I’m a native Californian, born and raised in paradise. The weather along our more than 3,000 miles of tidal coastline is spectacular practically every day. The Sierra Mountains are our border sentinels, over 14,000 feet at their peaks, stretching 400 miles long of pristine wilderness to world-class resorts. Ski after…

In the car with my 10 yr old daughter the other day, she asked me what Ego meant, one of her vocabulary words for the week. I laughed. “Good question. What do you think it means?” “I wouldn’t ask if I knew, mom.” “Well, use it in a sentence, in…

My daughter is studying for her SAT — her college admissions test. I never took the SAT because I got a D in algebra, twice. To advance to geometry, I took the same class again, from the same teacher that didn’t explain anything the first time. I didn’t get the…

Do you believe in God? Why? Likely because your mother taught you to — marketing to you throughout your formative years the benefits of belief: Community Solace Salvation Your beliefs were marketed to you through holiday celebrations, and maybe Sunday school and prayer. Even if mom, and/or your dad, didn’t directly push their beliefs onto…

My husband and I raised our children without religion. We gave them no religious identity (as in claiming to be Christian or Jewish because of our parentage). We are both devout atheists, and I use the term devout with purpose. We don’t believe in a higher power, or any gods…

Let’s begin by breaking a marketing myth: There is no difference between MARKETING and BRANDING. MARKETING IS SELLING. Branding is a form of marketing/selling, but instead of selling products and services, you’re selling perception, image, awareness. Marketing campaigns, traditional or digital, are designed to get people to buy our products…

Lonely? You bet! So is most everyone else, even people with partners. And no need to be jealous of the relationship they have, since they likely don’t have the fulfilling romance you imagine they do. Sad? Of course! Lonely is depressing! Anxious these days? …

I hate running. It hurts my legs, my lungs, my back, my tits. I run between 3 and 4+ miles, five days a week. And I’ll continue to run as long as the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. I hate feeling fat, and running is the quickest calorie burn I know…

I got her at the pound on my 26th birthday, a Shepherd-mix with a perfect black diamond dead in the center of her tan forehead. She was just seven weeks, not yet ready for adoption. I lied to get her out. They found her in the San Fernando hills and…