Contributors

Alicia D resides in Southern Jersey with her husband and 4 girls, ages 15, 6, 4, and 2. Her teenage daughter is diagnosed with Multiple Disabilities which include severe cognitive impairments, severe Autism and an uncontrolled seizure disorder. As a former psychologist now stay at home mom, Alicia finds herself in the middle of a huge psychological experiment where she navigates behavior management, body fluids, sleep deprivation and a myriad humbling experiences only parenthood dares to conjure up. As an aspiring writer, Alicia’s work has been seen in Seacoast Living, the Gloucester County Times, Parenting Special Needs and she has appeared in syndication in several publications across the country. She is co-author of 2 book chapters which can be seen in the thrilling Innovations in Clinical Practice, and the popular summer read Eating Disorders, Obesity, and Body Image: A Practical Guide To Assessment and Treatment. While this all sounds quasi-glamorous, she assures whatever interested party is peeking at her profile that most of her writing involves sitting at a defective laptop with a sticky spacebar documenting her quest to cultivate a garden of zen in the minefield of motherhood at her personal blog: Welcome To My Planet

Amy Griffiths actually owned a black, beaded-fringed, half shirt that said, “Jersey Girls Do it Better.” How that slipped passed her mother in the wash is still a mystery. Amy was born in Montclair and raised in Clifton. She then willingly attended college in South Jersey, at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, which, back then, was called Stockton State College. She then boomeranged back north and missed, landing in Manhattan for Graduate School at Teachers College, Columbia University and for her roaring twenties. However, her South Jersey college sweetheart lured her back (you know how those southerners can be) and they eventually married and compromised on living in Red Bank. Amy left her glamorous eight years as an English teacher at Keansburg High School behind when her children were born. During her pregnancy she started The Burgeoning Belly, a blog chronicling the birth of her children and the two years that followed. She is currently working on a new blog called The Nest. She now spends her days convincing her two-year old boy/girl twins that Shakespeare has had a major influence on children’s programming.

Anna S. is living the good life in New Jersey with three kids under the age of eight and one husband over the age of thirty. A former New Yorker, the arrival of baby number three sent the family to the suburban wilds like many before them. When not complaining about how hard it is to find decent Thai food in her small town, she spends her time trying to curb her children’s candy and TV consumption, teaching them the joy of a good book, and extolling the many benefits of the occasional nap. Anna also blogs about all things mom at Random Handprints

Beth was born and raised here in Jersey and has never pumped her own gas, making her a true Jersey Girl. She was born in Middlesex County and moved to Ocean County after graduating nursing school and married a "local". She and her husband went on to produce three amazing children and they love that raising a family in this area has afforded them so many great opportunities. When you can't find her running a scout meeting, organizing a PTO function, or juggling dance, soccer, karate and baseball schedules, you can find her on her blog Life in the BAT Cave. Life In The Bat Cave

JerseyMomsBlog Co-Founder. Brenda is a full-time mom, a dual PhD Psych and Religion drop-out and a born and raised Jersey girl. She grew up in Seaside Park and was dangerous on the dance floor when Snooki was in pigtails and The Situation was not a noun, but a tween riding his bike to the corner store. That aside, mothering has been more challenging than any thirty-page paper she ever composed or mis-functioning family she ever case managed. Momming a 1st grader who is the mayor and Casanova of his school, a 2 year old rapscallion born with one kidney and a propensity to be a Major League pitcher, and a 1 year old old daughter whose eyes can read the depths of her soul, stirs difficult questions. “What’s it all about?” “Is the Greater-Aha hiding somewhere amongst the cases of wet wipes?” “Is this what she signed up for?” And true to her Jersey roots, “What the f***?” But Brenda loves being a mom. And she loves living back in NJ after 10 years away, although, unlike her girlfriends, she has yet to see Bon Jovi drive his red Lamborghini (or was it a Ferrari?) through the streets of town. (Did you hear, John Stewart just moved in five blocks away?) And Brenda loves trying to find the humor, hope and irony in the chaos, uncertainty and irony of motherhood. Brenda wrote for the New Jersey Silicon Valley Moms Group and now, you can also find her blogging at Meridian MomTourage. Brenda holds a BA in Psychology from Boston College, an MDiv from Bangor Theological Seminary and started a PhD in Psychology and Religion at Boston University. Currently, she holds a changing bag, lunchbox and a sippy cup. ….Where are those keys?

Chrissy is a happily-married, child-raising, semi-homemade cooking, country music-loving, amateur-writing, hypochondriac-thinking, wife & mom of two amazing kids–“Buckaroo” {age 6} & “Miss Mac” {age 3}. When she is not running her household, she can be found reading celebrity gossip magazines {when she has a minute to herself}, watching chick-flicks {when it’s her turn on Netflix}, spending quality time with friends & family {as often as she can}, shopping {also as often as she can}, and sometimes {though it should be more often} working out! Her placemat {note: a business card would not be big enough!} includes duties as a wife, mom, business owner, blogger and everything in between. She blogs about her life as CEO of her household over here. In her “free” time, Chrissy is a Zumba instructor as well as a contributing writer for several online publications.

Christina Surretsky is a Jersey Mom by way of New York City. Having been born and raised in Queens, and then spending some requisite time living a not quite "Sex in the City" type life in Manhattan in her 20s, she was wooed to The Garden State by her Jersey born and bred husband (with the caveat that she must be able to make it to NYC in one hour or less, door to door). That being said, she finds herself happily ensconced in her Northern New Jersey suburb and has come to fully appreciate: 1.) grass (since she doesn't have to mow it) 2.) not needing bars on her windows (except the ones that keep the children from jumping out), and 3.) the absence of cockroaches A mostly full-time mother (except when she's playing hooky as a writer) of two loud, obnoxious, energetic and hysterical boys, ages 8 and 5, she's an avid local volunteer, a lover of good (and some would say bad) books, a yoga enthusiast and a student of the art of sarcasm.

Better known in the blogosphere as Complicated Mama, this Former PR Professional and now mother of two (4 year old boy & 1 yr baby old girl), has been a member of the blogging community since 2003, when she believed she was the Carrie Bradshaw of Staten Island and was convinced the early 20’s was as complicated as life could get. After moving to Middlesex New Jersey in 2005 with her husband, and their baby boy- she learned realized how clueless she had been in her Carrie Bradshaw days and kicked her blogging into high gear in 2008 when Baby #2 arrived– colic. From Working Mom to Stay-at-home-Mom to Work-at-home Mom- Corine now whimsically blogs on her personal site, to an audience of other “Complicated Mama’s” who are seeking balance in their full time position in motherhood. When Corine is not tweeting or blogging about her journey to finding perfection and balance (or at least a glance of her former self)… she can be found tweeting and blogging for The Big Toy Book where she has joined their team to give her honest Mom perspective on Toys and the Toy buying experience. So when life is feeling a little complicated- feel free to stop by her site, tweet, say hi & dish with her on your most complicated Mommy moments.

When Cristie was relocating to New Jersey from the suburbs of Washington, DC she wondered why all her neighbors who were native New Jersians were so vocal about their envy of her move. She had been in the Garden State for just over a year when she started to get it. I mean who doesn’t love a place where you never have to pump gas in the rain? Relocating her three kids, while filming a reality television show for HGTV inspired Cristie to start blogging at The Traveling Circus – there were just too many crazy stories to share. In her previous life, Cristie was both a public school Reading Specialist and Private school 8th grade English teacher-which may not be obvious when she overuses punctuation and makes up words on her blog. After baby number two, Cristie realized she personally couldn’t take care of her own kids if she kept leaving her heart at school with her classroom kids, so she left the noble teaching profession and has never looked back. Now, Cristie shuttles her own cherubs to and fro in Monmouth County and attempts to maintain her sanity while “keeping house” and running a business that thankfully forces her to stay up on current fashion and gets her out of workout clothes every (ok, most) day(s). Cristie now writes about everything from the music that fuels her, to parenthood to pop culture, including the MTV and Bravo reality shows that she watches to unwind, (Don’t judge.) on her personal blog The Right Hand Mom, a style collective called All Things Chic and From Left to Write, a collective blog for book fiends like her. She has written for the former Silicon Valley/New Jersey Moms Blog, where her work was syndicated in newspapers owned by The McClatchy Company. Cristie is a member of The Yahoo! Motherboard and was featured as one of Yahoo! Shine’s Reinvention stories in 2010 for her Year of Evolution. Cristie shared her story of how she turned around her family’s near-dire financial situation and set them on a path toward financial security and growth. This money evolution also spiraled into a total makeover that got this self-proclaimed gym hater up and exercising daily. The total makeover (well, mostly makeover) inspired Cristie to become a Certified Health Counselor and open RealLifeWellnessNJ.com, where she provides people with guidance and strategies for living well in real (hectic,crazy) life. Cristie’s is thrilled to be a founding member of the fabulous community that is Jersey Moms Blog and proud to call New Jersey home.

CC. Fowler, aka Central Jersey Working Moms, mother, wife, marketing manager, blogger, Girl Scout Leader, Chairman of the Greater Mercer Area Mothers & More and newly elected PTO Board Member. A life long resident of New Jersey, CC was born and raised in Union City, schooled in Jersey City, received her higher education degree at Rutgers University and currently lives in central NJ with two children ages almost 7 and almost 5, a traveling husband (a COO in the circus of finance) and two dogs (mini beagle and over sized, hair wasn't supposed to shed chocolate lab). She is the daughter to Italian born immigrants who still live in a two family house with a basement apartment fully equipped with a kitchen used for all major holidays and a backyard that houses a garden that yields only tomatoes, basil and figs. By day, CC works as a marketing manager for a non-profit. During the rest of her waking hours, she devotes most of her time to her family and her writing. While CC has been was writing and editing for work purposes for most of her career, it wasn't until after a conversation she had with her sister-in-law about tricks to avoiding nipple confusion that prompted CC to really write. Having acquired so much mommy knowledge in her short time as a mother, why not share it? With her children saying and doing the most ridiculous things, why mention their actions as a mere post on facbook when it deserves at least a 4 paragraph blog?

Darla is a Jersey Girl born and bred, with a bit of the South sprinkled on from her grad school days at Texas A&M. After living out of state, and with a healthy dose of domestic and international travel under her belt, Darlene knows that back home is the best place to be. Even the more offensive aspects of New Jersey are apt to bring tears of emotion to her eyes (mmm…essence of Linden as inhaled from the Turnpike while driving home from the airport). She made the great leap from bench scientist (studying fungal secondary metabolism if you really want to know) to medical writer in 2004, and is thrilled with how well a writing career fits in with raising a family. She’s now a full-time stay at home mom to two preschoolers while working part-time (during preschool hours, naps, visits to grandma, and in the middle of the night) from her Tinton Falls home for her company in Red Bank. Blogging is a new adventure sure to bring on even more late nights, which means more early-morning surprises from the kids as mom slowly drags her sorry “tushie” out of bed! Her interests include…uh…will get back to you on that when the kids are little older. There are vague memories of cooking elaborate Southern Living meals, camping in national parks, yoga and tai chi classes, and zipping around in a Mini Cooper.

Deanna Q was raised in Jersey (exit 151) but has never, believe it or not, owned a Bon Jovi album. (Springsteen is the only true Jersey rock god, in her humble opinion.) After graduating from UC Santa Cruz, she spent 20 years in the San Francisco Bay Area where life was good and the burritos even better. She has recently returned to the Garden State and now resides in Morris County where she and her Texas-born/Jersey-raised/California-found husband are raising two wild and wonderful kids and trying not implode from the ongoing culture shock. A freelance writer with a background in book publishing and the social expression industry (i.e., greeting cards), Deanna Q has a passion for international children’s film, chocolate, reading great fiction (and the occasional bit of fun trash), and 40-something movie stars named Johnny. She was utterly thrilled to have been chosen for the Star-Ledger’s Munchmobile on her first try and finds that writing about life in NJ continues to help ease the transition back from life on the left coast.

Desiree Allen, a thirty-something single mother with two children in grade school, is Colorado-born and -bred, but moved to northern New Jersey in October 2009. As a sassy, opinionated redhead who talks incessantly and loves to sing whenever she’s not chattering, Desiree has previously contributed to SVMG’s New Jersey Moms Blog and Working Mother magazine’s MomBlog; currently, she can be found on Yahoo’s Mother Board and Jersey Moms Blog. www.writingtosanity.com || www.twitter.com/writingtosanity

Elizabeth has been living in New Jersey for over 15 years now, so she considers herself well-versed in all things Jersey- especially since she married a Jersey boy. Growing up in the midwest, she dreamed of moving to New York (thanks to the movie “The Secret of My Success”) and, while that dream became a reality when she landed her first job in Manhattan, reality also required a more affordable New Jersey rental. Thus began an 11-year relationship with NJ Transit. Elizabeth has a B.A. in Writing-Intensive English from Marquette University and worked in legal for two large corporations in New York City before turning in her key-card to become a stay-at-home-mom to two beautiful boys, ages 4 and 2. In her spare time she is an avid reader and amateur runner and triathlete.

Ellen Seidman is mom to seven-year-old Max and five-year-old Sabrina. In her spare (HA!) time she writes the blog Love That Maxan inspirational, informational, occasionally irreverent blog about kids with special needs (and the parents who adore them). Love That Max has won the Best Special Needs Blog Award from TheBump, and is currently a finalist for Best Parenting Blog at Nickelodeon Parents Connect. A longtime magazine editor, Ellen has held top-level positions at Redbook, Good Housekeeping, SELF, Teen People (RIP!) and most recently at Glamour, where she was deputy editor for eight years and relaunched Glamour.com. She also contributed to the widely-acclaimed anthology The Elephant in The Playroom. She is currently a freelance magazine editor who’s worked with Martha Stewart Living, Body & Soul, In Style, American Baby and Redbook. She contributes to MomLogic, iVillage, Traveling Mom, 5 Minutes For Special Needs, Hopeful Parents and The Huffington Post.

Melissa Skabich (aka @fitsngiggles on Twitter) is a full time working mom with three sons. A lifelong Garden State resident, Melissa will challenge anyone who asks (and many who don’t) to a Jersey-off. Born in Hoboken? Check. Grew up in Jersey City? Yep. Spent majority of formative teen years at the mall? Sure did. Met husband at the Cadillac Bar? Righto (but they’re telling the kids they met at church). First dance at wedding a Springsteen ballad? You betcha! Melissa’s day job as a public relations executive at a top New Jersey agency affords her the opportunity to actually get paid to do what she loves and also fulfills her need for grown up conversation. In her spare time, or more realistically, when she’s avoiding the pile of laundry that needs to be folded, Melissa posts her musings on parenting on her blog, Fits "N" Giggles.

Gena Ansell-Lande resides in Middletown and was raised in Monmouth County. After trying for over three years to have A baby and undergoing numerous infertility treatments she was finally blessed with twin boys two years ago. As a “work-at home” Mom she lives on the edge of insanity while trying to keep all the men in her life happy. In addition to her twins she has a five year old (male) Weimaraner and a husband who understands the challenges of it all. However, living with so much testosterone can make this girly girl a little nuts so she balances it with Yoga, gardening and ample time for crafts. After all, “When the Queen is happy there is peace in the kingdom.” (That quote is displayed prominently in her kitchen where all her boys can see it.) In her past life she has worked as a Lobbyist, public relations associate and as an editor for a craft magazine. But it’s the title of Chief Executive Mama that suits her best these days. Although born and raised in Monmouth County, she has discovered a new love for all it has to offer the toddler set. Thanks to her children, she is seeing it all with a new set of eyes. Her goal for the spring is to visit (at least once) all 48 parks that Middletown calls their own.

Ilya Welfeld, aka It's Me Mommy is a Jersey girl (with photos of big hair from the 80s to prove it)! She married her high school sweetheart and they are raising three children in Bergen County, just miles from where her mother and grandparents lived. Welfeld runs a very busy small business and squeezes in workouts and late night novel reads between her starring roles as carpooler, short order chef, homework helper and family cheerleader. She stops to cherish the chaos, writing about balancing work, life and love in New Jersey for JerseyMomsBlog. Share your thoughts with her and email her.

Jerry Turning, Jr. is not a Jersey “Mom”, but don’t hold that against him. Having worked crazy shift-work for many years now, he definitely has done more than his fair share of “mothering” while his wife is at work! He has lived at the Jersey Shore his whole life, growing up in Neptune and now living in the beautiful Borough of Tinton Falls. Jerry graduated from the University of Delaware (Go Hens!) with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology (1995) and earned his Masters Degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix (2009) while working and raising a family. Jerry is a police Lieutenant in a municipal police department and has spent the majority of his career in K9. He is a certified police K9 Handler and Trainer. Jerry and his wife Jo-Ann were married in 1998 and they have two amazing kids: Anna (born in 2001, although you’d think she was 22) and Eric (born in 2004). Eric was diagnosed with Autism at 2.5 years old. Jerry recently began spilling his guts about the past 5 years struggling and celebrating the world of Autism in his personal blog, Bacon and Juice Boxes: Our Life With Autism In what ever free time he has (read that as -- not much!), he enjoys cycling, running, and his most recent therapeutic obsession: triathlon training.

Annie Hannah, AKA JerseyFresh, is a born and bred Jersey girl with every childhood summer spent at Seaside to prove it (she wonders if that warning about sunburns as a child is serious, I mean, c’mon, it was the 70’s, who knew!?) She came to mommyhood later than most due to it taking a little longer (ok, a lot longer) to find Mr. Right than she thought it would. Now at almost 40, she is the uber proud mommy of an almost two year old hilarious, heart stealing little girl-nicknamed Boo-who looks nothing like her. Boo came to Annie and her husband through the miracle of domestic adoption. When asked what that process was like, Annie says, “A mix of intense therapy, police questioning, investigative reporting all while being scrutinized as whether you are a fit parent or not by the state” and she’d do it all over again to get to be mommy to Boo. Before becoming the June Cleaver (at least in her head, oh, who is she kidding, not even in her head!) of western Monmouth County Annie worked as an honors history teacher in middle school. She holds a B.A. in history from Rutgers, an M.A. in history education also from Rutgers and is considering pursuing her Ed.D in teaching and learning….while raising a toddler. Annie may be insane. She loves being a stay at home mom(most days), while also missing teaching. She loves scrapbooking, the .02 minutes she gets to do it during the week, reading, politics, vintage anything, traveling and cheesy teen movies. She’s passionate about helping lead her MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. She can be reached at anmaha@gmail.com and she fancies her life fascinating on her own blog Written On Our Hearts.

L. Klonsky aka Mom's Crayon is a native of New Jersey from Bergen County. She is of an age where she vividly remembers when the Bergen Mall had a small child’s amusement park on the roof and the Garden State Plaza was merely a pack of outdoor strip malls. L. also remembers when blue jeans were not considered acceptable attire in public schools (“too casual”), a web was something spiders wove, and having a mouse in the house necessitated an urgent call to the exterminator. L. paid her own way through night college by working as a marketing assistant for a local foam manufacturer (ask her anything you ever wanted to know about carpet underlay!). Eventually she earned her degree in Psychology from Montclair State University. Had she known she was going to have children, she might have paid more attention in her Child Psychology class. Eventually she met and married a wonderful man who was also from Bergen County and moved to Essex County which her provincial family thought consisted of pure farmland. After nine years of marriage (muttering, “I don’t want kids! I don’t want kids!”) and a stint as a Marketing Manager for a software company, she discovered she was pregnant. Since L. was a 40 year old mom carrying a child plus a 15-pound uterine fibroid which made the pregnancy high-risk, she bagged the office job and embraced her new calling as a Mom. The fibroid grew so large that the obstetrician suggested she put a basketball in her baby’s crib so the child would feel right at home. She knew so little about babies that her first reaction to her newborn son was “My God! It’s a human!” L. now has two wonderful children, one biological and one adopted from China. Motherhood is something she’d never seen herself doing, so everything is a surprise. Every time she thinks she’s getting good at the job, the kids change and she’s back in the Pit of Maternal Ignorance. L. scribbles her blog, usually using crayon and colored paper, when she’s not volunteering at school or church and between cups of strong coffee. Her goal is to minimize the amount of therapy her children will inevitably need.

Liz Kingsley is many of the things you are - a New Jersey raised, over-extended mother of two boys who tries to get up a little earlier and go to sleep a little later every day to cram more in. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College and NYU, she worked at a non-profit in New York City in the field of international development and democracy building. No matter how many ways she tried to explain her job, no one understood what she did, so eventually she stopped doing it. A poet, she’s been a long-time student at The Writers Studio in NYC where she cultivates her passion for writing and helps to run the program. One day a few years ago, feeling idealistic, driven and a little idle, she went back to school and got her teaching certification (K-5). She’s now working part-time with some wonderful fourth graders at an elementary school in her Union County town. Her personal life took a turn in 2010, when she became divorced and started living with her girlfriend and her three children. Now, she’s a New Jersey raised, over-extended mother of two and step-mother of three, who is happy to see her family adjusting to its new incarnation and enjoys writing about the incidents and emotions both small and large that fill her ever-lengthening days.

M.B. Sanok works as a stay-at-home mom attempting housework in her book-cluttered home while holding court on the phone and volunteering for the International MOMS Club. Raised in a Northern New Jersey town, she relocated to South Jersey for love and has a beautiful, mildly autistic eight-year old daughter; a schmoozing, mischievous five-year old son; and occasional thoughts of a third. Her current mantra: So little time to achieve greatness when my life is tied to meeting buses. Her accomplishments include being in the second grade reading class in the first grade, dressing up in full make-up as Ace Frehley from Kiss for her high school Lip Synch, writing horoscopes in college masked as one of the infamous Psycho Swamis, and, most recently, catching a fly ball with her butt at her first minor league baseball game. She started her writing career as a lowly reporter for her middle school newspaper, progressed to writing furiously in her journal and passing notes in class as a teenager, helming her college newspaper as a stressed out Editor-in-Chief, rejecting classified ads for massage parlors for a local newspaper and getting fired from her second publishing job for not remembering or knowing enough about the rival company’s secret website passwords. MB loves reading, writing, puzzles, music, and her husband, her friends and family, and the awesome opportunity to write among such talented women on JerseyMomsBlog. She also writes for South Jersey Mom magazine and contributes to the International MOMS Club regional newsletter. Some of her blogs have .B. Sanok works as a stay-at-home mom attempting housework in her book-cluttered home while holding court on the phone and volunteering for the International MOMS Club. Raised in a Northern New Jersey town, she relocated to South Jersey for love and has a beautiful, mildly autistic eight-year old daughter; a schmoozing, mischievous five-year old son; and occasional thoughts of a third. Her current mantra: So little time to achieve greatness when my life is tied to meeting buses. Her accomplishments include being in the second grade reading class in the first grade, dressing up in full make-up as Ace Frehley from Kiss for her high school Lip Synch, writing horoscopes in college masked as one of the infamous Psycho Swamis, and, most recently, catching a fly ball with her butt at her first minor league baseball game. She started her writing career as a lowly reporter for her middle school newspaper, progressed to writing furiously in her journal and passing notes in class as a teenager, helming her college newspaper as a stressed out Editor-in-Chief, rejecting classified ads for massage parlors for a local newspaper and getting fired from her second publishing job for not remembering or knowing enough about the rival company’s secret website passwords. MB loves reading, writing, puzzles, music, and her husband, her friends and family, and the awesome opportunity to write among such talented women on JerseyMomsBlog. She also writes for South Jersey Mom magazine and contributes to the International MOMS Club regional newsletter. Some of her blogs have .B. Sanok works as a stay-at-home mom attempting housework in her book-cluttered home while holding court on the phone and volunteering for the International MOMS Club. Raised in a Northern New Jersey town, she relocated to South Jersey for love and has a beautiful, mildly autistic eight-year old daughter; a schmoozing, mischievous five-year old son; and occasional thoughts of a third. Her current mantra: So little time to achieve greatness when my life is tied to meeting buses. Her accomplishments include being in the second grade reading class in the first grade, dressing up in full make-up as Ace Frehley from Kiss for her high school Lip Synch, writing horoscopes in college masked as one of the infamous Psycho Swamis, and, most recently, catching a fly ball with her butt at her first minor league baseball game. She started her writing career as a lowly reporter for her middle school newspaper, progressed to writing furiously in her journal and passing notes in class as a teenager, helming her college newspaper as a stressed out Editor-in-Chief, rejecting classified ads for massage parlors for a local newspaper and getting fired from her second publishing job for not remembering or knowing enough about the rival company’s secret website passwords. MB loves reading, writing, puzzles, music, and her husband, her friends and family, and the awesome opportunity to write among such talented women on JerseyMomsBlog. She also writes for South Jersey Mom magazine and contributes to the International MOMS Club regional newsletter. Some of her blogs have appeared on the MetroKids MomSpeak website.

Marcela Shine became a Superhero on November 17, 2009 when her son was born, and started blogging about the transformation about 6 months later. She believes that all parents are “Just Like Superheroes”, and that they each have their own very special super power. Marcela’s super power seems to be juggling. Proud mom first and foremost, full-time career, full-time wife, full-time daughter and sister and more. Marcela spends her days as CEO of Brightgeist Media Brightgeist Media, an online platform that monetizes websites for attorneys, chiropractors and other service professionals interested in growing their businesses online. Evenings, weekends and any other non-existent hours in between are spent juggling everything else. In that spare time, Marcela works on various volunteer projects including: PromisingGrowth.com aims to provide self-sustainability to a small village near Medellin, Colombia through the purchases and import of the villager’s handmade handbags. Last year the project provided over 20 families with living expenses. Once current inventory is sold, the goal is to buy more and to support more families. ShineOn! Marketing helps women-owned and minority-owned businesses with their online marketing. The goal is to teach that with the right tools, using online media to grow businesses can be inexpensive and very simple.

MaryTara isn’t a Jersey Girl born and bred, but she is a Jersey Mom through and through. One could say MaryTara is a Jersey Transplant, having moved to New Jersey (kicking and screaming just a little bit) in 2004 with her husband (a Jersey Boy), autistic son, and a baby (Jersey Girl) on the way. MaryTara didn’t like leaving her her closeknit family and all her friends behind. But she was very happy to say good-bye to the freezing cold and way too deep snow of Upstate NY. “Goodbye Snow, Hello Beaches!”. It took some adjusting and learning about jughandles but MaryTara quickly acclimated to Jersey Shore living with its perks – living just miles away from the beach and never having to pump her own gas. MaryTara, or MT for short, loves being a Jersey Mom of two active kids. In her “spare” time she is a PTA president, volunteers with a local autism group, co-manages the Kids and Family/Education categories at Epinions.com product review site, and blogs a lot. Her main blogs are The Bon Bon Gazette a blog that includes a little bit of everything but is mostly focused on Autism and the Gluten Free Casein Free diet, and AmblyopiaKids a network dedicated to raising awareness to the vision disorder. Summer at the Jersey Shore, chances are if she’s not blogging she can be found at the beach!

Meghan is a born and raised true South Jersey girl. She is married to a handsome devil, who gave her two children that she didn’t have to give birth to upon meeting him and then gave her one child she birthed. Meghan works in customer service but longs to be stay at home mom. She’s been blogging for five years and loves to write, guess that explains the BA in English. She loves her children to the ends of the Earth and beyond but realizes her sanity rests on some “me” time every now and then. Meghan can also be found at Meghans Mindless Muttering.

Melissa is a born & bred Jersey Girl, having lived in Middlesex County (Edison & East Brunswick) until age 11 when her family moved to Ocean County (Toms River) where she has been ever since. She married her husband/best friend, George in 2003 and in 2006 they finally welcomed their beautiful daughter, Alison. Melissa is now a chauffeur, short order cook, hairstylist, secretary and housekeeper, otherwise known as stay-at-home-mom and wouldn’t have it any other way. There’s nothing she loves more than curling up on the couch with Alison watching one of many Disney movies. Writing has always been a passion and somewhat of a therapy for Melissa. She was an active member of her high school newspaper during Junior & Senior years, and has also had school related articles published in the Ocean County Observer. Her most recent publication was the Fall 2009 issue of MS Connection; the quarterly magazine put out by the NJ Metro Chapter of the National MS Society. The article was about her and her every day battle with MS since August 2007. She credits her “easy” battle to the amazing support system she has in her very close-knit family and also to her own will to stay strong for them. Along with staying busy with her daughter, Melissa also loves scrapbooking, reading a good book, helping plan the next Disney vacation, or watching movies, reality TV or anything on the Food Network. Melissa is very excited to be part of Jersey Moms Blog and hope you’ll enjoy her thoughts as much as she loves giving them to you. You can also find Melissa on her personal blog Melissa’s Madness or on Twitter @melissa0208.

Mira Park, a true Jersey girl, can practically trace her lifeline on the Garden State Parkway. Born in Long Branch, raised in Howell, she was weaned on pizza, bagels, and salt water taffy. She swore Springsteen (from neighboring Freehold) was singing to her in his song “Jersey Girl.” Then, she spent 4 yrs at Rutgers (the best time ever!), 10 yrs working as a book editor in NY, and finally, became a mom of two crazy kids in North Jersey. Just two months ago her clan enlarged when they welcomed a new baby boy to the family. A year ago she decided to share all the obsessive research she does anyway with other moms…a few Dummies books later and she launched her hyperlocal blog Mira Best. Her blog provides useful tips, local insights, reviews, and ways to save moms time and money. The topics are her passions…food, travel, education, party planning, budget living. She is thrilled to join the team at JerseyMomsBlog–to do more creative writing and meet all the great writers here. She also dabbles in social media, and can be caught most nights on >Twitter, Linked In, and/or Facebook.

Natty Papailiou never thought that she could ever love anything as much as she loved cheese. The birth of her son August changed all of that – now Natty realizes that she could never love anything more than eating cheese while her son naps. Natty is a writer living in Monmouth County with her husband Augie. She is the author of the weekly blog MILF: Mother I’d Like to Friend and she loves funny poetry, playing tennis, baking cakes from scratch and going to rummage sales…but really, as a full time mom, who’s got the time? Natty is the founder of WIP: Women in Power, a women’s group that meets monthly. She is also prone to spontaneously busting out into made up songs, which she is proud to say her 2 year old son seems to have inherited. She is an active member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Red Bank and encourages everyone to sin boldly.

Shannon is… wife to Stephen and mother to three kids, daughters Nyla,7, and Skye,4, and stepson Duncan, 12. For the moment she lives just across the river from Sandy Hook but will soon be moving to Oceanport. In addition to being a stay at home mom, Shannon is a summertime waitress, a writer, a sailor, an exercise junkie, a beachcomber. She is not a baker, a good housekeeper or a class mom. In her b.c. life Shannon was managing editor of The Hub newspaper and a freelance writer for a boating magazine. Her current dual obsessions are banana chip ice cream form Gracie and the Dudes in Sea Bright and the new Starbucks light java chip frap.

Tara is a proud-of-Jersey mom of two from Nutley who thinks if you’ve lived in New Jersey for 10 or more years, it should be against the law to say you’re from New York. Tara is a writer and information architect for the web, sometime blogger and published essay-writer, volunteer on town- and school-based green and wellness initiatives, and pal of co-new contributor to JerseyMomsBlog Chris Surretsky (make a note of that name and remind her she knows Tara—T-A-R-A—once her book hits the best-seller list) whose hilarious, skillful, and seemingly effortless writing style Tara wishes she could borrow, even if only on holidays. Hey, a girl can dream, especially if she’s from Jersey.

Teicia studied Fine Arts and Marketing in college and post-grad began a budding adventure, traveling worldwide and building her career in Broadcast Media. In Sept 08 Teicia gave birth to her second son AND started a major home renovation. Lots of stuff happened in between…house, husband, son#1. In Dec 09 Teicia became a corporate downsize statistic after working 15+ years for a large media company (thru 3 acquisitions) as a broadcast graphics designer>segment marketing manager specializing in content creation, community forums, brand management, demand generation and social media. While the parting was bittersweet, it afforded this working mommy a much needed work/life reset. If only that Staples easy button campaign was real. While reevaluating and job-hunting, Teicia discovered the joy of heading to the library with the kids, morning coffee in downtown Red Bank after school drop-off, a semi-clean home and other artistic endeavors that daytime hours affords. Founding JerseyMomsBlog with friends has been inspiring. Not every day you get a chance to mix your favorite things into one project. So when the opportunity surfaced to start this blog…well….”ow-cud-I-say-no-da-dat” … (with Jersey accent)! Most of all, she’d love to grow and nurture this community… well… and complete her home renovation! You’ll find her tracking that project, here.

Theta Pavis is a creative writer, journalist and media consultant who grew up in Manhattan and Jersey City. She left the East coast for the West coast (with a stop over in the Midwest) and then spent a year backpacking around the world with her husband before returning East and landing back in Jersey City. She enjoys gasping at the gentrification in her hometown while railing against its under-performing school district (which is just as backwards as it was when Theta starred as Maria in her high school production of West Side Story.) These days the only musical theater she’s involved in is singing funny songs in fake accents to her five year old daughter. Theta holds a B.A. from UCLA and an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers and literary journals and blogs, including New York Family, Wired News online, The Mom Egg and the Journal of New Jersey Poets. She’s passionate about women’s issues and works as a consultant for nonprofits. She’s grateful she married a fellow journalist/editor who understands what a deadline means and why the dishes didn’t get done, again. Theta also blogs at the North Jersey Beanstalk

TripleZmom thought it would be easier to stay home with 3 kids than to teach 25 all day. Now that she knows better, she remains at home so she can keep up with all of her favorite reality TV shows. A Jersey native, she returned to the Garden State a few years ago after time in Boston, Portland, Seattle and Kansas City. In not one of those places could she find a good diner or a great pizza. You can also find her blogging at tripleZmom

Born and bred in Brick, NJ, Veronica Samuels gave up her sexy red convertible for her minivan in 2007, when she became a mom to Sarah. But, who says being a mom still can’t be exciting? Veronica is always looking to explore for ways to make the world interesting, she hopes to share them with you! Before becoming a stay at home mom, she was working on her Masters of Anthropology, and prior to that, was a financial analyst for the Federal Reserve Board. Veronica’s interests are languages, other cultures, yoga, nutrition, and learning. She’s a beach girl to the core, and now chases her daughter on those very same Jersey Shore beaches she grew up on! Find her on Facebook at the Veronica Samuels Page or on Twitter @VeronicaSamuels.