Sometimes, luck needs a little help
"What are you doing?" Sean asked me, slightly annoyed, as I jerked us to a sudden stop as we made our way up the Fillmore stairs. "There are two pennies on the floor. I'm picking them up." "What?" "I wish on pennies, OK?" "You've got to be kidding!" "Why? I know it's just a silly habit but, I like to make a wish whenever I find a coin. Nothing wrong with that," I sniffed. "Please don't tell me you believe in the horoscopes, too." "I'm not that silly!" I said with just a hint of indignation in my voice. Of course, I didn't confess that I often read them. "So, what do you wish for?" he asked

Touched for the first time, regretted ever since?
When Sara walked into the gym -- it was time for our annual lose 5 pounds before the holidays so we can indulge exercise plan -- she looked like she'd already done about an hour on the treadmill. "What's up with you?" I asked. "You look like crap." "Thanks, Kat: I can always count on you to make me feel better. Well, Ashleigh and I had The Talk." "What talk?" "The talk! Don't you watch Oprah? The sex talk, of course." "She's almost 16. I sure hope you would've talked about sex by now." "Not that talk; of course we've done that. But, this was the first time she asked me when I lost my virginity." "Oh. Uh, so, what d

Honey, those are fighting words
I was planting some cyclamens in the yard last weekend when I heard some strange noises loud enough to drown out the new Foo Fighters song playing on my iPod. I got a little nervous -- was I missing an air raid? -- so I took an earpiece out to listen. I knew immediately what the noise was and where it was coming from -- my neighbors, a young couple with two young kids, were fighting. Again. "Why do couples argue so much?" I asked Sara later that afternoon as we watched our dogs chase each other at the dog park. "Are you kidding? Take two people with different backgrounds and ideas, stick them together as a couple whether they're living to

Most likely to succeed -- but in what?
Sara and I were in line to order our lattes when we heard a voice. "Sara?" We turned around to see an attractive 40-something man in a lycra Team in Training shirt and bike shorts standing a few people behind us. "Yes?" she said with a somewhat puzzled look on her face; as single, actively dating gals any man who seems somewhat familiar could be a former disappointing online Starbucks meet, the ex of a girlfriend or the hookup you brought home after one too many mojitos. It's sometimes hard to know for sure. "Little Sara Peters?" Little? Sara's cute and fit, but she's hardly little. "Yes. Do I know you?" "It's Stu

Does being Ms. Picky get you Mr. Perfect?
"I just don't know how she does it," my friend Naomi sighed as we caught up by phone on a recent Sunday. "She who? Does what?" "Oh, my neighbor. I just saw her leave her house with a guy in a Mercedes. Unbelievable. She's never without a boyfriend, and the latest's always richer than the last one." "Well, she's obviously got something going on. Is she hot?" "Kat, she's 80!" "You're kidding! Well, good for her. I sure hope I'm attracting guys like that when I'm 80." "Yeah, well, they keep dying on her. But as soon as one pops off, she's got a new one. Must be nice not to have to be so picky anymore." "Oh, I