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 25, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

Cockatiels and Stripes?

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

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.

Unless you’re a cockatiel.

I’ve heard salt is bad for birds.

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

But close.

Can we please be ~~sober~~ serious for a moment?

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.

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).

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.

January 23, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

From India To Me

I love to shop Etsy for one of a kind pieces. I especially love embroidered pieces. But I am not picky. I’ll know it when I see it.

And I saw it.

But it was sold out, so I contacted Lisa from Madame Hall on Etsy to see if she would be making any more of the dresses I had seen on her site in a size medium. She did not have any but she sent me a few pictures of this dress laying flat.

And, of course, I loved it.

I bought it (with the help of a gift card from the sweetest lady ever. Thank you B!) and anxiously awaited its arrival.

It came in the coolest package about two weeks later. She sewed the package up with my address on the cloth. Inside of the initial package, the dress was wrapped in another gorgeous embroidered simple cloth bag. And she even sent me a beautiful embroidered scarf as a gift. Truly exceptional service. I would not hesitate to order from her again and to recommend her shop to others.

I was not planning on pairing it with brown boots. In fact, I was going to wear it with my black fringed booties. But the snow would have ruined those. I did need to quickly grab a slip for underneath this because of the length. It is almost more of a tunic than a dress but because it is made from wool, I would only wear this with tights and leggings in the wintertime any way.

The bright cheerful colors just make me so happy.

I feel like this dress was meant to be mine. Or I was meant for it. It only needed to find me half way across the world. From India to me.

Do you buy clothing items from Etsy? Do you ever feel a personal connection to an item of clothing? Does it speak to you?

Mine does.

I’m not gonna tell you what it says.

All right.

Just this once. I’ll spill the beans. Or beads as it were…

With a shimmer. A glimmer. A whisper, it breathes, “OHHHHHH YEAAAAAAHHHHHH.”

Or maybe that’s just me.

January 21, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

Lady In Red… Embroidery

I have mentioned before that maroon is not my favorite color. Well, I am not a huge fan of red either. I don’t not like it. I just don’t like it very well either. I think it is a very hard color to wear. I have a pair of red boots and it absolutely terrifies me to wear them. Red is very attention grabbing.

I don’t really like attention.

“I know.

The irony.

Or idiocy does not escape me,” says the public blogger.

When someone is paying attention to me, it makes it very difficult to eavesdrop on them.

It also makes it difficult to finish the interesting conversation one was having with oneself. Just when you are about to learn where the bodies are buried, the stranger’s eyes will meet your own and you will have to stop the secret whispering.

Please tell me I’m ~~not~~ alone.

I had forgotten all about this dress until I was lamenting to my husband as I was getting ready for our date, “I have nothing to wear.”

I was only half joking.

Everything I pulled out of the closet just seemed wrong.

I find it harder to dress for a date with my husband than anything else.

He is not fond of my loose-fitting frocks. Or my hippie skirts. I wanted him to think I looked pretty while still staying true to myself.

I found this dress (old and sold out, similar dress here) tucked in the back of the closet wedged somewhere between my Kantha dresses, gnome costumes and my dignity. I had wondered where that went. I hastily threw it on with my fringe booties and big rose earrings.

When I came out of the closet, my husband commented, “I like that dress.” And both me and myself were pleased.

We ended up going to a restaurant that we always do. It was lovely, although not as lovely as usual. The food was not on par with our past experiences. It is an outdoor restaurant.

It was cold. I ended up keeping My Vegan Leather Jacket on all night (previously worn here and here).

I wore the dress to the post office later in the week and I had two people stop me to tell me that they just loved the red embroidery.

Now I will never know where those bodies are buried.

Don’t look too closely at those mounds behind me.

Do you have a fear of wearing red? Do you talk to yourself in public? Do you always go to the same place on a date? If the meal was not up to par would you say something? I will admit that I said nothing. It would have made my face red even thinking of doing so. And one spot of red was enough for one night.

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

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

ootd

A Mountain Of A Mystery Maxi

Cockatiels and Stripes?

From India To Me

Lady In Red… Embroidery