I don't come from a highly religious family, but I know of friends and other extended family members who do not allow their children to dress up for Halloween. Some tend to think that Halloween is an evil 'holiday' that stirs up negativity and disrespects the Bible and the Word.

This past August, I took my daughter to the amazing American Girl Place on Chicago's Magnificent Mall in the Water Tower. We were given a full tour by Koko, the store manager, and my daughter picked out her very first American Girl doll who she promptly named Lola.

In fact, I am sure that because I let my daughter constantly stay up past her bedtime at least 3 out of 5 days of the week, will give a reason for many of you to call DCFS on me.

This Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. On that day, over 3,000 people lost their lives during four targeted attacks on U.S. Soil---

It has been almost three months since my dad was hospitalized for diabetes and congestive heart failure after I found him unresponsive in his home.

I am a huge fan of pop culture, so much so that I have devoted a lot of the content of my blog on pop culture and all that entails. So when I came across the list of Working Mother magazine's 'Most Powerful Moms in Pop Culture', I had to take a read.

I am very impressed that my daughter, already at a young age, is concerned about the earth and our effects on it. She has been busy going around our home and adding items to our recycle bin, turning off the lights when she leaves the room, and we even checked out a book at the library about how to make a compost.

Seventeen years ago yesterday, I became a mother for the first time. I've been a mother longer than I have been anything else. When I first got pregnant at the age of 17 (I gave birth when I was 18), my family was none too pleased.

Saturday's award show didn't disappoint and the red carpet (or orange carpet for that matter) was popping with celebs, young and old. Check out a few pictures below:

My soon to be 17 year old son hasn't thought I was cool for years---his hormones and propensity to blame me for everything wrong in the world has brought my cool factor down for some time. But my 7 year old daughter is a little different.

For those of you reading who are mothers, you indeed know the true meaning of sacrifice---when it comes to giving, moms are usually the ones who extend more love, time, and energy to our children and families.

And as many times as I have traveled, I have never felt guilty about it until now. It could be that I have been on three business trips since the beginning of the year and we are only in February. Or it could be that missing being here on my daughter's actual birthday was enough to bring everything into perspective.

It comes in spurts---I will be watching television and see a precious baby which makes me ooh and aww. Or I will sit and remember how my son used to scoot on the floor before he started walking or how my daughter couldn't go anywhere without people fawning over her in her stroller.

Very early on in my 6 year old daughter's speech and language development, I noticed that whenever she got frustrated or excited, she would stutter.

Yesterday evening when I had nothing to do but channel surf, I came across an old episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians in which the youngest Kardashian sister (whose name escapes me) got in trouble for wearing make-up to school. She was 11 years old. Father Bruce Jenner put ...