Kitty Deschanel | Food, Wine, and Travel Adventures Across the USA

Sexy Nerd and I spent Memorial Day Weekend enjoying a kick-butt road trip. We found something awesome/weird/funny within the first few hours of our vacation! We stopped in Gallup, NM for lunch at Jerry's Cafe, which I had read excellent reviews of before hitting the road. Can you see why Jerry's Cafe in Gallup is so highly rated? YUM!   They were packed when we arrived at 1pm, but we were helped to a table within just a few minutes by one of many friendly servers. How friendly were they? Sexy Nerd and I are budget travelers. Our order of two waters and sharing one of their cheapest (though super-yummy) dishes, the stuffed sopapilla, wasn't met with any eye rolls and they even divided up the entree for us. Above is one of two plates we received - most restaurants don't even offer us a second plate! Anyhoo, this post is not intended to be a Jerry's Cafe review. It's actually inspired by the artwork that was above our booth. Presenting... ...

I hope everyone is having a fun holiday weekend! It's the perfect excuse to pig out on ice cream sundaes and chili dogs guilt free. Link up your favorite blog posts, then visit some amazing blogs you never knew were out there. Sharing here is a great way to get onto the LambAround Pinterest Board !

Sexy Nerd has enrolled in a second Master's degree program. All I have is my measly Bachelors. This isn't the overachiever part though. He's going to get a jump start on his new degree by taking classes this summer instead of waiting for the fall semester. Nope. That's not all. His first class is online. Sexy Nerd got a hold of his syllabus a week before class began. He completed and submitted his first assignment, which was a long essay. Class hasn't even started and he has already turned in his first homework assignment! It was fun for him. I love you, Sexy Nerd, but classmates like you used to really annoy me! It's a good thing his class is online. Sexy Nerd is totally that guy who raises his hand with a question right after the teacher says they're going to let everyone out early.

Finally, right? I'd love to say that this delayed blog hop posting is due to a case of The Weekend Lazies, but I've actually been quite busy (you know, according to my typical weekend standards). Still planning that Arizona road trip. Not sure when we're going. Also planning a much longer (though not nearly long enough) trip to visit my family in Australia! My cheapness is making these travel plans really, really hard. Now, we're off to see The Lorax in 3D, while it's still playing at the $1 movie theater. Deep down, Sexy Nerd and I are just big kids. Kids with old, responsible souls.

Good morning, bloggy friends! We should be blog hopping within just a couple of hours. In the meantime, Sexy Nerd and I are enjoying our day with chili dogs and chocolate Oreo ice cream, which we just picked up on our morning bike ride. It's a super weekend! We're in the midst of planning a road trip from Albuquerque to the Grand Canyon, then down through Phoenix and Tucson before looping back up home. If anyone knows of any great places to stop along our route, please share!

Since writing my last bike post , in which attempting to ride just about killed me, I have become a bike riding pro. Okay, maybe not a pro in the eyes of actual bike riders, but I did recently pass an obese rider who looked impressed. Sexy Nerd and I took our bikes out this morning and are so fitness minded that we even passed up the opportunity to buy ice cream when we stopped at the grocery store. Even though it would have fit nicely in my super-stylish basket: The Kent La Jolla Women's Cruiser Bike Ain't She a Beaut', Clark? Yeah, that's a big lie. The entire reason for stopping was to buy ice cream. I just cheaped out. Did you know that Dryer's has replaced their tiny ice cream cartons (which I'm pretty sure they slyly downsized to get more money for less product not too long ago) with new, 1/2 gallon cartons? They want $7.99 for them! WTF?! Dryer's has clearly gone bat crap crazy, along with anyone who would fork over that wacky amount. It al...

Q. Would you rather have all the ice cream you want for the rest of your life, in all sorts of yummy flavors and with exotic toppings and mix-ins but you could NEVER have any kind of cake again, ever ... ...or vice versa? Stumped? Be glad I didn't propose a choice between cake, ice cream, and cookies!

I recently purchased the second bike I've ever owned in my life. Well, I guess the third if you count the pink and purple plastic one I had when I was four. It was stolen from our yard and I've been grouchy about it ever since, BTW. Saturday, Sexy Nerd and I went for a bike ride. Holy freaking heck. I suck at bike riding. It kicked my ass. That's the only time I've ever written that word on my blog, out of 981 posts. I'm writing this shortly after returning home from said ride and my mind is in a swearing kinda mode. Okay. To be fair, I just searched my site and the word 'ass' has actually appeared a handful of times. It's a small handful though. I'm a lady. Coasting downhill is great! I could just sit there on my pretty new bike and coast forever. Well, except that the seat is a bit firm. And my thumb keeps accidentally dinging the little bike bell. And the wind hurts my ears. Which reminds me of my pre-ride preparations. I packed water,...

**UPDATE** This giveaway has ended and the winner has been emailed. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter!  Just in time for Mother's Day, Easy Canvas Prints and LambAround have teamed up to give one lucky reader a free 8x10" canvas print. And, yes, shipping is included and the print can be your very own design. It even comes framed! I just tested out the software for myself. In less than 5 minutes, I was able to turn this photo from our San Francisco vacation into a work of art: Taken outside the Exploratorium, where I often visited as a child and was so happy to return to last fall, this time with my very own science nerd to explain all the craziness! Want to win your very own Easy Canvas Print? Or, you know, your very own Easy Canvas Print to give to your mom? (Sorry, mom, but I fully intend to keep mine. You can see it when you visit.) (Geez, that sounded more cold-hearted than I'd intended!) How to Enter (Mandatory) (So Easy!) ...

I've been updating my site (surely you noticed!) and have several new features in the works, including a 52 week series of simple, self improvement posts called "Today I Will...". Stay tuned for more! And in the meantime, here's a peek at the new blog banner that didn't quite make the cut: Nyah, nyah! Like the changes? Hate the changes? (OH NO!) Send me an email with your thoughts.