Do you remember where you were last Memorial Day weekend? At the beach maybe? With a group of friends? Laughing and drinking and making scrapbook memories? How lovely for you. I spent mine alone, sobbing up against a prop car from the Fast and the Furious while my friends and the guy I was sorta-seeing at the time went full-on fisticuffs in the backyard of our shared shore house. And it all started because I decided not to tell anyone I had been hanging out with said guy.

You see, I come from the opinion that my relationships are really no one’s business but my own. In my book, this rule especially applies to those brand new, gray-area relationships. You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been hanging out for a while now, you see each other fairly regularly; sure, you like the guy…but what would you label him? He’s certainly not your boyfriend. That title implies a level of maturity and commitment the two of you clearly cannot seem to grasp. He’s sorta your hook-up, but sh*t, you never intended to turn into that girl. So it leaves you in the stupid, label-less gray area!

As I so flatteringly displayed above, my friends typically don’t know much about my gray-area relationships. This rarely works to my advantage, so watch me turn a new leaf, everyone! I’m coming up with a new set of rules on when you should divulge info, who said info should be shared with and what’s actually worth sharing. Let’s pray I can actually pay attention to my own advice this time… Read More »

In honor of the new season of Gossip Girl, our friends at PopEater are asking you to share your tales of real-life Gossip Girl run-ins.  The stories range from the scintillating and shocking to the hysterical and bizarre.  Should you be racking your brain to submit a story of your own, I present you with the ultimate cheat sheet.

Ladies, you probably know a Gossip Girl if…

She’s given a monthly allowance in the four-digit range…just for “fun” purchases.
The sales girls at Louis Vuitton know her by name.  She didn’t have to wait for her Hermes Birkin bag.  Chanel makes sure she’s always invited to the in-store preview events.  Basically, the girl’s got the connection on all the latest and greatest when it comes to fashion.  She wants it all, and she gets it (ahead of everyone else, of course).

Things don’t stay secret for long, especially when her cell phone’s nearby.
Is she inviting you to spill your heart out?  Looking at you with “it’s okay, you can tell me anything” eyes?  Patting the seat next to her while holding out her arms in a faux-hug?  If so, then run.  It’s no surprise to say Gossip Girls love gossip, and their fingers can text at lightening speeds even when the phone’s under the table or hidden in a purse.  Duct tape that mouth, young lady, or your break-up will be the hottest news on campus in fifteen minutes.

She takes mysterious trips at a moment’s notice.
Long weekend in Bermuda= visiting her estranged father who is running away from American authorities in Belgium.  Last-minute acceptance to a prestigious summer program at Oxford= her mother’s forcing her into rehab for that pesky case of Bulimia.  Skipped out on a year of school for no reason= girl was totally suicidal after she tripped down the runway at Fashion Week.  The affairs of Gossip Girls are shrouded in mystery, so always be suspect of her excuses.

Minions abound!
Like the seven dwarfs…except taller, thinner, and wearing Prada.  Gossip Girls require a staff of help in their homes and a committee of mini-me’s in their schools.  Minions often wear similar styles and speak with the same lingo as their leader, but don’t be confused.  These girls know exactly to whom they answer.

Men just can’t seem to help themselves.
Could be the killer body, the form-fitting dress, or the four-inch Louboutins, but whatever the reason- she makes sexy look effortless and Heidi Klum look like a dumpy housewife.  Guys can’t seem to say no to a Gossip Girl for (ahem, two) reasons that are pretty plain to see.  And they’re only the best- future investment bankers, lawyers, heirs to oil fortunes…  That scrawny English major knows he doesn’t stand a chance with a Blair Waldorf wanna-be.

Do you know a real-life Gossip Girl? Been the victim of her vicious mouth? (Yeah, it’s cute on TV, but not so much in the real world with real consequences… like your parents finding out your dirty secrets via Facebook updates….) Share your story below.

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month we’re following Christie on her quest to stop gossiping. The first few days were rough. The 2nd week was full of excuses. And then she reunited with her BFF/gossip partner in crime. How’s she doin’ now?

This week was fairly boring, I will admit. It was mostly spent packing to move into my apartment, finally leaving the country and heading back to the city. Therefore, I haven’t really hung out with people nor had much time to get really involved in any sort of gossip.

Phew.

I did, however, attend a job interview this week. The interview was going well, I was wowing her with everything I had, and then she asked, “Was there ever a time you just really didn’t get along with someone and had to be courteous toward them anyway?” Obviously, a job interview was not the place to go, “ohhhh girl, let me tell you,” so I just took a moment and smiled. This challenge has come in handy, it seemed. I told them I just didn’t get along with someone in high school, but had to be courteous to them because I didn’t want to cause a disruption in the classroom. There, nothing negative said about that person.

The old me – before this challenge – wouldn’t have left it at that, trust me. I most definitely would have used that to my advantage, adding at least one negative comment about her. Instead I seemed mature and collected. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month we're following Christie on her quest to stop gossiping. The first few days were rough. The 2nd week was full of excuses. Let's see how she's holding up sans gossip now.]

This week had both its highs and its lows. This past Saturday I decided at midnight to pack up and leave the next morning at 8 am for a 6 hour road trip to visit not only my boyfriend but my best friend, who lives in the same town as his co-op. I haven’t seen my boyfriend in six weeks, and I haven’t seen my best friend from college in about two months so I was looking forward to really catching up on all the things I had missed.

There was only one problem: I can’t gossip.

Too bad that slipped my mind as soon as my best friend asked about certain things I had vaguely mentioned on Facebook or in texts, promising to tell her about later. And I got so excited about being with her that I told her all about the drama in my life…and all the people involved in it… before I remembered my monthly challenge. Then I felt really, really guilty. The next day I kept things positive, and tried to catch myself before saying anything remotely close to gossip. For the most part, I succeeded – well, except for one time – and I’m really proud that I could stop gossiping with my best friend, especially one I haven’t seen in two months.

Best friends are the hardest not to gossip with, and so are boyfriends. For the most part they are the ones I usually vent to or tell the juiciest gossip I know. Face to face with them, I wanted to fall into that comfort zone, but I realized this week that without gossip there is so much more you can talk about. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month we're following Christie on her quest to stop gossiping. The first few days were rough. Let's see how she's holding up sans gossip now.]

And so ends my first full week of no gossip…. and it was pretty tough.  I would go to tell my family, friends, or boyfriend something and before I even opened my mouth I would have to ask myself if it was gossip. A lot of times, it would be, so I would have to stop, come up with another topic and start over. Naturally, it created an abnormal and totally awkward pause, but overall the people I spoke to were very supportive.

At the beginning of the week, it was refreshing having this challenge, because it felt good to talk about someone positively when others were talking about them negatively. When my boyfriend was venting to me because he was frustrated, for example, I immediately tried to look at things from the other person’s perspective. It wasn’t reprimanding; it was just being rational. Rather than being upset, my boyfriend thanked me, and told me that he understood the situation better after me being positive about the person he was talking about.

So, yeah, things were going pretty good.
For awhile…

Then at the end of the week, I started making excuses for myself. “That isn’t gossip,” I would say. “That’s just something they posted on Facebook.” It wasn’t right, I’ll admit, but I did it nonetheless. And seriously, Facebook is like a gossip machine. I mean, come on, how many of us talk about things that come up on our feed? Like a gag-worthy status or a really mean wall post? It’s nearly impossible to hop on Facebook and not gossip. Lesson learned. Read More »

Upon some recent discussion with my guy friends, I’ve come to realize that we girls may just be a little bit “too close.” I happen to be one of those people blessed with an intimate group of girlfriends, and therefore we talk about everything from the specific color name of our nail polish to the exact millisecond of how long our most recent sack session lasted.

However, upon stepping back a bit and really paying attention to what I was saying, I’ve begun to wonder if there is such thing as too much information sharing. Even if it never gets back to your guy, is it alright to share everything? Below are the key things that, looking back, I’m thinking should just remain between a lady and her man. Read More »