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

It's time to throw your blogging hat into the ring and share a post or two of your own. Who else has a long weekend? I don't have to go into work again until Wednesday! And, after that, I'm off again until Monday. I see a lot of laziness in my near future. Ahhh, so happy.

In just a few more hours, it will be time to link up your favorite blog posts with LambAround! But first, as promised on my SITS day , I have a spiffy bunch of Best in Show Award nominees. And, BTW, it killed me to choose just 10 posts out of the 122 that were linked. Cue the fancy *Duh Nuh Na Nuh* music!  The Sasse Life has adorable photos to demonstrate their adorable bibs. (Also, this cutie does nothing to help my Baby Madness !) Newlyweds & The Old House shared a beautiful kitchen transformation. Walnut Acre has a terrific post teaching how to make your own bean bag chairs, which are stuffed with plastic bags. The Llama Momma Blog cooked up some scrumptious Sweet Potato & Peanut Soup. I haven't tried it yet, but I was won over by this colorful drawing that accompanied the recipe. All About (my) Boys taught me all about lembas, which I had never heard of before. It turns out that they are the perfect treat for your next Amtgard gathring! Who knew? CraftWhack had s...

Ow. My first braces adjustment was bound to be bad, especially when you factor in that my teeth were still sore from my initial appointment. To really make things fun though, my orthodontist had a new rule for me. I need to squeeze my teeth together as tightly as possible for as much of the day as I can. He has assured me that my teeth will not simply explode from the pressure, but I'm unconvinced. He's still beating that dead horse that is jaw surgery. Dr. Google seems to side with my orthodontist on this, as my supposedly super-rare open bite can usually only be corrected surgically. But I didn't have an open bite before I got braces! Oh, and it would really be beneficial if I stopped drinking coffee and green tea. I came home from my appointment with a C on my oral hygiene report. I managed to make the Dean's List at UNM, but apparently cannot handle proper brushing. The assistant who rewired my braces said that my cheek was too taught and that I needed to lo...

Good *yaaawn* morning, everyone! How is your weekend going? It's 100% lazy over here, just the way I like. And an extra hello to my sorta new SIL, Joanna, who just moved here from Poland late last night. Sorta new because I haven't seen her since before last years' wedding, and even then I think we only met twice. I doubt that she reads my blog, but a hello seems in order, just in case. Okie doke. Back to bed!

*This post is a continuation of yesterday's post, Costa Concordia: Our Experience The number of missing people has doubled since the first reports of the Costa Concordia accident. Does this mean that Costa originally reported these people as alive and safe to their families in error? How can you take something like that back? Can someone please explain to me how Yahoo's "Trending Now" list works? I have always thought that it was showing the most searched for keywords, but today the list starts with Beyonce and includes things like "Dwarf tossing" and "Napoleon Dynamite". The Costa Concordia isn't on the list. How can this be? I just read about a survivor whose husband gave her their only life jacket. He jumped into the freezing water right before her. She never saw him again. It's all just too terrible for words.

The Costa Concordia sinking is just too terrible for words. There are still people trapped on the ship, including a 5 year old girl, and the search is too dangerous to continue. There are reports that this accident occurred because the captain was showing off. I cannot imagine having to jump off of a cruise ship into the water, even to save my life. When I saw the photos of the Costa Concordia on its side, I just stared and cried. It's no secret that Sexy Nerd and I love to cruise . Of the 4 cruises we have taken, twice on Norwegian, once on Holland America and Costa, the Costa ship was undoubtedly the most beautiful. The Costa Concordia, built at a cost of almost half a billion dollars, was just over 5 years old. It's difficult to imagine all of that - the amazing glass chandeliers, the artwork, the theaters - all sinking to the bottom of the sea.     Based on our Costa cruise experience, I was not at all surprised to read about the chaos onboard. We cruised o...