Everybody knows there is no such thing as normal. There is no black-and-white definition of normal. Normal is subjective. There's only a messy, inconsistent, silly, hopeful version of how we feel most at home in our lives.

My whole life story is kind of a backhanded compliment.

In all honesty, I grew up a certain way. I never had to worry about money. That was my reality.

All it takes is for one person to say you’re ugly, and you’re like, I guess I’m ugly. And that was it.

There are days when I struggle with wanting to be a full-time, stay-at-home mom, and feeling guilty about that because I work.

If I ever had the time to take on another job, being a party planner would be high on my list.

With friends, if you keep making an effort to reach out and you keep getting hurt, you eventually stop trying. But it's much harder to give up on family. Somewhere deep down you want it to work so badly that you keep making the same mistake over and over again.