Religious lady right here who is pro-birth control and pro-choice. I'm Episcopal, but I was raised Baptist, and pretty much every Southern Baptist or Independent Fundamental Baptist lady I know used birth control for actual birth control (not just for "health reasons").

That's really great to hear! I will not count out the two women's colleges here, then. :) I know there's a lot of great women's colleges, but I really want her to stay in Southern California. She's homeschooled and totally sheltered, so sending her across the country is a recipe for disaster. I know I'm about 6…

That's really good to know! I loved having a liberal arts education, so I will definitely encourage her to apply when it's the time. I don't know very much about Scripps, but I know a ton about the UC system, so that's why I said that. :)

OMG I DID THAT TOO. I loved visiting colleges too, especially the overnight stays!

The liberal arts experience was great, but chapel once a week was not. ;) I don't think liberal arts is a good idea if you're going to go into a ton of debt... I would say, don't do more than 25k. The payments for that amount are not that bad.

Barnard and Smith were on my list, but my parents vetoed them. I had to go to a Christian college. If my 9 year old sister decides she wants a liberal arts education, I'll be bribing her to apply to Mount St. Mary's or Scripps, but if she wants to go into STEM, I will probably encourage her to go to a UC.

I got married for less than $3,000, and no way would I ever put myself through that again. I did not like cooking and doing the flowers the day before the wedding. I did not like running around at midnight the night before decorating. We hired a cheap photographer and got terrible pictures. Next time around (I'm…

The only wedding favors I remember were bottles of retro soda. That was pretty awesome.

A lot of people I know are using restaurants for catering! I've seen food trucks from local restaurants, Wood Ranch, Lucille's, Chipotle, In-n-Out, & Chick-Fil-A. It's so cheap compared to a traditional caterer. When I get married, I won't even look at venues that don't allow outside catering.

For some people, that's cultural. My Orthodox Christian friends invite pretty much everyone they know, but they also get a LOT of money from the guests. I wouldn't do it though! ~100 seems to be a nice sized amount!!

UCLA's tuition is $14,000/year, but living on campus costs about $15,000 (which is WAY more than what I paid at my private college — I paid $8,000/year for 13 meals + shared residence). CSU Fullerton's tuition/fees were $6400 this year, so I could see it being about $14,000 with living expenses.

That sounds about right. Most people I know spent between 15-20k.

I thought the rule is that whoever asks the other person out has to pay....?

The cult location is pretty close to me, and I've considered visiting just to mock it. But I don't want to get sucked in...

That reminds me of this:

This is so true. Growing up Baptist, I hated it when people said, "Unspoken request for prayer." What the hell?? I wanna know the gossip!

Oooh good point of view. Thanks!

That's an awesome piece!

"Shaken baby syndrome" refers to head trauma for children under the age of 5, according to the CDC. You shouldn't shake children of any age, but especially not under the age of 5. This can cause serious injury or death.

http://www.cdc.gov/violencepreven…

Really? My comment was judgmental? I was going more for "calmly giving advice."