It didn't hurt that the day before leaving my daughter for a mildly significant period of time she was having some separation anxiety issues. Loudly.

I mean, I guess it should have hurt when she was crying, "I want to bring Mommy," to my husband as he scooped her up...

Dear Oprah,

I have a little dish on a bookshelf in my bedroom that holds small but possibly critical pieces to various parts of my home. I have no idea from whence any of them came, but I know that in case I ever experience an emergency of any kind,...

Late last month, the chain of restaurants whose claim to fame is always being open announced a radical addition to its menu -- the Maple Bacon Sundae. Boasting that "bacon makes a classic ice cream sundae even more awesome," Denny's is delighting in the fact that any time of day,...

It was recently revealed that Prince William and his fiancée, Kate Middleton, have officially registered for their wedding, which is later this month.

But unlike most couples who enter their wedding wish list at places like Bloomingdales, Williams-Sonoma or the bank (yes, some people actually pass out their checking account...

Whoever said you can't go home again should have added that you also can't go back to a same beloved getaway spot with a toddler and enjoy it nearly as much as when you used to go before she was born.

This was evident over the weekend when our family...

When I came home from a meeting the other day, my daughter's nanny, Mary Poppins, reported that gym class had gone well, but that some other mothers had inquired about the well-being of my two-year-old's ceremonial fifth limb -- her Barney doll.

My heart sank like a cannonball into my...

I've been the recipient of some tremendous fortune in my life. Mostly in fortune cookies. I still have the fortune that said, "You love Chinese food" (which was admittedly more of a safe bet than a fortune per se). And I wish I had saved the one I got years...

That time of year has arrived when you're inevitably trying to recall the origins of the relationship between eggnog and the birth of Jesus, and also beating your head against the wall while moaning, "Why does my Christmas list seem to get longer every year, and who are these people...

Hearing the ER theme song used to make me bawl. Despite the fact that it was a series about, well, an emergency room, there was far too much blood and death and way too little George Clooney for my taste. After he left the show but later made a cameo...

It's not as if I plan on taking credit for the number of shiny gold trophies that the film 127 Hours seems poised to win come awards season, but I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my admittedly minor, although not necessarily insignificant, connection to the 162nd hour...

I like to think that I stay ahead of the trends. Of course sometimes I also like to think that if I eat an entire chocolate cake, it's still possible, against all odds, that I could wake up the next day with a body like Gisele Bündchen.

The way I...

As far as problems go, clearly plenty of them are beyond tragic -- war, famine, genocide, and Charlie Sheen's life, for example. Still, at the moment I can't imagine a bigger nuisance than the fact that my local supermarket is closed for renovations for 16 long days.

Were it a...

A connoisseur of romantic comedies, I learned ages ago that despite how hilarious and charming Katherine Heigl and Cynthia Nixon are when they have baby poop unknowingly smeared on their cheeks, there's actually nothing adorable about real life, non-chick-flick poop.

In truth, when it becomes embedded in your fingernails after...

When Oprah announced that the 25th season of her wildly celebrated talk show would be its last, millions of rabid viewers prayed it was just a ploy to sell more tickets -- never mind that tickets to her show are free -- and that in actuality it, like Celine Dion's...

I'm not so big on gifts.

Correction: I'm big on Oprah-style gifts, like "We're buying you a house!" or "Say hellllloooooo to your new ISLAAAAAAAND!" (Either a kitchen or tropical one would be fine by me). Suffice it to say, I don't get too many big gifts.

Which is why...

Despite what countless others before me insisted to the contrary, when I was pregnant I postulated that any kid born to me would be the exception to all the classic pratfalls of childhood, like nose picking, an unhealthy obsession with belly button lint, and adolescence.

However, as if on cue...

No one is more surprised than me that an invitation to Chelsea Clinton's wedding has yet to appear in my mailbox. Actually, no one is surprised but me. Nevertheless, I'm still surprised.

We don't actually know each other, although for years I've often imagined that the former first daughter and...

Like the Eskimos who purportedly use dozens of words for "snow," my daughter has developed countless ways to whine. Although instead of using lots of words to do it, she uses only one: "Mama."

She was around four months old when she started saying "Dada." While I was tickled for...

Dear Al,

It has become regrettably apparent that you have something in common with an oil company (BP), a soccer player (Landon Donovan), and Mel Gibson: you all seem to be having a very, very bad summer (although to be fair, Mel actually just seems to be having a bad...

While some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them, it is quite possible that the latter two might never befall my daughter. However, if nothing else, she was evidently born to be one of the world's great vacationers.

We were undecided prior to our...