Stephanie Holm

• Name: Stephanie Holm

• Age: 38

• Family: Daughter, Gyrlande, 5

• Occupation: I own and operate Snapaholics.com, a large "Web shop" selling hair accessories, beads, snaps, clips, hair and skin care products, aimed at little girls. I also run a document courier business to the (California) Secretary of State, and I do remote administrative assistance for my cousin's business. And I'm looking for a "real job."

• Hobbies, interests: As a computer geek and single mom, I don't get out much. Except to the park, and it seems like I am always running out of food somehow, so I find myself at Winco and Wal-Mart quite a bit. If I had time I would pursue a more serious hobby interest in Gothic Cathedrals. I also love criminology. I adore traveling, and Gyrlande likes it too, so someday when we can afford it we'll jaunt all around the globe. She has a younger sister adopted to France so we need to go there first for a visit.

• Where do you get your news? Online, online and online. And in the checkout line. I read the gossip rags and Gyrlande reads the bride magazines. Seriously.

•What keeps you in the Plumas Lake area? I am just waiting on the edge of my seat for the commercial (business) to come and the market to turn around. Then I can relax a little.

•What aspects about the community attracted you here initially? Affordability, the potential I saw here, and I do enjoy the quiet. And it's driveable to Sac and Roseville. And the stars rock.

• Do you belong to any clubs or organizations in the community? No, not right now. Just soccer and T-ball for Gyrlande.

• If you were in charge, what would you change about the Plumas Lake community? Commercial, the sooner the better. All I truly care about is gas and cream for my coffee. And I am really, really ticked that we have no parks with a water feature, not as much as one in-ground fountain. It gets soooo hot here in the summer, so I'd put a water feature in the large community park.

•What are your favorite places to go in Yuba-Sutter/Mid-Valley/Sacramento area? I don't really have a hot spot. Gyrlande and I like sushi restaurants, although right now she is deep into a sour cream phase. The Brick coffee shop is nice but not really a place for little kids. Reminds me a lot of my daily coffee shop when I lived up in Oregon.

• What is the closest you've been to a famous person? I was an admitted "Star Trek" fan when I was, uh....younger. I think I went to 2 or 3 conventions. I shook hands with Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis. I've also briefly met Gillian Anderson after her play in London (as in I was standing in the shake hands and get a photo line with the other zillion people). And I lived for a short time in Brentwood, and I think I was in the same café seating area with Jamie Lee Curtis. I THINK it was her.

•If you were granted one wish, what would you wish for? I'll be dull and say 50 million dollars. AFTER taxes.

• Favorite musical group: I love medieval and renaissance choral music. So, I'd say Anonymous 4, and I have also discovered Imogen Heap.

• Favorite sports team: The 49ers, but haven't followed them recently.

• Whom do you most admire and why? This is a hard question. Aside from my fearless daughter whose transition from orphanage life to life as a "typical" American kid has astounded me, I'd have to say Marie, the director of the orphanage. She lived in the U.S. for 7 years, and could have stayed, but felt such an urge to help the children of her country, and so returned to Haiti to start her orphanage. She also helps women feed and take care of sick babies, even women that are not giving the children up. I've sat in her home in Haiti and watched her care for these children, bathe them, feed them special meals, scrub down kids with skin disorders, powder and diaper each one, and try to nurse year-old babies who weigh six or seven pounds back to health. It's no wonder that when Gyrlande's teacher asked for family photos to put on the wall in her class, Gyrlande insisted that "Matante," as the kids call her ("my aunt"), be included along with her Haitian and American family!

• Tell us about a life-changing experience: Adopting my baby Gyrlande. I met her in Haiti at 2 1⁄2 years old and she came home at 3 1⁄2. Going from "it's all about me" to "single mom of a preschooler" was shocking to say the least. I think the most earth shattering moment of the adoption experience was the moment in December 2005 when I whispered in her ear, in Creole, "would you like me to be your new mama?" and she whispered back "yes."

• What was your first job? Mom and pop burger joint.

• How would you describe yourself? A very down-to-earth, logical, analytical, witty, goofy, computer nerd single mom who works much better under pressure and can't seem to pre-plan a meal to save her life.

• What kind of pets do you have? Right now two cats and one golden retriever. And a suckerfish. The frog is MIA. Gyrlande wants to move to a farm this week (as in tomorrow after school) and get a parrot and one baby and one mama of all the typical farm animals. And rainbow unicorns.

• What are your favorite foods? Sushi. It's the only food that makes me do a little dance in my chair when I eat it. After that, I admit I do love the carbs, but I think I love a really good salad even more!

• What was the last good book you read? I like Michael Connelly books - he's a great writer. I think I finally read Harry Potter 3 and liked that. Not much time for books. I tend to Web surf and look up stuff on Wikipedia that strikes my whim.

US appears regularly in the daily Appeal-Democrat. If you are interested in being featured in a Plumas Lake US profile, please contact Michelle Perrault at 483-3664or email her at mperrault@plumaslakelife.com.