We’re about to see a whole lot more of Carmen Electra: The model-actress is set to appear in an all-new, 8-page nude pictorial in January’s Playboy, a source at the magazine tells PEOPLE.

Electra, 36, first posed for the publication in 1996 - a move that helped transform the Ohio-based girl next door, who was born Tara Leigh Patrick, into an international pin-up star.

The January issue, which marks the 55th anniversary of Playboy magazine, goes on sale Dec. 12.
- Mark Dagostino

Source:www.People.com

• Blake Lively, picking up the $78 bill for her

romantic dinner with Penn Badgley, at New York’s ONE

Little West 12th. “They were cute, sitting next to each other, arm-in-arm,

the entire time, instead of across the table from one another,” an

eyewitness tells us. The Gossip Girl stars supped on steak and

salad.

• Reese Witherspoon, walking hand-in-hand with Jake Gyllenhaal through Paris’ Jardin du Luxembourg. The happy couple have been in London, where Gyllenhaal has been training for his latest movie role - on horseback!

• Carmen Electra, sticking close to fiancé Rob Patterson at Prive in Las Vegas. The actress hosted an evening at the club - and arrived on her beau’s arm. Patterson never left Electra’s side, even when she danced a bit on the couches.

• Nicky Hilton, dining with beau David Katzenberg - and his father - at Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica.

• Brittany Murphy, sharing an early dinner with husband

Simon Monjack on the patio of West Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont.

Monjack, in all black, smoked a cigar and listened while Murphy chatted over

dinner.

• Howard Stern, checking out a screening of Hellboy II: The Golden Army at a United Artists theater in East Hampton, N.Y., with

fiancée Beth Ostrosky and designer Calvin Klein.

• By DAVID CAPLAN, ALEXIS CHIU, MARK GRAY, MONICA RIZZO and JEFFREY SLONIM

Celebrity Hot Spots.

Friday’s Caught in the Act >

Showing off her black diamond engagement ring set in white diamonds, Carmen Electra talked about her upcoming marriage to guitarist Rob Patterson last night during a visit to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Fla.

“I like this ring because it is gothic,” says the actress - wearing a sparkly blue cocktail dress designed by Jenny Packham - who was dealt the first hand of blackjack ever played at the casino.

Rocker Patterson, who officially inaugurated the casino’s new card games by smashing a guitar into bits as confetti exploded, proposed to Electra on her 36th birthday, April 20, at Pure Nightclub in Las Vegas.

“She’s a really great girl,” Patterson, 37, a former touring guitarist with the alternative rock band Korn, tells PEOPLE. “She’s beautiful.”

“You have to stay connected and make an effort,” Electra tells PEOPLE. “We’re taking it slow and have no wedding date yet. We have been friends for eight years and even had one date a long time ago. We connect on a lot of different levels.”

As for having children, “someday we probably will,” says Electra. “Deep down, I feel like I’m ready. But it’s a big commitment. I don’t know.”

In the meantime, Electra and Patterson are testing the waters with a trio of tiny dogs. “For now, we have Daisy, a Yorkshire Terrier, Keiko, a Pomeranian, and Roxy, a Maltese,” says Electra. “We are very happy!”

Is Carmen Electra getting cold feet about walking down the aisle with guitarist Rob Patterson?

Well, not exactly, though the actress-model complains about the constant barrage of questions about their impending plans.

“It’s funny, everyone else puts so much pressure, %26#91;asking%26#93;, ‘When are you getting married?’ ” Electra told PEOPLE at the Dodge Celebrity Challenger event at California’s Willow Springs Raceway. “If it was up to everybody else, we’d be married and divorced already.”

For the record, the prospective bride and groom are completely content with their leisurely trip to the altar. Says Electra, “We’re taking it slow, and we’re happy.”

Carmen Electra may be completely smitten with her fiancé Rob Patterson, but she says motherhood can wait - for now.

“I hope to be a mom some day, but I’m not rushing to be one,” Electra told PEOPLE at Shrine at MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut. “It would be a lot of fun. A lot of hard work, but I’ll look forward to it someday.”

The bombshell took a detour from filming her latest movie Mardi Gras in New Orleans to meet Patterson’s parents. “They’re really cool,” she says. “We had a great day today and … we’re looking forward to doing some dancing then going straight back to New Orleans.”

“Pole dancing really isn’t as easy as it looks,” she adds. “I’m still taking pointers. It’s a good workout.”

Carmen Electra is no stranger to marriage. But two failed unions - to Dennis Rodman and Dave Navarro - didn’t make the actress jaded.

“I was definitely open to love again,” the recently engaged Electra told PEOPLE in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel on Saturday.

Love is exactly what she found with former touring Korn guitarist Rob Patterson, who popped the question in April by giving her a black diamond.

“The last couple weeks have been amazing on a lot of different levels,” the Meet The Spartans star said at a junket for the film. “Rob is amazing. We were great friends and it actually turned into something much more.”

The happiness showed as the duo was all smiles in Vegas, walking around the hotel hand in hand Saturday. Following her day of work, the duo was spotted getting loose at Body English nightclub.

So when is wedding number three? Not for a while, says Electra: “I have so much work.”

Newly engaged - to guitarist Rob Patterson, who will be her third husband - Carmen Electra is sharing some of her secrets on how a woman can attract a man.

First, be prepared. One way, Electra, 36, tells Cosmopolitan for its June issue, is to keep a “sexiness kit” within easy reach in the car or at work.

Contained therein: “Perfume, lip gloss, and a pair of heels” to show off the legs - to say nothing of an air of confidence. Her personal role model, Electra reveals: Ann-Margret, as she was in the 1962 movie Bye Bye Birdie.

Eye contact is key, as is touching - even if it’s just removing a piece of lint off his clothing.

As for your own clothing, “Take a chance,” she advises - and don’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd.

• Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, walking down a hill after a hike through Hollywood’s Runyon Canyon. According to a fellow hiker, the two were “deep in conversation” and they “strolled down the mountain at ease.” The happy couple also was spotted this weekend at the Grove in Los Angeles checking out Harold %26 Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

• Jessica Simpson, sharing a romantic dinner with Tony Romo at Hard Rock Hotel %26 Casino’s Ago. The duo sat in the back private room feasting on Italian dishes and engaged in heavy conversation. The day before, a solo Romo dropped $12,000 on two VIP tables at Wynn Las Vegas’s Tryst Nightclub before returning to his three-bedroom penthouse at the Hard Rock.

• Claire Danes, strolling with a male pal through New York City’s West Village. Laughing with her friend, the actress clutched the scarf wrapped around her shoulders.

• Also enjoying the brisk New York air: Tobey Maguire, riding his bicycle, sans helmet, with a male friend.

• Out partying in the desert for the Coachella Valley Music %26 Arts Festival, newly single Jamie Lynn Sigler, singing along to “It’s Raining Men” during a karaoke session at a T-Mobile-sponsored party in a private airport hangar. The actress also dug into a plate of nachos at the bash. Meanwhile, Carmen Electra paraded around, hand-in-hand with fiancé Rob Patterson. The couple lounged together on a couch by the bar - then later hit the dancefloor. Also there: Paris Hilton and Benji Madden. The duo made sure to check out DJ AM’s set before leaving well after 2 a.m.

• By PAUL CHI, MARK GRAY, LISA INGRASSIA, KRISTEN MASCIA and ALYSSA SHELASKY

Celebrity Hot Spots.

Monday’s Couples Watch >

• Ben Affleck, hanging with pal Sheryl Crow during a party at New York’s Soho Grand penthouse following a

Cinema Society screening of his film Gone Baby Gone. Guests at

the bash (including Casey Affleck and Patricia Clarkson)

enjoyed a spread of comfort food - meatloaf, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts - in a comfy setting with big beds and sofas. And a thin looking Affleck shared a diet secret with PEOPLE earlier in the night. “%26#91;I%26#93; just lay off the bread,” the actor said. Back at the penthouse bash, Clarkson raved about the man of the hour. “Ben is a wonderful guy,” she told us. “He made a great movie.”

• Newly engaged Rose McGowan, indulging a sweet tooth at Beverly Hills bakery Crumbs,

where she picked up cupcakes in flavors including coconut, pi%26#241;a

colada, caramel apple and vanilla. (No sign of her director fiancé Robert Rodriguez, though.)

• Jessica Alba, enjoying a poolside dinner at blue

on blue in Beverly Hills’ Avalon Hotel.

• Wilmer Valderrama, taking in an explosive Kanye West performance from atop a banquette inside a T-Mobile Sidekick LX

party at the Clubhouse at the Griffith Park’s Harding and Wilson Golf Course

in Los Angeles. The rapper offered attendees (including Carmen Electra and Shia LaBeouf) a long performance

dominated by tunes from his latest disc, Graduation (and blinding strobe lights that had audience members joking they’d have seizures). Meanwhile, Electra watched front-and-center, shimmying from inside her banquette. Jeremy Piven alternated his attention between his male friends and a group of women who congregated around him, and LaBeouf enjoyed the company of a few female partygoers, too.

• Ron Howard, playing his favorite role - doting grandpa - during lunch at AMMO in Hollywood with his wife, daughter Bryce Dallas Howard, her husband Seth Gabel (Dirty Sexy Money) and their 8-month-old son.

• By JENNIFER GARCIA, MAUREEN HARRINGTON, SCOTT HUVER, MARISA

LAUDADIO, ALYSSA SHELASKY and JEFFREY SLONIM

Wednesday’s Caught in the Act >