My wonderful husband got me the new Michael Buble CD, “Crazy Love” for Christmas and I’m so crazy in love with the music! My two favorite songs on the album are “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)” which is a track that Michael sings with Sharon Jones (and the Dap Kings), another fave artist of mine, and of course “Haven’t Met You Yet” (video above).

I’ve already burned a copy of this CD for the car (because the original is now permanently in my kitchen CD player), and Dawson is loving the music, too.

Owen was a little fussy after his baptism, and I put the CD on and danced around the dining room with him in the Bjorn. He fell asleep instantly.

My mother is a mega Michael fan, too. I wanted to get tickets to one of his concerts in March but both the Chicago and Minneapolis shows are sold out on Ticketmaster. I’m totally bummed. Some day I will see my Michael in concert. Some day. (I hope!) For now I’ll have to settle for my DVR’d Glenn Beck program in which Michael was a guest last week. I’ve watched it at least four times already.

I don’t usually buy CDs, because I love my iTunes, but Michael Buble is one musical talent that I will forever love and support and I’m so proud of my husband for getting me a perfect present (plus he didn’t have to spend a trillion dollars to make me so very happy.)

Do you love Michael Buble? Share your Buble love in the comments!

My mother and grandmother were devastated over the loss of such a talented actress, who was 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time of her death. They also felt sad for Tate’s husband, director Roman Polanski, and the grief he felt over losing his wife. My family is of Polish heritage and back in the late 60s, there was a kinship felt for “one of our own.”

Several years later, in 1977, Polanski was convicted of “unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor” and subsequently fled the United States prior to his sentencing. He has said in interviews that he was afraid the judge would give him a harsh sentence.

Polanski raped a 13-year-old girl.  Thirteen.  He was 44 years old at the time. Forty-four.

Polanski plead guilty to the lesser charge of “unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor” but didn’t stick around to serve his time.  He spent 42 days incarcerated while undergoing a psych evaluation, but he never paid for his crime.  He fled to France immediately after his release.  His victim did receive a settlement from Polanski,  and has since stated she has forgiven him for his crime and just wants to move on.

I understand this woman just wants to be left alone, but if Polanski is let off the hook for raping a young girl, what does that say about our American justice system?  That sexual assault is okay, as long as you’re famous and can buy your way out of it?  That all you need to do to get away with rape is to flee the country in which you committed the crime?

Polanski himself said he didn’t think anyone was truly hurt.  He doesn’t believe he raped this young girl.  His victim was drugged and pumped with alcohol.  He forced himself on her multiple times, despite her pleas to stop.  She said no. Last time I checked, NO means NO.

Polanski has been living life as a free man for the last 32 years.  He has continued to make films, despite having an arrest warrant out for him since 1978.  He’s taken every action imaginable to avoid extradition, by choosing not to travel to countries that may arrest and extradite him.  In so many ways, he “got away with it.”

The fact that many Hollywood actors and actresses, journalists and artists are defending Polanski, and asking for his release sickens me.  It makes me want to vomit.

Whoopi Goldberg saying “it wasn’t really rape-rape” is infuriating.  Rape is rape, Whoopi.  If this were any other Joe Schmo, and not a famous director, you would be screaming from the rooftops that the offender be locked away in jail.

Debra Messing saying that Polanski served his time is outrageous.  If this was a case against Mel Gibson and his drunken rants and insults to Judaism, you would be outraged.  I’m certain some anti-Catholic rhetoric would be thrown in to the mix as well.

And this bullshit that Polanski has lived a difficult life and suffered through the Holocaust makes me angry.  Yes, it’s awful that his mother died at Auschwitz.  Yes, it’s horrible that his wife and unborn child were murdered.  I understand the grief and the trauma he has suffered, but this does not make it acceptable to rape a 13-year-old girl.  It does not make it okay to flee the country to avoid jail time.

Should we let every rapist who suffered the loss of a parent or the murder of a family member go free?  Of course not.  Doing so undermines the rights of the victims to receive justice.

I’m so angry about Polanski, it’s hard for me to express every thought running through my head.  But this article says everything I’ve wanted to get out.   I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Roman Polanski, you deserve to serve your time.  You committed a crime and should be punished for it.  Thank you, Switzerland for doing the right thing and arresting Polanski.  May justice be served.

Patrick Swayze died.  He was 57 years old. My aching heart is breaking into a million pieces.  When I was just a little girl, my aunt let me and my cousin watch Dirty Dancing (against my mother’s wishes, of course) and I fell in love with Johnny Castle immediately.  I wanted to be Baby so much that I rewound the last scene in the movie over and over and over again, until I had all the steps just right.

Years later I loved him again in the movies Ghost and Roadhouse.

Rest in peace, Patrick.  I miss you already.

But since I hate leaving y’all hanging (did you see that?  I y’all’ed you already), here’s the photo I’ve been dying to share since the second I met this fantastic, sweet, southern woman:

I was starstruck, yes, but thankfully I didn’t make a fool of myself.  And when I stood next to her, Ms. Paula Deen, she said, “Hey, honey!  How are you?”  I can hear that awesome Georgia accent in my head, and if I could write it out phonetically, I so would.

I’m still giddy with excitement about this whole thing…and I’ll tell you all the fantastic details as soon as I can.  Hang in there for me!

All I can say is thank goodness. They were all wrong for each other to begin with. More on the break-up here.

I’ve been a fan of Tony Romo for several years, mainly because he hails from the great state of Wisconsin. We cheeseheads stick together.

Jessica Simpson just seemed like too much for the shy guy to handle. Of course, I shouldn’t judge because I don’t know what their relationship was like. I don’t think either party was happy during their time together.

Opposites attract, they say, but after awhile that attraction wanes and both people start looking for an out.

Frank Caliendo rocks my world.  From his impressions of George Bush to Bill Clinton as well as Leno and Letterman, the guy is TALENT.  No, I didn’t say he has talent.  He is talent.

Every time I see him I think Charles Barkley.  And I call my husband a knucklehead.

“Awww, man!  Tha’s TRBL.”

Looks like Jordan suffered a sprained ankle. Any bets as to how long before this video is removed from the NKOTB website? I sure hope Jordan is okay.

** Dude, this had to be a joke or a hoax or something, because friends in NYC went to the concert and said Jordan was dancing just fine.  How strange.  Although I’m glad to know the joker is okay.

Anyway, this is the video I was trying to find:

Swoon. NKOTB Forever. I heart Donnie, Danny, Jordan, Jon and Joe. Oooh, Joey. He’s still my favorite.

My sister and I had the best time. We rented a car (because mine is simply not travel safe these days), a cute little Dodge Caliber with Sirius radio — and I have to say I nearly squealed when I found the All Elvis (all the time!) station. I done died and gone to Heaven, it was that freakin’ cool.

But not as cool as getting close enough to the New Kids on the Block to bootleg some video and practically touch them. You know, if all the other screaming women weren’t blocking my way.

Seriously, though. I really wasn’t screaming as insanely as the chicks behind us who nearly toppled over Rachel to get closer to the stage. Thankfully our very handsome security guard (the one in charge of our section) got them to chill the heck out or my sister might have punched one of them out. The one who was so plastered she kept spilling beer all over the place.

I’m somewhat deaf today, but I had such a good time. Best time I’ve had in ages.

Swoon. Again…..

I could write an entire post, expressing my sorrow for offending so many people, but I’ve made my sincerest apologies both publicly and privately and I feel it’s best to use all of the wonderful resources, book recommendations, blog references and advice given to me, so that I may learn from my mistake.

I’m very grateful for all of the support many of you have given me, in spite of my grave offense, and I appreciate every phone call, every blog comment, and every e-mail that has been sent my way. I have tried my best to respond to everyone. If I haven’t gotten back to you, it is because my heart is overflowing from the kindness. I’m terribly sorry if I’ve missed the opportunity to thank you personally. Please know how grateful I am.

The last few days have been insanely busy. In addition to catching up on all matters online, I’ve been trying to keep up with life in general.

So far this week, I have enrolled Dawson in preschool for this fall, scheduled doctor and dentist appointments for myself and Dawson, gone grocery shopping, weeded the flower beds, caught up on laundry, watched Juno, Atonement and 27 Dresses (I loved all three movies), and spent some much needed time with my family.

Earlier this morning I went to Best Buy and bought a brand new laptop. Doug and I received our stimulus (rebate?) check and decided to spend half the money on a new garage door (ours is as old as the house and only opens manually, which is a total pain in the ass in the winter) and then we split the remaining money in half to spend as we wished. My wish was a faster laptop as the old one still runs Windows 2000.

I bought a Gateway laptop and it’s Garnet Red in color. I love it. I’ll take a picture of it soon. The cool thing is that it has a built-in webcam. I have the urge to do a blog chat, but it’s late and my hair is a mess (excuses, I know).

This afternoon my mother-in-law and I took a trip to Sam’s Club. Dawson came along as well and he was so excited to ride in Grandma’s new mini-van because it has a DVD player. He was able to watch SpongeBob SquarePants (of course!), and my MIL and I were able to carry on a conversation without constant demands and whines of a 3-year-old.

Also, I went over to Johnson’s Baby Cause, a charitable organization (through Global Giving) which is hosting a celebrity auction on e-bay. I bid on this travel system just for the heck of it. I don’t even need a stroller/car seat combo, but I thought it would be fun to win it and tell everyone I know that my favorite co-host of The View used this item. More about this here. (And more about this fun PBN blog blast here.)

That’s about all I’ve been up to these days. Now, I just have to catch up on your blogs and the world will be right again.

Took the Subway again yesterday, just to spite my mother.  And guess who didn’t get kidnapped?  I felt like I lived here for years.  Although I did get on the wrong train somehow.  I quickly figured out I had to hop off at the next station to get on the correct one.  I’m glad I memorized my subway map and all the trains that go to various stops (seriously, I started learning it in December and even had Doug quiz me on it, just to be sure I got it) so that I never got lost.

I met Kenny Mayne on 5th Avenue yesterday afternoon.  That was just the highlight of my day, next to seeing the Flatiron building of course.  He is just as funny IRL as he is on TV.  Of course, it’s not everyday that I see celebrities, so the first words out of my mouth were, “You’re hilarious on Dancing with the Stars!”  He didn’t miss a beat.  “Yeah, I’ll be doing that again on April 29th.  Stay tuned.  By the way, I had a book reading at Barnes & Noble and no one showed up.  Where were you?”

Kenny Mayne chats with the Fed Ex guy.

I couldn’t stop laughing, then I realized a guy with headphones on, and some sort of (very large) video camera, was filming this exchange.  Kenny handed me a little photo card with his “book” title on it and I quickly got on my way.  I have no idea what they were taping but I’ll die if I see myself on national television.  Ugh.

I’m getting ready to check out of the hotel in a couple hours, then I’m off to visit with Liz from This Full House.  I’m so excited.  I haven’t seen her since BlogHerCon last July.

It’s going to be a wonderful Friday!  I promise to blog more soon, once I’ve got more time.