February 20, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

It’s The Little Things: On Our Fireplace Mantel

Sweet Brynne asked me last week if I would do a post about the items on my mantle. I thought it was a great idea. I take most of my outfit photos in front of my fireplace, because of the convenience. I love the items on my mantle. Each piece is special to me. I am excited to share!

First, let’s talk about the painting above the mantel in case you missed my post about one of my favorite artists, Ginette Callaway. In 2004, I commissioned sweet Ginette to paint me a peacock for above our newly tiled fireplace.

Ginette really came through. She painted three paintings and let me choose one. My biggest regret is not buying two. I loved another one as well. Actually all three were stunning. The other one I vividly remember showcased a smaller peacock with a giant fan of feathers in colors of the rainbow, but mostly lavender hues. Gorgeous.

But I love this painting. I love Ginette. The painting makes me happy every day to look at it.

In the center of our mantel is a Lego VW Bus. My husband and son love Legos. My husband has a 1967 VW Bus that we adore. I bought this for my husband as a Christmas present a few years ago. They built it together.

This year, Lego offered a free (my favorite word) mini Lego VW Bus with an online purchase. It happened to be near my son’s birthday. Score!

The felted gnomes riding the dragon and the VW Bus are from Moongoat on Etsy. I love her shop. I have many of her gnomes hidden throughout my house. I cannot resist a felted gnome.

The little girl gnome is from ABC Carpet and Home in New York. It is the most amazing store. Every time I am in New York, it is my favorite shop to visit. I cannot afford most things there, but I have managed to snag a deal on each of my trips.

I had seen the gnome when I had gone on a family trip in June three years ago. She was part of a trio (a scruffy male gnome and a wizard gnome). They were $48 a piece (the store is pricy). I do not know if the gnomes were antiques. They had been loved on. Hard. I obviously was not going to spend $144 on three felted gnomes. I left them behind.

In September of that same year, I took a trip to New York with my girlfriends. We visited this store. The gnomes were still there. Their tags were removed. I asked the sales girl how much they were now. She sold them to me for $10 each. And she wrapped them up so cute.

I gifted them to my husband when I got home.

Every year my husband and I go on a two to three night trip for our anniversary sans kids (this year it is Vegas). On one of the trips, we went to San Francisco. In a small little store in Chinatown, I spotted this amazing rope dragon (my husband collects dragons). I remember he was $45. And he always has a gnome riding him. Although, it may not always be the same one. ; )

About three years before my grandmother passed away, she gifted me this jar of buttons. The jar was my great grandmother’s. Her and I looked very much alike. She was Polish. And I once got chased through the college campus by a little old man who wanted to know the exact place I was born in Poland. Anyway, I never met her. Half of the button’s were also my great grandmother’s. The other half my grandmother purchased off of eBay. My jar of buttons is one of my favorite things in my home. I like the idea of my grandma shopping on eBay. I also like the history of the jar and the buttons.

The green candle hanging from the jar was made by my daughter in the fifth grade. Fifth grade is when the children in California learn about Colonial Times. At our school, they have a day where all of the kids dress up in colonial clothes and participate in activities that they would have done back then. I have been waiting to add a candle made by my son for years. This year he is in the fifth grade. I have made him promise me he will choose candle making as one of his activities. Hopefully, the mantle will have a new addition soon.

And the beehive candle was a Christmas present from my stepmom. It is made from my dad’s beeswax (he is a beekeeper). I LOVE it.

The small blue candlesticks were a Christmas gift from my mother some years ago. I love the color. I love everything about them. They are perfect!

The beaded purple candle holders were some of my first purchases from Anthropologie. I waited for them to go on sale. This was many years ago.

The felted gnome on the jar of buttons wearing the snail as a hat is also from Etsy. This one was done by Eve’s Little Earthlings. I think they are extremely cute.

I think with the snail on his head he looks like the man with the bird on his head from one of my favorite movies, “Labyrinth.”

The little pig next to them is from my favorite video game. The video game is Monster Hunter. The pig’s name is Poogie. In the video game I fight jelly beans (just kidding. We obviously fight monsters. I am quite the Monster Hunter. Not to brag or anything). My husband and I play it together. We each have Poogie in our house in the video game. You can change his clothes. If you pet him right, he does a backflip and little red hearts spring from his head.

Yep.

I actually have a stuffed Poogie on my husband’s desk in our bedroom. And I am also the ~~proud~~ owner of a blow up stuffed giant piece of meat (also from the video game). Maybe I should pose with it sometime.

Or not.

On either side of the mantle are two little roosters. I purchased them at an antique store a few years ago. They have remains of a cork on the bottom of them, so I assume they used to be wine stoppers. I think their colors are fantastic.

The little chipmunks were painted by my children many years ago from a pottery place in town. We have pieces like them all over the house.

The blue vase was a purchase my husband and I made on a family vacation to Arizona when my son was a year old. It was our only souvenir.

He bought me these orange roses on clearance this week (they are not doin’ so well). One of his favorite things to do is buy huge amounts of flowers for me after a holiday when the stores have a surplus of flowers to get rid of. One year, he bought me seven dozen beautiful red roses for $7!

He is sweet.

Next big after-holiday flower discounts? Easter and Mother’s Day!

It’s The Little Things: Displaying what you love, because the items mean love to you.

What is on your mantle? What is your favorite piece to display?

Thanks Brynne for the great idea! : )

February 19, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

My Valentine’s Day

I love a theme. It’s not that I love Valentine’s Day. Or really, that I even like it. But there is just something wonderful about a day devoted to love. And I absolutely adore when people give into a day and support the theme. In this case, pink or red. I purchased this Free People bright pink caftan and I knew I wanted to wear it specifically for Valentine’s Day. I loved wearing it. It made me feel, oh, so feminine.

I also purchased my husband a tie (clearanced to $10) that matched my dress perfectly. Remember, I love when we match, too.

Double theme. Check. Double nauseating. Check.

I was asked what I wore under this dress. It is extremely low cut, so I paired it with my eyelet bralette. It looks like a pretty supportive tank top.

My honey brought me roses. It is kind of an inside joke. Red roses. I will write about it some time.

My husband and I went out to lunch at our favorite restaurant. They have these fries. These fries. You guys, you have not had fries until you have had these fries. They take three days to make. It is a secret process. I have never had anything like them. You know what I’m craving now.

It was fun to see how different people interpreted Valentine’ Day through their clothing. My favorite was a little old woman in a pink shirt, red pants and flashing lit-up heart pins covering her bodice. It was awesome!

It was a beautiful day.

I had planned on making homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner, but my sweet mom dropped off a homemade chicken pot pie. It was so good. And much appreciated.

And I made these macadamia nut individual brown sugar cakes for dessert.

Did you have a good Valentine’s Day? A good weekend? What did you end up doing? Wearing?

If it wasn’t good, I hope this week is much better for you.

* P.S. I shared this on The Pleated Poppy!

February 18, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

“Oh”

I was thinking the other night of stories. As I often do. Alone in the dark. Mind racing.

The night was dominated by Silence. It became a casual audience to the rustling of my inner thoughts.

And I remembered a story my mother once told me of helping an old lady with her groceries. But the thing with stories, is there is often more than one variation of the same happenstance. I happened to be there for this story. In my version, seen from the eyes of a child, I remember my mother hopping out of the car. This was after one our trips to get my sister her bee shots. I am sure we still had the remains of chocolate croissants on our breath.

I vaguely remember there being an elderly lady. And something happened that had my mother and grandmother crying with laughter all of the way home. I believe my mother was helping the older woman with her groceries. The lady did not want help. My mother insisted. When she went to give the woman back her groceries, she handed them to her unevenly weighted. The poor old lady fell over. I am sure she appreciated the help. As a child, I just remember it being scary. My mother jumping out of the car. The unfamiliar neighborhoods. The energy of the city. A living breathing terrifying thing to a country girl.

As I lay awake, I thought, I will just have to ask my grandmother her side of the story. I had heard it before. But I loved to hear her tell it, because it always invoked big gales of laughter.

And then I remembered that I could not ask my grandma. The time for questions has passed. The big weight of the words “never again” settled down into my chest at the same moment my heart realized what was happening and bellowed out the word, “OH.” But it felt like “OHHHHHHHHHHH.”

When your heart speaks, you must listen. It is usually the mute organ in all of your orchestra of feelings. Which is funny if you stop to think about it, because it is the only organ we ever really hear. The constant, “bumping” a distant reminder of its baritone of melody.

It rarely speaks. It aches. It twinges. It might fall or drop. It might even break. But speaking is rare. It is not the most articulate of body parts. Usually just making one syllable words. Its favorites being, “Why?” “No.” “Yes.” “Stay.” “Go.” “Please.” But tonight it simply said, “Oh!” It was surprised. And then it wasn’t. All the words I was feeling wrapped up into those two letters.

My body quivered with the weight of the words in the dark. The echo of my heart’s last cry still vibrating through my body. Through my soul. My heart began to “bump” once more. But it was with a sadness. A funeral drum.

“Oh.” My soul simply said. “Oh.”

My tears answered their chorus as they ran down my cheeks and hit my pillow. Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat. They performed a solo symphony of their own.

Silence bowed and stayed heavily by my side through the stillness of the night. Only moving to rustle the covers. Or hum with the fan in the evening air.

My broken choir lay in a wet weeping mess.

Each instrument felt broken. Ruined. The strings severed. The keys twisted. This particular song would never be played again. At least in the chord of memory that had shattered my being that night.

Yet Silence still quietly applauded. For its favorite tune is sadness. It is when Itself can actually be heard.

Only the broken hearted can hear it.

And learn to call its name.

“Oh.”

* This was written in response to The Daily Posts Weekly Writing Prompt, “The Sound of Silence.”

February 17, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Handira Blanket Winner and Things I’m Craving

The winner of the Anthropologie Handira Blanket is Melinda. Congratulations! I will ship it out to you on Tuesday.

I loved reading about each of your peaceful places. It was so wonderful to have that imagery in my head. Thank you for that! It made my week entirely better. You are all so awesome. I just appreciate you so much. I want to hug you right now!

Next month is my one year blog anniversary! I am very excited about it! So, tune in on the tenth of next month for that one! I cannot wait! I have tried to make it special. : )

Thank you for all of your support and kindness. You make each one of my days happier. Fuller. More complete.

Things I’m Craving:

This month, I spent so much money on the Lace Study Dress, that my budget was primarily used up. I told myself I could not purchase anything unless it was $20 or under. Unfortunately, I am great at finding $20 and under. I managed to score some excellent popbacks. I got the Corca sweater for $20, the Illusione Top for $10 and the Lace Peplum Hoodie for $20. Three pieces for less than $50! Retail price for all three was $384.

I found this jacket that looks incredibly similar to the jacket I coveted on Elsie from A Beautiful Mess in November. Except hers sold out at $66. I was really sad I missed out on it and have been thinking about it for months. Then I found it. Sort of. I found mine last week at Forever 21. Cost after 30% off sale? $21! I will post a picture with it styled soon. I may or may not hold my dog in the process, stand in my dining room, and have my hair in a messy bun atop my head. Is that too ~~stalkery~~ ~~creepy~~ awesome?

I am coveting nothing at Anthropologie right now. I do not know what is going on, but I am not in love with any of the spring items that have come out (except for the Lace Study Dress I caress nightly). Although, if I could afford it, this beautiful lamp from last year would be coming home to me.

I cannot afford this jacket from Free People, but I think it is rad (a word I seem to be using a lot lately).

What I have been lusting after our books. I bought “Fan Girl,” “The Magician’s Elephant,” and “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore.” I finished the first two and I am halfway through the third.

Because I absolutely adored “The Magician’s Elephant,” I also purchased “Flora and Ulysses” to read to my family this week.

And “Attachments.” Although, I think this author is brilliant, I do not care for her abrupt endings in the other two books I have read by her. I am hoping this one is different.

On Valentine’s Day, I made these brown sugar cakes for my family from this recipe. I will not be creating a full post about them. But if you like macadamia nuts, you will like the cake. If not (like my kids and myself, you probably will not). My husband loves macadamia nuts and loved it. Which is why I made it for my Valentine. : )

I am kind of burnt out on shopping. I picked up some coated Paige Denim Pants for 81% off at Nordstrom Rack and a tribal maxi cardigan from Forever 21 for $17 recently. I also couponed my butt off on Saturday and saved over 50% at the grocery store and got two loaves of french bread for .45 cents each in the process! Stick a fork in me, I’m done.

Also, I had to share what I came across on Friday night. I was turning all of the lights off in the house. I am a night owl. I am always the last person to bed. I was on my way to my bedroom when I heard a loud snort. That snort could only be coming from one thing. Ollie. But I looked around the floor and could not see him. I turned on the lights. And there he was. In my Corrigan chair. He was so ashamed at being caught where he knew he was not supposed to be, he would not look at me. I called his name numerous times. Nope. If he can’t see me, I can’t see him. Right? After these pictures were taken, I had to move him. You can imagine the snorts of indignation this produced!

Poor guy.

What are you craving this month? Are you excited or nonchalant about the stores’ spring items trickling in? Do you just want to crawl into a chair and not be seen? I can kind of see the appeal in that.

Snort.

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

Month: February 2014

It’s The Little Things: On Our Fireplace Mantel

My Valentine’s Day

“Oh”

Handira Blanket Winner and Things I’m Craving