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.

April 23, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Hippie At Home

I know I promised pictures of me not in front of my fireplace (Sunday, I have some outdoor outfit pictures to post) , but I wanted to show what I look like on a day when I am kicking back at home. And I actually have clothes on and not pajamas.

Wrinkled. Shoeless. Beltless. Happy. Cooking.

I knew the moment I took my apron off, I was going to get flack from my husband. You think he would not give the woman making him his favorite meal grief, but you would think wrong. ; )

You see, he hates long denim skirts. Hates them. And, well, I… I love them!

So, never the two shall meet.

But I wanted to share my Forever 21 Peasant Top that I adore. And I thought it fit perfectly with my Citizens of Humanity Aja Skirt I purchased from a seller on eBay last year. I had it tailored for my body, so I know it fits the way it is supposed to… Big!

Here is the commentary coming from my photographer as I tried to smile for the camera:

“That skirt is ginormous!”

I was not phased.

“That skirt is Duggarific!”

An explanation of this word my husband gleefully made up, derives from one of my favorite shows on t.v., “Nineteen Kids And Counting” (their last name is Duggar. I love the Little House On The Prairie vibe to it even though their lifestyle and choices are very far from mine). My husband is sometimes ~~trapped~~ in the room when I watch the show. The women all wear long skirts. A lot of the time they are denim, because they do not wear pants. Or short skirts.

This brings this question to my mind, “If a long denim skirt is the opposite of sexy, how the heck did they have nineteen kids?”

Hmmmmmm.

“Be careful, you might expose your ankles!”

To which I did this.

And then this.

Yep. It was a typical day in the Gnome Lover household. And this model is going to go add a little something extra to that meat on the stove.

Just kidding. That little somethin’ would just be love. My husband and I have a good time. Just don’t tell him that.

Do you have an item in your closet your partner does not like? Do you wear it anyway? Do you wear shoes at home?

* Please excuse my wild hair! It was a day at home. And, yes, I see that hair brush on my fireplace. It is my daughter’s. It never occurred to me to use it. ; ). It’s hard to think when you’re bein’ heckled.

March 10, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Gnome Lover Turns 1 Giveaway! NOW CLOSED!

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you for entering. Any entries received after the time of this writing (9:02 p.m. PST) will be deleted.

This little blog has turned one year old! I don’t even know that I changed one single diaper. In fact, I am not sure my husband did either. That is something to ponder and worry over at another date.

Gnome Lover is still just barely pulling itself up. In fact, I would say it might be in the crawling stage. It has a long way to go before it walks.

It has a lot to say. Most of it is gibberish. I am glad a few of you can understand it. Hopefully, it will become more coherent the older it gets.

I am so excited to watch it grow.

Diapers aside.

Today is a happy day! A goal accomplished! A birthday celebration!

Thank you to all of you readers who stop by everyday. Who encourage this little blog. Who take time to comment.

Thank you!

This blog would still be unable to lift its little head if it were not for you.

I am so excited about today’s giveaway!

I have been collecting stuff for this giveaway for months.

We’ll just call them birthday presents.

Are you ready to see what they are?

I am giving away a group of items: one $25 e-gift card to Anthropologie, one West Elm Favorite Throw in grey stripes, one Clinique Chubby Stick in Richer Raisin, one Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara, one Anthropologie Heirloom necklace, one Anthropologie candle in Pumpkin Spice, and one copy of “The Magician’s Elephant.” All of these items will go to one lucky winner! These are all some of the items that I have shared on this blog over the last year. And I am so thrilled to be able to do such a big giveaway for my blog anniversary!

For such a big giveaway, you will get up to four chances to enter the drawing for the items.

First way to enter is to simply leave a comment stating your favorite birthday memory.* This is a birthday celebration, after all. If you do not celebrate birthdays, feel free to just leave a comment stating a fond childhood memory. My favorite birthday memory is when I turned eight and had my first slumber party. My dad was moving bees out of the state so my mother was all alone with about twelve of us girls in our house. And a mouse ran underneath our feet. And a rattlesnake had curled up in the dog food outside. I can still hear the screaming!…

Second way to enter is to be a follower of this blog. There are many ways to do so on the right hand side of the page. Just be sure to leave a second comment stating you are following on this post!

Third way to enter is to share this post via social media. This could be Facebook, Twitter, via your blog. Any old way will do. Just come back and leave an additional comment stating how you shared it.

Finally, you can pick any of my posts and Pin one to Pinterest. After you have pinned a post, just come back here to let me know which of my post’s you have pinned.

You can choose one of these methods or all of these methods. Just be sure to leave a comment here for each method. If you choose to do all four, then you should have four total comments here. Limit four entries per person. One entry per method per person.

Good luck!

I will be using random.org to pick one winner based on the comments posted here. This giveaway begins on March 10, 2014 at 12:00 a.m. PST and ends March 17, 2014 at 9:00 p.m. PST. I will contact the winner via email provided in the comments here on March 18, 2014. I will post the winner’s name on this blog on March 19, 2014.

Please enter this giveaway with a valid email address. I will attempt to contact the winner three times. If within fourteen days from the first time I have attempted contact, I still have not heard from the winner, the prize will be forfeit and a new winner will be drawn.

Thank you so much for all of your help raising this blog. I could not do it without you. You are the best. Just one more quick thing that has been bugging me since I started this post.

Um, have any of you been changing diapers? This one is gonna haunt me.

P.S. This giveaway is sponsored by me and is in no way affiliated with Anthropologie, West Elm, Benefit, Clinique or Candlewick Publishing.

* edited on March 10, 2014: if you forget to leave a birthday comment and just respond with a comment as your original entry, I am still counting it. As long as the comment left is nice. : )

November 24, 2013 by gn0mel0ver

My Happy Day

I was going to skip posting today, because I’m sick. But I wanted to share something unexpectedly good that happened to me this week.

Years ago, when I was heavier, I bought the Lolland Sweater Dress from Anthropologie in a large. This is my vision of the perfect dress. Fun pattern. Short sleeves. Ruffles. I was madly in love with it. I actually got to a point where I could no longer fit into my size large dress (it was too small) and so I got it dry cleaned and stored it in my closet.

I lost 76 pounds and I was terrified to try this dress on. I knew it was going to be too big. But how big, I was not sure. I told myself I could probably get it tailored so I would lose nothing if I just tried it on.

I tried it on and it fit! Well, the dress fit, the slip was at least a foot longer than the dress. Then I realized what had happened. The dry cleaners shrunk my dress all of those years ago! But what a happy accident!

I just substituted a different slip and I could not be happier. I paired it with my H & M golden tights. The pictures here are awful, because they were taken at night, but during the day, it all works.

Have you ever had an unexpected mishap work out in your favor?