November 21, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Free People’s Annual 4 Hour Sale

UPDATE: Sorry. This sale is now over. Enjoy your day! : )

It has begun! The once a year sale from Free People! ~~They are offering 20% off orders of $200-499 and 25% off orders over $500. It is only from 7-11 p.m. EST. You get early access through their app at 6:30 p.m. EST.~~ Update on 11/21/2014: This sale is now over. Last year I sat out of this one. This year, I might ask my husband for a few things. Meaning I may or may not get something for me for Christmas. I hardly ever do these types of posts, but I do not feel as though Free People advertises this sale very well. So here are the things I love right now at Free People:

The Eyelet Duster. I actually purchased this at the beginning of the year and was bummed because the buttons fell off. I returned it, but I do think it is worth it for the sale price. This is one I will probably be getting.

I do not wear my White Romance Embroidered Maxi Dress often, but when I do, I feel completely magical. I would get married in this in a heartbeat.

Red Boots (so rad. So rad. So rad). There is nothin’ more to say about these. I mean, come on. They are the epitome of cool.

My Mix Print Tunic is one of my favorite things in my closet.

I adore this Carolina K Dress. It is so amazing. Hand crocheted. Enough said.

I own three of these Miles of Henley Dress. I love a vest thrown over them. Perfectly bohemian casual.

This jacket. On sale. Gorgeous. Mommy wants.

I have recently realized I never posted the post for The Shadow Hacci Top. That is because I took pictures of this outfit as part of a recipe post. Trouble is, I did not like the recipe. And I only post recipes I truly love here. I will have to post the pictures minus the recipe soon. The top is fabulous over a slip (use any lingerie. It will look pretty) and jeans or a long maxi. This top was sold out for a very long time and they just restocked it. I don’t expect it will stay in stock long. I ordered a medium and I like the slouchy fit. The small was fine, too, but I liked the ability to wear one side off the shoulder in the larger size. I actually scored this top last week for $10 on a popback and wore it on Tuesday with this sweater. I did not get a picture of it, because I had antibiotics and ibuprofin for breakfast and tylenol and sudafed for lunch that day. But I swear it happened. It wasn’t a fever dream.

And I also love these trapeze slips. I own only one (shown worn in different ways above), but I see girls wearing them everywhere. When I was in Maui, I saw three girls wearing them as swimsuit coverups.

Are you going to splurge on anything? And would you do red boots? I might also pick up this dress in indigo, if I can figure out what size to get. Oh! This sale is too open-ended good! My wee little heart can’t take it.

November 21, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

“Is Your Mama A Llama?”

Did you ever read that book? If you have children, I can recommend it. Although it might remain in your head for all eternity. Especially of you purchase this llama skirt.

This Anthropologie llama skirt embodies everything that I adore about Anthropologie. It is fun. It has bright colors. And the pattern is unique and different. I was able to get it for 25% off because when I went to a holiday workshop they offered all of us girls that discount. It was sweet and I happily used the discount on a few items.

I paired my skirt with a top that I scored this summer for $8 and a necklace that I recently picked up (and gave away an additional three during my blog giveaway last week). The wood bracelet and turquoise beaded bracelets were both recent clearance finds at Macy’s.

The tights are those fleece tights and I want to live in them. I purchased mine for $8 at Nordstrom Rack and I am going back this week for more.

I love them.

And these boots… Well, these boots I hope to have forever. Someone once wrote something nasty about them, but I do not care. These vintage boots have been around longer than those nasty words, longer than that person and longer than me.

I think they have a pretty tough skin.

Do llamas have tough skin?

I am not sure that I want to know.

All I know is that I adore this skirt.

And that I am, indeed, not a llama.

It took me awhile to figure that out, but I checked. Turns out llamas can’t stick out their tongues. Poor dears. And as many folks around here know, I… Can.

Have you jumped on this llama trend? Did you purchase anything with llamas on it this season? I have seen the animal at Anthropologie and Modcloth. I am keeping my eyes peeled for more examples.

November 20, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

The Girl With Three Thumbs

It is funny the memories one’s mind chooses to hold onto. A smidgen of information about childhood formed in a handful of brief flashes. I cannot recall to mind the first day I started school. Nor the last. I cannot remember the shape of the dining room table we ate at, night after night in those early years. But I can recall with a vividness beyond what should be, the formation we sat in in our kindergarten class.

Our names written on masking tape marking the spot on the ground where we were to sit. The first few days, the letters meaning nothing and then over time, they became as part of the every day as the nose on my face.

I was Jenni. This was different than the other Jennis in class. We also had a Jeni and a Jenny. My mother was always adamant that my name would end in an “i.” And so it was that it became and so it was that it is to this day.

We would sit quietly on the mat. Our legs criss-crossed, and called a politically incorrect term. One of the first things taught to all of us children was to sit upon the ground with our legs folded. A formation that continues in our current schools with a slightly different name.

I have no idea who sat to the left of me. It was not one of the Jennis. I do not know if it was a boy or a girl. I do not remember our knees touching or our shoes colliding. My focus was entirely upon the girl to my right. I do remember her name, but we will not use it here. I shall call her Charlotte. For reasons only I will know.

I am sure while we were all sitting on the ground with our knees in salute, our teacher must have been teaching us something. But the entire time I sat there, my focus was upon one thing. And it had nothing at all to do with school. My mother had always told me that it was impolite to point. I am sure she also taught me that it is impolite to stare. However, a five year old stumbling upon something from a fairy tale seated right beside her, could not help oneself.

I was mesmerized.

Charlotte had two thumbs. Oh, yes, I know. We all have two thumbs. However, Charlotte had two thumbs plus one. Upon her right hand, she had two thumbs. One was much thinner and smaller than the other. A shriveled twin to its functioning sister. I loved it. I was insanely jealous of her gift. For to me, it was a gift. An abnormality to be sure, but so different. So wonderful. I had no idea that nature could go awry. I did not know that human beings could be created differently other than in books.

Because Charlotte’s thumbs were upon her right hand, and I sat upon her left, it was at an awkward direction that I would have to turn my head to stare at her appendage. Thankfully, in addition to crossing our legs, our teacher frequently also had us cross our hands. And so I could gaze down at Charlotte’s wonder with ease whenever our teacher felt we were in need of structure.

Sometimes this would be difficult. At the time, I was Charlotte’s only friend. She was a quiet girl who whispered answers and even then it would take much prodding for her to do that. She had long coarse black hair that curled at the ends. Even though it was long enough that she could sit upon it, she never did so. She took to putting her head down at such an angle that her hair would almost completely cover her face. Hiding in its stringy shadows, she could escape from inquisitive children and ignore curious eyes.

This actually proved to be beneficial to me, because I could stare at her hands without her noticing. Although looking back, she obviously knew what I was doing. I probably provoked her into her solitary cave of hair with my rude envy, but I did not think about it at the time.

Every day I would sit next to Charlotte. Charlotte with her wonderful thumbs. I never asked her about them. To me, they were simply there. She had more than the rest of us. She had extra. And more is always better. And extra did not need to be explained.

One day I went to school and Charlotte was not there. You would think this would mean I finally paid attention to my lessons, but alas, that was not so. With Charlotte gone, her name sat all alone on the floor. The tape peeling at the corners, collecting bits of black fuzz and countless specks of dirt. I would stare at the letters of her name. She had more than I did. A different variety. The girl seemed to be blessed with an abundance that the rest of us were lacking.

Charlotte was gone for a week. I was relieved when she finally returned. I had begun to pay attention to my lessons and there was no fun in that. She sat down on the floor beside me and that is when I noticed she was different. On her right hand, she had a white bandage. It covered where her small, innocent extra thumb had laid. I stared at the gauzy covering with alarm. And for the first time all year, I felt eyes upon my own. I looked up and Charlotte was staring back at me. Her stance was defiant. Her mouth was set. And I knew in that moment that she did not like my attention upon her hand. That she never had. I felt the heat of embarrassed shame creep up my neck and I averted my eyes from Charlotte’s penetrating accusation to our teacher’s back.

This did not stop me from stealing glances each day at the hand. I was not sure what was under the bandage, but I had a heavy sick feeling in my stomach that I knew. I was terrified of the gauze being removed. I did not want to see what mysteries it held.

But as the saying goes, time does heal all wounds. And one day, Charlotte came to school without a white bandage.

I nervously looked down at her hand. Instead of the dainty, precious appendage that had once lay next to its stronger, more useful digit, there lay instead an uneven furious red jagged scar.

It was appalling.

The hows and whys were too numerous for my young soul to count.

Why would someone remove a perfectly wonderful abnormality?

What happened to it?

Where did it go?

I could not bear to look at the empty space where a miracle had once existed. After that day, Charlotte began to wear her hair clipped behind her ears. She still whispered when she spoke but did so more frequently. She became best friends with another little girl in class. A louder girl. They became inseparable and the last time I saw either one of them had been at our high school graduation. I was not invited into their fold. And if the truth were to be told, I did not want to be.

For Charlotte’s differentness had never scared me. I found it fascinating. I found her an enigma crawling with unanswered questions of the universe. But from the moment she removed her special, she alarmed me. It made me unexplainably angry. She became just like the rest of us. Which as an adult I imagine was greatly to her relief and exactly the reason she had her surgery. But to me, the odd child searching for the eclectic among the mundane. Hoping that the tedious normalcy I had begun to view in the everyday world was a deceptive barrier from the truth. I wanted the fantasy of magic. The wonder. The infinite answers. To be more. Charlotte had had more and she chose to remove it. What did that mean? Why would one choose to be normal when you could choose to be more? Charlotte once had two thumbs plus one. Eleven appendages upon her hands. Twenty one digits to count with. One more finger than all of the rest of us.

At the age of five, I grieved for her loss. And for my own. I had never had the opportunity to hold her hand in my own. To stroke the small little marvelous irregularity. To ask all of my questions and dance in the happiness of the unknown. I hastened to try to make sense of what she had done. And I couldn’t.

Charlotte had once been The Girl With Three Thumbs.

And now she was minus one. Just like the rest of us. Just like me. Just.

November 19, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

A Small Set Of Anthropologie Fall Reviews

I did some reviews a few weeks ago. And I also tried on the following items for this post at a different store.

This is what I wore the day I went to Anthropologie. The top is Free People’s Mixed Print Tunic (previously styled here).

In a miracle of all miracles, I am wearing pants (Old Navy’s Skinny Rockstars from a few years ago. Size up in these. I wear a 12 in them. I usually wear an 8 in pants. I wish they had better colors available right now. I want to scoop some more up on sale when they finally bring fun colors back. You can usually score them for less than $20 on a good sale).

So I decided to forgo my usual pantless pictures and try on some tops with actual bottoms on. This isn’t likely to happen again. I cannot seem to get away from pantless pictures. There is even one at the bottom of this post. Let’s blame the flu. Always. Forever.

Llamas, llamas everywhere but not a drop to drink.

They. Are. Everywhere. Suddenly I cannot look on a website without seeing the fuzzy creature. I don’t know how I feel about this. At first I was all, “Wheeee! Llamas! Whooo Hooooo!” And then I bought the llama skirt and was content.

We had established in our household many years ago that I am indeed not a llama when we would read the brilliant book, “Is Your Mama A Llama?,” every single night to our children.

So, no, I am not a llama. But I was not sure where I stood on being a llama lover. I am a lover of many things, but llamas? Hmmmmmm. They spit. And while that is gross, I have to give them props for it in a gross-awesome kind of way. There is such a thing. And llamas are a prime example of how awesome gross can be.

I can say I like them. I like them in a lukewarm, would smile if I saw one and not need to go up and pet it sort of way.

But The Moonflower Henley has pink in it. Bright pink. Suddenly llamas are looking very good indeed. I decided I did not need this shirt. I am wearing a size 8 in the picture which is my usual size in tops, but it did gape at the neckline. I tried it on in a different pattern below if you want to read more about the fit.

It is hard to tell, but The Highlands Coat has a lot of different textures going on. The front appears to be some sort of sherpa vest, there is embroidery, a smooth material. It was busy without being busy. It was also by a brand I am beginning to love this year (they made my vegan leather jacket), Hei Hei. I am wearing a size Medium here.

It looked more flattering in person.

Or at least that is what Myself told me.

She was all, “Da** girl, you look goooodd.”

But then she saw me staring in aghast at these pictures and was like, “Sweetie, don’t look at them. Don’t you know ~~Myself~~ cameras always lie?”

If I did not live in California, I would buy this in a heartbeat. I really like it.

But wait! Whaaaaa? No pockets?!?!?!

No, Jenni, they are there. Just on the side. Don’t pay attention to me, I obviously have never put on a coat before.

This shirt is the sister to the llama shirt.

I like it better.

The colors really pop. They are perfect for this season and the next. The animals are hidden but whimsical and pretty. I love this top. I tried on an 8, but the top gaped open at the buttons. I bought this top in a size 10 (with a 25% off code). I wish I would have stuck with the 8, because it is a little too big. So, I would stick with your usual size. I think busty ladies might be sized out of this. The top is very weirdly formed in front and low cut. But the pattern!… It is a conundrum.

I saw The Garden Lace Dress on the sale rack and decided to try it on. It was okay. There was nothing about it that spoke to me. The colors were not right for my complexion. This is a size small. I do think it is pretty on the right person, because I have seen the dress on girls on Instagram and admired it on them.

But I tried it on. “And that’s all I have to say about that.”

As my secret lover always says, “wrap it up like my favorite present.”

Forget “put a ring on it.” Put a bow in it and call it a day.

Okay. He doesn’t really say that. What he actually says is, “All right. All right. All right.” Wait. Whoa! What? Your secret boyfriend says that, too? What are the odds? And by secret boyfriend we mean in our heads, right? And that he has no idea that he is actually having conversations with you let alone dating you? Right. Perfect secret boyfriend. I’m lying. We broke up. I actually broke up with him. Those annoying car commercials where it feels like I am being smothered by boredom? Yea. It’s over.

What were we talking about?

Oh, yes. This amazing, gorgeous, fabulous blanket-like creation, The Tartan Blanket Coat, also by Hei Hei. Or sweater? Or jacket? It really is just like a big blanket you can wear. And who the heck doesn’t want that? I think the success of the Snuggie proved the appeal. I scoffed and scoffed at those infomercials. I thought to myself, who the heck would buy a blanket you can wear?

And then Christmas morning, a few years ago, my sister pulls out a present from my father. A present she has asked for. A complete family set of Snuggies. I think I drowned a family of mice that day with my tears of mirth.

But this blanket coat? Why, it’s completely different.

Because it is awesome. and I’m the one who likes it.

I am wearing the size M/L in the pictures. I tried both the XS/S and the M/L and ultimately decided on the XS/S for the fit in the shoulders. This is one of those pieces that Anthropologie makes that will look good on a multitude of body types. The colors and pattern are amazing. But it is VERY itchy so it will require it to be a layering piece. It is really good.

It has fringe.

Did the Snuggie have fringe? Don’t answer, I don’t want to know.

Did the Snuggie have multiple colors of happiness running through it? The answer is no, Mandi.

I originally bought this with my 25% off code for my husband to wrap up for me for Christmas. With a bow. Secret ex-boyfriend not included. However, I am having second thoughts about it and will probably be returning it to wait for a better sale price. We just do not get enough cold weather here to warrant it. But it is beautiful. I am a fickle indecisive creature.

And that is all right. All right. All right.

Hei, Hei, Hei, Hei, watch the leather man!

I forgot to include this The Composed Pintuck Top in my other set of reviews. Probably because I wanted to block out my no-pants picture from my mind. This top is too good not to show, though. We have an English Bulldog and my husband desperately wants a French Bulldog, too. And I desperately want a house that does not smell like dogs… Well, more dogs, at least.

So I bought this shirt.

That makes no sense.

I know. But I love the green. And the French Bulldogs on it. My husband can just look at my chest and dream of what he can’t have. Wait. That isn’t right either.

Sigh.

Let’s just all put on Snuggies and forget about it.

I purchased the size 8 in this top with a 25% off code. I could not get it out of my head ever since I saw Elsie rocking it on A Beautiful Mess. The reviews complain of the sides being high. I concur with this. I will have to wear high waisted pants (which really should be all I wear anyway) or layer a thin tank underneath to avoid any skin mishaps (I am thinking this tank because of the ruffled sides. It is sold out, but I would check Ebay if you like it. I previously wore it here). Different than the tights mishap occurring in the picture above.

Are you ready for this cold weather? Have you purchased any sweaters or coats? I am not planning on purchasing any sweaters this year (besides my present and this sweater on sale). I have enough for California. So you will be seeing a lot of repeats in my outfit posts coming up in the next few months. What about you? Bought any boots? Dogs (Actual dogs, not dogs that parade in a tease across the chest for a significant other)? What are your thoughts on wearing llamas? And what is the most awesome-gross thing you can think of? Any comments of “your thighs” shall be deleted immediately and spit upon (in an awesome-gross way, of course).

*this post contains affiliate links. Clicking on product links will result in a small commission for ~~a ticket to go see my ex-secret boyfriend in the movie theater~~ this blog.

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

Month: November 2014

Free People’s Annual 4 Hour Sale

“Is Your Mama A Llama?”

The Girl With Three Thumbs

A Small Set Of Anthropologie Fall Reviews