My mother called to ask if I'm going to the Oscars. Um, no. If I'm lucky, I won't be watching alone in my yoga clothes. Or if I'm really lucky, maybe I will be.

She's asked every year for almost a decade, since 2002 when I actually did go...

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I didn't plan to go on vacation with Prince William. I hadn't been to London since 1982, when I graduated from college and the first stop on my European tour was visiting my aunt who married an Englishman. There was a strike on the Tube, and it...

I used to diet, now I "cleanse." Even though supposedly toxins don't exist, I want them out of my body. So if there is a new cleanse, I'm on it. Literally. After all, it's not about losing pounds, it's about being healthy. And that I do believe.

...

This is not a great movie season to be single. I adore the movies and even go alone sometimes, always hoping for a love story involving humans my age. But this year it was risky for those of us wandering this earth mate-less.

I couldn't sleep after...

My neighbors are hosting a yard sale. In their bikinis. It's a sales tactic I guess, but they are also occasionally lying down on the clothing items for sale to get some serious sun. They stuff the cash they make under the strings of their bikinis. The...

Picture this: Twelve women from New York, Aspen and Palm Beach sleeping "under canvas" on the Serengeti, sharing two vehicles, one Ranger and roughly 30 meals. The set up could have been a movie, if only Isak Dinesen (a.k.a. Karen Blixen) had given birth to a dozen girls who grew...

I have never been a dog person. Though my Match.com profile lists "loves dogs" as one of my attributes, that's only so that I don't get passed over by men in their allegiance to their best friends. I smile when the Match Gods email candidates to me pointing out,...

I'm standing on Lincoln Boulevard at 7 in the morning holding my yoga mat. I'm waiting for my friend Lora to pick me up at California Rent-a-Car where I'm dropping my rental. I will take her to the airport and borrow her car while she's in New York so...

Certain moments really show me how much my life has changed.

In my Venice Beach bungalow, I'm getting dressed to go to a big cosmetic industry function where I will be on stage interviewing a CEO from LVMH, the luxury goods company that has actually done well...

A friend in New York calls to say that I MUST see the new movie "I Love You, Man," not because of the hilarity (brief but present), but for the scenes of Venice. He says he imagines me settled in a bungalow "just like that" and living the life...

I've been in Venice 21 days and I am still the New Girl. The simplest and the most complex incidents make me feel this way.

In New York, my exercise life was a hefty, and mostly enjoyable, part of my social life: I would meet...

It's been exactly a year since I left my corporate job. I remember the day well, having conquered the organizational challenge (really what I do best) of tying up every loose end from importing 2189 contacts into my new laptop with its new hard drive to sync with my...

This is strange, but absolutely true. My bathroom ceiling in New York is leaking. I came back east to go to fashion week for a media client. (Yes, I'm happy to fly back using miles -- I need the day rate -- and yes I still have my apartment in...

There is rain showering my bathroom floor from the ceiling. I look up and wonder if those are shingles on the inside of the ceiling? Was this bathroom originally unattached to the bungalow? Am I in an outhouse? After 26 years, I've pulled loose from the glue trap of New...