Kitty Deschanel

Before anything else, I'd like to say a great big THANK YOU to all the fabulous bloggers who stopped by to wish me a happy birthday (it's about time, right?)  Oh, and another tremendous  THANK YOU  to everyone who has sent me a guest blogger post. If you're still interested, just email a post (old ones are fine!) and some info about yourself and your blog to lambaround@gmail.com . I'll post it here with a link to your site. Okay, on to today's post! Now that the cake and ice cream overdose has worn off, (we walked a bunch on my birthday and I even exercised, so it's not as bad as it sounds!) it's time to buckle down and plan the details of our upcoming cruise. When you think about it, eleven nights is not really that much time for a vacation, so we've decided to stay 3 additional nights in New York when we get off the ship. Problem? I can't believe how expensive New York hotels are! I'm a $65/nt kinda gal. For $150/nt, we may not even get o

Has this ever happened to you? I was bored earlier and began browsing through cruise sites. I found an 11 night cruise with a terrific itinerary on a great cruise line for only $499. Intrigued, I did a little more searching and found the same cruise for only $399 ($36/night!) While it isn't the best cruise deal we've ever booked, (we ditched everyone for Thanksgiving a few years ago to go on a 5 night cruise for only $150 with a $50 ship credit!) it was great enough to warrant pricing airfare. ABQ to (mystery city) was also a great price. (Why so vague? Sexy Nerd is one of those paranoid people who thinks a criminal will rob us while we're away based on the info I've posted on my blog. Six years together and his paranoia is rubbing off on me. We'll have a house-sitter like always, but good luck getting them to come back if someone breaks in!) Although yesterday I had no intention of going on a cruise any time in the near future, now I feel like I simply have to

I can't believe our cruise ended in October and I still haven't finished posting all of the photos! I haven't even posted all of our stops. Rather than take even more time sorting through everything, here are the photos from the rest of our trip. It's quite possible that additional captions, sorting, and daily breakdowns are coming one day in the future (hey, anything's possible!) No other vacation beats cruising! There's a funny story about this watch and this dinner invitation (you know, in the way that irritating, horrible events where everything went wrong are funny when you look back at them), but it will have to wait for another time. Alright. I suppose that now is as good a time as any to explain the watch/dinner invitation connection. I had read online about a special dinner featured on some Holland America cruises called the "Chef's Special". It involved all of the waitstaff serving dinner while SINGING & DANCING. Ridiculous? Abso

This was our favorite stop in Mexico. It's funny how different things can seem when you get home and look at your vacation photos. When we were in Loreto, I could have sworn that the L was there! Loreto is the way Santa Fe thinks they are.   I would love to paint our house just like this. It's probably a good thing we have a homeowner's association!   There was a cage with 2 birds at one of the shops. I insisted to Sexy Nerd that 1 of the birds was out to get me. He thought I was being ridiculous, but I have the photo to prove it! On a side note, I thought the flash was turned off. It wasn't.  Of all the beaches we saw on our Holland America Veendam cruise, this one was the ugliest. It was also the only one we stopped at. Oooh, artsy!  Here is one of the nicer beaches. Forget the sun and sand - we loved the trash cans! Una mas cerveza, por favor? Oh, and thank you Google Translator!

Holland America tried to get everyone to sign up for their Copper Canyon excursion. It was described as a 16-18 hour train ride that left at 5am. The cost? $400 per person. Our entire 2 week cruise was only about $600 per person and we rode on a train at the beginning of our vacation. Needless to say, the Copper Canyon tour didn't appeal to us at all. But there was nothing to do in the industrial town of Topolobampo. Luckily, the city of Los Mochis provided a free shuttle to take cruise ship passengers to their city. When traveling, I like to try to blend in with the locals as much as possible. To me, this seems like a safe move against theives who target tourists. It also makes for a more authentic way to experience a different culture. As for Sexy Nerd, he insisted on bringing the CamelBak backpack instead of water bottles. And, of course, his safari hat. Since blending in with the locals had gone out the window, Starbucks seemed like an appropriate dining option in Lo