Hi! Thanks for reading! My name is Stephanie Anderson Witmer. I'm a 35-year-old journalism professor, freelance writer, mother of a toddler and wife of a seriously excellent man. We live with our dog in a small town in central Pennsylvania. Our life isn't what you'd call glamorous, but it's busy, chaotic, fun and full of love.
Before I had a baby, I always thought I'd be a working mom, but now I think of myself as a mom who works. Like every other woman in my shoes, I'm trying to figure out how to make it all work. I'm trying to balance work, parenting, my marriage, and my love of writing and cooking—all while punctuating my life with little dashes of beauty, style and fun while I'm at it. Smitten chronicles my attempts.
I decided to call this little project Smitten because that was the first word that popped into my mind when I first met my son after he'd been born. Maybe it was the drugs, but it hasn't worn off yet!
I'm a devout foodie (even though I hate that term), a wannabe crafter, a sometime knitter, an avid reader, a greenish thumb, an enthusiastic entertainer, and an unabashed nerd.
I am smitten with lots of things, and I find that the things I love, big or small, inform who I am. I am smitten with, in no particular order, vintage clothing, jewelry and housewares, anything striped, wine, farmers' markets, bookstores, dark chocolate, magazines, peonies and ranunculus, cocktails, my iPhone (and now my iPad), cookbooks, the IKEA and Anthropologie catalogs, and soup.
Anything else?
Well, yes. I like buying new tablets and notepads simply because I like to feel the possibilities a new, blank first page offers.
I could read literally all day long, no problem.
Also, there is virtually never a time in which I will turn down coffee or chocolate, unless it's really, really late at night and I'm actually in bed. And even then, there are no guarantees.
If you're interested in my writing, here's more info about that.
In 2007, my cookbooks Killer Pies and Killer Chili were published by becker&mayer!/Chronicle Books. They are a collection of recipes I gathered from restaurants, diners and bakeries all over the United States and Canada. Each pie or chili recipe is accompanied by a mini-profile of the chef/baker or eatery. You can purchase them at Amazon.com, ChronicleBooks.com, and other online retailers. Some Williams-Sonoma stores and independent booksellers carry them, too.
I've also had work published in a variety of venues—mostly food and lifestyle features, including one in the most recent (March 2011) issue of Better Homes & Gardens. I've also written about health, home/garden and arts & entertainment, and I've published essays, book reviews, profiles and other types of feature stories. If you'd like to see some of my writing samples, please visit my website, StephanieAndersonWitmer.com. More samples can also be found on my Mediabistro profile.
I also write a regular parenting column called "Family Style" and blog called "Mommy-logues" for Susquehanna Style magazine.
I'm always looking for new work, so why not hire me to write something for you?
You can contact me through the "Contact" form on this site or at stephanieawitmer (at) gmail (dot) com.
