My mom FedExes a red velvet cake she makes from scratch to me every birthday.

Well I started conducting kind of by accident. I wanted to give myself a special birthday present for my fortieth birthday and I was living in San Francisco at the time and I started attending some of the concerts and then simply dropping hints.

I started running around my 30th birthday. I wanted to lose weight I didn't anticipate the serenity. Being in motion suddenly my body was busy and so my head could work out some issues I had swept under a carpet of wine and cheese. Good therapy that's a good run.

Any time women come together with a collective intention it's a powerful thing. Whether it's sitting down making a quilt in a kitchen preparing a meal in a club reading the same book or around the table playing cards or planning a birthday party when women come together with a collective intention magic happens.

I suddenly realized how much I loved her when we attended Alfred Hitchcock's 75th birthday party last August. There was something magical about that night and it made me see how much she really meant to me.

I hate birthdays. I thought that I only hated my own birthday and then I realized that I hate my children's birthdays too.

And for the city's birthday we will host events in every neighborhood of the city inviting all of our residents to share in the celebration of Boston's great epic - the story of neighbors who support one another where it matters most.

My first recognition of age setting in was exactly on my 36th birthday. I have no idea why on this day of all days I looked in the mirror and realized my face no longer looked young.

For my birthday my husband learned to cook and is cooking one day a week for me. But he only likes to do fancy dishes. So we end up with weird obscure things in the refrigerator.

I grew up doing all that stuff because I was obsessed with the '50s. I had sock hops for birthday parties. So I've always done The Twist and stuff. It was pretty natural and with my parents doing it all the time I'd just copy them. Not very pretty.