Blake Lively and Maria Menounos are Bikini-riffic

What do you get when you put two hot babes on a beach in bikinis? Great pictures. Here are Gossip Girl Blake Lively and the ET Hotness of Maria Menounos all bikini'd up and a little bit nipply!






Get to know Blake Lively:
It’s official. The Blake Lively Era has begun. As the star of Gossip Girl and Cloverfield, Lively joins the ranks of Heidi Montag and Ellen Page in the next wave of up-and-coming starlets. You know she dishes gossip and you know she runs from weird New York monsters, but here are 5 things you didn’t know about Blake Lively:

1. Blake played soccer as a little kid. And kinda sucked. “They would never let me kick the ball around, because I guess I wasn't very good at that,” she said. “I was just like tall, lanky, and clumsy.”

2. As a kid, Blake had a “huge crush” on Leonardo DiCaprio and Justin Timberlake.

3. She’s unfazed by fame. Blake said, “Stars really are like anyone else. At the end of the day, Brad Pitt poops – as handsome as he may be – and so does Angelina Jolie. I'm still baffled by how odd this job is."

4. She might have gotten a nose job. Rumors swirled that after filming Accepted, Blake went in for cosmetic surgery. But she told OK! Magazine: “People want to talk. They want to create negative things about you and your life, make up things. You can’t look at it. You can’t let them affect you.”

5. A poll by Victoria Secret declared Blake Lively “Sexiest Newcomer.”


Maria Menounos Wants To Be A Volleyball Star:
TV host and actress Maria Menounos will be spending the weekend brushing off sand instead of playing on the pro beach volleyball tour.

Menounos and partner Jesse Cooper missed out on their chance to qualify for the AVP's Huntington Beach Open when they were swept in straight sets by Bianca Peigler and Shannon Smeed 21-7, 21-10.

"It went amazing," said Menounos said. "Unfortunately, not that amazing because I didn't make the team, but I learned a lot from my partner, Jessie, and I had a blast."

Fifty-four teams played in the open women's qualifier, attempting to earn one of four spots in the 24-team main draw. It was Menounos' first attempt to play on the pro circuit.

"She fell in the sand, she got down and dirty with it," said Cooper, who has been on the tour for four years. "A few aces thrown in there and a lot of fun and good cheer!"

A correspondent for "Access Hollywood" and the "Today" show, Menounos has appeared in "Fantastic Four," "One Tree Hill" and "Kickin' it Old Skool." The Medford, Mass., native and former Miss Massachusetts Teen USA plays volleyball with friends but has no collegiate or professional volleyball experience.

"We're here on the beach, it's a gorgeous day and there are a lot of beautiful people here," she said. "I think I want to give everything up and become a beach bum at this point."