January 30, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

Tasseled and Tousled

Sometimes an outfit will come together in my mind and then it is quickly forgotten as something else comes up. But I could not get this one out of my head.

So I put it on. And I was happy.

I received these booties for Christmas (however did he know?). The booties are sold out at Anthropologie, but the brand is Fortress of Inca and they have similar booties available. They are more than what I paid, but I have seen their site do promotions, so I would watch for that if you want the booties. I wore mine for about ten hours on this day. And they were very comfortable.

The dress was an awesome sale popback score. I was really worried that this dress would accentuate my hips in a negative way, but it surprisingly does not. It is a very forgiving dress. The only thing I would change would be the v-shaped pretty plaid pattern in the middle. If you stand a certain way, it looks like odd legs. But I can live with that.

Heather from The Peacock Fairy previously wore her dress here. Can you believe she just had a baby? She looks fantastic! I didn’t get dressed for three months after each baby. She is very inspiring. Bonnie from Small Town Fashionista also rocked the dress early on. In fact, it was after seeing it on her that I added it to my wishlist.

It is a great dress for all body types. You might be able to find The Tasseled Maxi Dress on eBay or as a popback (it is all sold out, but Golden Tote has almost the exact same dress for $35 without the middle panel. I have never shopped there before, so I cannot comment on the site).

Whew! Mundane details out of the way. Oh! I forgot about the necklace! And I forgot its name! It is from 2013. It has a gold stripe on the other side. I always wear it backwards because I like the pure dark fabric by itself better. The ring was the best deal last month. I had wanted it when it first came out, but never got it. My local store had it for $7.50. I wear it all of the time!

Okay. Now the mundane details are hopefully out of the way. Who likes mundane details? Not me. And isn’t January full of them as we try to get our lives organized for the new year?

Such as, I have been purging my closet. I made a pile that I will be donating and the next night at dinner, my daughter came to the table wearing the kimono I had put on top of the donation pile. It is a good thing that I am always slow and behind or she would have missed out!

It was windy when we took these pictures. Somehow I ended up in positions that resembled ballerina poses as I tried to block the sun and keep my hair in place.

I find this hilarious as I am the most klutzy person I know. My mother was a beautiful ballerina. I never had the knack. Or the grace. Or the fortitude. I took it for, gosh, seven years. I kept hearing about the blood involved with pointe shoes and that was it for me. It makes me dizzy just thinking about it. And nobody wants a dizzy ballerina. Besides I believe I would be a ditzy dizzy ballerina and that would be a double blow to the craft.

Did you take a dance class as a child? Do you take it now? Is anyone else still reeling from the talk about the pointe shoes? I can feel the room spinning. I must put my head between my legs.

Don’t worry. If anyone asks I’ll just tell them it is a new dance move.

And they’ll totally ~~not~~ believe me.

P.S. I shared this on The Pleated Poppy and Reasons To Dress and Fashion Should Be Fun.

January 26, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

A Mountain Of A Mystery Maxi

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?

It happened again.

With the Nanda Maxi Dress (now sold out).

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.

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

Names. We were talking about names.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

January 13, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

The Perfect Dress

You know I do not say that lightly. But this is it. The perfect dress. For me, anyway. It was another item I waited for a fantastic sale price on. I bought it in the spring. It nips in at the waist and then flows out into an old-fashioned dream. It is the palest of pinks which makes it more interesting than another white dress. I even purchased one for my daughter, because she loved it so much.

I knew I wanted to take pictures of this Free People Heart Dress (sold out, but similar dress in pink here) in front of an old building. I had the perfect spot in our town. It was an old building with a giant head of an 1800s woman in a flowered hat. Well, we went there the other day and guess what? The new owners painted over it! What a travesty!

When I was at my dad’s house, I knew I wanted to take the opportunity to style this dress in front of Rusty’s house.

Who is Rusty? You ask.

That is a long and short story.

Let’s go with the short version.

When my mom and dad moved into our home, they rented the property from her family. They later purchased it. Rusty kind of came with the deal.

Rusty was not related to the family. He squatted in a ramshackle old house next door to our own that was also on the property. In fact, this house is pictured in the B-movie, “Skeeters.” But that is a story for another day.

Rusty was a hobo.

For real. Although, I realize that is not a politically correct term. It is what I knew him as and I will not change it. It is meant with no offense, because Rusty rode on railroad cars and was a transient, which is how that term came about. He was the real deal and I loved him. He came and went as he pleased. The house is still full of the remains of his travels.

One day I will share with you my memories of Rusty. He died when I was almost four. But I still have fond flashes of moments with him in my mind. I called him, “Uncle Rusty.” And he was a harmless sweet man who happened to bunk on our property. I had an interesting but wonderful childhood.

I think Uncle Rusty would have liked this dress. Although, it wouldn’t have been practical.

I could never catch a train in this.

Maybe it isn’t so perfect after all.

Nah. That’s silly. I’ll just take a bus.

Did you have any interesting characters in your childhood? What is your perfect dress?

January 4, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

Building A Snowgnome

Oh the joy! In my secret heart of hearts was a dream that I did not think I could even dare to close my eyes to think of. It involved my children playing in the snow. In our yard. Building a snowman.

It doesn’t seem like a big dream, but there it was in my heart of hearts.

So when my husband woke me up on New Year’s Eve excitedly exclaiming that it was snowing, I thought I was still dreaming. It was still dark outside, and it did not seem real.

But it was. In Southern California, it snowed.

We woke our kids up and told them to quickly get dressed in warm clothes and shoes. And we all traipsed outside to play in the snow in the dark. Our silhouettes were lit by the streetlamps and Christmas lights twinkling on the street. It felt surreal and I understood how Harry Potter must have felt when Hagrid greeted him in the lighthouse that very first night.

Anything seemed possible.

My kids built a snowman with my husband that I turned into a snowgnome.

He was much happier that way.

As one always is in a red pointy hat.

Did you build a snowman or snowgnome this season? Please tell me I am not the only one with a gnome hat or two.

*Outfit details: My sweater is one that I purchased from the flea market last month. I talked about it more in this post. Anthropologie has a cool cardigan out right now that is also reminiscent of an afghan or blanket. I also found this one on Etsy. If you can crochet, there are many different crochet cardigan patterns available for purchase there for around $3 so you could make your own. I was very lucky and only paid $30 for my sweater. The sleeveless chambray dress was an Anthropologie popback last year from Cloth and Stone (now sold out, similar shaped dress here).

*I shared this on The Pleated Poppy.

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

maxi

Tasseled and Tousled

A Mountain Of A Mystery Maxi

The Perfect Dress

Building A Snowgnome