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

My poor Sexy Nerd. He was so happy to get his Mini Cooper . Although it was supposedly perfect when he bought it, he immediately devoted his time and money to making it even better with decals, new premium oil (though the dealership had just changed the oil), and a clear bra. As a side note, searching online for a “clear bra” made him very uncomfortable. (So he says!) Sadly, Sexy Nerd’s newly purchased Mini Cooper isn’t running. He spent all weekend working on it. Just as he was ready to put it back together, one of the bolts broke. You can just run down to any parts store and pick up another bolt, right? Nope! Mini bolts can only be replaced with Mini bolts. The Mini dealership was closed (of course!) leaving Sexy Nerd out of luck. Now, he won’t have time to fix his car until next weekend. A lot of good your fancy Hella racing lights are going to do you now, Sexy Nerd.   I feel bad for him. Really, I do. My pre-buying research showed that Consumer Reports warned again...

My last window seat post was written in February, 2011, when we were planning to add a window seat to our home. Two+ years later, how is that window seat coming along? To quote Christmas Vacation, I can picture it in my mind and it's breathtaking. Sexy Nerd has been too busy to build my window seat. Between organizing his office , painting "meatballs" on his Mini Cooper , baking raw cookies , and napping while simultaneously watching Nascar , he just hasn't had the time. One day I'll get my window seat. How difficult do you think it would be for me to just build it myself? Keeping in mind that I'm not handy at all . Really, you may as well consider me the anti-handy. Here are some window seat ideas I've seen online. The 3rd photo looks doable. I could probably just put some cheap bookcases side by side and top them with a patio cushion from Home Depot. Of course, what I really want is the window seat from either the 1st or 2nd photo (al...

It's finally the weekend. WOO HOO HOO!!!  I, for one, am ready. Can you tell? And Sexy Nerd made dinner tonight! This weekend is off to a wonderful start.

...and I'll skip blogging if I want to. Birthday freebies, here I come! Stay tuned - there's a rafflecopter Amerisleep giveaway coming later this week. (After I've gotten all this birthday partying out of my system, of course.)

Our original agreement was that Sexy Nerd would buy an automatic Mini Cooper. That way, I could also drive it, if needed (like when he steals my beautiful, superior Chevy Volt). He can't be trusted. Our agreement popped right out of Sexy Nerd's head the instant he saw this Mini Cooper, which is a manual transmission. Compare this photo to the Mini Cooper I posted a few weeks ago . Yep, Sexy Nerd took no time going crazy with the decals. At least I was able to talk him out of painting flames on each mirror! We've made it through driving lesson #1 and are still a happy couple. The car is still working fine, as far as I can tell. No progress toward me actually being able to drive the Mini Cooper though. Why does anyone choose a manual transmission over an automatic? I can't figure out how to drive that crazy thing! After bringing the Mini Cooper to a shuddering, jerky halt for the 5th time, I asked Sexy Nerd if my problem was that I was releasing the clu...

This weekend, we are finally going to decide, once and for all, whether or not to buy the house we've been waffling over. I think we will buy it. No, we really shouldn't. But maybe we should. It's going to be a looong weekend! Really, my great fear is that we might lose a bunch of money selling our current house, even though we've completely remodeled it with high-end upgrades. Not that knowing that makes the decision any easier! The White Elephant in the Room You know those products that seem to be heavily marketed around Christmas, then suddenly disappear? The ones with the gimmicky marketing that leave you scratching your head, wondering who would possibly buy something so ridiculous? Check out what Sexy Nerd and I went home with after my family's White Elephant game at Christmas: No more bending to clean your feet! Hooray.

Raise your hand if you've ever found yourself focused on something online, only to get completely sidetracked by some unrelated search result. My hands are waaay up in the air. When you drop your Las Vegas getaway research to spontaneously bake, all because you saw Lemon Ricotta Filled Donuts featured on Las Vegas restaurant menu, you have to raise both hands. Easily distracted, I may not be visiting chef Mario Batali's Las Vegas restaurant, Carnevino Italian Steakhouse, anytime soon. I can at least enjoy his Lemon Ricotta Donuts though! The best thing about this copycat recipe is that my Lemon Ricotta Filled Donuts are baked, not fried, so you won't end up looking like the chef. Okay, *technically* these are muffins. Think of them as the most donut-like muffins around. Feel free to deep fry the batter instead of baking it. As for us, Sexy Nerd and I have been hitting up Happy Hour a bit too often for that. I choose fried artichoke hearts, fried duck eggr...

Happy weekend, everyone! (FINALLY!!!) Are allergies bad in the rest of the country? Here in Albuquerque, everyone is in a medication-induced fog. Darn you, juniper. That's enough complaining though. I'm looking forward to seeing all the great links this weekend! And now...

I'm writing this during my lunch break, feeling sad. When you make a phone call, if you're the type of person who is mean to the stranger on the other end, you're an adult bully. I tried to help you schedule your 3 year old for a filling. I want your children to be our patients and am happy to hear that their current dentist recommended us. I can even get you in this week. Yes, you do need to set up a consultation appointment. No, it is not free, but most insurances do cover it. You can threaten me and say you're going to speak directly to my boss, but if you refuse to give me your insurance information, how am I supposed to get an estimate for you? I understand that you called me while you are driving. I understand that you have triplets. At your insistence, I called your other dentist to find out the details of your insurance. As expected, they would not provide me with your information. I called you back at the number you told me. The recording said your mailbox is...

Sexy Nerd's dream since before we even met has been to own a Mini Cooper. Yeah...that was news to me too! Clearly, jealousy has been eating away at Sexy Nerd ever since I got my 2013 Chevy Volt . Poor guy. I personally have never understood the Mini Cooper appeal. In fact, I tried to sway Sexy Nerd's choice from a used Mini Cooper S Hardtop to a Scion iQ while we were negotiating a deal at the Toyota dealership. It was brand-new, got much better gas mileage, and cost less than the used car he wanted. It even looked just as goofy! I don't get it. He sure loves his new (to him, at least) car though. "Did the Scion have a sunroof?" smart-alec Sexy Nerd just asked me, knowing full well that it did not. He loved the Mini Cooper even more after removing the stinky air fresheners hidden inside every vent. At first, Sexy Nerd had his heart set on British Racing Green, but he came around on this color after deciding that it complements his hat. ...

Sexy Nerd has been looking forward to today. He has the day off and his plan was to "walk off into the mountains with Pica". I'm fairly certain he meant he was taking her hiking, not ditching me and Biscuit forever, but either way, the weather today is lousy. And the allergens ! Oh, it's awful here in Albuquerque. AH-CHOO! At least Sexy Nerd had the day off. I'm typing this from my computer at work. It's my lunch break. Really truly! And now...

It's ridiculous how quick, easy, cheap, and delicious this recipe is. And by using bok choy, people will think you've cooked something fancy! I used this flavored tuna, but regular tuna would work just fine. You can always squeeze a little lemon juice into it if you want. I had a coupon! Start some spaghetti boiling, then fry bok choy, bell pepper, and garlic. I only had 1/2 of a bok choy to use. An entire bok choy would have been much, much better! Add tuna. You see why I wish I'd had more bok choy? Wimpy! Now, doesn't this look so much better than boring old spaghetti with marinara sauce? Pasta with Tuna and Bok Choy: 1 can or pouch of tuna 8oz spaghetti 1 bok choy 1 Tbsp minced garlic 1/2 C diced bell pepper 3 Tbsp olive oil 1 Tbsp Pepper Sprinkle of onion Salt 2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning Juice from 1/2 a lemon (optional) 2 Tbsp Butter Parmesan cheese Boil spaghetti While spaghetti is boiling, heat ol...

No new (old) house yet. Hmmm...what to do? WHAT TO DO??? On one hand, our current house is perfect, except for the neighborhood. On the other hand, the prospective house is awful, except for the neighborhood. (In other words, I would appreciate some advice from my genius blog readers!)

You know when you get the giggles, and it's just impossible to stop yourself from laughing? That happened to me today. Nothing was even funny, but I had to laugh. I would burst if I didn't la ugh. Sure, I tried to move my mind to a calm place. At one point during my point less hysteria, I even said ou t loud "Alright, I ' m going to be serious from her e on". That lasted ab out a minute. The trouble with tr ying not to laugh is that just thinking about not laughing makes the corners of my mouth turn up. Of course, getting the giggles isn't all that big a deal, right? T his happened while I was getting an hour-long full body massage. The super-sweet masseuse laughed right along with me, but I'm pretty sure hers was just the uncomfortable sound one makes when you're locked in a teensie room with a crazy person, five minutes into a looong session.

Here in Albuquerque, Sexy Nerd and I are all about brewing beer and frying potstickers today. Oh, and we *might* just buy a new house too. New to us, at least. I hope everyone is having a fun weekend!

I'm afraid that I'm the recipient of this year's FAIL award. Remember how Sexy Nerd scored so many points with his Valentine's Day surprise ? I hadn't realized there was more to come. Look what was waiting for me when I opened my car door! Maybe GM could try this tactic to sell more Chevy Volts.   Awww! I love that crazy redneck of mine, Nascar addiction and all. (And Moonshiners.) (And Swamp Loggers.) (And Duck Dynasty, which I'll admit isn't terrible.) I wanted to do something equally nice for Sexy Nerd, but I'd waited too long to plan anything. I pondered what he might like while driving across town to my orthodontist appointment, which was to recement a broken bracket. By the way, it is easy peasy to get a last-minute orthodontist appointment on Valentine's Day. It's extra sucky though because you sit there getting your teeth tortured, thinking "so this is how I'm spending Valentine's Day".   Also, ...

This morning, I was startled awake by the sound of Pica and Biscuit barking. They bark at everyone, including us, but at just after 7am, I should have been home alone. Sexy Nerd would have been at work for almost an hour by then and our dogs normally sleep until I get up. Panic? You betcha! I bolted out of bed and double checked that the bedroom door was locked (because, you know, those little twisty doorknob locks would really slow someone down.) I heard the garage door open, then close, and the dogs were silent. For a moment, I wondered if maybe it had been Sexy Nerd. Could he have gone into work late because he was setting up some grand Valentine's Day surprise? Today is our 10th Valentine's Day together, after all. Based on previous Valentine's Days though (unromantic Valentine's Day here and here ), it seemed unlikely. I crept cautiously down the stairs. Pica and Biscuit were asleep. Nothing looked out of place. I couldn't see any romantic Valentine...

Although it will probably be several years before we build a house on our 13 acres of mountain awesomeness , my eyes are always on the lookout for home ideas. This may have lead to me spending a few (only 6 or so) hours on Realtor.com yesterday. If you follow LambAround on Pinterest , you might have noticed a flood of home decor pins from me, many with the generic description "Find this home on realtor.com", as I was in too big of a hurry to pin the next photo to be bothered writing anything. As the point of this browsing was to find inspiration for our future dream home, it would make a lot of sense to search within the price range we'll be building in. The multimillion dollar homes just look so much better though! Here are some of my favorite photos: How can I duplicate this within our HOA's 2 story building limit? Also, how can I make this San Francisco home not look out of place in the mountains? That's silly. It would look adorable in the moun...