Looks like I don’t have a chance, after all.

Hm. Maybe I should start watching Dancing With The Stars…

And the color of the year is….

Chris Brown is angry, people.

Metallic makeup 101.

An end to paparazzi photos?

Bring in 2010 the right way.

This is not one of those weeks for me.

After a particularly excruciating weekend, I’ve come to realize a few things. First of all, Patron doesn’t sit well with an entire bottle of white wine. Secondly, if you go to an NHL hockey game on a Sunday, do not expect anything to get done that evening. Finally, and most relevantly, I need some serious guidelines when I go out.

Hence, this week I’m providing a survival kit for New Year’s Eve, the blurriest and biggest party night of the year. Here are 10 things everyone must have to ensure the biggest, baddest, awesomest, most memorable (with the help of that digital camera, of course) night.

10. Tacky 2010 glasses
I was mourning the end of these bad boys at the end of the year, but someone figured out how to make them for 2010. Score.

9. Champagne
This one is a given. Please upgrade your champagne choice from “the cheapest thing in the store.” Bad champagne = bad, bad hangover. I speak from experience. Trust. Read More »

Week after week (after week after week…), CollegeCandy and our pal John bring you some of the weirdest, funniest, and saddest things he hears on his college campus. And we know he’s not the only one who hears this stuff. Join the Overheard revolution! Listen in on some weirdos’ conversations and share them in the comments or send ‘em over. You know there’s a lot of funny things to be heard on your campus, so get listening.

(Frat guy, at a party.)

Guy: Okay, everyone! Dicks up, boy couch!

(Two guys in class, before lecture starts.)

Guy 1: My girlfriend broke up with me, and sent me pictures of her and her new boyfriend in bed.

Guy 2: Ouch.

Guy 1: Yeah, I sent them to her dad.

(Girl at a party.)

Girl: C’mon, let’s get out of here!

Guy: We can’t. You’re wasted. Let’s stay here.

Girl: I’m not that drunk. (Passes out into a pile of empties.) Read More »

In the early decade, America was swarmed with teen pop (and R&B) stars. After all the greats had grown up and moved on to better things, we were left starless. Destiny’s Child had become Destiny’s Woman. Brittany Spears had gone from a teen cutie to a sexy bombshell that you had to convince your parent was still making albums with no parental advisory. Backstreet Boys turned to Backstreet Men. N’Sync turned to…Justin.

And then – voila!- there was Aaron Carter, Lil Bow Wow, B2K, Lil Romeo, 3LW, Ciara, Jo-Jo, Jesse McCartney, and yes, even our occasional Disney Actors “ternt sangas” (as T-Pain would say). But where were the breakthrough stars?

Then, we met Chris Brown and Rihanna. Read More »

I wish I could say we were drunk. Not because I think you need to be two sheets to the wind to have fun in college, but because there should be some excuse for the stupidity that was exhibited that night.

It was finals week and besides a few short trips outside to grab some food or hit up a review session, my hallmates and I hadn’t gotten out of the dorm much. After a long week of frigid temperatures paired with long nights in the study lounge, we had cabin fever. It was a Saturday night and we were sick of the textbooks, the note cards, the highlighters. None of us wanted to go out – we had to be up and fully functional in the morning for our last day of studying before the big week – but none of us wanted to study, so we gathered in my friend’s room. We busted out a bag of Tostitos and some cheese dip and sat in a circle eating and talking.

We were bored. We were overtired. We were getting a little bit crazy. Somehow, this conversation happened. Read More »

The first time I ever grilled my own burgers was for a boy that I loved. I wanted so badly to impress him, that when I realized we were the only two people on campus for summer term I invited him over for dinner and Sangria on the porch. I spent all day shopping and preparing.

And that was just for my outfit.

Then, just before he was set to arrive I started pulling together whatever I could find for dinner. I had quite the menu planned: turkey burgers, salad and corn on the cob made on the grill. Mmmm. I had seen my mom make the meal a thousand times before, so I really felt confident that I could pull it off.

Of course, I didn’t. While my outfit was sexy and super saucy, my meat was flavorless and sorta over-done. Who knew I had to season the meat before I threw it on the grill? Clearly, I missed that part of my mom’s meal prep. Thank God the boy was oh so cute and polite (not to mention sorta drunk, thank you, Sangria!); he ate every last bite and offered to take me out for ice cream. Then he let me invite him over for a re-do the following week.

This time I did my work and found the perfect recipe to woo him. The dinner was actually edible and turned out perfectly from our first glass of wine to our serious make out session on the couch. I could say it was the wine that did it again, but I have made these burgers many times since and they always produce the same tremendous results. Try ‘em out for yourself:

Read More »

No offense to you, James Cameron. I love what you did with Titanic. It was a cinematic masterpiece that will remain close to my heart.  But I do not think I can say the same for your new movie, Avatar.  It may be the culmination of your life’s work, but honestly, the blue animated people look plain stupid. And it baffles me that every time the trailer comes on, every male in a 10-foot radius immediately goes from 6 to midnight. December 18^th can’t come soon enough for them, and I just don’t get it.

The mind of a man is one of life’s greatest mysteries. And the weird obsessions of those men… well, I’ll just never understand:

Fantasy Sports: I’ve never seen more passion in a man’s eyes as when he is watching his fantasy football team take the lead. Perhaps it makes watching football more fun, but does it really get any better than drinking beers, eating junk food and reclining in a La-Z-Boy for an entire day? One time I joined a celebrity fantasy league in hopes to understand the obsession. But even I, the celeb stalker and supporter of all things muscle-y that I am, found it to be just mundane. Read More »

They'll never know how cheap it was...

So we all have those people in our lives that we get excited to buy gifts for. I’ve had my best friend’s present picked out for months, I can’t wait to deck my mom out in a new dress and some chic matching accessories, and I always love browsing the department stores and getting my boyfriend the watch he’s been eying or the latest must-have men’s scarf. (What? I love the way a guy looks in a scarf…)

Then there are the other people. Like your brother’s girlfriend who apparently got you something even though they’ve only been dating for three months and you barely know the girl (and they will probs break up in a week, anyway) so what the eff do you get her? Or that weird aunt who’s coming to the holidays this year. Or the guy in the mail room who’s always hand delivering those giant packages from home…

You don’t want to look like a grinch and show up empty handed. You don’t want to be impersonal and hand out gift cards. You don’t want to look cheap. But most importantly, you really don’t want to spend a lot on these people. So what do you do?

Here are some affordable, fun ideas for all of those “others” on your holiday gift list this year. You’ll look generous and thoughtful and sweet and kind and anything but cheap. Way. To. Go. Read More »

If the name Janet Fitch sounds familiar to you, that’s because I’ve already reviewed her first novel “White Oleander.” I was so impressed with that book that I decided to pick up her second book, “Paint it Black.” I know that it’s the Christmas season and all my book picks should be holly and jolly, but I’m making an exception for “Paint it Black” because I was just so excited to read it.

Set in the 1980′s, “Paint it Black” tells the story of Josie Tyrell, a redneck, trailer-park runaway who lives in LA with her boyfriend, Michael Faraday. They are frequenters of the bustling LA rock scene and happy living in their small shack, Michael painting and Josie modeling now and again so they can pay the rent. When Michael suddenly commits suicide, Josie is rocked and as she uncovers parts of Michael’s past that he never shared, she begins to question everything she used to know to be real.

If the storyline isn’t enough to draw you in, the very talented author will. Janet Fitch is an AMAZING writer. Usually, I skim over sections of a book, usually the unnecessarily long descriptions, but I find it impossible to skim over Fitch’s writing. She has a beautiful grasp of the English language and most importantly, I never find her writing boring. She created an incredibly interesting story with “Paint it Black” that is at once both so different than what most of us know and yet so real. I have never run away from home,slummed it in some dirty apartment in LA, or lost the person I love most, but Fitch’s writing makes me feel it and understand it and know it. Read More »

You would never think it would be that difficult to put on a little blush, but based on all the girls I’ve seen who looked like they just stepped out of an episode of Saved By The Bell, you’d be wrong. So very wrong.

It makes me sad when I see pretty girls looking like they just finished a dance recital.  I mean, makeup is supposed to enhance your beauty and look natural, not scare people away. And this couldn’t be more true than with blush. It’s not supposed to be caked on those cheeks – it’s meant to accentuate them and make them subtly stand out.

So let me show you all how to do it right so you don’t end up looking like Kelly Kapowski at prom. And if you already know what you’re doing, well, a little refresher can’t hurt, right? (And by refresher I mean “something to do instead of study for 5 minutes”).