“A lot of children don’t find forever homes because they’re on that special-needs list, even if it’s because of something as simple as her mother smoked cigarettes for a month, not knowing she was pregnant.”

It’s lame to say that I’m a normal girl, but I think I am.

We are all human beings, part of the human race, and we need to be compassionate and giving and kind with one another.

I’m really proud of myself because I’ve pared my beauty regimen down to a cream blush and berry-tinted lip balm, which has saved me so much time.

I’ve created a chaotic life, and then I get on edge because of it.

I look back at my twenties and see that I was much less confident.

My mother is a great source of advice and wisdom and consolation for me.

I pride myself on being kind.

I decided I was sick of trying to figure out what everybody else wanted, and I should just decide what I want, and be honest, and not spend all my time guessing.

I still love the theology of the Mormon religion and think it is a wonderful way to grow up.

When I do get pregnant, I highly doubt I’ll be one of those women who don’t look pregnant from behind – I’ll be that chick who looks pregnant from her ankles up!

My worst habit used to be smoking but I quit.

My good friends are Mormon, some of the best people I know.

Obviously my career’s important to me and I’m really, really passionate about trying to keep it.

I haven’t been to rehab, I don’t do anything eccentric – I’m really boring.

I’m not out burning bras, but I’m very opinionated about women owning their power.

I just like to shake things up, and your hair is one way to do it.

A kid is something precious, and you want to protect it and keep it fun. I’m not a dad, but I’ve seen people and how they behave with their kids.

The music had to be rooted, and yet had to branch out, like the wild imagination of a child.

I have irrational fears, and they all go back to losing my father as a kid. I’ve never gotten over it.

If American women would increase their voting turnout by ten percent, I think we would see an end to all of the budget cuts in programs benefiting women and children.

I have three kids who like Harry Potter so I was sort of aware of it. You can’t really move from it: it’s on buses, in stores, it’s everywhere. One of my kids has read the books; the other two are too small but they like the movies.

But I did go to music really early on, even when I was 4 or 5, I was responding to music probably in ways other kids were not.

I was the oldest of the children in my family. I had to do a lot of diaper-changing and lunch-making. I was taking my little sister to ballet, picking up my brother, sort of being a super-nanny.

The tyrant is a child of pride.