I am a big popcorn fanatic. I love popcorn. In fact one year for my birthday my husband bought me one of those big popcorn machines like they have in movie theaters.

I was fired by 'America's Next Top Model' on my birthday.

On a royal birthday every house must fly a flag or the owner would be dragged to a police station and be fined twenty-five rubles.

I married two weeks after my 18th birthday far too young and by the time I was 23 I was a single mother of three small children Sean Daniel and Victoria living in a prefab house.

My brother got a .22 for his 12th birthday I got a .22. He got a hunting knife I got a hunting knife.

When I was in elementary school I used to write letters to myself. I'd write letters and go 'Dear Kristen-at-16-years-old happy birthday. I hope you're doing something.'

For my birthday this year my girlfriends - who knew I'd just inherited my dad's turntable - gave me a carton of albums like 'Blue Kentucky Girl ' by Emmylou Harris and 'Off the Wall ' by Michael Jackson. It's all stuff we grew up with. I mean you can't have a music collection without Prince's 'Purple Rain' - it just can't be done!

At her birthday my seven-year-old daughter will say that she wants these big cakes and certain expensive toys as presents and I can't say no to her. It would just break my heart. But when I was little for birthdays we just played outside and we were happy if we got any cake.

Even when I was a kid I had a good thing with kids. To this day if I go to a birthday party with one of my kids I swear to you I am so much happier hanging out with my kids and their friends than talking to the grown-ups.

The American flag is an enduring symbol of liberty democracy and justice. It is fitting that the House act to protect it as we approach our nation's birthday and as our men and women in uniform rally behind it in Iraq's battlefields.