WanderingAmylessly 2.0

Name 5 places you'd like to live 1. Iowa City: I love it here. Great schools, fantastic cultural events, good friends...who could ask for more. 2. St. Louis: Having my kid grow up close to grandparents would be wonderful. I've also loved the cultural vibe of the city ever since I interned at the paper there in the mid-'90s. Question is...would my inlaws and I still be speaking to each other if we lived that close?? (I'd say the same thing about my own parents, too...but I don't want to live near them because if I had to live in Kansas again, I would cry. A lot. There's no way I'd send my kid to school in a state that doesn't want to teach evolution, for criminy sake.) 3. Monterey, Calif.: Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Too bad the state's bankrupt and marred with active earthquake fault lines. Loved visiting. If I had a zillion dollars and felt daring with my welfare, I'd plant roots there in a heartbeat. (I could probably say the same about an

Brainstorm 10 titles to your autobiography. 1. Wandering Amylessly (of course) 2. Caffeinated: The Highs (and Lows) of an Ordinary Girl 3. Scattered 4. I'd Rather Be Elsewhere 5. Short and Sassy 6. I'm Not Your Maid or Your Personal Chef 7. Tales of a Love Triangle: Semicolon, Em Dash, and Me 8. Images in the Mirror are Happier Than They Appear 9. Screaming Inside: I Know All the Bad Words and I'm Not Afraid to Use Them 10. Life Doesn't Have a Handbook, But What About the Cliff's Notes?

What's something you've always wanted to do, but have been afraid to? I'm afraid of a lot of things. A lot of the time. But hey, I read a quote from Mark Twain once: Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain. I've always wanted to: 1. Get my nose pierced 2. Get a tattoo (just a small one, Mom!) With these, the major hurdles are fear of pain and fear of alienating Tim. It irritated him enough when I chopped my hair off. I'm not sure he could handle more piercings and body art. 3. Quit my job Not like I haven't done that before. But I'd love to work full time on a book. I could get published. Really. I might have to self publish to do it. Major fears associated with this: bankruptcy, failure. 4. Take a cruise My luck, I'd have hideous seasickness the whole time. That's the only fear. Well, that and the fact that a while back, people kept disappearing from cruise ships, never to be heard from again. 5. Be open and honest I'm proba

What could make me feel older and more out of touch than these words coming from my 7-year-old: My bad. AND Oh snap! I still am not sure I can properly use those in a sentence. But I have decided that what makes me grow older faster (by the second) than anything else is having to explain how babies get created. I've had to be increasingly descriptive each time H's inquisitive self gets revved up. Guess we're both growing up.

Nothing makes me more naturally manic than oodles and gobs of sunshine and warmth. I was just noticing today a spring in my wedge-sandaled step, the urge to chatter about nothing in particular, and the general feeling of giddiness that a bright, cheery, 80-degree day in May brings. No need to alert my docs. A little hypomania never hurt anyone. If it spurs me on to clean my house, it's probably a great thing. Enjoy my great mood (while it lasts). I know I am!

This is my new favorite song. Enjoy...

First Catherine Zeta-Jones. Now teen actress Demi Lovato. Both recently announced that they had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I wonder how many other public figures have been diagnosed yet are keeping quiet? The stigma won't fade until people speak up. For an interesting column about the disorder on Huffington Post, click here . The author also maintains a blog. Read it here . And as if my mommy guilt wasn't already overwhelming, here's something to add to it. It's a story on a new study that finds children of parents with bipolar disorder are four times as likely to develop mood disorders as children of parents without the disorder. Wonder what studies show about the link between reading articles like this and becoming stressed out?