January 21, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

Lady In Red… Embroidery

I have mentioned before that maroon is not my favorite color. Well, I am not a huge fan of red either. I don’t not like it. I just don’t like it very well either. I think it is a very hard color to wear. I have a pair of red boots and it absolutely terrifies me to wear them. Red is very attention grabbing.

I don’t really like attention.

“I know.

The irony.

Or idiocy does not escape me,” says the public blogger.

When someone is paying attention to me, it makes it very difficult to eavesdrop on them.

It also makes it difficult to finish the interesting conversation one was having with oneself. Just when you are about to learn where the bodies are buried, the stranger’s eyes will meet your own and you will have to stop the secret whispering.

Please tell me I’m ~~not~~ alone.

I had forgotten all about this dress until I was lamenting to my husband as I was getting ready for our date, “I have nothing to wear.”

I was only half joking.

Everything I pulled out of the closet just seemed wrong.

I find it harder to dress for a date with my husband than anything else.

He is not fond of my loose-fitting frocks. Or my hippie skirts. I wanted him to think I looked pretty while still staying true to myself.

I found this dress (old and sold out, similar dress here) tucked in the back of the closet wedged somewhere between my Kantha dresses, gnome costumes and my dignity. I had wondered where that went. I hastily threw it on with my fringe booties and big rose earrings.

When I came out of the closet, my husband commented, “I like that dress.” And both me and myself were pleased.

We ended up going to a restaurant that we always do. It was lovely, although not as lovely as usual. The food was not on par with our past experiences. It is an outdoor restaurant.

It was cold. I ended up keeping My Vegan Leather Jacket on all night (previously worn here and here).

I wore the dress to the post office later in the week and I had two people stop me to tell me that they just loved the red embroidery.

Now I will never know where those bodies are buried.

Don’t look too closely at those mounds behind me.

Do you have a fear of wearing red? Do you talk to yourself in public? Do you always go to the same place on a date? If the meal was not up to par would you say something? I will admit that I said nothing. It would have made my face red even thinking of doing so. And one spot of red was enough for one night.

P.S. I shared this on The Pleated Poppy and Reasons To Dress.

January 20, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

Dreaming: Grandma’s Gift

Something was chasing me. It was fast, but not quite fast enough to catch me. It was probably some sort of zombie creature if I were to guess, because zombies are the things that make my blood run cold. The atmosphere was grey. What were once tall and majestic buildings were now piles of crumbling rubble. The gravel of the desolate city crunched beneath my boots.

I turned the corner and saw a lone structure still standing in the midst of the ruined city. It appeared to be a form of catacombs.

I ducked into the entrance to catch my breath. My heart was pounding. My pursuers were near.

Someone grabbed my arm.

I turned to scream, but it gurgled in my throat in recognition of the person who stood before me.

It was my grandmother, whom in life had passed away two years prior. I began to frantically ask her questions. “What was she doing here? Was she okay? What was I supposed to do?”

But she shook her head in response. She put her finger to her lips to summon me to be quiet.

Then she grabbed my elbow and began leading me further down into the catacombs. My head felt dizzy with exhilaration at seeing her again. The zombie creatures were almost forgotten.

We came to a dead end. A huge unyielding stone wall blocked our escape. I began to panic at the thought of being stuck down here trapped by the creatures who were surely on our trail. But again, my grandma shook her head. She inserted a key into a keyhole that I could not see into the wall. It twisted and turned and a small doorway opened. My grandmother gestured for me to go through the door.

I hurriedly did so. She followed me and locked the door behind us. The wall melted in upon itself and became whole once more. We were safe.

In fact, we were more than safe. We were in a new area. A new dream.

It was a dome-like structure covered in glass. It was bright and sunny although I could not see the sky nor anything outside of the dome. It raised above my head about thirty stories tall. There were no buildings inside of it. Just a giant tree that raised almost to the ceiling. I had a feeling that the dome grew tall as the tree did, so that the tree itself would never reach its top. I could hear birds chirping in its massive branches. The air was calm and cool.

I turned to my grandma.

She smiled at me. She led me to the edge of the grass and placed her hand at the small of my back. And then she pushed me gently.

I started to fall forward but instead of falling, I was caught in the air. Inside the dome I could fly. I wobbled at first, but soon I was taking experimental turns ten feet off of the ground. My grandmother’s face beamed up at me in delight. I soared higher, skimming the tree’s outstretched branches with my fingertips. The freedom and happiness bubbled up inside of me as I glided round and round inside of the dome.

The gift that she gave me in the dream was beautiful. The gift of the dream, itself, was even better.

January 19, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

Snow Ollie

Both of my dogs were flabbergasted by the snow that made its way to our house in Southern California a few weeks ago. The first time Ollie touched it he jumped about a foot in the air. Do you see his tongue? Is that not the cutest thing ever?

Murphy did not have such qualms. His terror quickly dispelled to anxiety that someone was going to touch his snow. It was all his. And he could not traipse through it fast enough to explore and guard it. The snowgnome threw him for a loop, though.

Once Ollie saw Murphy jumping through the terrifying whiteness he became a little more brave. He wanted to explore, but because of his love of cars, we had to put a leash on him lest he decide to go give a car a hug and become an unfortunate victim to his love.

I decided to take a few pictures with him in the snow just for fun. I had purchased this dress on a popback from Anthropologie for $30, so it is sold out now. It is all one piece. Anthropologie’s Layered Shirtdress is also a layered more work appropriate one piece dress and I wrote about my favorite layered one-piece last year. Free People’s Lily Dress is a sweet design in a similar vein. I guess I like the ease of an all-ready-put-together ensemble. Although I will admit part of me feels like a child in this. Perhaps it is the pigtails?

Nah.

Look at that face. It is pure love right there. Ollie looks pretty happy, too.

Do you own any easy pieces that look like more but are actually one item? Do your animals like the snow? Ollie spent about five minutes in it and then he was done. Murphy, on the other hand, would have stayed outside all day in it if we would have let him.

But we didn’t.

I don’t know if his little heart could have taken the harsh reality of the sun melting all of his icy treasure. I think he is still looking for it. He probably thinks Ollie ate it all.

Which would not really surprise any of us… Except Ollie.

P.S. Nothing, and I mean nothing, has made me as happy as this Instagram account in a very long time. It is Matilda_and_Kiki. The owner is documenting her newborn bulldog puppies several times a day. Sometimes with video. It is my family’s new favorite thing to check on the internet. The cuteness is heartwarming and I want to just grab two of the puppies and rub them on my cheeks!

January 18, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

Winner Of The Blog Giveaway and Cravings Similarities

Congratulations mintpearls for winning the $25 e-Gift Card to Sephora! I hope you get something good! My mom just sent me a care package from Sephora with two packages of my favorite facial wipes that I use every night on my face. Thank you Mom! I swear by these. I think my skin has been so much better since I started using the wipes almost two years ago. And she sent me Bumble and Bumble Surfspray for my hair, because I was lusting after the bottle in the gift I had given her for Christmas. Does anyone use this? How do you apply it? Do you have any tips?

I enjoyed reading everyone’s responses to the giveaway question. The love for your friends, family and even bosses and/or co-workers was beautiful to read. It made me think of all of the people in my own life who are amazing individuals. Thank you for participating and making me smile!

January is a tough time for me shopping wise. I am usually burnt out from Christmas shopping, so I don’t like to buy anything. On the other hand, there are always the best sales in January and I have gift cards burning a hole in my pocket. So far, I have scored some amazing popbacks with my gift cards, but have only purchased one thing out of pocket. It was this jersey dress from Free People in seaspray because my size had been sold out in that color for months and when one popped back I snatched it up. I also bought a headband and Feather Hair Picks to get free shipping.

So, cravings. Hmmmmm. Mmmmmmm. Oooooga. Boooga. I am not in love with any new thing that has come out this month. Like, yes. Love, no. It seems like everything that is coming out has been done before. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if you missed it the first time around.

Instead of cravings because I honestly don’t have any right now, I thought I would show some pieces from the past in my closet whose twins seem to be making an appearance in case you liked the items but they sold out before you could acquire them. I think this is a case of fashion repeating oneself and a true indication that I have too many clothes. Just don’t tell my husband that:

I loved this Ikat top when I scored it last year on a huge sale (blog post here). Anthropologie has a very similar top out right now. It is pretty, too. It is called The Palamba Top.

I just realized I have never done an outfit post with my Puella Swing dress from last year. I need to fix that! I do have this sad little pic from a dressing room review post (here). The Semitone Swing Dress this year looks very similar in a different color, but with no elbow patches. Sigh. I love the elbow patches.

The Horizon Lines Skirt (more pictures here) is easy and comfortable. This Sketched Stripe Maxi Skirt looks very similar.

I love my denim overalls (blog post here). I was worried the trend was over until I saw the Paige Sierra Overalls on the Anthropologie site.

The Deva Printed Henley reminds me of my Charleston Henley that I also just realized I have never shown here. My closet is a black hole, my friends. I like to wear it with extreme bell bottoms (also never shown here. I am a bad blogger).

The Patchworked Panel Dress reminds me of my Free People Sunshine Dress I bought many years ago. I could have sworn that I had shown this dress on my blog before, but I can not find any pictures so I must have been mistaken. Need to remedy that ASAP. I love the blue color of the Patchedwork Dress. I own the Sunshine Dress in purple, but I showed it in blue for a true comparison.

The Tallulah Shift Dress is a really cool red. It is very similar to my vegan leather shift from 2013. I posted about it here.

I adore my Striped Hem Pullover from 2013 (more photos here). It has a sweet bow in the back, too. This year Anthropologie came out with a grey version. It is called The Ruffle-back Pullover. I actually prefer the grey, but do not need another one.

I went out on a date with my husband on Friday night and wore the outfit in the photo of me above. I am working on the post. The red embroidery is a conversation starter. Any time I wear this people will talk about the pretty embroidery to me. My dress is by Johnny Was via Nordstrom Rack many years ago. I like Anthropologie’s Embroidered Peasant Dress and think it looks like it was made in the same love-of-red-embroidery-vein.

Have you seen any similarities in your closet this season? Did you score anything great during Anthropologie’s 40% off sale sale? I ended up getting this vest on a popback with a gift card. I thought I would surely find some amazing popbacks during the sale, but only found the one thing. Sigh. I guess it’s back to shopping my closet. But that’s no fun at all.

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

Month: January 2015

Lady In Red… Embroidery

Dreaming: Grandma’s Gift

Snow Ollie

Winner Of The Blog Giveaway and Cravings Similarities