Brenna Moore, daughter of Diane and Paul (Pablo) Moore of Pacific Palisades, married Charles Kramer, son of Lynn Grant and Bruce Kramer, on June 16, 2007. The wedding took place in the ballroom of the Casino in Avalon on Catalina Island. Ragini Bhalla was maid of honor. The bridesmaids included friends Demetra Smith, Rocio Villalobos, Lisa Peju, and the bride’s cousin, Alexandra Thum. The best man was the bridegroom’s brother, Steven Kramer. The bridegroom’s brothers, Harrison and Jacob Kramer, and the bride’s brothers, Paul and Chris Moore, served as groomsmen. The bride graduated from Palisades High School in 1995, and Notre Dame University in 1999. She works as an interior designer in Santa Monica. The bridegroom graduated from the University of Miami and is a television editor and producer. The newlyweds honeymooned in Italy, where they visited Sicily, Venice, and the Dolomites. They make their home in Culver City.

As a self-described Disney fanatic, Palisadian Amy Kate Connolly has achieved her dream come true’almost. The Palisades resident is one of 10 finalists for the Chief Magic Official for Disney Parks. If she wins the position, Connolly will become a Disney emissary officiating at new attractions and events, and developing magical guest experiences at various Disney theme parks worldwide. From more than 1,300 video applications, contest sponsors Disney and CareerBuilder.com, winnowed down the field to five women and five men nationwide. Connolly is the only finalist from Southern California. The 10 top video resumes will be voted on by Americans, and the top three vote-getters will take part in a three-day event at a Walt Disney World Resort that will test their creativity, enthusiasm, knowledge of the parks, and magic aptitude. This contest is part of Disney’s ‘Year of a Million Dreams’ celebration, during which one million prizes will be given out randomly at the park,’ Connolly explains. ‘If I win, I would be in charge of magic at the park from May 1 to April 30 next year. I would be most excited about the Fourth of July celebration at Disneyland this year, when a naturalization ceremony will be part of a dream come true for so many people.’ Connolly became clued into the contest ironically when husband David Trotti, a first assistant director for television, was searching CareerBuilder.com during the recent writers strike. ‘He read about the job and thought ‘My wife is a Disney fanatic. Why not?” The couple prepared a 58-second video, wherein Amy is miraculously anointed with magical powers, which she uses to turn herself into a fairy godmother. Using simple computer programs and a lot of imagination, the couple transformed their Palisades home into a magic castle, and finished the piece with a shot taken at Disneyland. ‘My whole thing is that there is a little fairy godmother in all of us,’ Connolly says. ‘My reward would be to see others’ dreams come true. When you witness something at Disneyland at the same time, like the fireworks show, that event binds you as a community, if just for a moment. Magical things are happening unexpectedly all across the park that make people feel special, and it builds positive memories for your whole life. ‘The contest is really about promoting dreams, ‘ she continues, ‘whether it’s a dream vacation or a dream job.’ While Connolly does not know how many votes her video has garnered–it’s a blind tally’she stresses that she is working it. ‘I’ve already put my own daughter Chelsea to work campaigning for me, ‘ she says. ‘She’s only four, but the preschool set is a pretty important demographic to me. ‘We can vote up until March 22. One of last year’s winners got 83,000 votes. I have only 73 friends. Maybe they can vote at least 10 times.’ To view the video, visit www.dreamcmo.com/amy.

So why were celebrities Priscilla Presley, Kristi Yamaguchi, Penn Jillette, Shannon Elizabeth, Marlee Matlin and Mario all spotted in Pacific Palisades over the weekend? Well, perhaps because actor Steve Guttenberg threw a shindig at his Palisades Highlands estate. Raison de fete? Guttenberg and said personalities will compete against each other as contestants on the new season of the contest show ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ The sixth season premieres Monday, March 17 at 8 p.m. on ABC. Our former honorary mayor, Guttenberg, will be paired with a ‘Dancing’ veteran, the lissome choreographer Anna Trebunskay. ‘She’s a world-class dancer,’ Guttenberg, 49, told the Palisadian-Post. ‘She appeared in past seasons dancing with Jerry Rice and Albert Reed and they were both really terrific.’ Before donning his dance shoes, Guttenberg sought advice from some previous ‘Dancing’ contestants he counts among his friends. ‘Tia Carrera and Vivica Fox,’ he said. ‘Vivica told me, ‘It’s a great show, have a lot of fun with it because it’s over before you know it.” But what about the judges ‘ Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and Len Goodman? Won’t they spook ‘The Gute’? ‘They don’t intimidate me,’ Guttenberg said. ‘Intimidation is being in Iraq on the other side of the rifle. But this is a game show. It’s a lot of fun. It’s an uplifting, positive, life-affirming show, and the judges want you to do well.’ Surprisingly, the star of such ’80s blockbuster comedies as ‘Three Men and a Baby,’ ‘Short Circuit,’ the four ‘Police Academy’ flicks, and the classic ‘Diner’ said that he never had to pull a Travolta and bust moves on screen. ‘This is my first time dancing,’ Guttenberg confesses, though he has come dangerously close to shaking his groove thing on celluloid. Technically, one can not call it ‘dancing,’ the head-bobbing and fist-pumping he does in the 1980 Village People vehicle ‘Can’t Stop The Music’ (which Guttenberg either forgot about or would like to forget). In ‘Don’t Tell Her It’s Me,’ Jami Gertz attempts to give dance lessons to Guttenberg’s obese, cancer-survivor cartoonist, but fails miserably. (He engages her in a slow dance free of actual choreography–total cop out!). Also recall that the comic actor was nowhere to be found in that scene from ‘Cocoon: The Return,’ where the alien life force-empowered senior citizens breakdance. Some might argue that Guttenberg did some dancing in his first film, “The Chicken Chronicles.” “Chicken” or no “Chicken,” Guttenberg believes now is the time to strut his stuff on national TV. ‘They’ve been asking me for a few seasons and I never had the time,’ he said. ‘But this year’s my parents’ 50th anniversary and they love the show.’ ‘I’m thrilled about going on ‘Dancing’,’ said Guttenberg, who just wrapped ‘Major Movie Star’ with Jessica Simpson. ‘We’re in a very tough economy, we’re at war, we’ve got a very tough presidential race going on. It’s a great time for the country to have this show.’

The New York Times heralds Betsy Brown Braun as ‘the parenting guru.’ The popular child development specialist seems to channel Dr. Spock with her sage, straightforward advice; an approach peppered by an Erma Bombeck-style wit. ‘My dream house has no kitchen. That’s not my area. But I’m really good with kids,’ Braun said during a recent interview at her Pacific Palisades home. Braun’s first book, ‘Just Tell Me What to Say,’ was recently published by Harper Collins and is already garnering good reviews. ‘Just Tell Me’ offers ‘sensible tips and scripts for perplexed parents.’ Braun will sign copies of her book at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 13 at Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore. The book’s cover addresses many issues specific to the 2- to 6-year-old crowd–throwing tantrums, picky eating, whining, sibling rivalry, potty talk and swearing–all ripe for strategic parental responses. Braun’s book tackles these irritants along with weightier subjects such as illness, divorce and death. Learning about the birds and the bees gets apt attention, too, with a chapter titled ‘How Did That Baby Get in Your Tummy?’ Another section, ‘Is the Fire Going to Come to Our House?’, guides parents in answering tough questions about natural disasters, terrorism and war. ‘Doing what I’ve done for such a long time, you realize there’s nothing new on the planet,’ says Braun, who has more than 35 years of experience in elementary education and as a parenting educator. The founder of Parenting Pathways, Inc., Braun offers both private consulting and parent seminars. Her authority also stems from raising her own kids”triplets Jesse, Ben and Lucas, who are now 30”with her husband Ray Braun. ‘Parents kept asking me the same questions over and over,’ Braun says, pointing out that the difficulty of getting kids to listen is by far the most common parental lament. ‘I realized I could reach a much bigger audience by writing a book. Everyone should have this information. Everyone should know you start talking to kids about death when they’re two, not when they’re five.’ In the chapter devoted to learning about death (‘Why is My Goldfish Floating in the Toilet?’), Braun counsels parents to throw away the euphemisms–‘the doggie went to play in the country’ or that Grandmother ‘passed away’–in favor of ‘real’ words such as dead, death, die and dying. ‘Many of these topics aren’t loaded for kids, they’re loaded for the parents,’ she says. ‘The book is meant as a starting point. It is not meant to imply ‘This is what you have to say.’ I hope it will give readers confidence to craft their own response to their own individual child. ‘I’m also hoping it will be timeless, that it will sit on people’s shelves like a security blanket. Each chapter really stands alone.’ Though ‘Just Tell Me What to Say’ is officially geared to parents and grandparents of children ages 2 to 6, parents with kids of all ages will find it useful, according to Braun. She acknowledges how the Information Age presents new challenges to the job of parenting. ‘There are so many ways for kids to go off track,’ she says. ‘We could protect kids in ways we can’t now. It’s more important than ever to set limits.’ What hasn’t changed is how critical it is for parents to demonstrate the behavior and values they hope their kids will take with them into adulthood. ‘Healthy parents lead to healthy children’ is one of Braun’s favorite mantras, and she is quick to refer clients to therapeutic settings when indicated. While a parent who spends time nurturing his or her child is optimal, becoming overly involved (what Braun refers to as a ‘helicopter’ parent) is an all-too-common trait. Braun sees this trait unfold often, particularly among older parents, who apply the same determination and zeal to raising kids as they did to their careers. ‘In order for kids to grow up and be satisfied, competent human beings, they need to struggle and make mistakes,’ Braun says. ‘They need to figure out who they are, not who you want them to be.’ At public appearances, such as her forthcoming one at Village Books, Braun really enjoys fielding questions. ‘I like that I’m known as someone who tells it like it is,’ she says. ‘I think it’s always in the best interest of the family.’