If you think your NYE outfit, alcohol supply and approximate cab fare combine to cost a pretty penny, just be glad you aren’t greeting 2012 from a nightclub in Vegas. It might sound fun at first: there’s a ton of options, the venues are gorgeous, and you can simply walk back to your hotel room whenever you’re ready to change outfits in time for breakfast, right?

Newsflash: unless you’re being escorted by a high-roller who is getting everything comp’d by the hotel, partying in Vegas on the last night of the year is serious business — literally, as in you’ll be spending a lot of money and the Strip will love you for it. Hotel room rates skyrocket and nightclubs prefer you arrive before 9PM. Before 9PM! You’ll hope to maintain a smooth buzz from overpriced mixed drinks until midnight so that you can participate in a cheap champagne toast and a sloppy kiss, and then hate your choice of heels when you suddenly decide to leave. Oh, and you’ll probably end up sleeping on the floor because you decided to cram way too many friends into the same room in order to make the weekend just a little bit more affordable.

Nevertheless, I’m actually headed that way this weekend, and here are the celebrities hosting overrated NYE celebrations on the Strip this Saturday, complete with pricing information. Now doesn’t that just look like SO much fun??! Oh man, I just can’t WAIT to empty out my wallet to party for a few hours alongside in the general vicinity of these amazing gods and goddesses!

initiating the gallery...

Which of these celebrities will probably end up partying in a half-empty nightclub because their prices were so ridiculous?

Ashley is a UC San Diego grad who is holding on way too tightly to a potential career in magazines and goes to Vegas all too often. She’s fascinated with celebrities and strawberry beer and doubles as a pathological texter/emailer/blogger. Feed the addiction with tweets @cashleelee. Thanks in advance.

Costumes make everything better.

Every week you can count on a couple things: Drama on the Real Housewives, Mondays being a painful necessity of life and of course, the Weekly Ten.

Everyone gets stuck in the same routine on the weekends. Drink, drank, drunk. From frat parties to the bar, the whole thing can get a little tiresome. Here’s the bottom line: Parties are great. Parties with a theme? Even better. Here are the top ten party themes to throw or participate in.

10. Jungle
Any excuse to get some use out of those zebra pumps and leopard push up bra. Oh and to make some deathly jungle juice to feed the zoo of drunken college animals.

9. ABC (anything but clothes)
From duct tape to bubble wrap, this one is a sure winner and a great way to get creative with all those US Weekly mags that are piling up on your coffee table.

8. Stoplight
Simple and gets to the point that everyone wants to know: wear red for taken (or boring), yellow for “confused” or “it’s complicated” (really?), and green for good to go.

7. Hollywood
Dress up like your celeb doppelganger or that Hollywood trainwreck that you want to be for just one night. Yeah, I’ve rocked this as Miley Cyrus before. It’s amazing how many dudes wanna get with that girl…

6. Hipster
As everyone may know, this is my favorite trend. Break out your neon flannel, Nike dunks, skinny jeans and Ray-Bans and stock up with PBR. Make sure your iTouch is fully loaded with Cut Copy and Girl Talk and slap on your ironic accessories (swatch watch, visor, etc) for a good time.

5. CEOs & Office Hos
You wanna play secretary and the boss tonight? Here’s the perfect excuse to hike up that pencil skirt and snag that hottie who just looks so damn good out of his hockey jersey and suaved up in a suit and tie.

4. Top Gun
Bring your bestie wingman and your aviators.

3. Jersey Shore
Jagerbombs, Red Bull and vodka, Heineken and Muscle Milk are all a must. Finally get some use out of that nasty Ed Hardy shirt that you bought when it was trendy for 2 seconds (maybe). Who knows, maybe you’ll find yourself a Ronnie? Or at least get to lick some Situation-worthy abs. Beat up the beat and grab your banana clip.

2. Tea Partay
Based on my favorite lifestyle of all time, perfected in the YouTube. Seriously, no one is harder than a New England gangster. Slip into your topsiders and argyle and party til your pearls fall off.

1. Vegas
Gambling, drinking and being scantily clad? Nothing like Vegas, but bring the next best thing to your party. Get the games really going and get to the point with Vegas Spin the Bottle. Guaranteed to snag you that hottie.

I love the way I look. I’m confident and generally pleased with my body in a bikini. Well, at least I am now… after my breast enhancement. That’s right, I have implants and I’m not ashamed of it.

I’ll give you a moment to get all your thoughts and comments out of the way:

“I can’t believe you succumbed to breast implants just to fill some ignorant societal notion that ‘bigger is better.’”
“Getting implants is so slutty.”
“You’re an embarrassment to women and should be ashamed for fueling the fire for women to attain an impossible body image.”

Trust me. I’ve heard it all. But maybe it’s time for you to hear my side of the story. I’m not giving you the stink eye for going all natural (or spending all your money on Victoria’s Secret’s latest push-up), so hear me out.

I never was extraordinarily flat-chested, but I couldn’t fill out my prom dress the way most girls could. I had perky ta-tas, but they never drew any attention. I was unhappy with my chest, which left me rather unhappy with myself. I envied girls with bigger chests; I often felt they were more worthy than me. And why not? The guys who were walking right past me and fawning all over them and their cleavage-y ways seemed to think so.  I even resorted to stuffing my bra a couple times; particularly embarrassing when I had bits of Kleenex poking out of my Gap tank top after gym class one day in high school. Boarding school kids show no mercy.

The point is, I wasn’t happy with my body and I wanted to do something about it. I can work out and get a flat tummy, throw some cover-up under my eyes when I’ve downed too many dirty martinis at Pure and guess what? I can go to my doctor and get him to boost my, errr, confidence.

I know the taboos and I knew all the risks going into the surgery, but I’m thrilled with my choice. I feel better about ME. It’s not about pleasing others and it doesn’t mean I’m going to run out and pose for Playboy (at least not yet) or hop onto a pole (although I am a big fan of Carmen Electra’s strip tease excercise DVDs); it was a personal choice and I feel my life has improved significantly in more ways than one because of it.

No one says anything to the girl who works out six days a week and starts eating healthy when she feels self-conscious about her weight. Same for the millions of girls who dye their hair or layer on the makeup every day. We all have our insecurities and, let’s be honest, we’d all do just about anything to fix them and make ourselves feel better.

My boobs were my insecurity and my implants make me feel better. In fact, they make me feel great.

And really, what’s so different between what I did and, say, that water bra you picked up last week?

There's more to us than what's popping out of our dresses, you know.

I just got back from the happiest place on earth. And no, I’m not talking about Disneyland. Although Vegas is a lot LIKE Disneyland, but instead of candy you have booze and instead of rides you have prostitutes. Which I guess can be considered rides…. If I had spent more than three days there, my entire body and life would have started decaying as quickly as my morals did (just kidding guys, no secret marriages here!).

But beyond all the slot machines, free booze and horny people everywhere, Las Vegas is like single life grown in a petri dish; it’s bigger and more rampant, and it lets you observe some things. A lot of the weekend involved putting on our hottest outfits, going to the hottest places, and (hopefully) flirting with the hottest guys.  But somewhere in between flirting with the bouncer to get to the head of the line (which probably only works for Lindsay Lohan) and making eyes at the cute guy across the dance floor, it hit me: the giant singles meat market that is Las Vegas is not too far off from the giant singles meat market that is my life in Chicago.

Is the reason it’s so hard to get a date because things have just gotten too gosh darn shallow? Most of the single girls I know are pretty freaking cute, and everyone with eyes seems to wonder why they’re not taken. Well, maybe it’s because there are freaking cute girls everywhere, and they are in mass quantities at all your favorite clubs. And to all the freaking cute guys doing laps around said clubs, we ladies all look exactly the same: tight jeans, tall shoes, low tops…

And that seems to be all anyone really cares about.

I’m not opposed to getting to know people when I go out on the town at all, but to be honest, it doesn’t feel like there’s too much “getting to know” in the equation at all. A lot of it is putting on killer heels and busting out your boobs the best dance moves.

So what does that tell any potential date I meet? Sure as hell not that my favorite book is East of Eden or that I’m going to volunteer in Ecuador this summer. All it tells them is that I really, really like the song Poker Face (which is important to know if you plan on spending the rest of your life with me, obvi).

Now, I’m not hating on meeting guys at bars and clubs. I’m just saying, if you really expect something out of it, it couldn’t hurt to shake up how you go about it. Instead of luring someone onto the dance floor where he will grind his junk against your butt and it’s guaranteed the DJ will drown you out if you even pretend to care what the other is saying,  why not hang closer to the bar where you’re able to have a real conversation? And maybe instead of going for the Chuck Bass look alike, go for the guy with the quirkiest pick up line (actually, I wouldn’t hold it against you if you just went for the Chuck Bass look alike…).

You can still dress sexy and dance sexy… just make sure the guy who’s trying to get your number knows you’ve got a personality under those clip-on extensions. You’re at least guaranteed a more exciting first date. Or a first date at all.

The most important rule for finding a fling is to open yourself up to opportunity. Hell, even if you’re stuck in your hometown, you never know if you’ll hit it off with a former high school classmate who grew up (in more ways than one) while away at school. If you are traveling, be outgoing! Talk to the bartenders, the hotel staff, everyone. They can probably give you advice on the hottest hangouts for the locals, and perhaps even introduce you to some of their fine friends. Besides, if things go sour, you can always jet back to school and pretend it never happened.

That said, be spontaneous. What happens in Vegas…. right? If a cute guy compliments you on the street, it’s okay to talk to him. Just be sure you have a friend or authority figure in sight. You can even agree to meet up later, provided it’s in a crowded, well-lit venue. Yes, there are sketchy peeps out there, but there are also plenty of friends you haven’t met yet. Trust your gut, and give it a chance…again, in a crowded, well-lit venue.

Of course, you can always take the reigns and flirt, flirt, flirt. Choose a man in uniform (hey, he’s obvi been through a background check), and ask him for directions, about the city, what kind of underwear he prefers, whatever. At the very least, you’ll get a thrill from saying things you might not whisper to the dude in chem lab. At most, you might find a tour guide… and a makeout partner.

Do be careful, however, before you shack up with someone with stellar sex appeal. If you’re the visitor, you are at the disadvantage; banging the bartender might be a crazy sex story for you, but it might be the norm for him. And while you can leave him behind, any STD’s he might give you will cross any time zone.

It’s no secret that here at CC, we love Entourage. HBO and Showtime never cease to entertain with shows like Dexter, Weeds, and True Blood, but for some reason, Entourage has always held a special place in our hearts (and no, it’s not just because of this).

Besides the witty and quippy writing, Entourage is almost always hilarious, last night’s episode being no exception (everyone trips on shrooms in the desert and Ari desperately calls Lloyd to get him through his ordeal). The characters are strange yet likeable, and the Hollywood “scene” has never been drawn quite so wackily. So yeah, we love the show. Love it enough to stay up late on a Sunday night or TiVo it to watch immediately after work.

But here’s the thing: there’s pretty much no way to feel good about your body once the credits roll. A show created, produced, directed, and mostly written by men, Entourage is bursting at the seams with “hot” women. I’ve been watching for 5 seasons, and I honestly can’t remember a time when a female character was anything less than absolute runway material.

Everyone has big boobs. Everyone is thin and tall enough to dunk a b. ball like Michael Jordan. It’s like the casting director opened up a Victoria’s Secret catalogue, pointed to every single girl in there, and made sure she got a spot on the show. Like the producers walked around Vegas with Pied Piper flutes and somehow made the entire population of showgirls, strippers, and car models follow them to LA (perhaps they offered them cookies that would eradicate cellulite?).

This got me thinking; Entourage is great and all, but most likely, it’s written with dudes in mind. Most of the guys in Vinny’s group are less than perfect (E’s four feet tall, Turtle looks like one, Drama isn’t hot in the least, and Ari is on the old side), and yet, they get all the vajayjay they could ever hope for from beautiful chicks who disappear from the plot as soon as they’ve served their purpose.

I’m not trying to be a killjoy; it’s obvious that we love hot strippers and girls with big boobs, but WTF?! There’s more women in the US than there are men — shouldn’t we be granted the right to A) see girls who represent more than just the small model percentage, and B) at least a few guys who are super smokin’?!

We wouldn’t dream of getting pissed off at our favorite show (it’s like getting mad at that adorable frat boy for falling asleep on your shoulder after shotgunning 9 beers), but it seems pretty obvious to us that Entourage could certainly improve it’s female following if they took into consideration just how sensitive some of us are to how we’re represented on screen.

What do you think? Should Entourage change it’s ways, or stay just the same?