I’ve always pondered the notion of “forever.” Of true love. Of what it takes to make a lifetime partnership work. When I think about marriage, about the thought of spending the rest of my life with one person, I continuously wonder: what does it take to devote yourself mentally, physically and emotionally to one soul … forever? My parents divorced when I was six, and I grew up with my mom’s boyfriends walking in and out of my life. I wasn’t raised in a functional version of “forever,” nor have I since encountered a seasoned marital relationship —...

“Oral sex” isn’t a bad word. It’s not a four-letter expletive; it’s not even a nickname for a sexual part of human anatomy. And yet, because it has to do with sex, it MUST BE BAD. That’s how some parents down in Menifee, California think, anyway. So passionately that a complaint about “oral sex” being in the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionaries purchased for advanced readers at the local elementary school caused the books to be banned. Banned! It’s a dictionary. At an elementary school. How else are kids expected to develop a vocabulary?...

Well-equipped with Michael Pollan’s latest guide — small enough that yes, I did actually have it in my purse, it seemed only fitting that David and I were recently having a conversation about the price of meat versus the price of vegetables … in the car at 1 a.m. As a matter of experiment, we pulled off the freeway and into the drive-thru at In-N-Out. I was totally convinced that a grilled cheese was going to be less expensive than a normal hamburger, seeing as, well, THERE’S NO MEAT ON IT. Sadly, I was completely wrong. So what exactly are you paying extra for on the cheese...

In 2009, a light bulb turned on. (I sure hope it was a CFL.) Someone in mainstream media — new or old, internationally or nationally — an editor, an assistant, maybe it was a PR rep, realized that “Oh hey! Not everyone is a size 2, huh? All the other ‘beautiful’ people in this industry deserve a chance.” Dove was, however, already way ahead of the game. Their Campaign for Real Beauty launched in 2004 and continues to empower girls and women of all ages and shapes. But last I heard, Dove doesn’t drive home magazine sales. Sexy things do. And naked sexy things...

I’m feeling the general consensus, from many friends and a few acquaintances, that 2009 was terrible. That they’re ready for it to be over. That whatever 2010 has in store, it’ll sure as hell be better than what 2009 had planned. And yet, in the process of wishing for time to pass quickly, ’tis the season of reflection and resolution: How we’re going to spend more time volunteering, cooking, spending quality time with family and friends, etc. … and less time focused on 140-character status updates and waiting in lines (because, really, you can buy just about...