It's a Wonderful Life....

by Brittany Geragotelis

Hey all! This has been a CRAZY week for me, full of amazing announcements, opportunities and experiences.

First off, I did an impromptu photo shoot on Wednesday with Matt's brother, Ryan Gielen, because a few news outlets needed new headshots of me, and they turned out AWESOME. I'm not the most photogenic person, but I can honestly say I'm happy with the way they turned out....here are a few we liked....what do you think?


















Then on Thursday, Publisher's Weekly made the big announcement that Simon & Schuster will be publishing Life's a Witch, the prequel (titled, What the Spell?) and the sequel. I am beyond psyched to be working with the publishing powerhouse, as well as with my new editor, Alexandra Cooper. She's such a cool chick, who truly loves Hadley and her fellow twitches. How exciting is that?

Almost as exciting as this article that appeared in today's Wall Street Journal which focuses on how publishing companies are beginning to rely on prequel's being published online as a way to create buzz around a book series. The journalist was so sweet and wrote such a great article! It's on newsstands as well as online, so if you're at the bookstore or Starbucks, be sure to pick one up!

And I've got a conference call with my movie/tv agent today to discuss all the buzz that's happening right now! I'll let you know what I know, when I know it! What a way to end my week!

5x5,
B.

The Power of Purple

by Brittany Geragotelis

Today, I'm wearing purple. And why aren't I sporting my signature color (pink), you might ask? Because today, October 20th, people across the U.S. are being encouraged to don purple to take a stand against bullying, harassment and hateful speech. That's why I'm proudly wearing purple today.

This show of support was prompted by the rash of suicides by gay teens after they were bullied by their peers. The most recent victim was 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, whose roommate at Rutgers University hid a camera in their dorm room and broadcast a video of him in the room with another man live on the internet. The following day, Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge.

Hate and fear and ignorance of those who are even the slightest bit different than the "norm," has got to stop. And although this push of purple was spurred because of the prejudice against gay people and lesbians, they aren't the only ones out there who experience bullying and harassment. Unfortunately, there's a lot of that going around. I, myself, was bullied a lot in high school, and still to this day, have very few happy memories of that period of my life. See, I wasn't popular in school and never really fit in. A few mean girls used to threaten to beat me up after football games and would even sit right in front of me in the stands as I cheered, shouting out how they were going to kick my ass. Then, teammates would have to walk me out to the car to make sure I wasn't jumped. A few times they threw full Gatorade bottles at me while I cheered on the sidelines.

Was my experience any more serious than what the G&L community has to go through? Probably not. But the point is that there are people out there who put a lot of thought and energy into making my life miserable. And it happens much too often, to too many people. We have got to start letting people know that this kind of behavior is wrong and unacceptable. And an easy way we can start is by showing our solidarity today.

So, grab a purple fleece, a lavendar skirt, a violet headband—anything in the purple family will do just fine—and help stand up to bullies.

5x5,
B.

Big news!!!

by Brittany Geragotelis

So, since I don't have any good and exciting news on the book front (haven't heard back from any more agents and haven't gotten an answer from any of the others who requested my full manuscript), I figured I should give you SOME kind of news to tide you over until I can get on this blog and say, "I DID IT! I DID IT! I FINALLY GOT ANOTHER AGENT!!!!! HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THINGS GOOD IN THIS WORLD SOMEONE'S FINALLY TAKEN A CHANCE ON ME!"

Then again, the news I've got for you instead could be described in a similar way:

"I DID IT! I DID IT! I FINALLY GOT A BOYFRIEND WHO LOVES ME ENOUGH TO SHACK UP WITH ME!!!! HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THINGS GOOD IN THIS WORLD, SOMEONE'S FINALLY TAKING A CHANCE ON ME!"

Hahahaha. Okay, so a bit dramatic, I know. And not exactly how I'd describe the situation (I mean, I'm a pretty good catch, after all). But the bottom line is this: Matt and I are moving in together! Let's say it together now. Yay!

After nearly three (blissful and dorky) years of dating, we've finally deemed each other worthy living companions and are planning to combine our forces and find a place we can call our own. So, where will we live you ask? Well, we're not sure yet, but we're looking into a few places. And even though we're not planning to make the big merger until January, we're planning to look at a bunch of places this weekend.

Hey, we figure, we don't want to wait til the last minute to search for our little love nest.

So, what are we looking for then? Well, here are just a few of the things that made our apartment wish list:

—Fitness room/gym in building (Both Matt and I work out regularly and it would be nice if we didn't have to leave our apartment to do it. Plus, it would save us gym memberships!)

—A dishwasher (Yes, to those of you out there who live somewhere OTHER than NYC, most apartments here don't have dishwashers. You have to do this horrible thing called, "washing your dishes by hand." I hate doing dishes so much that there was a 6-month time period where I bought plastic silverware and paper dishes, so that I could throw them out after I used them. So, yeah, a dishwasher is a must.)

—Rooftop patio/Rooftop garden (Again, not a necessity, but it would be nice to have a place to relax and/or sunbathe that didn't involve a ton of strangers leering at you while you do it.)

—24/hour Doorman (My last apartment was broken into and both of us want the added security that a round-the-clock watchman provides. Feeling safe in your home is super important to us!)

—A large kitchen with more than one counter (Matt and I cook a lot and right now, my kitchen isn't even big enough for the two of us to stand in, let alone cook in. And there's about half a counter in there. I think it's time for a big girl kitchen.)

—Laundry on premises, preferably in unit (Again, not every apartment building has a laundry room. And very few actually have a washer and dryer in the individual apartments. Not only would having one in our apartment save us time and money, but we're going to have twice as many clothes to clean between the two of us now!)

—Balcony (Not a must, but think of how nice it would be to wake up in the morning on a nice weekend day and be able to sit outside and drink your coffee while looking out at the NYC skyline. A-MAZING!)

—A swimming pool (Okay, I never would have put this on the list before, but Matt and I have already sort of started looking and I'm amazed at how many places actually have pools in the buildings around here! So, now that I know they're available, I kind of want one, too. Can you blame a girl?)

So, I think that's about it for now. I'll keep you guys up to date on the apartment hunt and if you can think up any other cool things we should be looking for in a place to live, leave them in the comments above.

Happy (apartment) Hunting!

5x5,
B.

Is it sex confidence or just low self-esteem?

by Brittany Geragotelis

Have you heard about the former Duke student who did her thesis on all the guys she hooked up with while in school? Apparently she never meant for it to become public consumption, but sent it to three of her girlfriends and one of them leaked it to the cyberworld. In the more than 40 page powerpoint presentation, the girl describes in great detail, her sexual escapades with over 13 Duke athletes, giving pros and cons to each encounter, as well as ranking them and showing collages of pictures of each.

Some are giving the girl props for her sexual confidence and likening her "research" to a sort of "Sex and the City" girl power move. Others just see a girl with low self-esteem who's trying to make light of her promiscuity because of underlying guilt and regret. Even more are pointing out that guys do these sort of public sex "outtings" all the time, so why is this story making such big headlines?

What do you think? Sexy or sad?

5x5,
B.

Professional Wingman?

by Brittany Geragotelis

At first I thought this story was going to be lame. Some ego-maniac teaching sleazy guys how to pick up women. What I read was pleasantly surprising and also interesting at the same time. Basically, the Professional Wingman took his ability to give good dating advice and parlayed it into a lucrative business. This got me thinking. What talents do you have right now that you could turn into a successful business? Professional hair braider (wedding and event hairstylist)? Professional movie watcher (movie critic for your own entertainment blog/site)? Professional organizer (interior design for dummies)? The world is your oyster.

What would you do if you could start your own business today?

5x5,
B.