Tone is often the most important part of a conversation - and listening is so much more important than what you say.

Life's not perfect. Some loose ends may never get trimmed up and tidied.

I can't remember a time when my mom didn't work. She has forever been on the move: a go-getter. When my brother Adel and I had a paper route as kids, my mom would get up before us at the crack of dawn to drop off the Washington Post at different corners.

From time to time, I'll look back through the personal journals I've scribbled in throughout my life, the keepers of my raw thoughts and emotions. The words poured forth after my dad died, when I went through a divorce, and after I was diagnosed with breast cancer. There are so many what-ifs scribbled on those pages.

It's gotten to the point where if I throw a cookie in the garbage, I have to douse it in Cascade. Otherwise, why wouldn't I take it out and eat it?

I'm a huge karaoke person even though I have the worst singing voice. When you love doing something, who cares?

When my shoes are killing me, I take a maxi pad and put it in the bottom of my shoe. It is better than any Dr. Scholl's insert. That fashion tip has saved me through some long nights.