Kitty Deschanel | Food, Wine, and Travel Adventures in an Airstream Basecamp

The last several weekends, Sexy Nerd and I have been getting ideas for our new house at the Colorado Springs Parade of Homes and the Denver Parade of Homes. This meant several nights in hotels, away from our beloved Amerisleep Liberty Bed . We almost always stay at Marriott hotels, which you would expect to be pretty nice, right? WRONG! I mean, they were fine, except for their terrible mattresses. In Colorado Springs, Sexy Nerd actually texted an entire complaint to Marriott at 3 am because our mattress, affectionately referred to as "The Taco", was so uncomfortable. When he came back to bed, he tried to get all snuggly with me, which is 100% THE WORST THING EVER to do to someone with idiopathic insomnia . I had finally just barely fallen asleep and he woke me up. His reason? According to Sexy Nerd, when he laid down on his side of the bed, I rolled over to snuggle with him , so he assumed I was still awake. It was the taco mattress! It flipped me! This Marriott mat...

Sexy Nerd and I spent last weekend gallivanting all over Colorado Springs. Seriously all over. I may not have planned the most efficient Parade of Homes route. Who knew Colorado Springs was such a big place? I just expected it to be similar to driving around here in Albuquerque! With many homes priced above 1 million dollars, there were so many great decorating ideas. Here are a few of my favorites: Everyone loves a square dining nook.  I'm still not certain what the material on the fireplace was. It looked similar to wood, but I think it was tile. Perhaps it was wood tile . From the doorway, all you could see was a beautiful, tidy window seat. With the bookcase tucked to the side, only the bedroom inhabitant sees if the shelves are a disaster. Genius! This was one of our favorite home exteriors. I love the idea of building a home that frames a great view right from the moment you walk in.   I need a bright yellow front door! Mine will be lacque...

I think my new neighbor down the street wants to be friends. He always says hello whenever our paths cross. I always pick up my pace. Yeah, it might be nice to actually know one of my neighbors. In another 2 years though, I'm probably going to move. As an antisocially awkward introverted mess, I've begun taking the long route to and from my mailbox in order to avoid passing his house. It was hot outside today and the coast was clear, so I thought the short route would be okay. Maybe he was waiting for me, which seems creepy when I write it like that though I actually don't think he meant to be creepy, but he timed it so we could chat while walking to our community mailbox together. I'm forced to talk to people all day at work. Don't make me socialize when I get home. He tried to shake my hand but I just wanted to grab my mail and get out of the sun. He has a name, but I have no idea what he said it is. Me: So, you just moved in? Him: About a year ago.  For...

I was too tired this morning. Before work today, I simultaneously threw together an omelet on the stove and a breakfast drink in the Vitamix (no worries - I toned down my previous Vitamix recipe ingredient list!) The first day of school for Albuquerque kids is only one week away, so our pediatric dental office is packed with procrastinators (I waffled back and forth on crossing that last part out. You wouldn't believe how many parents have been calling, angry and insisting I get their child in before school starts. Didn't they have the entire summer to take care of this??) Anyhoo... I realized too late that my breakfast plans were overly ambitious and was left dashing to and from the stove, blender, fridge, and pantry to put everything together, trying frantically not to be late for work. I flung a handful of shredded cheddar on top of my omelet, whirled all the ingredients in the Vitamix, and sat down with two minutes to enjoy my breakfast. Everything tasted great. E...

As a woman in my 30s, I'm well over the target age of the new Disney series Girl Meets World . But, of course, how can I not watch it? Cory and Topanga are back! They're just like me! And they're sooo old!   Cory and I grew up in a time without the internet, digital cameras, cell phones, hybrid cars, iPads, and reality shows. We grew up in the age of Paintbrush for Windows, a pre-Photoshop time where your photos were limited to looking more or less exactly as you took them (which was a surprise in itself, as you only got 24 photo opportunities per expensive roll.) And it was glorious. Why is this suddenly on my mind? I was browsing through my backup CDs from more than a decade ago (I could go back even further, but computers can't accommodate any of my floppy or zip disks anymore.) I found all kinds of nonsense .  My first ever conversation with Sexy Nerd was saved, which seems like a wonderfully romantic bonus of meeting your soulmate online...until you actually read...

It took me until age 30 to finally accept the magic of liquid eyeliner. When I saw rows of dark brown L.A. Colors liquid eyeliner at Dollar Tree (only a buck!) it was impossible to resist any longer. I'm glad I came around - it makes such a difference. Still, being an eyeliner newbie, my morning routine comes to a serious, quiet halt each day as I try to patiently draw a thin, steady line on each eye. Some attempts are more successful than others. This morning, I drew the best eyeliner line ever on my right eyelid. Really, it was PERFECT! I should have taken a photo of it, in all its skinny, smudgeless glory. Quite pleased with myself, I popped the eyeliner brush back in its tube in preparation of what would surely be an equally successful left eye application. Then, this happened: The bristles refused to go back. I began to trim off the stragglers with my nail clippers, but soon realized they were all stragglers. In desperation, (hey, I had only one eye lined. And it wa...

Sexy Nerd makes life so easy for me. He takes out the garbage, scrubs the toilets, cooks dinner occasionally, and changes the oil in my car without me even needing to mention it. Today, my Chevy Volt was due for it's first ever oil change (12,000 miles - I love that car!) and Sexy Nerd had everything he needed for the job, minus the correct size wrench. Off he went to our local AutoZone. Sexy Nerd is a mechanical engineer. He knows his cars. However, the AutoZone cashier wasn't so sure, and proceeded to lecture him on being very careful when opening the wrench packaging so he'd be able to return it if it was the wrong size. Sexy Nerd: Don't worry. It's the right one. Cashier: I'd better look it up, just in case. Sexy Nerd: That's okay. I know this is the one I need. Cashier: No, no. I'll just take a quick look. What kind of car is it? Sexy Nerd: It's a 2013 Chevy Volt. Cashier: (...awkward pause...) Is that a car? (...more mome...

You know you're addicted to Candy Crush when... Let's see. If I've played 575 Candy Crush levels at an average of 15 minutes per level (some took very little time, but some took FOREVER) that means I've spent...ummm... Only 8,625 minutes playing candy crush over the past few months (I was late to the Candy Crush party. It didn't sound like that fun of a game, but one weekend afternoon, Sexy Nerd was out of town and I was bored.) 8,625 minutes, so... just 143.75 hours... Almost 6 nonstop days of playing Candy Crush. (And, let's face it, that average of 15 minutes per level is probably pretty generous. A few of those levels took WEEKS!) Now how am I going to waste all my time??

Poor Sexy Nerd. Now that I've finally seen Wicked, I can't stop dancing and singing (off key) throughout the house. People are so nice in London. I bought the cheapest ticket and sat down at the back of the theater. Then, an employee came over, checked her seating list, and moved me much closer to the stage at no extra charge! She called me "love" in the cutest accent.

You have to stop and take a photo whenever you come across goslings, with all their adorable peepery and fluffiness.   Much to Sexy Nerd's dismay, we've been coming across groups of sweet baby geese like these several times a day! Yes, Sexy Nerd, we do need to stop every time. (And, no, I have not been attacked by any mama geese yet!) Peep! Peep! Peep!

I've been depressed lately, which I know is stupid and doesn't make any sense, but I can't shake it. There was even a party for me at work yesterday and I couldn't enjoy it. Afterward, my coworker asked if I felt like I could burst into tears at the drop of a pin. I hadn't realized it was so obvious. Random, bad things in my life that normally wouldn't be a big deal have all been piling up. To top everything off, something ridiculous happened last week that has my hormones completely out of whack, making me feel like I'm not myself. It feels like I'm losing my mind. It's exactly what I didn't need right now. But today, I'm 30. Things are looking up.