Since officially signing on as a judge for The X Factor, Britney Spears hasn't been off to a particularly smooth start. From her barely-there dress at the announcement that horrified some to storming off the set last week, she certainly has people wondering if she can hack it as a serious judge. So you would think that some sweet support from her finance Jason Trawick might be just what Brit needs, only even that has backfired.

Instead of pampering her in private after the first round of auditions in Austin, Trawick went very public with his love and support for her. He released to the world a video message for her ... that he filmed in bed Friday. Watch and see what you think.

We've all been dumped. Maybe it was years ago, maybe it was this morning, but it happens to everyone. And with breakups come all the cliche excuses for why.

Here is a nifty breakdown of what the most popular breakup lines ACTUALLY mean.

As moms, we all worry about our kids when we are not with them. But imagine if the simple things that are normal parts of childhood, like a friend's birthday party, eating lunch at school, or even spilled milk pose deadly dangers to them.

That's the situation faced by Natalie. Her daughter Emma has severe food allergies. She's allergic to every major food allergen except wheat, and each allergy is severe enough to be life-threatening if she's exposed.

Sounds like a stressful way to live, no? But Natalie, her husband Jeff and their older daughter, Violet, have found ways to work around Emma's allergies and have a normal family life.

Subtropical storm Beryl is bound to be a big bummer for Memorial Day BBQs along the Southeast Coast: Areas from from northeastern Florida to southern South Carolina are under a storm warning for the holiday weekend, with rain, powerful high tides and winds expected. Better move that grill inside!

Doesn't Beryl know hurricane season isn't supposed to officially start until June 1?

Not that a tropical or subtropical storm is the same thing as a hurricane, of course.

Um, but now that we're on the subject, what IS the difference between a hurricane and a tropical storm?

Email has become easily one of our most common forms of communication, but it's also one that can be consistently fraught with tension, ambiguity, and miscommunication. Most of us have sat stewing over an email from a significant other, thinking, "What did he mean by that?" or one from the boss, wondering, "Is she angry with me or happy with me?"

In an essay about "gaslighting," which is the apparent habit men have of accusing women of being "overly sensitive," "paranoid," or "crazy," when they're not, the writer mentions how women negate their feelings in email exchanges. It really struck a familiar chord with me, though not for the reasons the essay goes into.

What iconic images say "America" to you? I've put a slide show of pictures that almost capture what I see when I think of our country. But it's almost impossible for me to distill what America means in just a few images. Even as I write this introduction I'm thinking of more images I wish I'd included. So consider this slide show incomplete. America will always be too big, ambitious, multifaceted, diverse, and complex to boil down to just a handful of pictures. But it's still fun to share a few images with each other.

Here's my mosaic of America. What does yours look like? Happy Memorial Day weekend!

I don't like regretting things. I tend to believe that I've made some mistakes in life and it taught me something so why live with regret, right? Of course, there are times when I have colossally messed up and I've said sorry and begged forgiveness -- of course that was all when I was much younger, and much more ... let's say ... not so smart. (Wink.)

But I do regret some of the mean-spirited and unsympathetic drivel I have spewed before I became a mom. I've scowled at babies, judged their parents, all for things I do and my kids do all the time. Because it's typical kid/parent behavior. For this, I just want to issue a huge, heartfelt apology, and will pray to the sleep gods that your kids will always allow you to have a great night's sleep with no night wakings. So ... (gulp) ... here they are. A list of things I am truly sorry for thinking before I had kids.

Summer may not actually begin until June, but I consider my favorite season under way when the pints of strawberries start showing up at the farmers' market. They make me feel like a kid again, sitting out in the backyard, my fingers stained red from the berry juice. 

Only now that I'm an adult, I don't have to make do with the berries themselves. Because now I'm actually allowed to bake with them. And if you didn't think the world's best fruit (in my personal opinion!) could be improved upon, you apparently haven't had a slice of fresh strawberry pie.