I remember growing up knowing I wanted to be on the stage. I wanted to get to London as soon as possible and start auditioning for theater.

After Zorro, people spoke Spanish to me for ages. I'm Welsh but that movie instantly gave me a new ethnicity.

I like to feel sexy. I know my husband thinks I'm sexy. I think he is too. But I don't go out half-naked with 'sex' written across my back.

I'm obsessed with hula-hooping. I do it for 20 minutes a day. I don't use the old-fashioned hollow plastic kind we had when we were kids, but I discovered a new one at Danskin that's smaller and weighted.

Tacked above my desk are photos of artists I admire - Hopper, Sargent, Twain - and postcards from beloved bookstores where I've spent all my time and money - Tattered Cover, Elliot Bay, Harvard Bookstore.

Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love - and to put its trust in life.

My mum used to send me cuttings from the local paper about people who'd got married as a kind of 'hint hint'. But then there was one cutting about my home seat's boundary changes, and how it might be good for the Liberal Democrats, and I knew this was an opportunity.

I think both husband and wife should have busy minds, not see too much of each other, but not too little either: just get it right. If both are healthy in their heads and satisfied with their day's work, the partnership works.