Miranda Lambert had a farm

A-E-I-O-U... vowels are fun. E-I-E-I-OOOOOH.

Miranda Lambert's boyfriend, fellow country star Blake Shelton, recently granted her wish for a mini-horse at Christmas.

"I have been wanting a mini-horse for about a year now, and frankly I think everyone was sick of hearing about it," Miranda writes on her website. "So? my sweet boyfriend decided that would be a great Christmas present for me."

There's a mini-horse farm right down from Miranda's new place in Oklahoma. "After the 80th time of me asking if we could stop, Blake finally said 'yes.' I was so excited," she writes.

Within 20 minutes she knew which mini she wanted, but Blake told her they'd have to wait and think on it for a day. "So of course, the next morning at 8 a.m. (Christmas Eve) I was ready to get her. He told me he had a lot to do so I would have to wait. Needless to say, that wasn't what I wanted to hear," Miranda shares.

"I was milling around my house and Blake's mom was there and she said, 'Hey look out the window.' There was big, tall Blake standing there with my new 31-inch mini-horse. It was quite a sight."

Turns out to be a two-fer: Miranda's new horse, Annie, is expecting a colt in March.

Seen... Scene this yet?

Garth's new video for Workin' For a Livin'

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Telling Aretha what it means to her!

Faith Hill will be among the artists performing tributes to Aretha Franklin at the upcoming MusiCares Person of the Year gala. Variety.com reports that this year's event will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 8, just two days before the Grammy Awards.

Other performers include past "American Idol" winner Fantasia, singer-songwriter John Legend, gospel duo Bebe & CeCe Winans and others. Bill Cosby and Blair Underwood will also be on hand. Proceeds raised from the show, which includes live and silent auctions, will be used to give assistance to music industry people in times of need.

People's Choice Awards get around strike

The stars of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" were among the fan favorites at the 34th annual People's Choice Awards on Tuesday, as CBS scrapped its usual live broadcast of the show in favor of a strike-friendly, pre-taped program.

The two-month-old Writers Guild of America strike has taken a toll on Hollywood's awards season, leading to the cancellation of the Golden Globes and the scaling-down of People's Choice. The fate of other shows, including the Oscars, remains in question.

Robin Williams accepted his award for favorite funny male while on tour with the United Service Organizations in Kabul, Afghanistan. Members of Rascal Flatts picked up their prize for favorite group at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, and Patrick Dempsey found out he was the favorite male TV star while at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The show couldn't be canceled entirely, host Queen Latifah said Monday.

Garth Brooks Goes NASCAR

Garth Brooks has aligned himself with NASCAR and will appear in print, radio and television ads promoting NASCAR Day. The advertising campaign begins during the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 17. Brooks and NASCAR president Mike Helton made the announcement Tuesday (Jan. 8) during a press conference at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida. NASCAR Day, celebrated on the third Friday in May, raises money for the NASCAR Foundation, a nonprofit organization which supports charities that assist children. Brooks established his own charity, Teammates for Kids, a decade ago to fund health, education and inner-city services for children. Although Brooks has not scheduled a performance in conjunction with NASCAR Day, he has not ruled it out. "If we would [perform], it would be something that Mike and I would sit around and talk about," Brooks said. "We tried to do something for Daytona this year, but that didn't work out. ... If we do get to play, it's for charity, which, truthfully, is what the gift was given to me for anyway. We don't have any plans at this time."

Another Country "Idol"

"American Idol" finalist Phil Stacey today debuts his first single, "If You Didn't Love Me," a song full of meaning for his life and his wife, Kendra.

"I'm so excited to have found this song and that it'll be my very first single," Phil says of the track from his debut CD scheduled to be released in April 2008. "The lyrics mean a lot to me because it's a great love song that everyone can relate to and I feel like it tells the story of my marriage."

"I've been blessed with an amazingly supportive wife and with all the things we've been through together — whether it was in college, the military or even on "American Idol"— having her there made everything so much easier and put joy into everything we went through," says Phil. "I don't know where I'd be today without her."

Phil also had some great help on "If You Didn't Love Me." The debut single was produced by Wayne Kirkpatrick (Little Big Town) and written by Wendell Mobley, Jason Sellers and Rascal Flatts' Gary LeVox.

Phil came to national attention when he performed for millions of viewers each week during his competition on the 2007 season of "American Idol." His renditions of the country hits "Where The Blacktop Ends," "The Change" and "I Need You" were among his most praised performances of the season.

After his summer tour with fellow "American Idol" contestants, Phil, Kendra, and their two daughters moved to Nashville to pursue his country music career. Phil's no newcomer to Tennessee. He studied vocal performance at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee.

Is...Isn't...Now Is! Nicole Is Pregnant

Finally, after several vehement denials, Nicole Kidman's rep confirms that Nicole and husband Keith Urban are expecting their first child.

"The couple are thrilled," Catherine Olim says in a statement.

For Kidman, 40, this will be her third child. She and her former husband, Tom Cruise adopted two children during their marriage: Isabella, now 15, and Connor, 12.

As for where Kidman and Urban, 40, who will be a first-time parent, may bring up their impending arrival, the couple, though both from Down Under, purchased a farm near Leipers Fork, a half-hour southwest of Nashville, in 2007.

The couple, who have been married 18 months, wed, after a yearlong courtship, on June 25, 2006, in a candlelit ceremony at Sydney, Australia's Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel on St. Patrick's Estate at Manly. Guests at the black-tie event included Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Naomi Watts and Rupert Murdoch.

Before the couple even started dating, Kidman made her desire for more children clear. In April 2005, she told reporters that her biological clock was ticking. "I have got hormones running through my system," she said. "That is why I sit wriggling, saying I want to have a baby."

Fan Smacks Into Taylor Swift – and Gets an Autograph

A fan recently ran into Taylor Swift. Literally.

Then the fan asked the 18-year-old country musician for her autograph, in a weird place.

"Yeah, somebody hit my car and then asked me to sign a broken piece of my taillight," said Swift, according to the Canadian news Web site, Canoe.ca.

"Then it was crazy," Swift said. "Five minutes later this other woman saw me on the side of the road and decided that she wanted to get an autograph for her daughter. So she pulled over to get my autograph and then somebody hit her car. It was quite the experience."

On the topic of cars, Swift recently donated hers – a pink "jacked-up" Chevy pick-up given her by her label for her birthday last month – to Victory Junction Gang, a children's charity assisting those with terminal diseases.

"They have camps all over the country for kids who are sick," says Swift. "It's one week each some they forget they're sick and just have a blast and hang out with other people who they can relate to. They look forward to it, and I love that cause."

Trace... one hot dog

Country music fans know Trace Adkins can sell albums, and it turns out he's pretty darn good at selling hot dogs, too. His team, headed by actor and author Stephen Baldwin, sold $57,000 worth of hot dogs in the street vendor competition to survive the first week of Donald Trump's "The Celebrity Apprentice."

The competing team was $40,000 behind Trace and company. The hot dog competition was right down Trace's alley, considering he's donating his earnings from his appearance to FANN, the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, a nonprofit organization promoting food allergy awareness. To?see an exclusive interview with Trace about the FANN charity that inspired him to sign up for the show, go to NBC.com/The_Celebrity_Apprentice.

Trace and the other celebs gave the show a boost. Thursday night's premiere of "The Celebrity Apprentice" garnered the show's highest rating in more than two years, scoring a 4.5 rating among adults 18 to 49 in preliminary Nielsen ratings, winning the night.

"The Celebrity Apprentice" competition continues next week, when Trace and the other celebrity candidates must produce a TV commercial for a pet adoption program. Ivanka Trump and Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren oversee the project.

Ladies DO Love Country Boys

Brad Paisley is from the small town of Glen Dale, West Virginia, while his wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, is from big New York City. Brad says they weren't real sure at first that the country/city thing would work out.

Brad and Kimberly, who stars on the TV series "According to Jim," are quite different in their backgrounds and habits. Brad recently told Good Housekeeping that in spite of their geographical and cultural differences at the time, when they went to dinner for the first time, they both thought something important had happened.

"We just felt like all the events of our lives had come together for us to meet right when we did," says Brad. Things continue to go smoothly for the couple and their 10-month old son William 'Huck' Huckleberry.