about the abstract while leading a regimented course on black and white printing, and Lasse Antonsen, who made art history as fascinating and intriguing as a book one can’t put down.  Stacie’s work changed significantly at this time.  Landscapes became fewer and farther and urban street scenes of New York emerged.  During her year on the east coast, Stacie applied for a scholastic scholarship to the Kansas City Art Institute, where she hoped to continue her studies in the rare color photography printing facilities.  Scholarship granted, she focused her work on a color printing technique known as “cliché ver.”  This series of collaged negatives, contact printed to create positive “Portraits of the Lipstick Proviso” dealt with feminism, modern media, advertising, and the influence of pop culture on the art world.

    During her senior thesis, Stacie began interning at renowned commercial studio, Vedros and Associates, of nationally famed photographer, Nick Vedros.  After earning her B.F.A. in photography from K.C.A.I. in 2001, Stacie continued to work in the art department on props or sets on commercial film shoots.  It wasn’t until an emergency backdrop was required on location that Stacie actually began painting.  Nearly a decade later, her work is primarily comprised of paintings, and even her photographs one may need to step closer to discover they are not comprised of brush strokes. 

     Stacie first stepped on Turks and Caicos soil in 2003 and since then continues to be in awe of the surrounding view.  These islands have inspired three dimensional work, shadow boxes and scrolls featuring feathery fan corals, intricate sponges, and delicate shells left upon these shores by the generous sea.  Nature continues to be the most influential factor in Stacie’s current work; whose purpose she feels is to evoke some form of emotion from the viewer.  From abandoned barns to abandoned boats, quiet streams to quiet canals, forgotten trains to forgotten laundry left on the line, no matter where you are, much of the human experience is shared in some way, shape, or form.  Stacie is presently employed as a creative designer for TC Millwork.

Stephane Sylvain Gaudet was born on September 29th, 1976 in Kirkland Quebec to Giselaine and Roger Gaudet.  He was all ears as a baby (actually it took him 18 years to grow into them) with thick curly blonde hair. He was a natural athlete as a boy, tall, lanky and loved bicycling best.  His sister Nancy remembers one summer morning riding together into the outskirts of the city as they often did, Stephane never tired and she reluctantly tried to keep up.  Come dusk they had reached their grandparents house, 40 miles from home!  Needless to say the Gaudet's put them to bed and drove them back, bicycles thrown in the back, the following day.  He picked up skateboarding, then snowboarding in high school, taking the bus by himself on weekends to various mountians nearby.  After graduating he worked for two years as a forklift operator in a wharehouse, a very large compound with no heat in the harsh Quebec winters.  The second frosty season there, with 10 pounds of wool on and still frozen hands, he let out an icy white sigh and decided to get the hell out of Quebec.  He enrolled in a professional trades course and within two years had diplomas in both carpentry and joinery/cabinetmaking.  A friend had recently been recruited by Club Med and he made it out to be a place where the sun shines every day, the ocean is crystal blue, and the bar never runs dry!  Needless to say, Stephane was soon after on a plane to Turks and Caicos . 

An island boy at heart he had found his place.  He picked up diving and windsurfing and never tired of the Caribbean sun and sea.  As much as he fell in love with the island life, the island returned the favor.  Within three years time he was running the largest millshop in the Caribbean, building custom cabinetry for prestigious, high profile resorts such as the Palms and the Amanyara.  Another two years after that he had not only started his own thriving company, TC Millwork, but had built his dream house (which took another three years to finish thanks to all the woodworking details). 

Stephane is extremely hard working and ambitious, but after hours he is about as laid back as they come.  He never sweats the small stuff, believes the best in everybody, and is a highly admirable optimist.  He takes good care of those around him; his family, his friends, his employees, and his clients would agree that to call him a perfectionist is an understatement.