So I have a little favourite thing I’ve been meaning to share with you. By now you probably know I love The City and Kelly Cutrone — the tell-it-like-it-is fashion PR guru and author of If You Have to Cry, Go Outside. Well, I must have been searching for Kelly Cutrone’s commentary on The City one night, I don’t know, but I came across her new internet talk show with (who knew?) her BFF Justine Bateman, whom most of us remember (and probably wanted to be at one point) from Family Ties. The show’s called Wake Up and Get Real, and it’s a series of short YouTube vids of the two of them telling it like it is.

I think I’ve watched every video they’ve published because I have all that time on my hands, you know. Although I (obviously) loathe the one where Justine shows us exactly what she does with the poor gophers on her property, the show’s da bomb. And the work Justine has done to help save the internet is really admirable.

Although she is a wee on the skinny side, I love the show she did on weight. It’s positively brillers….

And, most recently, I loooove the show she did on her “OLDER FACE”!

Is it just me? Is she not teh awesome???

Kelly and Justine always seem to talk about the things I’m thinking about. I’ll be 36 in September, and I’m thinking about aging. Ever since my tooth situation, I’ve been feeling less attractive than ever. And this chai detox? Holy breakout, batman! (Oh yes she did just write that!) But, the thing is, I don’t obsess care about it like I used to. I feel like my “inside” has finally taken over the “outside.” Maybe that comes with a) losing a front tooth, and/or b) gaining 80 pounds in pregnancy and actually living to tell about it (versus when you were in your 20s and almost died when you gained 0.5 pounds since breakfast)? I do look a lot different than I used to, and, like Justine, I feel more represented by my current face. Welcomed frown lines provide the perfect balance for my sweet-and-innocent, smiley features. I still look younger than my years, or so they tell me, but whatevs, you know?

That said, this extra weight on me — this 10-20 lingering pregnancy pounds — does NOT represent who I am inside. When I look in the mirror before I go to work in the morning (still shocked at the image of me in work clothes after all these years!), I look much thinner than the me that I see in photos or occasionally catch glimpses of in store windows.

I don’t know what the story is with my weight. But, if I keep going as I am — speaking from the inside, and hopefully worrying less and less if people are staring at my, erm, gumline — I feel like it will just melt away. All that, and maybe a jog now and then? Me? A jog? You read that right…. I keep hearing it in my head. And my intuition is on fiyah lately….

Sort of like a few weeks ago, when I was naming our new puppy Betty White, and all I could hear in my head when I was thinking up names for her was “BETTY…. BETTTTTYYYYY!”

WELL, just this morning, I learned that the old woman who died in our living room four years before we moved in here was named BETTY!!!! And her last name began with a W!!!!! And sounds a lot like WHITE!!!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeaaahhhhhhaeeeaearardafdeqrgaq4go!!!

CREEPY!!!

Anyway. Here are some other hot “older” celebs I love and want to age like….

And, of course….

Love!

xo Haley-O

I am actually watching Dancing With the Stars right now. You’d think, as a former dancer, this would be my kind of show. But, I’m sorry, this is no So You Think You Can Dance. And the fact that I am actually watching this show is proof that Mondays SUCK for TV. But, don’t mind me, I’m just bitter because my PVR neglected to record last night’s episode of Celebrity Apprentice.

LOVE. (Get well soon, Bret!)

Maybe my PVR didn’t record Celebrity Apprentice because it was recording MTV’s The City Aftershow and the finale of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains at the same time. BEST SURVIVOR EVER, by the way.

LOVE. And, you’re right, Russell, all that matters is AMERICA loves you. Also Canada. You’ll always be the best player ever to me. Also Boston Rob.

SWOON.

While I’m at it, maybe I should just admit to you once and for all that I’m a huge Justin Bieber fan. Baybeh, baybeh, baybeh, ohhhh!

#TWIEBER, FTW! *Cough.*

Oh, come on, you know you love it. And I know I’m not the only one…. The other morning, the Monkey had something very important to whisper to me, wide-eyed:

Mama, a girl in Grade 3 told me there’s a chocolate factory? And it takes you to Hollywood! And to Justin BEAVER!

Awesome. Almost as awesome as this little gem:

Maybe after Space it’s Heaven, and after Heaven it’s a scary world where there are cow aliens.

I’m still amazed that she’s thinking about what’s after Space. I thought I was the only one who thought about stuff like that on a regular basis. Like, what’s beyond INFINITY? I mean, THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING!?!?!

Before I send you away to contemplate that (let me know what you come up with), here’s an update on our new puppy! In case you haven’t heard, we’ve named her BETTY WHITE — not too far off from the Korean name “HINDUNG,” meaning “WHITE,” that she came to us with, right? It totally suits her. BETTY!

Check out the BLING….

So far Betty’s totally low maintenance, and she’s making us all really, really happy. Aside from a little de-worming incident — and I honestly don’t know what’s worthier of ewwww than a stunning combination of poop and worms — she’s utter perfection. She doesn’t even seem to need much training. The Monkey, on the other hand, does, ALAS….

Love!

xo Haley-O

*UPDATE*: Based on the comments, I think I should point out (didn’t think I had to because YOU all know my type by now — BRUTISH, HAIRY, MANLY — *cough,* CLIVE OWEN, *cough*). I don’t have the hots for Beiber (I could totally be his MOTHER). It’s all about the muuuuusic! Baybeh, baybeh, baybeh, ohhhhh!

I’m numbing out in front of America’s Next Top Model, but it’s hard. Tomorrow (Thursday) is the big day. I’m finally getting this front tooth extracted. I’ll eventually have a beautiful permanent tooth in there. For the next year, though, I’ll be wearing a fancy denture. It was either that, or this (Amy Winehouse):

Or this (Paris Hilton):

Or this (Johnny Depp):

This (Jim Carrey, who took his bonding off and exposed his *chipped* tooth for Dumb and Dumber — totally worth it):

Or this (ED HELMS, who removed his permanent implant for Hangover — also totally worth it):

Or this (Demi Moore, BRAVELY posting her fabulous toothlessness on twitter):

Or this (Dakota Fanning — I should be that confident toothless):

Or this (Mike Tyson — my dentist promised he’ll do a better job than this):

Sighhh. It could be worse. I’ll be fine. It’s just a tooth. I’ll rock this denture…. I’m sure there are more, but I couldn’t make it to thirteen celebrities. My stomach’s turning. Time to change the subject….

In other news, I had my makeover….

My new Mysore Ashtanga yoga teacher swears I’ll be rid of that belly in no time with regular practice. Why didn’t I think of Ashtanga before? Watch the pounds melt away — I’m TELLING YOU. I’ve never sweat so much. And I’ve never ached so much! More later. Nervous Nelly over here.

As I was saying, yesterday, Mark’s, treated me like a total princess. It was exactly what the dentist ordered…. I didn’t have time to get my hair and makeup done, but, although stylist Afiya Francisco had her work cut out for her, I did get myself some fabulous new sunglasses, RED purse, frilly white top, and ACTUAL PANTS — I was shocked and elated that the best pants for me were SLIM FIT. After all that, I got my photos taken by the PHOTOJUNKIE himself. Love! It was a good day. (There are more pics on the FAN PAGE — check it, and join us!)

Today, I got my facial at Pure and Simple, and a really GREAT eyebrow job.

You’d think with all this pampering, I’d be ready for tomorrow, but I’m not.

I washed a bunch of lettuce, but it’ll probably rot before I get my appetite back. As soon as America’s Next Top Model‘s over, I’m going to make a big batch of my swamp smoothie. I’ve gotta eat SO healthily for optimal bone growage — the stronger the bone, the faster the process, the sooner I can get a permanent implant put in.

As my boyfriend Tim Gunn would say, MAKE IT WORK. I’m gonna MAKE IT WORK. I’m going to take some Rescue Remedy, do my yoga, relax, heal, and make it work. Watch out, Gorgeouses, here I come! Errrrm…. Heh. Okay. Off I go…. Good bye, Tooth. Enter courage. Scared.

Think of me at 3:30….

Love….

xo Haley-O

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe….

–Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky,” 1872

I always imagined the reader of Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” having a lisp. But I never imagined I would ever have one…. After yesterday’s meeting with the dentist — the fifth one in the past month — it seems I may, indeed, be sporting a lisp in addition to the likely-imperfect temporary denture I’ll pop in immediately after they extract my top front tooth NEXT THURSDAY.

We had a long talk yesterday, the dentist and I. He had a whole speech prepared for me — for me, who is what he called “sensitive.” He wanted to prepare me for the reality of what’s to come this year. For it will, indeed, be a year before I have a permanent tooth in place and, we hope, a celebrity-perfect smile.

Thank God, I remind myself: not an eye, a leg, a breast. Just a tooth. Just a tooth. Just a top front tooth. There’s humour in that. There’s humour in that. Hahahahaha! So FUNNY!!!

And he put that speech in writing for me to take home and pin on my wall when things…ARE BAD. Like the lisp. (I may have a LISP for a few months.) Like a “concavity” I may develop just above the gum line. (I may have a gory smile for a few months.) Like the raised gum line on four front teeth that I’ll have for six weeks. (I may have a GORY smile for a six weeks.) Plastic surgery, baby. That’s what this is, and how very Real Housewives of Orange County of me.

I am thoooo trendy. Brillig.

It all goes down next Thursday. A test of vanity, ’tis.

BRING. IT. ON.

I may even do a party trick or two at Blogher….

Don’t let me drink.

The good news is I’ll have something to wear at night — INVISALIGN *cough* — so I won’t actually have to go to sleep toothless. Phew…..

The good news is, too, that I’m not the only GORJ CELEBRITY (heh, self-esteem in progress) who’s missing a front tooth (well, will be as of Thursday…). DEMI MOORE LOST HER FRONT TOOTH LAST YEAR AND POSTED PHOTOS ON TWITTER! Here’s the thread (via Celebitchy):

Haha @charwils65 I personally thought this look went out after you were 8 didn’t know I would be rocking it again!

Thanks @sugarhigh77 was happy to share and always appreciate the opportunity to find humilty!!! Or at least be able to laugh at myself!

Haha @questionoflife are you a dentist? No implant but thank god for modern dentistry!

That means alot coming from you thx for the love HS! RT @hotstewart Gurrrrrl!!! Own that gap in your teeth! OWN IT GURRRRL!! HOT!

lol RT @panina: @mrskutcher i bet that u’ll be the guest star in the new sequel of “LOST ” (MY TOOTH) ))

Needless to say, I’m her new biggest fan. And I may just tape these pictures on my bathroom mirror, for those dark times this coming year, when I’m cleaning my denture….

Now all I need is a pair of those sunglasses…. And a good thpeech therapitht.

LOVE!

xo Haley-O

There are three potential first lines to this post:

1. Then again the apple never tasted so sweet.

2. “Mama, are you going to put it on your website?”

3. Dogs are such extensions of their owners, I mean, look at Bethenny Frankel….

I mean, while all the other Real Housewives are sporting chihuahuas, she comes up with this hunk of a bruiser. OY, LOVE. And her name is Cookie. I mean, does it get more compatible than that. They’re perfect for each other. And, me? I have him….

…WHOM I, proudly, rescued from a vet who didn’t seem to care much about him. Really, I’ve never said much about Minden’s origins. But, Minden was the sweetest, most affectionate cat I’d ever met, and he was spending his kitten days locked in a cage on top of his litter box. The vet and staff hardly recognized him when I brought him back in for check ups — and that makes me want to cry. THREE MONTHS Minden spent with them, and they didn’t recognize him when I brought him in. I switched vets, needless to say.

Are Minden and I compatible like Bethenny and Cookie? Just say YES.

I have countless pictures of me and Minden. Me in my big red hat and, what is that, an iPad? And my fancy shiny legs and big New York smile. I’m a little obsessed with Bethenny — and I don’t care if that’s sad — I think she’s hilarious, and I love her frankness (her Frankelness…heh).

That whole Housewives series is just a HOOT. Just yesterday, I thought, I’m NOT getting into The Real Housewives of New Jersey, I will NOT! I want to salvage at least SOME of my brain cells. But, then I saw this clip…, and I was hooked, lined and SINKERED:

OUTRAGEOUS! It’s just so outrageous. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I know. Some of you are probably, like Josh-O, totally disgusted right now. And, I know I should be spending my time finishing this month’s fabulous and VERY intellectual T-DOT Blogger bookclub book…. But, if you’ve spent two nights in a row “praying to the porcelain god” because you have the worst stomach flu you’ve ever had in your entire life, then a TV show like this is a GODSEND. Yes, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Orange County, New York and New Jersey have helped me get through this flu in one piece, sort of.

And 5 pounds smaller — hoorahhh!

OH! And the brand new Project Runway………looooove.

I’m still not out of the woods. I haven’t been able to eat dinner tonight. And I’m freezing, and there are no Housewives on tonight.

But, the sliver of  apple I just sampled never tasted so sweet. AND, the Monkey is actually excited for me to post her favourite dolls “on [my] website”…. She’s starting to have a voice of her own on this blog. And it’s really cool to see that li’l evolution.

But, I’ve run out of steam, officially. Getting cold, and feeling another HURL coming on. You’ll have to wait for the dolls until next time. And, I assure you, whether or not that sounds lame, that you will love it.

You know, sometimes I get really anxious, and the weight of motherhood and the world just gets too heavy to bear. As shameful as it may be, the Housewives are an escape. These women worry about nothing outside of their own self-created dramas. It’s LIBERATING to watch, and hysterical. And the makeup and clothes are OUTRAGEOUS. OUTRAGEOUS, I tell you.

After reading this post, can you guess how high my fever is? I may just be…DELIRIOUS?!

LOVE!

xo Haley-O

P.S. Many thanks to all who participated in the To Haiti With Love benefit (ends midnight tonight). It was an HONOUR to be a part of it.

I can do this.

I just drank a mug of vegan hot cocoa out of my “Heaven-Knows-It’s-Surely-True-That-Mothers-Need-a-Time-Out-Too” mug. Watching a little TMZ. Which may come as a surprise to some of you because, of course, I only watch CLASSY TV shows, like The Bachelor (did you see this season’s premier OMG — even *I* was embarrassed, it was so embarrassing), and my latest favourite, The Real Housewives of, well, all of them — Atlanta, Orange County, New York (in no particular order). NENE!!!

I love NeNe — partly because she hates brilliantly on a certain someone (KIM) whom I can’t stand because she smokes in her house, in her children’s faces.

I can TOTALLY understand if people can’t quit smoking — it took me YEARS to quit chai lattes (I’m still not out of the woods, but let’s pretend). But, I CAN’T understand knowingly exposing your young children to secondhand smoke. Seriously, WTF!? Who DOES that? Does anyone DO that? Anyway, don’t get me started on KIM. Where were we? Oh yes, LOVE NENE. But doesn’t EVERYONE?

I actually liked Anderson Cooper better when he was the host of The Mole — partly because I only watch classy TV, and not CNN. I prefer TMZ….

Where was I? Oh yes. I can do this.

I can write a blog post tonight, and I can get a good few hours of work done (egad) EVEN though I’m exhausted. Yes, exhausted. But, not whiny “WOE IS ME, MY KIDS DON’T SLEEP” exhausted. More like “DAY 15 OF JILLIAN MICHAELS’ HELL VIDEO,” as I like to call it. Level 2, baby. My feet are starting to hurt….

No, seriously, my feet are really hurting. Well, foot. It’s throbbing as we speak, Gorgeouses. I’m sure a good night’s sleep will help (but, ALAS, my kids still aren’t sleeping — WOE! is me). Yoga helps.

Oh GOD. I’m watching GLEE now, and Matthew Morrison is singing Bust A Move. OH! He’s dancing! And now he’s singing the THONG SONG — MOVE OVAH, Justin Timberlake. I’m telling you! And I am telling you!

In conclusion, I am in love with

Matthew Morrison….

and

Harvey Levin….

“I’m a lawyer!”

By the way, I’m also exhausted because the Monkey has a new imaginary friend, “Julia,” and Julia’s sleeping over tonight. Also, the Rascal’s been saying “f*ck” all the time, over and over again. Also, according to the Rascal’s nursery school “Feeling Table,” the words he likes to use are “hard” and “soft.” He needs to build on others, like “bumpy, scratchy, etc.”

LOVE! xo Haley-O

Okay, who’s bright idea was THIS?:

I mean, aside from the director’s, what’shisname.  I have a right to know who’s messing with my already anxious mind. There’s no way in HELL I’m seeing this movie. Even though friends of mine WHO JUST HAD A BABY went to see this catastrophic movie and said it was a freaking joke and that, if you’re afraid of 2012, then this is the movie to see because it’s a freaking joke. A bunch of models and action figures and a bunch of capitalizing on what’s already a subject of GLOBAL HYSTERIA.

There’s also the big Swine Flu vaccine. And people not vaccinating their kids calling people who DID vaccinate their kids stupid because the vaccine is, i.e., “too shady for me.” And then there’s people who vaccinated their kids calling people who DIDN’T vaccinate their kids stupid because, well, you know, blah blah. We’ve all heard it. And then THIS comes out and capitalizes on what’s already a subject of GLOBAL HYSTERIA.

…A bunch of horrible creepy aliens disguised as gorgeous humans (of course, because all humans are gorgeous) wanting to take over our health care — “universal healthcare,” hmmmm…. LIKE we needed this right now, in the middle of flu vaccine hysteria. Like I freaking needed to see that episode. And isn’t Elisabeth Mitchell in, like, enough creepy shows already?

Hasn’t she already freaked us out enough in LOST….

The posters for 2012 are plastered on our Toronto buses. They’re on billboards and every other commercial. WHO NEEDS THIS? I ask you, WHO NEEDS THIS?

And then you turn on the news, NAY, you turn on a freaking KIDS’ show, and there it is again — that 2012 commercial, and the news HEADLINES of the day, which are always godawful because they have to HOOK YOU IN. And JUST when you sit down to a meal of pasta with mushrooms, they are SO going to tell you that pasta and mushrooms will KILL you because…stay tuned for the news at 7 and you’ll find out. GRAAARGH!

I’m just a wee blogger. A wee PERSON at barely 5’1″. But something’s gotta change. The media, entertainment, and the commercial peeps — desperate for us to WATCH them, even as we PVR everything — have to stop spreading the fear. Whatever happened to SPREADING the LOVE!? You know how many people are TERRIFIED of all this sh*t? And there it is, IN YO FACE. If it’s not V, then it’s Fringe, or The Law Abiding Citizen. Freaking The Law Abiding Citizen — my poor mother will never answer her front door again. Why can’t Gerard Butler make more movies like THIS, instead:

WHICH, I loved. LOVE LOVE LOVE. The chemistry between those two, OMG — which is shocking, since we’re talking about Katherine Heigl. Speaking of which, I also loved this one….

WHICH doesn’t say much about my taste in movies lately. But, seriously, anything to get away from all the mind-blowing scary stuff.

Just the other day, I’ll have you know, the Monkey saw THIS poster on some storefront window….

And she actually yelled, “MAMA, LOOK! ORPHANS”! This from a girl who’s TV watching is limited to Tree House and the odd PVR’d So You Think You Can Dance Canada — with vehemently fast-forwarded commercials.

I’ll also have you know….

Yesterday I walked through downtown Toronto with my family.

The annual Christmas parade had just ended.

There was GARBAGE everywhere.

All of it was from fast food.

On our way home, we passed a protest with violent images that I didn’t need to see just then, on my Sunday afternoon walk with my young family.

Violent images are everywhere. They’re f*ing with my mind and I HOPE NOT my children’s minds.

All I ask is that Gerard Butler make some more funny movies, that Elizabeth Mitchell do a sitcom FOR ONCE, and that horror films stay where they USED to be — on the FAR corner in the back of the video store, and not mixed among the fluffy mainstream ones. Sensitive minds like mine CANNOT take all this SCARY stuff. CANNOT.

Spread the LOVE! I ASK THEE! PEACE! Unicorns…? Fairy dust and mermaids? SPARKLES…. Gerard? HEART. CLIVE OWEN. Will Ferrell. Please. More comedy, love, yooooga, less fear. LESS FEAR.

xo Haley-O

With the advent of twitter lists (which I doubt I’ll ever get around to making myself because I hardly have time to write to-do or shopping lists let alone SEVERAL lists dividing my friends into groups — high school much? — and unintentionally snubbing them, which is bound to happen)…what was I saying? I forget because I got distracted by Whitney and Jay’s conversation on this eve’s rerun of MTV’s The City….

That picture is so last year, like, when Jay and Whitney were still together. But I didn’t have time to find any current pics of them. But I DID have time to watch THIS WEEK’s episode just now. And I just want to say that, if Elle Magazine wants to interview bloggers — because, as Joe Zee (Elle‘s creative director) puts it, “blogs are the places where news is breaking right now” — they should come TO ME, and my SLIPPERS…. Remember these?

Still wearing ‘em! There’s nothing these two less famous bloggers have that I don’t, right? I blog in my pajamas, too, and shop with my mother…? No? Yes? Elle?

If I don’t get into Elle Magazine, can I at least get on X-WEIGHTED? I need to lose these last 15. Or maybe I’ll just curl up on my couch with my Puffins and make twitter lists, instead. It’s safer here in my comfort zone…. Except right now. Because Josh just made clam chowder, and it STINKS in here.

So, I do have a little list JUST for this blog because my poor blog gets pushed aside so often these days for other more “pressing” things, and this really shouldn’t be, really saddens me, really has to stop because I love blogging…, and if one more thing goes to sh*t because I’m working too much, then something’s got to give. Because DOGGONE IT, I’m important.

So my list, ahem.

1. I love the way Rascal says “banana” — “badanan,” as in, “MO BADANAN, MAMA! MO BADANAN.”

2. Rascal eats too many badanans.

3. The Monkey is addicted to hugging. In the middle of the Swine Flu pandemic, she’s hugging strangers (not that it really matters because Swine Flu is air born).

4. I had Kabocha squash for dinner.

5. Rascal can count to two now. It’s official: “One, Doo, ONE!”

6. Monkey is obsessed with drawing me without a body because, apparently, “it’s too hard” to draw my body….

7. WHICH I choose to take as a compliment, because why not and DOGGONE IT!

8. I’m the disembodied turbaned head on the far left of the drawing — next to me is the artiste herself, her brother, and a caterpillar.

8. I am NOT too old to love The City, OR The Hills….

9. I also love the Glee, The Office, The Tudors, So You Think You Can Dance and Survivor.

10. I did watch V, but I will never watch it again.

11. Just like I will never watch Fringe again.

12. Or the Y&R, which I quit a month ago, WHICH should be a post in itself because it’s a big f-ing deal.

13. I want Russell to win Survivor.

14. I can’t end on #13 not because it’s “bad luck” but because it’s just a weird number to end on.

15. #15 is a better number to end on than #14.

16. I always go for the odd numbers.

17. OCD.

18. But, #18 is an ideal number to end LISTS on.

19. Even though it’s an odd number.

20. I think I’m into even now.

Those Americans THINK they can dance. And, oh yeaaah, they can dance. But, they ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Before I share my INCREDIBLE cottage vacay with you (I’m still sorting through pictures), check this awesome So You Think You Can Dance Canada “Dance Hall” routine featuring Jayme Rae and Daniel…. Omigosh, it is SO FINE. Two things to look out for: Daniel’s stellar performance in which he connects both with Jayme Rae and the audience — my favourite boy hands down (and CRUSH); and the most hilarious slamtastic surprise ending EVER:

So you thought you can dance, eh America? Well HOW BOAT DOZE Canadians…!

Love!
xo Haley-O

Things are heating up at New Job. I actually had to drop Monkey off with Mary Poppins New Nanny after school today while “Mama went to work.”

Monkey: And Dada’s going to stay home?
Me: No, Monkey, you have a nanny now so MAMA can go to work, too.
Monkey: Can I come with you?
Me: No, Monkey, you have to stay with Rachel. But Mama will be home REALLY soon!

I got home about 2 hours later, excited about New Job and about the experience of going way DOWNTOWN (i.e., not just downtown, but WAY. WAY downtown) to CHICHI restaurant not far from the office.

I guess I must have been REALLY hungry after all these DAYS AND DAYS of being SICK AS A DAWG. Because I scarfed down my food — a vegetarian wrap — and took what I couldn’t finish (because had to leave early to rescue nanny) to go. I TOOK THE REST TO GO. I don’t like wasting food, but I never imagined myself taking food home from a company lunch…. Ahem.

I did manage to talk while scarfing, though. A lot. Something comes over me when I’m in unusual situations. I’m actually quite shy. But, put me in a room full of new people and I’m LOUD and giggling and TALKING TO EVERYONE.

You’d never guess I’m shy as [insert clever metaphor, i.e., a mouse? Albert Einstein? Carrie Underwood? -- ALL SHY]!

Minden, on the other hand, is NOT SHY in any situation (and, no, this is not a gratuitous kitty picture — it is perfectly called for)….

That was Minden doing his best Adam Lambert….

Speaking of which….

I LOVED Danny Gokey this entire season of American Idol, and it was A GOOD season — the best in a long time….

But, after his breathtaking performance of Kanye West’s “Heartless,” I fell IN LOVE with Kris Allen. And so will you when you see for yourself….

…Okay, how CUTE is he????

So, anyway, as I was saying…. I’m more THRILLED that Kris Allen is in the finale than I am depressed that Danny Gokey is GONZO. Because Danny will be FINE. He has more talent than most of the Idol winners before him, and he’s got so much charisma, and he’s got THE STORY (his wife died shortly before the competition — “TRAGEDY TO TRIUMPH,” as he says). He’ll be FINE. And, personally? I blame Paula and her DIPPY song choice for Danny’s demise.

ERGO, Americans? Since I can’t vote, you’re going to have to vote FOR ME. And, since you can’t vote for Danny, vote for Kris Allen — and those quirky adorable faces he makes when he hits the high notes. OY!

I digress. A lot. As usual. It’s kind of my thang. When you come here, you learn to expect digression. And gratuitous kitty pictures….

So, I am loving New Job. I am loving chichi lunches and challenges to my shy self. I DO need new shoes, though, now that Josh-O and it’sgrandma have staged an INTERVENTION: no more winter boots. I am no longer permitted to wear my winter boots…, or they will have me committed.

Okay, this was fun, Gorgeouses. BACK TO WORK.

Have you checked Cheaty Goodies for the WINNER of our Emergency Preparedness contest?

LOVE!
xo Haley-O