The phone calls kept coming. "Four!" he'd say, "I heard you made cookies. Where are my cookies ( Read more... )

My friends--new and old--we have come so far. A little over thirty weeks ago, I decided on a whim to participate in a contest called "LJ Idol." Two of the women on my friends list were participating, and I thought it would be a good idea to help get my creative juices flowing again. Thirty weeks ago, I had no inkling that I would be writing an ( Read more... )

I am a difficult woman to please ( Read more... )

When I was young and over-employed and had more money than I knew what to do with, I used to travel several times every year. I would ask my friends to come with me, too. I went with my friend Fleur to Disney World for New Year 2000, went with my friends Scott and Jay on a cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman, and took my sister, Whitney, on a cruise ( Read more... )

A few weeks ago, I attended the 20th Anniversary celebration of the founding of KGB, an organization at Carnegie Mellon that I was a proud member of. Of course, when I was a student, the organization was still fairly new; although I was not a founding member, I was friends with many of them and even participated on the planning committee for the ( Read more... )

To be a Virginian, either by birth, marriage, adoption, or even on one's mother's side, is an introduction to any state in the union, a passport to any foreign country, and a benediction from above. --AnonymousI was not born a Virginian. Far from it, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, a New Yorker through and through. I lived with my parents and ( Read more... )

A quiet uproar is growing on the Internet. As of now, it is still quiet. But I am sure it will grow, as uproars do. It involves the Department of the Interior's plans to restrict protests on the National Mall to designated areas. (http://www.gather.com/ ( Read more... )

I have always been an avid reader. As a child I would read three times the number of required books for any given class. I took special English classes in High School so that I would get the broadest education in literature possible, and I was a Literary and Cultural Studies major in college. And although I was a writing major in graduate school, I ( Read more... )

I once had a boyfriend who left me because of my terrible temper. It's so funny to think of that now. Nearly a decade later, I am a fairly calm person who is pleasant to be around. If I met the me of ten years ago, I'd probably tell her to chill out and get some help ( Read more... )

The first thing I always noticed was the smell of campfires ( Read more... )