Kitty Deschanel

I greatly underestimated how stressful it would be to build a house. Everything has been progressing smoothly and there are no problems with our builder or the construction process. The problem is me and my crazy brain.  One day, I'll visit the house and be so thrilled I practically skip through the halls, loving every detail. The next, this wall is wrong and that ceiling height is awful and how could we be so stupid to put the house in this location and what were we thinking when we designed the floorplan and if only we could go back in time, our lives would not be ruined now. Oh, I hope I hope I hope the finished house is nice! One of my biggest house concerns has been capturing views. So many 2ams lately have had me on the verge of a panic attack, unable to breathe as I fixate on seeing the corner of a neighbor's house through one window or a distant roof through another. The driveway snakes across the entire front of the house. More trees were cleared than we'

On our recent trip to London , Sexy Nerd's work obligations meant venturing out on my own if I wanted to explore the city. And I'd flown so far (and spent sooo much money) - of course I wanted to explore! I'd never traveled on my own though and I have zero sense of direction. Luckily, there are plenty of free apps available. I downloaded them all (seriously, my Nexus 7 tablet had to be reset to its factory settings. I'd overloaded it with so many travel apps it could barely turn on. Whoops!) Truth be told, the majority of the free apps I'd downloaded were useless during my visit to London. But there were also a few amazing ones that really enhanced my trip. They're all available for Android through the Google Play Store, but I think each has an Apple version as well. Best of all, all of these tourist apps work OFFLINE! Be sure to bookmark this list for your next trip (and if you don't have a trip to London planned, start planning one. It's the best

Sexy Nerd and I are Parade of Homes enthusiasts, eagerly traveling near and far to see the latest ideas in home design. The parade that tops our list every year? The Summit County Parade of Homes in breathtaking Colorado, which is timed perfectly to coincide with the changing of the aspen leaves. In such a perfect setting, driving from home to home is half the fun. I'm currently working on a blog post showcasing my favorite parade photos. One home, however, was so spectacular I couldn't wait another moment to share it with you. It's so amazing, we want to redesign our dream home to emulate the same rustic style. Actually, that's a bit of an understatement. Beyond rustic, this home is packed with old-timey, gold panning, one-toothed mining style! Sexy Nerd has begun growing his grizzled mountain man beard and I'm ready to call our builder to stop construction. Not that that's necessary, as construction seems to be stopped anyway. (We're in week 3 of pouring

Sexy Nerd and I are going to his family's house for Thanksgiving this year. We're a bit low on the Thanksgiving totem pole, which always makes it tricky to figure out what to bring. What will we be making this year? Oh, just a little homemade pumpkin ice cream ! Yes, it is as delicious as it sounds. Here are a few photos from the last time I made this ice cream: Technically, this ice cream is perfectly yummy without adding any chocolate syrup or almonds. But where's the fun in that? If I weren't so determined to get a good photo of this for my blog, I would probably have chowed down on this ice cream right from the mixer. I had never made ice cream the "real" way before (with egg yolks) and was surprised at how easy it is. Here's the recipe, courtesy of Saveur.com . If you've never visited their site, you're missing out on some wonderful recipes! Saveur's Pumpkin Ice Cream Makes 2 Quarts This article was first publish