Publisher: parentwin

Darlena Cunha is a mother of twins, journalist, novelist, editor, and owner of parentwin. She has written for dozens of publications including the The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Thought Catalog, Twins Magazine, McSweeneys and more. Contributors: Amber After more than 30 years of crafty aspirations and failures, Amber turned on her sewing machine in March of 2012 and discovered the creative outlet she'd been searching for. A largely self-taught sewist, she enjoys making adult garments and costumes, and has also dabbled in children's clothing and other sewn crafts. When she isn't sewing, Amber works full time as an accountant. She lives in the Atlanta area with her husband, two daughters, and their assorted pets. You can find her sewing adventures here: missparayim.com Anne Theriault Lives in Toronto with her husband and young son. She spends her days teaching yoga, reading in cafés, and trying to figure out how to negotiate in toddler-ese. She regularly blogs about books, nostalgia and feminism at http://bellejar.ca/. Ani Ani is a Jill of all trades, part time bartender, full time wife and mother of 3 small female-at-birth humans. The eldest of the spawn is precariously balanced on the verge of tweenage wonder, while the youngest of which is in full blown toddler chaos mode, and the middle is likely to take over the world while the rest of us aren't watching. Ani spends her days idle-ly clicking "Like" and "Share" on inflammatory facebook posts and generally ignoring the mountain of laundry that has taken over her basement. Sometimes you can find her in local coffee shops drinking unhealthy amounts of green tea while arguing over the pages of her latest attempt at writing. Red wine, thigh high socks, yoga and run on sentence fragments round out her less than compact list of interests. Bridget Frazier A twenty-something young woman who, over the years, has come to realize that hopes and dreams don't always coincide with reality. Take a journey through what it means to accept what life has given you, to be happy with the blessing bestowed, all while mourning the loss of dreams once passed. Elizabeth Andrea Hawksworth Elizabeth Andrea Hawksworth is a Canadian poet and short story writer. She began writing short stories at the age of five and started writing poetry at the age of 12. A professional writer and nanny, she has been published both online and in print. Her books," Break for Beauty" and "Lake Effect: Voices of Toronto's History", can be found on Amazon. She resides in Toronto with her two cats, Athena and Fili, and spends her days in love with the beauty of living in Canada’s largest city. You can find more of her writing at http://www.elizabethahawksworth.com. Emilie Blanton Emilie is a high school English teacher with two children. She holds a Bachelors in English and a Masters in Secondary Education. After completing student teaching at an urban, Persistently Low Achieving (PLA) school, she was placed at another PLA school in the same school district. Her Ask a Teacher column can also be found over at Teaching Ain't for Heroes. Jackie Monck Things are equilibrating. She's a happily single mother to a beautiful pixie girl and a snuggly monkey monster boy. She's also bi-queer, pro-choice, crunchy, and liberal. I've got a sarcasm problem, as well. (The problem being that she often comes up with her sarcastic replies a second too late, and doesn't get to use them out loud as a result. =P) She writes a blog and fiction, and she edits for a small publishing house for a living. She's also absolutely awesome. Those who know her can confirm that. ;) Find her at http://accidentallymommy.blogspot.com/ James Wu James is a mailman who's working in Boston for eight years now, but before that he was in retail for far too long, selling mostly books and comics. He met a lot of interesting people in that time, however, so it wasn't entirely a waste. He now shoots magnificent photos of stairwells in Boston and you can see them here: http://bostonmailman.tumblr.com Jerry Kennedy Jerry Kennedy is (in no particular order) a fiancee, stepdad, writer, actor, director, singer, and web dude living in The Greatest City In the World, Sacramento, CA. His hobbies include reading, skateboarding, falling off his skateboard, drinking, karaoke (especially after drinking), and making love at midnight in the dunes on the cape. You'll find his irregular ramblings about life, the universe, and everything at http://jerrykennedy.com Joella A full-time wife and mother and a part-time substance abuse counselor. In her spare time (ha!) she blogs at Fine and Fair, a blog written to and for her children about the ups and downs along the journey of raising them as responsible citizens of the world with the values of compassion toward all living things, environmental responsibility, conservation, and celebrating diversity in all of its forms. Joella is passionate about the principles of attachment parenting, breastfeeding, feminism, and vegetarianism. She enjoys gardening, hiking, cooking and baking, crafting, making music, and aims to discover joy and beauty in each new day. Blog: http://www.fineandfairblog.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fineandfair Twitter: https://twitter.com/fineandfair Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FineAndFair Kristen Duvall Kristen Duvall is a writer of tales both real and make-believe. A Midwestern girl at heart, she now resides in Southern California with her boyfriend, Great Dane, and a rescued calico kitty she lovingly calls the Kiki Monster. She's a full- time writer with one book out now titled Femmes du Chaos. Sarah Fountains An accountant living in the UK, who's engaged to an accountant living in California. Currently she lodges with/housesits for/nannys for/freeloads from close friends with two extremely boisterous sons. She's been reading parenting advice in books and on the internet as a hobby since she was sixteen, and cares particularly about adoption issues; she's probably also the only voice in the feminist crowd insisting that sexism goes both ways in different circumstances. She loves dancing and sewing, fails at one but not the other, and struggles continually with things that other people refer to as "common sense." Her lifetime ambition is to be organised enough to justify baskets in the refrigerator, and has yet to meet someone who doesn't laugh at it. Most days, though, she still has laundry on the floor. Read about her international adventures at: http://marriedwiththemominlaw.blogspot.co.uk M. Kate Allen Kate (also known as Sister Kate in her religious community) is the married mom of two precocious tots. When she's not chasing them or dancing around them or singing at the top of her lungs with them, she likes to drink coffee, make yummy food with her hubby, edit other people's writing, pray like an Episcopalian Benedictine, and write edgy pieces on religious topics. You can check out her blog, Thealogical Lady, at lifeloveliturgy.com. (And, for the record, that "a" in "Thealogical" is no accident.) MaryAnne MaryAnne is a stay at home wife, a seamstress, a cosplayer, a total geek, a reader, a historian, a pagan, and an all around random human. She joined the Army in 2005, was commissioned in 2007, made Captain in 2010, and by 2013 had decided that it was a bad fit. (She is clearly a slow learner.) She now puts her effort into healthy living and life rebuilding, while creating insane costumes for herself and others, advocating for vetaran's issues, and writing for an online "geek media" news site. The loves of her life are her husband, her two cats (who have their own facebook page), and a 30 year old Arabian horse who has decided that MaryAnne is his human and who takes her on lovely walks (and runs) through the woods of central Tennessee. Rhyannon Rhy is an accidental crime fighter, an amateur renovator, a part time patient advocate and a full time wife and mother. She writes when she runs out of knitting projects and has been parenting long enough to know there is more than one right way to be a great mom. She’s commutes between tree hugging Seattle and pro nuke Eastern Washington and thinks that’s a pretty good description of her political views. She has been wrong… more than once. Her kids are 29, 19, 15, 5 and is expecting twins via egg donation and gestational surrogacy. Find the story of her journey at http://welcomingaheartbeat.blogspot.com. Samantha Williams A tea drinking, picture painting, craft making, hula-hooping, earth loving, natural parenting mama of two. (who wishes she spent more time practicing yoga) https://www.facebook.com/thedaywellspent http://thedaywellspent.blogspot.com/ Sarah Evans Sarah is a writer, wife, mother, and programmer on the verge of a midlife crisis. Or maybe mid-midlife crisis. She has been writing the second draft of her novel for almost a year and a half, and is sure it'll be finished any decade now. Hobbies include reading, baking, and being a weird recluse. You can find her at A Place That Does Not Exist. Sarah Tormey Has been cooking meals for her family since she was 12 years old, using recipes passed down from her mother and grandmothers, as well as coming up with her own. Now a stay at home mom with two boys, she loves nothing more than to cook and share her 2+ decades worth of acquired meals and tips, both from her family and her husband's. If she could only get her picky 4 year old to try her cooking, her life would be complete. Find her at http://theanswerisgarlic.blogspot.com Smibbo A middle-aged mom who cleans houses in order to pay for her education habit. She is currently single and available for dates or tributes. Chocolate, flowers or cruise runs are all happily accepted. While she writes our popular Ask a Cleaning Lady column, she writes about all topics with sensitive wit on smibbo.org