A Mountain Of A Mystery Maxi

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You know how I am always buying clothes… Wait. Let me finish. You know how I am always buying clothes… without knowing what their clothing name means?

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It happened again.

With the Nanda Maxi Dress (now sold out).

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I bought it because it had an amazing Suzani pattern on it. The colors. The flow. I loved everything about it.

Except the price. I finally picked it up for around 80% off.

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I paired it with my cardigan I picked up last year for $20 at Anthropologie.
I think the back of it is so pretty.

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Names. We were talking about names.

So, I typed in “Nanda” into Google. You will never guess what popped up.

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The first thing that popped up was an acronym. NANDA stood for “North America Nursing Diagnosis Association.”

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Um, I am pretty sure that is not the vision Anthropologie meant for people to have when naming their maxi dress. Besides, I imagine if they were going to name a dress after a nurse’s association, it would be white.

I increased my search.

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Anthropologie tends to name things after two things. Yep. Two things. Regions. And birds. I typed in “Nanda Region.” And I found it. It is a mountain in India called Nanda Devi. The highest mountain in India to be exact.

Of course it is.

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Do you look up the names of your clothes? Or is that just me? I like to think they are like meeting new friends and people. Once I know their name. Their real name. The meaning. I can figure out a little more about them. Give them a deeper character.

Give them a deeper meaning. Than just clothes.

Whoa! That’s a little too deep.

Let’s go back to keeping our heads in the clouds. I know a certain mountain that would be perfect for the task.

Cockatiels and Stripes?

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This outfit pretty much represents what is going on in my brain at any given moment.

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Colorful cockatiels trying to mate with bright stripes. It is like a smorgesboard of crazy, but I think it works.

But again, I think in cockatiels and stripes, so my thoughts should be taken with a grain of salt.

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Unless you’re a cockatiel.

I’ve heard salt is bad for birds.

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Not as bad as rocks. Or airplanes. Or cats. Or stripes.

But close.

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Can we please be sober serious for a moment?

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I purchased this red and white striped skirt from eShatki years ago before I had a blog. It remains one of my favorite pieces in my closet and I previously wore it here.

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The cockatiel top was another older purchase. It is by Daniel Rainn (I cannot find it or a similar enough top to link to, but I have seen this top on eBay). I bought it for $13 at Nordstrom Rack many years ago. I had never worn it before. It is a tricky top. It has a sheen and it is a peplum shape (hidden by the skirt).

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I scored the Anthropologie Waterfront Wedges on a popback for 85% off recently (sold out, similar here). I have wanted to wear them with everything.

What do your thoughts look like? Are they bird and stripe shaped? Peanut and alligators? Polka dots and rabid wolves? I think I may have a problem. My thoughts don’t go together. But at least I can pretend that my outfit patterns do.

Snow Ollie

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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!

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:

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.