December 15, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Bus-ting Out The Plea-ts

Sorry for the unexpected blog break. I try to stay consistent, but sometimes life takes over. I absolutely had to clean my house. I mean had to. As in: set aside hours to get it holiday finished. Which is so mundane, but true. And then we went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market on Sunday (recap tomorrow). It was a busy and fun weekend. I hope you had a beautiful weekend and feel refreshed for this week! I know I do!

Okay. I hope I am “busting out the pleats” and not “busting out of the pleats.” One word makes a huge difference.

Thankfully this dress is very forgiving. In fact, I have decided this shall be my dress I wear any time I want to really make a meal out of a night.

Not on Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, I never really eat a lot on Thanksgiving. I like my turkey breast. Dry. Not dry, but devoid of gravy. A smidgen of mashed potatoes. Also devoid of gravy. And one roll.

That is it.

All that I eat on the biggest eating day of the year.

I was a very picky eater as a child and on this day of traditions I have never been able to break from the food rules I set in place as a three year old. I take traditions very seriously.

Oh. And one slice of chocolate pie. Hold the whipped cream.

Maybe I am leaving out the bottle of wine.

It doesn’t count.

It’s liquid.

And my three year old self would not understand.

So, this is my eating out for a nice dinner dress. I have never been an order a salad girl. I’ll take the baked potato, steak and the dessert please. And, no you may not have a bite. I didn’t wear this dress for nothin.

The swing shape coupled with the pleats is as easy as it gets. I can see this dress looking good on a multitude of body types. You just have to embrace it for what it is.

A swing dress.

It is supposed to swing.

Away from the body.

I like the gold buttons on the back and the sleeves. It is a sweet little detail. I paired the dress with my Anthropologie Fanned Feather Necklace I purchased on Black Friday from Anthropologie during their sale (now sold out online, but similar earrings are still available).

I really like black paired with brown and the gold on the necklace matches the gold on the buttons of the dress.

I ordered my dress on Black Friday directly from the designer, Dear Creatures, for 40% off their price making it a fantastic price. Anthropologie also carries it and calls it Pleated Millie Dress. It is now sold out in black at Dear Creatures. However, I have seen it keep popping back at Anthropologie. I own it in baby blue, too, but it is just not as good. I definitely recommend the black version.

I love this dress. As I have stated, the dress is forgiving.

I am not.

I am writing this in bed next to a snoring husband who fell asleep in the middle of the zombie movie we were watching together.

In the middle.

Of. a zombie. Movie.

In the middle.

Of. the. night.

He’ll be pleating for my forgiveness in the morning.

And you know what?

I might have room left in my heart. And in this dress… to give it to him.

Maybe.

In exchange for pie…

And I’m only craving humble.

P.S. Now closed: ~~Please do not forget to enter My Giveaway. It ends at 9:00 p.m. PST tomorrow night.~~ : ). Even if you do not enter, the comments have been making me happy cry all week. I love reading the comments. It has brought me indescribable amounts of joy this week. If you are feeling down or want to feel inspired, I recommend reading them. And thank you if you contributed to those comments this week. My heart overflows for you.

December 9, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Blue Moon

After the unfortunate outfit mishap with my previous outfit I had originally planned on wearing on my date night with my husband (post and explanation here), I had to go home and swiftly change.

I knew I had to pull out the big guns. ~~Oh, wait, I all ready did that. Groan.~~ And so I quickly changed into my husband’s favorite dress. Well, one of them.

This Anthropologie Arched Careena Dress from a few years ago is always the solution to my husband’s heart (I have seen this being sold on eBay. This dress came in three colors and is very forgiving in sizes. I am usually a size six or eight and I purchased this in a twelve because it was the only size available once it hit clearance at my store many years ago. I do not think it runs small. I just think it is an easy dress to size up or down in).

It is the prettiest blue. It is feminine. It is flattering. It nips in at the waist and then flares out. Plus, it has ruffles, which usually isn’t such a guy magnet. But in this case, it works.

Besides I would have to try really, really hard to flash or moon someone in this.

I assume.

I think it was best that I didn’t try. Besides, my shoes were all ready on due to the previous outfit encounter, so I could not manage a reenactment of my shame.

I want to talk about my agate necklace really quick. I forgot to mention the green agate necklace I wore in the previous post. Both necklaces are by Leila Jewelry and I had stalked them for almost a year at Nordstrom Rack until one fateful day during their 30% off clearance sale a few weeks ago, I decided to run into the store hoping beyond hope that there would be a chance that they had finally been discounted and they would still be available. It was truly my lucky day. They still had three of the four I had been watching (the fourth one having sold was the most amazing hot pink) and they had indeed gone on sale. I so very happily scooped up all three for around $17 each. Retail price was $148 each (they are gold plated).

It was a once in a blue moon kind of score.

I paired the dress with my Anthropologie Vegan Leather Jacket (previously worn here and here). My daughter has been borrowing this jacket a lot this season. In fact, she has been borrowing most of my outer wear. She is very petite, so my cardigans and this jacket are the only things we can share. I actually love sharing my clothes with her. I love lending out items. It seems like it would go against my hoarder’s heart, but it makes me happy to share. They are just clothes. And I like the joy I see on my daughter’s face when she wears some of the items.

It is fun.

And fun is the best.

In fact, I once lent this dress to a dear friend and now any time I wear it, I also think of her and smile. Clothes are good for making memories. They are even better at holding on to them.

Do you lend your clothes out? I do to close friends and relatives. There are a few item exceptions. My pieces from Etsy and my Kantha dresses. Do you have a date night dress that you reach for again and again?

I do not mind wearing this one over and over.

I like it.

My husband likes it.

In fact… We are over the moon.

*this post was edited using VSCOCAM’s C1 filter at level 3.

December 6, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Vintage Green Love

I have been holding out on you.

That sounds worse than it is. You see, I just assume that after I write a story, you have read it and will know what I mean even before I have published it here. But there are so many stories I need to publish and maybe then I will be understood… Or not.

Same with my closet. I think that you must know what lurks in the depths of it. But how could you? When I, myself, often overlook things.

Like this dress.

I bought it at the beginning of the year. Felt bad about buying it. Stashed it in My Closet of Guilt and never wore it.

As one does.

But I came upon it last week and fell in love.

It is a vintage dress purchased from Etsy. I love shopping for vintage clothes on Etsy. There are a plethora of beautiful pieces. With so many different sellers, the prices vary, so it is a good idea to look around. I cannot believe the prices some sellers ask for both low and high. Check the seller’s feedback for reviews. Check their social media and Etsy home page to see if they are running any coupon codes. My dress was $64 and I thought this was fair.

It is the very best color. An odd shade of green that takes on different hues depending upon how the light hits it.

It has the most amazing embroidery of deep blues and bright pinks tickled through with tiny mirrors. Yes, tickled.

The bracelet is from World Market a few months ago (similar here). Have you been to World Market lately? They are killing it in the jewelry department.

I took these pictures at my dad’s house. I liked how the Juniper Tree matched my dress. My husband, the photographer, did not like the matching. He wished for more contrast.

I feel the same way about the model’s thighs.

You work with what you have.

The only thing I can remember about Juniper Trees growing up is that coyote feces is full of Juniper berries. And so I avoided any and all Juniper Trees as a child, positive that there were coyotes lurking beneath each and every one.

Speaking of coyotes, I am no longer afraid. Our cluster of homes sit upon the edge of our town. This means frequent coyote spottings as we venture out. Two days ago, it was pouring rain in California. My husband saw a soaking wet, miserable looking, coyote dart into the bushes in front of his car.

It was all that he spoke of that day. He said it was the saddest sight. The coyote looked thin and bewildered by its wet surroundings.

There are not very many Juniper Trees here.

Did you grow up around wild things? Do you own a vintage dress? Do you store it and not wear it or wear it all of the time? Do you know odd facts about animal feces? Or is that just me?

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

November 17, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Pretty Pleats With A Necklace On Top

Way back in the peak of summer I fell in love with The Solana Swing Dress from Anthropologie. I reviewed it here. But I vowed to wait for a good sale price. I very much wanted both colors it came in: grey and pink. I liked the pleats. I liked the swing shape. I knew it was a dress that I could carry into all seasons.

It finally went down to less than $30 during a recent sale. And so I scooped up both colors, and happily awaited their arrival. I even took pictures in one of them while I was extremely sick (still am. I don’t know what to do about this illness) so I could show the dress while it is still available. This dress escorted me to the doctor’s. It is a keeper. Here is the deal, though…

In the reviews, two separate people stated getting any sort of water upon the dress resulted in a permanent loss of the beautiful pleats. I am terrified of even brushing up against the sink in this or going near Ollie, the drool monster. I will try dry cleaning, but I also worry they will want to iron it or steam iron it. Therefore, it may never, ever, ever get washed. That’s not too gross, right?

I ordered both dresses in a size medium, but the pink dress is noticeably longer.

I decided to pair the grey dress with a white long sleeve shirt and wear it more as a jumper with tights.

We took the dogs for a drive and I decided to pose with Murphy.

I initially wore my hair in a new ponytail style, but it was too windy to keep it.

Murphy was being kind of crazy, so I switched to Ollie.

But Murphy looked sad, so I decided to take them both for a walk.

This did not really help, because what they really wanted was my husband. They adore him the best. That is because he adores them the best. Funny how that works.

They finally got what they wanted. My husband is aghast that I took his picture. He doesn’t need to know I then posted it on the internet, too. Let’s just keep that between us. And, yes, I love a bearded man.

And I love a good scarf. I purchased this scarf from Anthropolgie many years ago. It has always been my favorite.

Do you “do” pleats? Do you wear long sleeves under your sleeveless dresses in the winter? What should I do about cleaning the dress? Any suggestions?

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

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

dress

Bus-ting Out The Plea-ts

Blue Moon

Vintage Green Love

Pretty Pleats With A Necklace On Top