April 3, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

It’s The Little Things: A Gnome Gift

To understand me (well, as much as anyone can. I still don’t quite get me, myself), you need to know a bit about my background. I have a best friend. Her name is Lizzie. Liz. Elizabeth. One, unfortunate day when we were around ten (unfortunate for her, because I have no idea where this came from), I decided to call her “The Liz.” This stuck and it is what I call her when we are joking. Usually I just call her Lizzie or Liz. Although, my father insists on calling her The Liz. He was there during the creation of the name. In fact. Oh my gosh, I cannot believe I am going to admit this, but it is on video tape. As is the time I got chicken pox and streaked naked. Our video collection is extensive here. It is called, “growing up in the country.”

Yes, we have many stories to share.

Or not.

I cannot remember a moment when The Liz has not been in my life. We have been best friends since we were three years old. We are different. And yet, we are the same. I have not seen her in many years. She lives on the other side of the country. We can go months and months without speaking, but I think of her everyday and I know she does the same. She is just there. A part of me. And I love her. Always have. Always will. It is a constant in my life. A friendship that does not need watering, because it is a garden in my soul.

I received a package from The Liz this week and I had to share it. It made me smile.

It is a little thing and so it fits this post. Although our friendship does not.

It is a gnome kit.

A naughty gnome kit. I told you. She knows me better than myself.

Isn’t this the coolest gift ever? I cannot wait to make all of the gnomes in this kit. I have leftover felt everywhere in my house, and thread, so this will be a fun project to do using items I all ready had in my house by following the instructions in the book.

Thank you Liz for your gift. And I am not speaking of the gnome book. I love you, girl.

It’s The Little Things: The thoughtfulness of a friend. I know I need to do more little things like this. It is a good reminder to my soul.

Do you have a friend that makes you smile? Have you given a fun gift to a friend recently?

March 19, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Winner Of The Giveaway, A Small Announcement, & Cravings

The winner of the blog giveaway is Kel! Congratulations! I am thrilled for you. : )

I loved reading everyone’s birthday memories. Many of them made we want some do-overs for my own. And quite a few brought back beautiful nostalgic memories. I also liked that some of your favorite birthday memories are not your own. So selfless! I love learning more about each of you each month. That comment section of my blog during my giveaways is not only my favorite part, because I get to know you better. But a friend of mine recently told me it is hers, too. Thank you so much for sharing and entering!

An Announcement:

I am nervous about the announcement I am making right now. I couldn’t sleep last night. I have vowed to always be honest on this blog. I think it is important to keep it real here. After having this blog for one year, I have come to the realization that it is costing my family approximately $65 a month to keep it going. I love giveaways. I do not want to stop doing them. They are my favorite part of the blog. Giving back. To all of you. But my favorite part of life is being a wife and mother, so I must also think of my family. So, to offset some of the costs, I am going to be adding affiliate links to my posts. You probably will not even notice them. All this means is that when you click on a link such as an Anthropologie top, it will generate a very small commission for this blog. I will not be adding any more links than I normally would. I will never add links to a product I would not or have not purchased for myself. And there is always the option of just not clicking on a link. : )

I have added them to this post as a test run. All of these links in this post are affiliate links. I have also added a small Modcloth banner to my home page, because I love Modcloth! And I am happy to be working with the company.

Who knows? Maybe I could generate enough income for better giveaways. That would be a fun goal. And so, so cool!

Thank you for being understanding.

And now onto the monthly fun:

Everything in my craving list will have to wait until sale. That is just the way I like to shop. Unfortunately, I doubt we will see much in terms of big sales in April. March seems to have seen the deeply discounted winter sales.

I am not craving much. And I have a post coming up in the next week detailing my purchases for March. But twist my arm and I will reveal items I think are cool right now.

This Anthropologie Farmer’s Market Peasant Top looks so pretty in the close up shot. The pattern looks very detailed and interesting. I love this. I cannot decide if it is because of the name of it more than the shirt itself. I hope it makes it to second cuts for me.

I think these Selah Booties from Anthropologie are rad. I have no idea what I would wear them with. They would need to be under $50 for me to consider them.

I love the color of these Ankle Zip Charlie Trousers. I think they are fun.

And I NEED this Raja Wall Bust. Except, why couldn’t it be a dragon? I might be on the hunt for that instead.

This $9.99 Ear the Call of the Wild Ring from ModCloth is neat.

One more. I MUST snag at least one color of these Tassel Bloom Hoops from Anthropologie when they hit sale. They are my favorite things on their site right now.

Congratulations to Kel! I am so happy for you. There will be a new giveaway beginning April 10th.

Thank you to everyone who entered!

What are you craving? Anything on your wishlist I showed here?

P.S. Trying to claim a blog lovin’ account. Please ignore. Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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. : )

January 16, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

The Winner Of The Blog Giveaway and Stuff I’m Craving

The winner of my 10th Month Blog Anniversary (I feel like such a teenager sometimes celebrating monthly, but it is more fun that way) is Cynthia! I love Cynthia over at Marcy Very Much. She is just the nicest girl. I met her a couple of months ago through blogging and her blog always makes me smile and laugh. Congratulations Cynthia!

Here are all of our words for the year 2014. They gave me goosebumps as I typed them all in. I just want everyone to get their word this year. I also can’t help but think together with all of our words, we would be unstoppable:

Magic
Calm 2
Love
Healthy 5
Breathe
Still
Enthusiasm
Finish
Peaceful
Thankful 2
Grateful 3
Joyful
Bake
Bounty
Faith
Content 3
Productive
Intentional
Vibrant
Fulfillment
Strength
Forward 2
Reflection
Health 2
Patience
Happy
Try
Grace
Relax
Miley (her daughter’s name)
Discovery
Present
Pregnant
Adventure
Carefree
Appreciative
Enjoy
Pleasant
Successful 2
Memorable
Growth
Fabulous
Unoffended
Greatness
Self-sufficient
Revitalize
Optimism
Change
Stillness
Serene
Balance

I would love to be almost all of those words (Of course, I can’t be Keiko’s daughter, although that would be fun) and my pregnancy time is long past (but, oh, this one I am so hopeful about Becky!). I also think some of the words are hard for me and to read them made me realize that I need to work on that aspect of myself. Like “unoffended.” Great word. Although spell check doesn’t think so. And “carefree.” I find both of those words to be difficult to do. I would love to be “grateful” every day as well. That is a good word to put things into perspective.

I also agree with Liana. Sometimes I get superstitious and do not want to voice my good hopes in case the universe reads it wrong. : ). “Pleasant” is a pretty good safe word.

I really hope we can all succeed in making our words a reality this year. I am lucky I have this blog to share on, but if you don’t have that option, you can always email me. My email address is on my “About Me” page. And you could vent. Or share. It usually takes me more time to respond to an email than a comment, but I will respond.

Thank you guys for entering and opening yourselves up by sharing your word. It made me so grateful for each of you. And hopeful for the future.

On To My Cravings:

I purchased four pairs of pants during the super sale Anthropologie had. And even though all four pants ended up being just a little more ($19) than full price would have been for just one pair, and I used my last gift card towards them, I am done shopping for the month. Sigh. It is also because I scored the Cultivar Boots on a popback. And the Ombra Shift dress for $30 instead of $200! But it means my shopping is over for the month. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Unless something pops back for $10 and then I have to buy it. I mean it would be a crime not to…right? ; )

Ahem. How many days until February?

Although I have to be even better in February because we are going on a trip to Las Vegas in March. My clothing budget will be obsolete. I do not really have any “Vegas” dresses. I am hoping to score a holiday party dress marked down 80-90% off retail price for the trip… A girl can dream can’t she?

And I am going to be honest. I am not really in love with anything new at Anthropologie right now. Well, except for two or three pieces:

The Savant Dress. I bought this (and used a gift card towards the purchase in December) in the black and white striped version. I adore it. The sleeves… I have a feeling with how popular this dress has been, Anthropologie is going to recreate the sleeves next season on everything. As they do. Then I will get tired of it. But for now, I love it. Hopefully, I will be able to buy the grey version one day.

The Bavay Dress is calling my name. I am ignoring her. I need her to be on sale. But she is lovely.

And speaking of cravings. I rushed home after getting my hair done last night and made chocolate chip cookies… For dinner. With wine (Yep. Feeling better!). But I only had one stick of butter. Who runs out of butter? I guess I do. And I was out of vanilla extract. Who runs… Oh, you get it. I need to get to the store. So, I substituted half of the caviar from a vanilla bean for the extract and just halved my recipe. Um, yum. I will definitely do that again!

Purchases I made in January:

I purchased these MiH Petite Casablanca Flares for $45 during the additional 25% off sale (at 11:30 the night they got discounted more). If these pants popback in your size, I highly recommend them. They are the perfect length for me and I am 5’6″. The color is a deep grey-purple. They are a stretchy velvet. I wore them today (Wednesday) and love them.

And these Citizens of Humanity Avedon Velvet Leggings in Antique Pink. I also purchased these as soon as they got discounted further that night while the 25% sale was still in effect. I have all ready worn them three times since I got them on Friday.

The pants were purchased in my usual size 29. And they both fit exactly how I would want them to.

By the way, both pictures of the pants are modeled by Anthropologie models. Not me. I can see how the similarity of our thighs could confuse you.

But their thighs aren’t clapping.

Yes. That is the only way to tell us apart.

Here is a picture of my Embroidered Ombra Shift Dress that I bought for 85% off. Woot! Woot!

What are your cravings lately? Do you give in? Last night I gave into my craving for chocolate chip cookies and wine. Two each, thank you! And well worth it.

I guess January isn’t so bad after all (knock on wood). Now that I can breathe. And think. And smile.

And drink… Wait… I all ready said that when I said, “smile.”