I am a New Yorker. In November 1998, my husband and I were married at Windows on the World, the famed restaurant on the 106th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center. Our wedding occurred on a perfect fall day, crisp and clear. We exchanged vows as...

Chapter 3: Getting the Word Out

Dear Friends,

Sorry I have been away for so long! Turns out, it's a lot of work promoting a book.

"You can't just email or call magazines and other media outlets to tell them about your new self-published...

"What time is the babysitter coming?" My 7-year-old daughter, Zoe, asked for the hundredth time.

I checked my watch. "Two minutes ago," I said, calling into the den where she and my 10-year-old son, Andrew, were watching TV.

It was a Saturday night. The pizza had been delivered, the kids...

"Did you get your new crown yet?" My father-in-law, Steve, asked me when he came to visit last weekend. "You know, at the dentist?"

I knew which crown he meant, since I don't (usually) wear one on my head. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for my...

I have this serious pet peeve about gum chewing. People who chomp, chew, blow bubbles, or -- worst of all -- crack gum in my presence: Beware.

I get this trait from my mom. My mother, an easy-going person for the most part, made it very clear when I was...

Chapter 2: Font, Cover, Action!

"When your book gets bought by a publishing house and they need to design the cover, do you think I can design it for them?" My husband, Brett, asked one night over dinner.

Brett is an amazing artist. Of course I...

Step 1. Ignore TripAdvisor

Every time I plan a vacation, I turn to TripAdvisor for advice, and you know what? It's a baaaaad idea. That site totally messes with my head. I think I know what I want to do for vacation, and then I read awful...

Chapter One: Letting Go

It's a moment in my life that's hard to forget: I was at a shiva call eating a bagel with lox, schmoozing with friends and relatives of the deceased. I was positioned between the living and dining rooms of a split-level ranch, feet hurting from standing...

Dear Hannukah Harry,

The first thing I want this year for Hannukah is Christmas.

No offense to my People. I love being Jewish. It's just that Christmas looks like so much fun, don't you think? Anyone who doesn't celebrate it is kidding herself...

One of the goals of a superb education is to ensure that the next generation -- our children -- are ready to compete in a global economy. Upon graduation, will they have what it takes to survive against powerhouses like the Japanese? The Germans? Those darned Swedes? In the wake...

First, let me just say, on behalf of all the Lululemon-loving women out there with young daughters... OMG! When I heard that the Vancouver-based athletic wear designer Lululemon had an entire store of dance and yogawear for girls, I was, like, so excited. And then I was shocked, because, um,...

The other day, as I was driving out of the CVS parking lot, I saw my friend Leigh walking into the store. I waved and slowed the car. She gestured to me like she had something important to talk to me about, so I stopped and rolled down the window....

As with any epidemic, there's a tipping point and a saturation point. And then there's fifty shades of annoying.

Yes, it's true. There is now a theme-based magazine called 50 Shades of American Women Who Love the Book and Live the Life. I saw it in Barnes and...

Aug. 15. Each summer as a middle and high schooler, I would wake up on the 15th and feel a sinking pit in my stomach. After an entire summer of blissful oblivion, this was the day I would face the reality that I had actual homework to do. From the...

In a recent article for The Awl, author Amy Sohn explains "The 40-year-old Reversion," in which she talks about partying regularly with her Park Slope mommy friends, who semi-jokingly refer to themselves as hookers, sluts and drug addicts. I call my friends (in nearby Westchester) neat freaks, tennis...

First, let me say that stealing is such an ugly word. I prefer to call what I do creative accounting. My financial education began with the game of Monopoly, which I was taught to play by the matriarchs of my family, including my mother, my aunt, and my grandmother. We...

We moms have it hard in May and June. The social calendar that we tend to throughout the year virtually explodes for the spring season, with graduation parties and birthday parties and class parties and final exams and proms and cookies to bake and brownies to bake and teachers to...

You know that feeling you get from holding a new book in your hands, excited by the promise of the first few pages? That's how I felt when I first read A Girl Named Digit by Annabel Monaghan. It was a Saturday morning. My Kindle and I crept...

Artist, yes. Successful businessman, sure. Snarky comment maker, indeed. But here are words I'd never thought I'd utter: I'd like to introduce you to my husband, Brett, the triathlete. When Brett and I met in 1996, he was merely a summertime tennis player, and, when I was not chain-smoking, I...

When I heard that the author of 50 Shades of Gray was going to be speaking at Willow Ridge Country Club in Harrison, NY, I immediately emailed my friend, writer Annabel Monaghan. "You've got to come with me to hear E L James," I begged.

I...