I grew up hating my hair. Mousy brown (that's right, I was not born with this vibrant, ever-changing gray-red hair), super fine, lifeless... I dreamed of having bouncy, shiny hair like those orgasmic beauties in the shampoo commercials. It's probably why I've had no problem trying so many different styles...

I don't know Angelina Jolie. I've never met her or even seen her on the streets of Los Angeles, where I live. But today, Angelina Jolie has officially rocked my world and made me feel things I can't even describe.

Because today, Angelina Jolie has come out, sharing that she...

Sometimes, I scour the Internet and interrogate friends in order to find something interesting to write about. Other times, the topic smacks me right in the face.

This is one of those times.

I'm standing in my kitchen with a friend (we'll call her "Alice"), when she suddenly asks me,...

It all started with a friend's Facebook status update:

"[I'm] mortified. Poor screaming baby on the flight with mom yelling at him 'Do you want me to go get the pilot & have him come take you??' Nothing says love like threat of kidnapping."

The comments that followed ranged from...

I walked up to the grave I had been to hundreds of times before. My mother's burial place was my go-to spot for as long as I can remember, whether I was celebrating my high school graduation, crying over a boy who had broken my heart or just needed to...

Every classroom has one. Maybe she's even you. She's the mom who lives and breathes all things motherhood, using every ounce of energy to provide the precious little ones with the ultimate childhood experience. She bakes from scratch, has dinner on the table every night at 5:00 p.m. sharp and...

Out of all of the "When is my child old enough" scenarios, this is one that gets my heart racing and palms sweating.

On vacation with my kids (seven, five and four at the time), we had a rainy-day outing at Boston's Museum of Science, along with my mother...

People often talk about the difficulties associated with parenting a child with autism. I'm grateful they do, because it really can send a parent to the edge. But this post isn't about that. I want to recognize and celebrate the upside of autism, a blessing we "special needs parents" are...

It's funny to think it was just five short years ago that I brought my oldest son to his very first preschool Valentine's Day celebration. We had made a special trip to the store where he browsed for quite awhile before carefully choosing Lightning McQueen cards to share with his...

I rushed the kids through breakfast, promising myself (as I do every day) that we'll all get up 30 minutes earlier tomorrow and avoid the morning chaos. Faces, teeth, hair, socks, shoes, jackets... the never-ending school day assembly line was in full swing. But as we stepped outside ready to...

It's that time of year again. By now, you've probably had a Girl Scout, Brownie or Daisy pounding on your door, hawking her fat-laden, sugar-filled, diet-killing, over-priced guilty pleasures. You may or may not have given in to temptation, buying a box of Thin Mints or those delicious Samoas from...

When Meili and Lisette first met, they bonded immediately, forming a fast friendship and becoming practically inseparable. But according to Meili, Lisette became controlling and manipulative, ultimately turning Meili from BFF to unwitting accomplice in some extremely dangerous and illegal activities. Next thing she knows, she's charged, convicted and sitting...

I'm one of the lucky ones. Every year for my birthday, Christmas and Mother's Day, my husband takes the kids out to pick out something special for mom. It's actually one of my most favorite things, not because I get a gift out of it (although that does kind of...

There was a time not too long ago when my weekends started with exciting promise and often ended with me crashed on the couch from an abundance of fun-induced exhaustion. Last-minute trips and limited sleep created coffee-filled, fuzzy-head Monday mornings.

Then I had kids.

And while my weekends now are...

The song says it's the most wonderful time of the year, and I have to agree. But along with jingle bells and partridges in pear trees, am I crazy to suggest that somewhere among the sugar plums, someone recognize how difficult parenting can become the moment the twinkling lawn ornaments...

As we walked to our neighborhood polling place -- a garage on a quiet cul de sac north of Los Angeles -- the kids skipped along, excitedly talking about who they were going to vote for. At 5, 7 and 8 years old, they've got years to go before their...

"That is ADORABLE!"

"Girl power!"

"Lucy is my hero! Go get 'em girl!"

Those are just a few of the many responses I got when I first posted a photo of my daughter in her football uniform.

And when I revealed that I got over myself and made a special...

Have you heard? The Joneses filed for bankruptcy. It seems, like everyone else who tried to keep up with them, they were living above their means. The big house, new cars, endless trips and toys, all of that "stuff" ultimately turned them into a textbook case of a broke American...

I remember the first time I noticed my breasts. They introduced themselves quietly -- albeit painfully. I was tummy-down on my bedroom floor, listening to my record player and sifting through the clutter under my bed, searching for my autographed photo of Ronald Reagan (true story).

Ouch! It was like...

There are few decisions in life that can make even the strongest mom flip-flop like a fish out of water. But ask one if she's totally done having children and, more often than not, you'll get a complicated answer filled with contradiction and confusion.

That is, unless you ask me....