Recipe Courtesy of Jennifer Grove
Photos courtesy of Jubilee Photography & Belle Vie Photography

Prep School 101 blogger Jennifer Grove
Photo courtesy of Jubilee Photography

Baltimore’s Jennifer Grove, 35, is a single mom to five-year-old Calista and one savvy blogger and businesswoman. Grove created the blog Prep School 101 in May 2009 after writing a fashion and entertainment blog for several years. Grove saw very strong reader feedback when she posted personal pictures and stories and, most importantly, her recipes. Her ex-husband was a sommelier in Manhattan and she spent ten years dining in New York’s finest restaurants, developing a sophisticated palette.

Over 5,000 unique visitors a week across the country checked in on Prep School 101-a chic mix of East Coast fashion, food, wine, family fun, and more. As if the blog and her duties as a single mom didn’t keep her occupied enough, Jennifer recently launched a brand new website and company in late October. A few weeks ago, this mompreneur began her second business venture with Sky Blue Events (www.skyblue-events.com), a Baltimore-based wedding and event planning company. Sky Blue designs and provides consulting services for stylish soirées, private gatherings, formal affairs, chic weddings, milestone celebrations, store openings and corporate functions throughout the Baltimore region.
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By AML Publisher
Photography Courtesy of Bernadette Uzcategui, BUP Photography

Mathews’ success as one of America’s most popular mom bloggers is no accident. Jana completed an undergraduate degree at BYU in two years and holds a PhD from Duke.

Know a mom blogger? We do too. Except Jana Mathews is a bit special. Mathews has one of the most prolific and popular mom blogs in the country. So what? Well, consider the crowd she is standing out in. There are millions of mom blogs on the world wide web. But there is only one ‘Meanest Mom.’

In the spring of 2008, The Meanest Mom Blog (themeanestmom.blogspot.com) began with Mathews, 33, a Los Angeles native who now resides in the Philly burbs, jotting down her daily experiences with her four young children. Her posts were cleverly presented and purposefully humorous. Mathews sent the link to a close knit group of friends on a whim. “For the first couple of months it just built very gradually. I literally sent the blog out to five friends. They passed it on to their friends and within a few weeks I had a few hundred people reading it,” said Mathews.
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By AML Publisher
Photos Courtesy of Respective Vendors
Featured Homepage Photo Courtesy of Tuyet Wong

Shipley Shops is a popular tradition that brings together premier retailers and artists from throughout the United States and attracts customers from within and well beyond the Shipley community. Pictured are stockings from Shops’ vendor Boxwood Linens.

It’s shop till you drop at the Main Line’s premier holiday shopping event, nine weeks before the hectic holiday season descends upon us. And locals don’t have to brave the crowd at nearby malls to find a gift for every person on their list! Shipley Shops, now in its 49th year, kicks off next Wednesday evening with a preview party and runs through Saturday October 24th. The annual popular fundraiser for the school offers Main Liners one fantastic variety of beautiful retail products with vendors from across the Delaware Valley-and across the country.

Shipley Shops features perennial favorites like Bella Casa (fine home accessories), Jacques Ferber’s (luxurious furs and outerwear), Jane Roth (vintage jewelry), Occhio Bags (one-of-a-kind handbags), and Tuyet Jewelry (handcrafted custom jewelry). Some new vendors include The Belted Cow (handcrafted belts designed by artists), Boxwood Linen (fine linen home accessories), KEP Designs (fun and feminine jewelry), The Pink Mink (select collection of personal accessories and home goods), and Sea Bags (custom totes crafted from recycled sails, recently featured in Martha Stewart Living).
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By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Belle Vie Photography

Fall Apple Picking in the Delaware Valley

AML sent staff photographer Heather Berkenstock of Belle Vie Photography on an apple-picking assignment at Linvilla Orchards, a Delaware Valley fall family tradition for the region. The goal: take her daughters and one of her best friends (and her kiddos) along for a wonderful afternoon filled with hay rides, apple cider, a hay bale maze, apple slinging, cider donuts and most importantly, an adventure in apple picking. “I definitely felt like we needed a whole day there. There is so much to do at Linvillla- my girls loved it. They have everything so well organized with all the activities. We will be going back to pick out our pumpkins,” enthused Berkenstock.

Want to plan a fun fall day out with family and friends? Check out AML’s apple picking guide 2009 below. It’s a great time of year to enjoy all the wonderful orchards and farms the Delaware Valley has to offer and support our fine local businesses that enrich our community.
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By AML Publisher
Photography courtesy of Bernadette Uzcategui Photography

The brains and beauty behind a brilliant business model are Main Line moms and Tymel co-principals Melissa Parker (left) and Tyra Hodges (right).

If there are two idioms that ring true when describing a successful entrepreneurial business model in 2009 it is the following: 1) Necessity is the mother of invention. 2) Timing is everything. With so many Americans astutely aware of reducing their carbon footprint, the green industry is thriving with creative concepts that speak to the nation’s environmentally-cautious consumer. Despite a down economy, all signs point positively towards a growing demand for socially responsible business models.

In the case of Main Line entrepreneurs Tyra Hodges, 45, and Melissa Parker, 40, their invention-fashion forward reusable bags made from recycled materials-was inspired by some timely conversations they had with their children. Hodges was unpacking her groceries one evening in her kitchen last spring when her (then 11-year-old) daughter, Natalie, commented on the amount of plastic and paper she was wasting. Parker had received similar feedback from one of her daughters a few weeks earlier after she completed a school project on the importance of recycling.
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