CMT Blog: Lifestyle

I've blogged before that I'm not all that interested in sports. Not as a spectator. Not as a player. And I think part of that stems from living in a neighborhood where people are so completely over-the-top about sports. You can't just sign your kid up for a baseball team at the local park district, you have to get him on a traveling team and plan your vacations around his all-star game schedule. And if he plays basketball, you'll need to sign up for special shooting clinics. And football? Well, he's going to need a personal trainer at the very least. It's gotten so bad that parents actually talk as if they are grooming 7-year-olds for college scholarships. But Kenny Chesney has changed my mind.

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I know Carrie Underwood is crazy about her new husband, Mike Fisher, but is she seriously letting him handle the interior design of their new house in Ontario? That is true love right there. That's what Us Magazine is reporting about the new house Mr. & Mrs. Mike Fisher are building in Ottawa, where Fisher needs to be for his position with the Ottawa Senators hockey team. It must be so hard to choose where to live as a couple when both of you travel for a living and when your current homes are separated by more than 1,000 miles. I suppose they could've split the difference and set down their roots midway between the two, perhaps in Akron, Ohio, or Pittsburgh. But Ottawa won. Fisher apparently told Canada's CTV that he loves it up there and that "Home is where we are." Aw. How sweet is that?

Photo credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Rosanne Cash's music has remained one of the constants in my life as a young adult. I've always felt a connection to her songs, even though I've never felt that "Seven Year Ache" or escaped from a hectic life by "Sleeping in Paris." After reading her new memoir, Composed, it seems that we also share an inherent urgency to travel, an early love for language and a determination to build a life in music. Fortunately, Cash is further gifted with the ability to write concise lyrics with an interesting melody to match, plus her earthy singing voice is so revealing. All the while she remains rooted to country music through her father, Johnny Cash, and their intimate connections to the Carter Family, but continues the circle on her own terms.

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All they had to do was make Carrie Underwood look even more stunning on her wedding day. Hardly an impossible task considering what a lovely palette Melissa Schleicher and Stephen Moleski had to start with. But it was hot, hot, hot on her wedding day, so they did have to keep her looking cool. They did so with a simple updo with curls and pieces and bobby pins. Then Schleicher, her make-up artist, gave People.com the scoop on her fabulous look from the day. The super secret weapon seems to have been the very lush, soft and full false eyelashes she wore. They were created just for Underwood by Moleski, from Smoke and Mirrors Beauty. Joe Don Rooney's wife, Tiffany Fallon, loves the line of faux lashes, as does E! star Kim Kardashian. You can get lashes almost like Underwood's on Moleski's site for about $22. No brand of mascara -- or prescription of Latisse -- will ever make your eyes look like this.

Photo credit: People.com

The day I wrote a blog about how God says no to your prayers sometimes was the last time I talked to my parish's pastor about country music. It was actually the last time I talked to him, period. He died suddenly yesterday (Aug. 11). And I am struggling with the fact that our last conversation was about country music. I mean, shouldn't we have been talking about something more reverent? Shouldn't I have been asking him why bad things happen to good people? Or some other religious question that holier Christians ponder?

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Luke Bryan and his wife, Caroline, just welcomed another baby boy to their growing family. Baby Tatum "Tate" Christopher Bryan was born yesterday morning (Aug. 11) and was 6 pounds, 8 ounces and 21 inches long. And Luke already knows just what his future holds now that he has two boys. "All the fishing holes in Nashville better look out when I get out there in the next few years with Tate and big brother Bo," he told People.com. "Bo" is Thomas Boyer Bryan, the couple's 2-year-old son. The singer added that there was nothing like coming home after eight shows out on the road and having baby Tate surprise them. "Such an amazing day for me and my family. We are so blessed to have another healthy baby boy," he said in a statement. When I met Bo at a concert when he was just a tiny little thing, he had an adorable all-access lanyard on that was about 1" X 2". I hope they saved that. That will make a nice hand-me-down for baby Tate.

Photo credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Dierks Bentley's latest album, Up on the Ridge, has quickly become a favorite among country fans. His music video for "Up on The Ridge" is also one of the most popular on CMT.com. Through his "Posted" page at CMT.com, Bentley took the time to answer fans' Twitter questions. Take a look.

@areyes03: Any new songs you're writing? I've been trying not to ... trying to just focus on and enjoy Up on the Ridge. But, I've had some ideas floating around up there for a while and I'm starting to think about getting back into it.

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Finally. The invitation into Toby Keith's Oklahoma house I've been waiting for. Actually, now that I've seen the pictures in People Country, the word "house" doesn't really do this place justice. Maybe something more like "estate" works. Because you know anytime you give your house a name (his is Dream Walkin' Farms), it kind of ceases to become just a house. But it is spectacular, from the big ol' gates out front to the nearly 9,000 square feet of living space he and his family call home on the 160 acres. There is a theater room, a lake full of bass, perch and catfish, an eight-car garage and a racquetball court. And even though all that space doesn't make it your typically cozy country house , Keith tells People.com, "When you're born and raised in a place like Oklahoma, no place else feels like home."

What did we do before Twitter? Seriously. It gives country fans so much random but hysterical nuggets of information. And it's not just Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley who are cracking people up. Girls are getting in on it, too. This weekend, Miranda Lambert sent out a tweet after her show on Saturday (Aug. 7) night that said, "Soooo.....some crazy girl showed her boobs to us all night while we were on stage. And they were not the pretty kind. Ew!" That was about the same time that Kellie Pickler was on her tour bus rolling down the highway saying, "can't quit looking down at my left hand and thanking God that I get to spend the rest of my life with @kylecjacobs." Martina McBride tweeted a little movie of her husband (and an audience) singing "Happy Birthday" to her. Even LeAnn Rimes, who is back on Twitter after a week-long hiatus, was retweeting the always-pensive John Mayer, with his quote, "I have found the key to a happy life is to surround myself with like-minded people who agree with me constantly."

A funky little cabin. A two-story tree fort. These are the kinds of things that inspire Kix Brooks. Well, those and the 600-acre farm he has them on. He tells People Country magazine that this is where he finds peace, and that "anytime you can get some peace, I think it serves as great inspiration." (He in fact co-wrote the Brooks & Dunn hit "Only in America" on this property.) I'm guessing the acreage also has a real home and that Brooks does not spend all his time in the aforementioned tree fort and tiny cabin. But all he says of the farm's best feature is its remoteness, even though it's only about an hour from Nashville. "If you get to really experience the woods, where you can't see power lines, people or roads, you realize that there is a serenity in the world," he says.