Things my friend says...

by Brittany Geragotelis

Recently, I went on a trip with a friend of mine (Let's call her Blondie-Pop). Now, this was the first time I'd ever traveled with Blondie-Pop and I was still sort of getting to know her. Needless to say, she had me dying laughing the entire time. After the first few hours, I started to write down all the funny things she said, because I knew it would make for an incredible blog.

So now, just because I love all of you so much (and her....I'm going to miss you!), I'm unveiling some of the hilariously ridiculous things that were said that weekend.

You're welcome.


On Brazilian
Me: Have you ever had Brazilian?
Blondie-Pop: Waxing?

On the phone with UPS
Blondie-Pop: What if I was shipping body parts? How would you guarantee I got them before they went bad?

About ex-boyfriends
Bondie-Pop: I had a boyfriend named Matt once....He's gay now.

On her favorite iPhone app
Blondie-Pop: Did I not show you pocket pole?

On her lineage
Blondie-Pop: I'm French, Australian, English, Dutch, Swiss--pretty much everything that's white and blonde.

About Taylor Lautner's new movie Abduction
Blondie-Pop: Hey look, it's Taylor Lautner on that billboard.
Me: Yeah, he's an animal.
Blondie-Pop: Wow, he's really branching out.

On bug bites
Bondie-Pop: I keep getting bit...not by people, but...

5x5,
B.

How do you feel about Friends with Benefits?

by Brittany Geragotelis

I went to the movies this weekend, to take a little girl time out to see a chick-flick called Friends With Benefits with my BFF Tammy. Starring smooth-dancer and pop crooner Justin Timberlake and the sassy, sexy Mila Kunis, FWB was super fun and super funny. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon with the girls.






The premise isn't exactly groundbreaking: Girl (Mila Kunis) is dumped by boy (Andy Sandberg) for being too clingy. Guy (JT) is dumped by girl (Emma Stone) for not being clingy enough. Girl and Guy meet, become friends, decide that instead of dating they're just going to sleep with each other—no strings attached. And neither of them thinks they'll get hurt in the end.



Uh, huh. Yeah.



Besides the obvious plot points, I really liked the movie. I enjoyed the playful and sarcastic banter between Mila and JT's characters. I also loved that by taking out the romance at the beginning of their relationship, they were much more capable of being honest with each other. Neither is trying to impress the other, so they can say and act exactly how they want, being more themselves than with anyone else.

Now, I was already a fan of Justin Timberlake (what can I say, I grew up listening to N*Sync and loved him in the Disney movie Model Behavior back in 2000) and Mila Kunis has officially become one of my top girl crushes (ever since I saw her in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I've thought she was so freaking cool), but the movie really was worth paying the $12.50 for admission. There are a bunch of throw-backs to 90s music and some pretty fun dancing scenes. Oh, and did I mention that JT and Mila are naked almost the entire movie (I don't think anyone in the theater was complaining)?

So, yes, a bit unoriginal, but better than the other similar movies that are out there. So, grab your girls and go see it. You won't be sorry!

5x5,
B.

Fashion magazines and Politics

by Brittany Geragotelis

Hey all! Since it's summer time and that means most of the TV shows I watch on a regular basis are on hiatus (except for pretty much everything on ABC Family and "Keeping Up With the Kardashians"), I've been enjoying watching old shows on demand. Most of these shows are ones I never watched when they actually aired, but now that I'm watching them for the first time, I totally wish I had (kind of. I really do like watching shows without commercials or having to wait each week for a new episode).

Two of the shows I'm really digging right now are "The West Wing" and "Ugly Betty." Both are totally different in subject and sentiment, but both are rocking my world.






"The West Wing" is all about politics (duh), which I tend to not be interested in at all (although since I started dating Matt, he's forced me to pay attention to them a lot more. Damn you Gielen!), but the show isn't just about politics. In fact, it's more about the relationships between the characters than anything else. The writing is amazing and the topics are relevant—even so many years later. The actors are great (who knew Martin Sheen was so likeable and commanding and Dule Hill is absolutely loveable.). While watching, you can't help but wish politics was as caring and personable as it is on this show. But I'm sure that's because we finally get to see the relationships behind the scenes....things that we don't get to see in reality. I like to think though, that Obama is the same way when we aren't seeing him as his TV persona....and this show is leaving me with a better feeling about the political world. If you haven't seen the show yet, you totally need to Netflix it. It's SO worth it!




















Now, "Ugly Betty" is all about the magazine world—a topic that is much more closely related to my life. However, Betty works at a fashion magazine (not exactly American Cheerleader), which definitely means that I don't completely relate to her world, but still, it's enjoyable to watch, because I understand it. Of course, "Ugly Betty" is a bit more dramatic than my publishing world, mostly because there are no murder mysteries going on at AC, and our worth around the office isn't based on what designer label we're wearing. And that's really the part that I love...it's not exactly reality, but it's about a topic I'm familiar with. The storyline is engaging and fun and the mystery will keep you guessing. The perfect blend for a perfect TV show.

If you're looking for a new show to watch while you wait for the Fall season to start I strongly suggest one of these shows. Anyone else have a suggestion for what I should watch next?

5x5,
B.

Weddings: the good, the bad and the ugly

by Brittany Geragotelis

So, this past weekend seemed to be all about weddings. Not only did my totally awesome friend, Amanda get married to her longtime best friend and girlfriend, Melissa in a super gorgeous, fun and touching ceremony at the Botanical Gardens, but Kim Kardashian married Kris Humphries on Saturday in a lavish and star-studded event that will air on the E! network in October.

This got me thinking about weddings in general and all the different touches each ceremony has that makes it special. Here's a roundup of some of the most legendary celebrity weddings in the last 10 years.

photo credit: Daily Mail

Kim Kardashian marries Kris Humphries
The ceremony included over 450 guests including Brody Jenner and Avril Lavigne, Lindsay Lohan with mom Dina and sister Ali, Eva Longoria, Ryan Seacrest and Julianne Hough, Kathy Lee Gifford, Mel B, Brittny Gastineau, The Spin Crowd's Jonathan Cheban, Mario Lopez, Ciara, Joe Francis, George Lopez and Serena Williams. The bride wore a total of three dresses throughout the night (all Vera Wang) and guests enjoyed Wolfgang Puck creations for dinner, which kicked off with a buffalo mozzarella and heirloom tomato salad with basil and "tomato chips"; followed by a choice of hand-formed agnolotti with sweet corn mascarpone and summer truffles, or roast chicken with Yukon Gold potato puree, caramelized brussels sprouts and summer truffles. The wedding will be broadcast on E! in October in a two-hour special and photos will be shown exclusively in People magazine this week.

photo credit: HollywoodGrind.com

Prince William & Kate Middleton
The whole world tuned in to watch the Prince and his princess swap vows earlier this year, and with over 1,900 guests, this couldn't be described as an intimate affair. Celeb guests included Victoria and David Beckham and Elton John. The ceremony cost an estimated $70 million.

photo credit: People.com

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
Despite that it was his second wedding and Katie's first, the event certainly wasn't mission impossible. For about $2 million, TomKat got married in a castle outside of Rome, Italy, and enjoyed a delectible 5-course feast. Celebs who attended included Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith, and again....the Jada Pinkett-SmithBeckhams.

photo credit: Daily Mail

Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pitt
Their fairytale romance may have ended in divorce (we're looking at you Angelina!), but at least the beginning of their marriage was beautiful. In a ceremony estimated at miniscule $1 million, Jenn and Brad enjoyed the company of celebrity friends like Cameron Diaz, Selma Hayek, Courteney Cox and David Schwimmer. The night ended in fireworks...literally. Hmmm, come to think of it, so did their marriage.

photo credit: People.com

Victoria and David Beckham
They might not be royalty, but these two sure act like it. The soccer stud and former spice girl were married in a $800K ceremony, which included 250 guests. The duo sat on red velvet thrones throughout the evening and Victoria's train was 20-feet long. Guests were serenaded by Elton John before enjoying fireworks.

photo credit: People.com

Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale
The No Doubt frontrunner wore a beautiful Christian Dior gown that went from white and faded into pink (my kind of girl) and her rocker husband chose to have his sheepdog to accompany him. The ceremony took place in London, but two weeks later, the couple had an additional ceremony in LA for all their stateside friends, which included Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Ben Stiller.

5x5,
B.

Lessons in Love

by Brittany Geragotelis

Today, I have the honor of attending a very close friend's wedding. Amanda is one of those people who has changed my life. She's a positive, loving force who gives excellent advice, is an even better listener and never ceases to amaze me.

Her impending ceremony got me thinking about relationships and I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you all the things that Amanda's taught me about love over the past few years. I hope you all learn just as much from this blog as I have from Amanda.

Don't listen to nay-sayers. Amanda and her soon-to-be-wife, Melissa, originally planned their wedding when the state of NY wouldn't have recognized it as a legal marriage. But they loved each other and wanted to make that commitment, and didn't let that stop them. I like to think that the universe had a hand in passing the law in NYC, legalizing gay marriage just in time for their wedding. You shouldn't listen to anyone else but yourself when it comes to what's right for your relationship. Sure, others may not understand or agree with it, but that's a decision for you and you only.

Love can develop when you least expect it. Amanda and Melissa knew each other for a long time before they ever dated, having been friends and roommates in college. I don't think either of them expected for their friendship to grow into love, but it did and they went with it. Just because a relationship starts out with the tiniest of sparks doesn't mean it won't catch fire and burn for a long time. Be open to the idea that love can develop anytime, anywhere, and you may just find your perfect match right in front of you (whether you expected to or not).

It's human to be scared, but we can't let fear run our relationships. Just because we've been hurt before, doesn't necessarily mean that we will be hurt in our current relationship. Yes, it's normal to get scared every once-in-a-while. Scared that the relationship will end, scared of being cheated on, scared you'll never live up to the other person's expectations, scared that they might not think you're "the one." But just because we feel scared, doesn't mean we need to act on it. Amanda's taught me that my fears are just that: my fears. They're not based on fact and if I let it run my relationship, there might not be a relationship to be had. This means that if I have a dream where my boyfriend cheats on me, it doesn't mean that I can punish him for his evil cheating dream self. I need to treat him like the flower-buying, hug-giving, funny, loveable guy I'm actually dating. (Unless you're psychic, in which case, feel free to punish away.)

Know what your deal-breakers are. One of the pieces of advice that Amanda gave me when I first got into my current relationship was to make a list of all the qualities I wanted in a significant other (and the kind of person I wanted to be in a relationship) and then move towards that ideal. Another thing she said was to think about what my deal-breakers were. Whether it's smoking, breaking plans, drinking, religious beliefs, over-spending, anger issues, etc., you need to know where to draw the line for you to be in a happy, healthy relationship. This is going to be different for everyone, but it's important to ask yourself this before you get into the relationship. And if you decide that a habit isn't worth ending a relationship over, then you need to let it go, because you can't expect to change the person you're with.

Trust, truth and teamwork. To see Amanda and Melissa's relationship you can tell that three things are at work: They trust each other, they're honest and they tackle all their problems together. Enough said.

Laughter is the best medicine. OMG, Amanda and Melissa laugh so much together. Sure, life can get serious, but in the end, they make each other smile and truly enjoy being around each other. Not only do they love each other, but they actually like each other! One of the things that Amanda always reminds me about my relationship with Matt is that we crack each other up and always have fun together. What a novel concept...and one that I certainly don't take for granted.

Soulmates don't have to be romantic in nature. Through my relationship with Amanda, I've learned that some friendships are just as important as romantic relationships. Amanda knows all of my secrets (seriously...Every. Single. One. And that's not always pretty.), she is the one I trust to give me unbiased, brutally honest advice (even if it hurts my ego sometimes) and she'll always love me unconditionally. Having this relationship with her has made my relationship with Matt better than it ever possibly could have been without her guidance and knowledge.

So, thank you Amanda and congratulations on your marriage. You deserve all the happiness in the world!

5x5,
B.

My latest video: Am I published yet?

by Brittany Geragotelis

Hey all!

So, the time has officially come for me to unveil my latest video. It's not another book trailer, but it is about books. My books specifically. My latest author video is all about my state as an author, and I answer the age-old question: Are you published yet? You'll have to watch to get the answer!

5x5,
B.

Cheer camp with the Kardashians....

by Brittany Geragotelis

So, a week ago, I headed off to Ontario, CA, to go to The Spirit Consultants cheer camp with Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and Corinne Foxx. The week was long and full of screaming girls, but totally worth it, because I was able to get a really sweet segment on Access Hollywood about Kendall being on our cover in May and Corinne being our December cover girl. Yay me!

But what was SUPER exciting was that on the last day of camp, "Keeping up with the Kardashians" was filming at the camp! And get this: the whole Kardashian clan was there. Well, except for Kim. She must have been off figuring out last-minute details for her fabulous wedding, which is less than a week away! But the rest of them were there....here's the run-down:
Kris, Bruce, Mason, Kourtney, Khloe and Lamar!

The girls looked beautiful as always and I even scored some one-on-one time with Kourtney, talking to her about how she was the perfect size to be a cheerleader. She explained that there wasn't a cheer squad when Kim and her were in school, but that they took dance classes for a few weeks during that time. It turns out, Kourtney was actually a big soccer player. But she was super psyched to see Kendall and Kylie in their element.

She wasn't the only one though...Khloe was taking pictures the entire time and then later posted them on her blog. And when the girls first came out onto the floor to compete in the camp cheer contest, Lamar attempted to do a high kick. Granted with limbs as long as his (I went up to his hip), he nearly fell down in the process.

Everyone was SO nice and they were all so proud of Kendall and Kylie! You could tell that they're really a family that cheers on each other. Anyway.....here are some pics I took from the VIP section of the camp. Yep, that's right...I was in the same section as the Kardashians! They don't have a cheer magazine reality show yet...don't you think they should?

5x5,
B.

New haircut, new me.

by Brittany Geragotelis

Hey all!

So, this weekend, I decided to make some radical changes....to my hair! In the past, I've been color-happy. My hair's been red, blonde, hightlighted, low-lighted. I've done it all. It's been long, short, flipped and swooped.

photo credit: MCyrus.com

photo credit: Just Jared

But the last time I went crazy on a hairstyle was nearly four years ago. Soooo, for no particular reason, I felt it was time to put a little change in my life. On Saturday, I went to get my hair cut and colored (a luxury I don't usually imbibe in). Because he was afraid someone would butcher my hair and that he'd end up with a short-haired girlfriend (no offense....what can I say? He likes it long.), Matt offered to pay for it!

Four hours and four magazines later, and I had a haircut I now love, and a color that is not as dramatic as I'd wanted, but which looks really good! My hair inspiration? For the cut, it was Miley Cyrus' layers, and for the color, Rachel Bilson. Apparently the dark on top, light on the bottom look is called "The Ombre." What a weird (and unsexy) name for a hairstyle, huh? Anyhoo....take a look! What do you think? Love it or hate it?

5x5,
B.

Lizzie McGuire Preggers!

by Brittany Geragotelis

photo credit: Disney/Lizzie McGuire

Do you guys remember the show on The Disney Channel, "Lizzie McGuire?" I used to watch it growing up...I loved the fact that scenes were broken up by the little cartoon Lizzie. Anyways, the little girl who played this cute and precocious blonde, has grown up to be the gorgeous and talented Hilary Duff!

photo credit: Elle magazine (Canada)

And now, little Lizzie McGuire just announced that she's pregnant! Can you believe it? After almost exactly a year of wedded bliss, Hilary and her hubby, hockey player Mike Comrie have announced that they're expecting! In a smart move (I like her style and tend to agree with her on this), apparently the two decided to give themselves at least a year to enjoy some couple time before getting their baby bump on. "I think it was important to us that we had a year to just do whatever," Hilary told E! News. "And maybe longer than that because we enjoy having so much freedom. But we're thinking about it."

photo credit: Daily Mail

Well, the two are finally ready to make their twosome into a threesome (the family kind). And though we haven't caught a look at her baby bump yet, here's a pic of the actress from a movie where she played a pregnant woman, in case you need an idea of what we might expect in the upcoming months. I for one, have enjoyed watching the Disney star grow up to be a good role model for younger generations and now, for her son or daughter. Way to go Hilary and congratulations!

So, what do you think? Is it going to be a boy or a girl?

5x5,

B.

P.S. Hilary just ruined our winter fashion idea! We'd just contacted her publicist on Friday to see if she could participate in our December issue. Too bad our idea didn't include winter maternity clothes (though we're sure Hilary would be the cutest soon-to-be mom EVER!)

A little animal action to get your day started

by Brittany Geragotelis

I don't know about you, but this week I'm dragging. Blame it on the heat, the funky full-moon stuff or just plain jet lag (I just got back from a week in Cali)...either way, it's been really difficult to sleep and even harder to get up in the mornings.

So, just in case you're in the same boat...here's a little pick-me-up in the form that only animals can provide. Enjoy!

5x5,
B.

Brings a whole new meaning to the hotdog.














Keyboard Cat!
















I'm king of the tile!















True love.

Kendall and Kylie at cheer camp!

by Brittany Geragotelis

Hey all!

As you might know, I'm at cheer camp this week...with Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and Corinne Foxx (Jamie Foxx's daughter)! I'm having so much fun, but don't worry--I'm doing a lot work while I'm here too! Case in point, check out the segment on Access Hollywood that I set up on Monday! Pretty amazing, huh?


5x5,
B.

Life's a Witch Trailer #2

by Brittany Geragotelis

Hey all!

So, I know that I promised this to you a while ago, but the moment is finally here! Here's the world premier of the second video trailer for my novel, Life's a Witch! Take a look and then let me know which one you liked better!