Kitty Deschanel

Is there such a thing as Bipolar Construction Disorder? Forget my anxiety-filled post from the other day. I love everything about this house! There's really going to be an actual house here soon, windows and stucco and all. I can't believe it. Here is our kitchen/living room, which is off the foyer and attaches to a cozy dining nook and the theater room. Before you say "THEATER ROOM?!", it's essentially just a TV room with a fancy name. And three seating options, including a bunk bed. This is what you see when you step outside the master bedroom, which is at the very back of the house. It's hard to tell from this photo, but by adding a door to each side of the room straight ahead, there's a gorgeous view of the front yard. We'll also be able to see the fireplace to the left. See how wonky and asymmetrical our back patio roof is? Although we approved the plan, including this odd roof (oops!), our builder agreed that the look was

Let me start this post by stating, for the record, that I stay at Marriott hotels all the time. I'm in it for the breakfast and when a hotel doesn't include this, I stay elsewhere. I am a hotel waffle-making pro . Then again, making your own waffle is easy peasy, right? Behold, the tower of waffle batter goodness. How many gallons does it contain? We would soon find out. I always look forward to creating a decadent hotel waffle. The fateful Monday morning after the Summit County Parade of Homes was no exception and I was pleased to discover that no one was using the waffle iron, despite the crowd in the hotel breakfast room. It's no secret that I'm a social-anxiety mess, even with something as basic as navigating a shared waffle iron, so this was a relief and a great start to my day. I picked up my little plastic batter cup. I pressed down on the dispenser nozzle, as I've done 100 times. And then... The nozzle broke off. It just snapped right off

With the Taos Summer Wine Festival August 17th-19th and the  Angel Fire Wine and Wagyu Weekend (formerly known as the Angel Fire Food & Wine Roundup) August 24th-26th , this is the perfect time of year to plan a visit to the beautiful New Mexico mountains. You can easily fill a week with fun activities in between each foodie event. Not a bad place to spend a week, eh? And, yes, you should totally try to make it to both. We attended both last year and have been looking forward to both ever since. The Taos Summer Wine Festival and Angel Fire Wine and Wagyu Weekend could not be more different and each is amazing in its own way. I think of the Taos event as being aimed at yogis and hikers, whereas the Angel Fire event is for cowboys and Texans. It's cheese pairings versus barbeque. Hippie music versus country. Chevy Volts versus Dodge Rams - and as an owner of both, I absolutely LOVE both festivals. The Angel Fire Wine and Wagyu Weekend features a VIP food and wi

Here are more design ideas from the Summit County Parade of Homes . Enjoy! 1. Windows that go all the way down to the countertop (or countertops/desks/tables that come all the way up to the bottom of the window) look amazing. Stretching the window wall to wall is even better. Update: When building our dream home in the NM mountains, our builder explained that this does cost a bit more, as it requires very specific framing to make sure everything lines up perfectly. 2. Frame square cubbies right into the drywall for a modern bookcase. When we build our dream home next year, I'd like to do something similar but with wood on the bottom of each shelf. Or stone. Or maybe a bright, fun color painted onto the back of each cubby - a different one in each square.  Our poor builder doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. 3. For maximum impact, you need many, MANY pendant lights. 4. Have a little nook/hallway? Don't just leave it plain and boring. A lit

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to this week! Sexy Nerd and I will be spending our weekend visiting houses on the Albuquerque Parade of Homes tour. I forgot to bring my camera when we went out today, but I'll try to take photos to share tomorrow and Sunday. First visit to my blog? Well, my new bloggy friend, you might want to visit Linky Party Rules for LambAround Newbies .