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

After years of enjoyment from Pica Hates the Train , which still makes us laugh, we wondered if little Olive would ever have a hilarious video of her own. We didn't have to wait long. 10-week-old Olive VS grouchy ol'  Biscuit : Olive is such a silly weirdo. After she drags Biscuit on a walk, she's going to eat your foot with those super sharp puppy teeth. Watch out! For some reason, this plays in an adorable loop on my Facebook , but only an awkward single time on my blog. 4/7/20 Update: We have added another puppy to our pack! Isn't Bernadette cute?

Mojito Watermelon Fruit Salad Recipe This will be your new go-to dish for potlucks, parties, and holidays...and breakfast. Well, probably not right before heading to work. Oh, it's the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas already? Even better. We're celebrating  wine festival season! I've even brought you home a souvenir this time. Here in New Mexico, we're spoiled with stunning scenery and a unique culinary heritage, which result in some of the best wine festivals in the USA. There's something for everyone with the Wine & Wagyu Weekend in gorgeous Angel Fire, followed by the Taos Summer Wine Festival in the prestigious Taos Ski Valley. Calling all Instagrammers. These fields of flowers are just growing on the side of the road in Angel Fire, NM. They have the world's most beautiful wine festival setting without even trying. If I had to choose, I'd say Angel Fire is best if you're a cowboy at heart and Taos is best if you're mo...

How to Strengthen Your Hair Guest Post collaboration with Ashley Nielsen and KittyDeschanel.com We all want beautiful, full hair. After all, who doesn't spend time every morning doing their hair to ensure not a strand is out of place before leaving the house? Unfortunately, getting strong, healthy hair that’s easy to manage takes work. Everyone has different hair and the products and methods that work for your friends may not work for you. While genes play a role in hair type and texture, it doesn’t mean you can’t make small changes to your beauty routine to improve the health of your hair. Here are a few ways you can strengthen your hair. 9 Ways to Strengthen Your Hair 1. Change Your Hairstyle Wearing your hair the same way every day can damage it. For example, if you wear your ponytail in the same spot, you weaken your hair in one area, especially if you’re using tight elastics. In addition, tight hairstyles, including ponytails and braids, can stress your hair by pulling it in ...

I decided to try a chayote after seeing it on sale at my grocery store for only $0.50 each. I had no idea what to do with chayote (okay, I had no idea what a chayote even was!) and decided to cook it with another ingredient I never know what to do with, cauliflower. It turned out to be delicious! Recipe variation: For a more filling meal, toss the final product with buttered egg noodles. Kitchen Pig LOVES Sherry. He's a bit of a lush.   So healthy and pretty. Chayote with Cauliflower and Sherry Recipe Serves 3; Time to Make: 30 minutes This is such a yummy recipe. Don't omit the sherry - it's the best part! 1 chayote squash, cut into bite-size pieces, none more than 1/2 inch thick 1 cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces 1 small onion, diced 2 tsp butter 2 tsp olive oil 1/4 C hot water 2 Tbsp italian seasoning Pinch of curry powder 1/8 C sherry Heat oil and butter in a large pan, preferably a wok with a lid Saute onion Add chayote a...

Choosing a wallpaper is a difficult decision. With infinite options (literally, as the magic of the internet now allows you to turn any image into wallpaper), SN and I spent several years trying to agree on a solution to finish  our hallway bathroom  interior design project.  The room already looked nice. Did it really need wallpaper? (Yes, it did, SN.) We settled on a design called Pamir Garden from the Sanderson Caspian Wallpaper Collection. A fantastical oasis scene of floral sprigs, stylized trees and wild animals. The design has been painted in a fresco style with a crackle glaze effect which gives the paper a time-worn look. Finally, our bathroom is ready for its close-up. Bathroom Wallpaper Ideas This artistic fish is apparently also ready for its close-up. Before Before Pamir Garden is printed on thick, high quality wallpaper and we loved the pattern. There was still a tough choice to make though - deciding between Pamir Garden in white or green. Both we...

Sexy Nerd takes it upon himself every year to dole out the Halloween candy. Interacting with trick-or-treaters and their hovering parents is a bit much for antisocial me, so this works out perfectly. It's also an ideal situation for the kids, because Sexy Nerd is a pushover and easily forgets all about my stingy "2 candies each" rule whenever a child with an adorable costume or sweet voice shows up at our door, scooping up enormous handfuls of candy instead. Spoiler: They all have adorable costumes and/or sweet voices. Our first year in our first home, one trick-or-treater was a little boy dressed as a skunk. He was only about 2 and had the most adorable Halloween costume ever, along with an irresistible "Twick-or-Tweat Pwease". His mom was holding his bag of candy at the end of our driveway, so he held out his furry, mittened skunk hands. Sexy Nerd was no match for the cuteness and gladly forked over a massive handful of Tootsie Rolls, Caramels, and Gummy C...

A lifelong, chronic insomniac , I recently completed an overnight sleep study at the DaVita Medical Group New Mexico Center for Sleep Medicine. Beforehand, I wondered what happens during a sleep study .  My expectations were low - a lifetime of sleeplessness will do that to you - but I liked the idea of being able to officially rule out certain sleep conditions, such as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, once and for all. Plus, whenever I complain about Sexy Nerd's snoring, he's all too quick to point out that I snore as well. Spoiler alert - the polysomnogram found that I do NOT snore. Take that, Sexy Nerd! What To Expect During a Sleep Study With all those wires and gizmos, they ought to call it a NO Sleep Study.  I arrived at the sleep clinic around 7 pm and was escorted to a private bedroom. Told to change into my pajamas, the nurse quickly added that I must do that in the bathroom with the door closed, as the bedroom is constantly monitored by cam...

Happy Valentine's Day, my bloggy friends! We had a romantic evening sampling Church's Chicken. Thumbs up for their chicken tenders. Now, we're settling in for the night with a cozy Pass and Play game of Words with Friends. Valentine's Day just isn't the same when you're old and married, is it? Who's up for an old, romantic story? Let's not call it a repost. It's a blog classic . Sexy Nerd and I spent Friday morning at the Albuquerque Zoo* (you know, the one notorious for dismembered giraffes and break-ins by idiots). There was a small group of women with their young children walking ahead of us when we crossed paths with a few peacocks. Hey baby. One woman began to explain to her children that the male peacock is the one with the beautiful feathers, which he uses to attract a mate. Normal enough. The other woman, however, jumped in very enthusiastically (and probably more loudly than she'd intended) and said: "If I ...

  My Amerisleep AS3 Unboxing Video (Surprise, my voice is ridiculous!) If I can (just barely) do it, you can totally tackle a bed-in-a-box by yourself. Updated 10/15/22 Amerisleep's AS5 was recently featured as the 'Best Soft Mattress in a Box' by Good Housekeeping , with the panel of reviewers noting: Pressure relief for side sleepers Taller than other boxed mattresses Good customer service    Amerisleep Mattress Reviews  We've been happy Amerisleep customers since purchasing our first AS3 mattress more than 9 years ago. Now we also have an AS2 and an AS4 (the AS3 is still our favorite). Born with chronic insomnia  (even as a baby - my family insists I was a nightmare), the struggle to improve my sleep is my life. My husband, the overly-analytical mechanical engineer, was initially skeptical of a mail-order mattress, but he was quickly won over. 2012: Wine glass test, sans wine. I was fairly confident our brand-new mattress would pas...