Valentine's Day. Since December, stores have been gearing up for it. Love is big business. But are people buying romance these days?

It's impossible to ignore love and the manufactured pressure of fulfilling expectations as this special day fast approaches. I recently spoke with several friends -- male and...

Words matter. They make us fall in love, get angry, swoon, dream, fantasize, take action, and hate. So where has our lexicon gone in America? Dear Wordsmiths, we need all hands on deck.

In my opinion, it is not enough to give our kids lists of words, simply have them...

All families have secrets. Some stay buried forever. Some rise to the surface with each successive generation. Today as a culture, country (family) and an evolved modern society, we realize that education can stop the conspiracy of silence, generate changes and ultimately lead to learning, healing and forgiveness. When secrets...

Los Angeles never gets enough props for all of its hard work. With our seemingly casual breezy lifestyles and our non dress code days, there is a misconceived notion that we do not value the daily grind as much as the other big cities in the U.S. One industry in...

Summertime is just around the corner and so is summer camp for many lucky children. I was one of the lucky ones. I went to camp. I made friends, sang songs, ate smores, and felt the love & kindness of all of my counselors. I enjoyed my time away and...

"Do you think you become more grateful with age?" This was a question I asked a mentor and colleague of mine, Catherine Frinier, one day recently as we were looking back on one of the most beautiful celebrations I have ever been a part of; a party she...

Ever since my senior high school government teacher made us read the newspaper everyday, I have been hooked on reading obituaries (Thank you Mr. Phillips). I began by reading the San Francisco Chronicles' obituaries almost 20 years ago, graduated to the LA Times when I moved to LA to attend...

As a publicist, a thirtysomething, a GenXer and a single woman, I am often contemplating the evolution of communication in the new millennium and how we define relationships nowadays. Us GenXers are a bit of the old and a bit of the new: we remember when fax showed up on...

With the sudden death of Michael Jackson and the untimely loss of an iconic ambassador to music, the world is grieving. Even after the brilliance of his public memorial service last week in the heart of Los Angeles, televised for the world to share and be united in the moment,...