Ledger Pop Journal - Celebrity News & Sports

Carrie Underwood reports she's "really doing it up big" for her performance on the 41st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which is coming up May 23 on CBS.

Really 'doing it up big' at ACM's

The 23-year-old "American Idol" winner, one of People Magazine's Hottest Celebrities Under 25, reports, "I've been looking at sketches. I have a hard time envisioning things. I'm having a dress specially made for me by David Rodriguez -- I love him. He's not only a great designer, but he's so nice."

Carrie says her stylist is also working to fashion her look for the rest of the event. "You have to have three to five dresses with you when you go to these things. You have the red carpet dress, the dress for presenting or performing, another outfit for the after parties, and sometimes you'll be sitting down in the audience in a different outfit." And the fifth dress? "You never know what might happen. It never hurts to be prepared."

The refreshingly energetic young talent adds, "I love these awards shows. They're really an adrenaline rush. You hope you'll be nominated, and then when they announce your category, your heart starts beating so hard. I'd love to win an ACM award."

Underwood has a mammoth agenda of concerts ahead. "I think right now I have about 50 festivals and fairs and stuff, this summer, and 20 concerts with Kenny Chesney. And things won't stop there. I'll be busy after that. One way or another I'll do 80-90 dates this year."

HOME OF HER OWN:

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's" Constance Ramos makes it official right here and now: She has, indeed, left the show.

"I have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a newlywed," explains the beautiful architect, who met her husband, U.S. Border Patrol Senior Agent J.J. Carrell after he nominated a friend for the "Extreme Makeover" home treatment. The Carrells, in fact, are celebrating their first wedding anniversary Saturday (5/6).

Constance says she missed seeing her mate. "I waited all my life for this guy, then I was never home. Everyone on the design team feels the job is a mission and works their hardest. It's typical to expect to work 40 weeks of the year" -- and that's in the brutally intense mode familiar to "EM:HE" viewers. She couldn't keep up the pace and have much of a personal life. When she told the series team of her decision to let the show go on without her in January, "They were happy for J.J. and me, wishing us well in our marriage, and very sure that was the most important thing to me."

Ramos has different TV projects brewing, and is launching her own design business, soon findable at constanceramos.com.

CELEBRITY SCENE:

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin gets some time off diaper duty May 20, when he'll perform in honor of his friend Alex Wallau, president of ABC Network Operations, at a Beverly Hills event benefiting UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. Called A Taste of Napa, it's being chaired by Disney Chief Bob Iger, his wife, Willow Bay, and Bon Appetit's Barbara Fairchild. Wallau, a cancer survivor himself, is a passionate advocate for advancing cancer research. We can expect a huge ABC/Disney celeb contingent, natch, for the event. Confirmed already are Eva Longoria, Patrick Dempsey, Ellen Pompeo, Matthew Fox, Muhammad Ali, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Smits, Al Michaels, and Eduardo Xol. No word yet on whether Mrs. Martin -- Gwyneth Paltrow -- will be attending or home with new baby Moses and sister Apple.

READY TO TAKE WING:

Sixteen-year-old up-and-comer Brie Larson reports that she had quite a "Hoot" filming "Hoot" with co-stars Logan Lerman and Cody Linley on the set of the New Line movie that opens tomorrow (5/5). Also starring Luke Wilson, "Hoot" is about a group of kids compelled to protect some endangered owls. Larson didn't know Linley or "Jack & Bobby's" Lerman before the production. "It was really cool that when we all met we had aviator sunglasses on and guitars on our back," notes the pretty blond, whose Universal Records "Finally Out of P.E." album is in stores. "We'd hang out all day on set, and then we'd go to this rec room at the hotel full of video games and DVDs where we spent every single night playing guitar and making home movies. We were just so close, and we're still good friends. I talk to them every day. These two boys I consider like my family."

Besides gaining new pals, Larson says the movie has made her more aware of the world around her. "It's got this environmental message that's not thrown in your face. It's this underlying thing that's there for you to do with what you want. I certainly wasn't aware of how what I do affects our environment so I think it's good to get people at a young age aware of what's going on around us."

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)