C.J.: If it dresses like Avril and walks like Avril ...

Morton's diner Stephanie Lenertz noticed "what I thought was simply a rich yet rebellious-looking girl, with blond hair and pink highlights, come into the restaurant. I thought 'Why on earth ... would you want to dress as a derivative of Avril Lavigne?'"

"Unless you were!" said Morton's sales and marketing manager Diane Forsberg.

Lavigne dined at the steakhouse the night before her appearance at KDWB-FM's Jingle Ball. It wasn't until reading that Lavigne was here that Stephanie wondered whether or not she'd seen a celebrity. Upon reflection, Lenertz realized all the clues were there.

"She had her head down when she walked by our table so I couldn't see her face. I noticed later that there had been a man standing by the entrance of the restaurant for the past 30 minutes. Then that man escorted the girl to the bathroom and shortly after, she and some punk companion (member of her band?) left with the man," wrote Stephanie via e-mail. "I didn't ask anyone else at Morton's if that had been Avril, because I didn't want to appear to be her FAN or anything."

Lavigne had a lobster; Stephanie and Matt Lenertz were at Morton's celebrating their anniversary.

Mondale pad for sale Former veep Walter Mondale's Irving Avenue house is on the market.

Walter and Joan Mondale have bought a loft condo on the Mississippi, I'm told.

Carlson love fest Bill Carlson has missed being around his colleagues at WCCO-TV so much that his wife, Nancy Nelson, threw him a party over the weekend.

Carlson, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, has every intention of returning to the air. "It was a glorious day for Bill. He was able to tell them how much he loved them and mostly to hear how much they love him," said Nelson. "We know how lucky we are. People love him because he has never been anything but decent and kind and generous."

Among those in attendance were attorney Ron Meshbesher and wife Kim; Dr. John Najarian and his wife, Mignette; former Minnesota human rights commish Conrad Balfour; Purple People Eater Jim Marshall; movie guy Pat Proft; Dudley Riggs; St. Paul boxer and "The Great White Hope's" the Kid, Jim Beattie, and a batch of folks from WCCO-TV including GM Susan Adams Loyd, whose presence really touched Carlson.

"It was a great party," Carlson told me Wednesday.

Limo's b-day Monday is the birthday of ESPN's "Monday Night Football" sideline reporter Michele Tafoya. Do what you may with that info.

In an installment of the MTV show now in rotation, 50 Cent can be seen suggestively rubbing a sculpture of two women in his bedroom that was created by Twin Cities artist Bill Mack.

Mack returned from trips to Mexico and China to hear half a dozen voicemails from friends who saw his "Reflections" sculpture in his 50's bedroom.

"['Cribs'] did Wayne Newton a few years ago and my work was all over his bedroom. I'm going to track down 50 Cent and thank him for buffing up my girls," said Mack, who also believes Fiddy has an eagle sculpture; in other words "he doesn't have only naked women" art. (Bill's son Ryan Mack got calls about his dad's Arthur Ashe sculpture being seen on Rev. Run's MTV reality show last week. I have told Bill he needs to try again with that one -- were it not for an afro, a tennis racket and Ashe's necklace, I would have no idea who that was supposed to be.)

Tom Moore, CEO of Mack's company, said: "We'll give him 50 cents off his next purchase." Such a deal for Fiddy!

QB conjecture With Donovan McNabb looking on his way out, my boys on ESPN's "PTI" are starting to gossip about where the Philly QB will end up next season:

Let's hope Coach Chilly doesn't do this. McNabb's more fragile than Tarvaris Jackson and Donovan's looking OLDER on the field than Brett Favre. McNabb might make a suitable mentor/backup for Jackson, who is showing progress.

In fact, Jackson's been playing well enough to be upgraded to "my close, close cousin" status with ESPN's Tom Jackson. That caused Chris Berman to speculate that the Jacksons may nosh together over the holidays.