If you believe all of the doomsday hype surrounding the Mayan calendar, we’ve got approximately eight more days left on this planet.  Specifically, prognosticators predict 12/21/2012 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time (whatever that is) will mark lights off for Planet Earth.  Per www.timeanddate.com, “The Mayan calendar finishes one of its great cycles in December 2012, which has fueled countless theories about the end of the world on December 21, 2012 at 11:11(UTC)." One theory suggests a galactic alignment which would create chaos on Earth because of the gravitational effect between the Sun and …

It’s my birthday in a couple of weeks. Not one of the big milestone ones.   But, if you look at life as a mountain that offers you 100 years (provided I am being very optimistic), let’s just say I am getting awfully close to reaching the summit. Despite the harsh reality of what confronts me in the mirror every day — especially in direct sunlight (yikes!) — I still regard myself as “16 with 31 years of experience.” Or, as Oakland Athletics’ batting coach Chili Davis once said, “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.”  Harry Styles — teen boy-band (One Direction) heartthrob and …

If a film stars Daniel Craig, I aim to see it. That appreciation started after viewing a past James Bond movie, Casino Royale, in which Craig starred as Agent OO7. After watching him surface from the ocean in fitted, cornflower-blue (which matched the same hue of his piercing cerulean eyes) bathing trunks, I was hooked.  On his acting, that is. Sigh.  The latest iteration of the James Bond franchise — the critically-acclaimed Skyfall — hit theaters this past Friday and once again stars Craig as Agent OO7.  (Read a great review of Skyfall by Patch’s Cinema Siren.) Craig is one of six actors to…

Nothing’s more fun than finding innovative ways to embarrass your kids.  As the mother of a 13 and 16 year-old, pretty much anything I say or do these days winds up mortifying them.  They especially love when I sing and do the choreography to “Gangnam Style” (see #4 below) on my carpool days. So, imagine my delight upon coming across a recent online article offering additional pointers to ensure your kids (actually the article talks about tweens but I think these techniques work on teenagers too) want absolutely nothing to do with you.  Here are the author’s suggestions: 1. Forbid it. That's …

Along with singers -- Lady GaGa and Christina Aguilera, and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kate Upton (if you believe all of the haters), I, too, am currently saddled (or rather, saddle-bagged) with some extra el bees.  In part, it’s due to a lingering rotator cuff injury (in a one-two punch with an earlier struggle with plantar fasciitis) that derailed my fitness regime.  But mostly, I blame gluttony in spending way too much time this past summer hanging out with my boys – Ben & Jerry and Ernest & Julio.  Now that school has started back up and life is more regimented again, the timing …

Anyone who’s ever driven on Old Mill Road probably knows the feeling. Good tune jamming on the radio, cruising on automatic pilot, pedal to the metal, not really tracking how fast you’re going until, suddenly, fast-approaching, flashing red and blue lights are in your rearview mirror.  Nothing stops a reverie faster. What comes next is usually some utterance of a silent or spoken variation of, “Oh, fecal matter.” Your mind automatically skips to the haunting melody of “Bad Boy, Bad Boy, Watcha Gonna Do?” as you guide your car to the shoulder of the road, praying the officer takes mercy on you…

It’s that glorious time of year when kids have returned to school and their parents — in a misguided attempt to support the transition — start behaving very badly. At least that’s what a recent blog post has us believing after querying kids and teachers to find out some of the uncool things parents do that they shouldn’t.    Excerpted from the blog post are some of the DO NOT suggestions for parents, as offered by kids and teachers: Don’t go to back-to-school night and ask specific questions about your child right after the principal tells you not to do it. No one there wants to hear about …

The dating site eHarmony recently conducted a query of its members regarding various aspects of relationships. One of the topics covered was the effectiveness of pick-up lines. Surprisingly (to me, anyhow), 44 percent of the women interviewed thought the technique had merit, even when the lines used were cheesy. For those amongst us who are further removed from the days of pick-up lines, let’s first refresh our collective memories. We’re talking phrases such as: “Hey beautiful -- that is your name, right?” … or … “Can I take your picture so I can show Santa what I want for Christmas?” … or…

You can pick your friends. But unfortunately, you can’t pick your family … or your co-workers. Because of this predicament, we sometimes wind up working with irritating people. And if the abundance of websites devoted to this topic is any indication, this problem is either really pervasive or we are really intolerant.  One such site -- which encourages posters to detail things that their co-workers do which grate -- devoted to this subject is http://www.annoyingcoworker.com.  Listed is a sampling of some of the site’s submissions: Jim Hines is a moron. Call him and tell him so -- 916-231-4248…

Beyond possessing a couple of jaunty, blue-and-white striped nautical T-shirts and having an affinity for saltwater taffy, I am not much of a seafarer. Even so, who doesn’t relish the idea of one day owning his or her own boat? For now though, I am perfectly content just having FWBs (friends with boats). And whenever one of my FWBs graciously extends a coveted cruising invitation, I eagerly accept the offer, if only to check out all of the ingenious and clever names of the docked boats at the marina. Per the Frugal Mariner, “The name you select for your boat may not seem like an important …

So, are you a proud member of the T-shirt-wearing, “I survived the 2012 D.C. derecho, even though my freezer contents didn’t” crowd? Or maybe you’re one of the sweaty, unfortunate few, still waiting for power to return and aren’t quite ready to embrace the lighter side of this storm just yet. If so, you’re justified. After all -- rancid food, trees through bedroom ceilings, kids forced to go Amish (credit my sister, Debbie, who dubbed and utilized this punishment on her brood long before Modern Family did) and no air-conditioning on back-to-back, record-breaking, hot, humid days -- …

The season of bad hair days (at least in our muggy locale) officially arrived last night — Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 7:09 PM (EDT), to be exact.  More commonly referred to as the first day of summer or the summer solstice, sol + stice is a derivative of Latin words meaning “sun” and “stand still.”  The summer solstice offers the longest day and the shortest night of the year.  Guh-reat news if you’re the parent of a young child. Nothing like eternal daylight and an ephemeral night to get Junior’s biorhythms all out of whack. Good thing Mommy had the foresight to stock the liquor cabinet!  …

We all have things we’re a little particular about. Sometimes, it borders on extreme and warrants an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) diagnosis. But most of us just fixate on an issue or two, and are, what I like to call, “sprinkled” with the OCD dust. Personally, I am fastidious over the manner in which my money gets placed in my wallet. I can barely enter REM sleep unless I know all of my bills are lined up – dress-right-dress, in ascending order and facing in the same direction. When a store clerk hands me back bills in disarray, I’ve been known to hold up the line. I will not depart my…

The familiar strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” emanate from many large gathering places this time of year. Throngs of black-gowned, mortarboard-wearing students eagerly anticipate the moment when they get to turn their tassels from the right side to the left and morph into graduates. But first, the de rigueur commencement speech must be endured. It is well-known that not all graduation speeches are created equal. In fact, my own college commencement speaker was so lackluster (or quite possibly, I had partaken in too much revelry the night prior) that shamefully, all these years later, I am …

Welcome to the time of year ripe for awkward photos, broken curfews, ill-fitting tuxedoes and long, strapless gowns. It’s prom season in America, and there’s photographic evidence of it all over Facebook.  Prom marks the culmination of the high school experience and is one of the most eagerly anticipated social occasions in a teen’s life. It’s the last hurrah before graduation and a chance to cavort with friends while donning beautiful (in most cases, but I’ve seen a couple of doozies, too) attire.  It’s believed the first prom occurred in the mid-1800s and was actually called a promenade, or…

This year marked the 30th anniversary of Parade Magazine, “What People Earn” issue. Every year I am riveted by it. But this particular issue was more compelling than usual as it also looked back and explored what some of the same people were doing, and earning, today, compared to when they were originally profiled. A few of the interviewees chose rather unconventional career pursuits. Such as the Dolly Parton impersonator who at age 44, in 1994, made $25,000 per year and now at 61, commanded $60,000. Or the belly dancer, who in 2006, only earned $10,000. And now, six years later, pulled in $…

The odds of winning the recent, record-breaking $656 Mega Millions jackpot were about 1 in 176 million. Yet that grim fact didn’t discourage many of us from plopping down our hard-earned cash, for the $1-a-play chances, in our neighborhood 7-Eleven stores.  Unfortunately, only three winning tickets exist and none of them originated from Northern Virginia. Illinois, Kansas and Maryland lay claim to the victors. At this time, no one in Illinois has stepped forward. The ticket holder in Kansas has chosen to remain anonymous. And Maryland has confirmed and validated a winning ticket, and it …

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Well in my playbook anyway, it ranks in the top three—along with Christmastime and kids returning to school. In case you’re not catching my drift, I’m talking about March Madness, baby (channeling my inner Dick Vitale)! Besides NASCAR and bowling, I am an avid watcher of sports. But basketball, especially college basketball, remains my #1 foam-finger favorite.  Part of the draw is that I am a former basketball player myself. [Is that “Glory Days” I hear in the background?] I was captain and played forward for the varsity basketball team that won …

Courtesy of Uncle Sam, I’ve been a lifelong nomad—military brat, former Army officer and also, spouse of a career Army officer (now retired.) In total, I’ve experienced 15 relocations, or as the military likes to call them, permanent-changes-of-station (PCS.) This is actually my second stint living in southern Alexandria. The first go-round, I was a junior in high school when my dad got transferred from Heidelberg, Germany to Fort Belvoir. At the time, [pterodactyl alert], Belvoir kids didn’t go to Mount Vernon High School; we went to Hayfield Secondary. I ended up graduating from Hayfield (…

Mark Twain once said, “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he’d learned in seven years.”     Although Twain isn’t excerpted in the book, “Dear Me: A Letter to My Sixteen Year-Old Self,” (edited by Joseph Galliano), there are lots of other famous people—Garth Brooks, James Franco, Lady Gaga, etc.—who offer their adult wisdom to their former teen selves. “This is an extraordinary little book based on a simple but wonderful idea: What would you say to yourself if you…