June 16, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Lavender Farm

If my husband’s favorite part of our Maui trip was The Crater, then mine would have to be Maui’s Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm. At only $3 a person and free parking, it is a bargain to get in and wander the beautiful property. They give you a map and a treasure hunt piece of paper that you stamp as you walk through the grounds (I recommend adults do this as the prize is age universal). My son LOVED this.

This picture was taken on the drive up. The drive is just beautiful.

There are many different paths. I like the name of this one.

And, of course, lavender farms means pictures of lavender.

We wandered through trees.

And up high. The views on the farm are incredible.

I even had a Buddha friend to keep me company.

Beautiful flowers.

And creepy ~~girl~~ flowers.

My husband and I split a lavender scone. I wanted a picture, but he ate half of it before I could get the full thing.

It was really good.

Now. My favorite part. I love chameleons. And we were lucky enough to spot three Jackson Chameleons while we were there.

My husband said he’s never seen me so happy.

But, how cute is this little guy?! Those horns! He is a baby. And I was madly in love. I could have spent the whole vacation up there playing with those lizards.

What are your thoughts on chameleons? Have you been to a lavender farm or eaten anything with lavender in it?

Outfit details: this dress is an older Anthropologie dress called Espejoa Mini-Dress. I am wearing the dress backwards. I would rather a keyhole be in the back. The closest dress I can find to it now is this dress. The shoes are Gentle Soul’s tall gladiator sandals and the necklace is Simply Livly’s Turquoise Necklace.

*These photos were edited using the app Afterlife’s Sailor or Bay filters (depending upon the darkness of the picture).

June 2, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Skip To The Lou

There are many reasons I am not a blog devoted entirely to fashion. Well, besides the fact that I can never just commit to one thing. I want all of the cake. All of it. And to eat it, too. Which brings me to my first reasoning:

The first being the most obvious one. I am not a model. And I don’t claim to be one. I have very few poses and I am just not that comfortable in front of the camera. And that is okay. : )

Locations. My husband is the location scout master (oh my gosh, isn’t he going to just love being called that?). On this day, it went something like this:

Him: “Let’s take a picture in front of that fence.”

Me: “Okay.”

Still Me: “Oh my God! There are ants everywhere. The ground is moving.”

Him: “Just step around them.”

Me: “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” screaming as I race around the ant hill, kicking up dust. Making the ants mad.

Him: unpostable.

And after all of that, I am itchy the rest of the day.

Third. I am a walking conundrum. Most women cut these strings out of their tops. But, me, I like them. They’re handy.

But they made an appearance in almost every picture.

Despite all of the fails of the day, I still wanted to show this easy boho look. Because I really like this Free People Pieced Lou Top. I bought mine in a large because I wanted a bigger looser fit. I love the green and the blue together. I purchased mine at Nordstrom Rack for $40. The link posted here goes to a different site.

The necklaces are a mixture of old Anthropologie layering necklaces and Simply Livly’s turquoise necklace. The bracelet is Free People’s Hammered Stacked Multi Cuff.

Yes, I will never be a be a blog devoted entirely to fashion. But I will be a blog devoted entirely to being a real girl.

Wearing clothes.

That she can’t help but share, because she loves them.

Even if it means an ant bite.

Or two.

*These photos were edited by adding the Bloom filter on the app Afterlife. I like the yellow vintage feel it gives the pictures.

May 31, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Keepin’ It Real: May 2014

Every month, I try to do a summary of that month with outfit outtakes and a quick wrap up of things I might have missed blogging about in that month. May had some doozies in terms of outtakes. And it was a doozy of a month for a lot of people I know, my family included. When I told my friend we had to endure one more day of May, she exclaimed, “NO-O-O!”

I hear ya, sister.

If you missed last month’s “Keepin’ It Real”, you can find it here.

On to this recap. May, I will not miss you:

Recipe fail. My mom asked me the other day, “Do you post everything you make?” Oh my gosh, no! When you are experimenting with a new recipe there are going to be some misses. I have even made some recipes from very acclaimed chefs and have had to throw the whole dish away. So, no, I do not post about every recipe. Only the ones I would absolutely make again. And again.

The other day, I made this dessert. So bad. Tip: Do not add raspberries to Strawberry Shortcake. It sounds good. It is not good.

Outfit Outtakes:

As promised. A glimpse of Holy Holey Girdle. It is such a small glimpse. We saved over the other original pictures with the revised ones, so this is what we have left. Here is the actual outfit post.

It really is more like an extra pair of skin colored shorts than anything else. And to be even more forthright, the only reason I wore them on this day was to hide my colored underwear. The dress is so flowy, it hides a lot of flaws. The girdle is not the typical spanx. It does not offer much support, but it makes me feel more confident.

And I could not resist adding this picture because of the unfortunate placement of my hand.

So, I fell in a cactus (picture of my cactus hand is in “Keepin’ It Real: April 2014. Link above). And my twirling has never been the same. The outfit post for this photo shoot is here.

This picture makes me laugh.

“True Detective”, anyone? Just a bit of an odd thing to find around town.

Peonies! Everywhere?! Yes, please! Tip: Trader Joe’s will let you take the plastic bucket if you ask nicely. : )

Does this alert ever make anyone’s day better?

At San Diego Children’s Hospital, the ceiling tiles are randomly painted overhead. Isn’t that just a nice unexpected thing? That way, when a child is being wheeled through the halls and into various rooms, they have something to look at and look forward to.

I could hug whoever thought of this.

My mom gifted me a gift card to Anthropologie and these for Mother’s Day. Isn’t that the sweetest?!

Father’s Day idea. My kids each made my dad and my husband some of these hammers a few years ago. We just painted a wooden hammer and then shellacked it. I found the idea on Pinterest. Easy peasy.

And my most exciting purchase of the month. Seriously. These barf bags. I have a post about them ready. If you ever get car sick or have children that get sick, these are priceless.

With that in mind, May, you can be on your way.

Oh my gosh! Last night my husband and I were dancing with the dogs in the kitchen to “I like to move it.” When we sing it to the dogs they dance with us. It is actually quite cute and comical.

The dogs are funny, too.

Well, Ollie got too rambunctious and did a back flip! He hit his head so hard. We immediately stopped dancing, but I felt so bad for him. You can see the beginning of it in this picture. Who knew he had it in him?

Coming up in June:

Maui posts! We are heading back to Maui next week and I cannot wait to blog about it!
My Husband’s Secret Part II… She had to find out sometime. ; )
Honey Ice Cream! My favorite treat in the summer.
Whirlin’ Twirlin’ (Free People Mixed Print Tunic).

What did you think of May? Will you be happy or sad to see it end?

April 30, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Keepin’ It Real April 2014

We are one third of the way through this year? How is this possible? April flew by. Flew by! Here are the random things that happened in our lives this month. If you missed last month’s “Keepin’ It Real” post, you can find it here.

One of my most exciting random things that happened this month and nobody knew about except me was, Patrick Rothfuss and I posted about coins on the same day! What are the odds?

And, okay, his post is eloquent and sweet and meaningful. And, gosh, informative. And also slightly scary (because I have a copper sink! Argh!).

And my post is disturbing. Crude. Gross…

But hey, I’ll take it!

Speaking of my post, I do not know what I ended up doing with that dime. I put it somewhere safe.

This could be anywhere.

And everywhere.

And quite possible how it ended up where it did in the first place.

Before I worry about that, I am hoping I simply slipped it into the good old American hiding place: my underwear drawer.

This could also be how it ended up where it did that day, as well.

We will probably never know.

But now that I have given you these two scenarios, I fear a repeat.

Only dime will tell.

I found a stack of Tory Burch shoes at Nordstrom Rack. None of them called my name, but I thought some of you ladies (or adventurous men) would like to see a giant pile of these discounted shoes!

This is what the aisle of Target looked like the night before Easter. Not a plastic egg to be found! But there were many frantic mommies and all you could hear was, “They have no eggs?! Where are the eggs?!”

I might have been part of the mass hysteria!

It ~~never~~ pays off to be a procrastinator.

This is what our Easter baskets looked like.

My husband LOVES dying Easter Eggs. He tried two different methods with the kids this year, including shaving cream. He preferred the traditional method.

Outfit outtakes.

While we are on the subject of outfit outtakes, let’s delve into the nitty gritty. This outfit post for this picture won’t be up for awhile, but look at what happens when I try to leave the house?! In trying to take better outfit pictures, I spun myself right into a cactus on Monday! I think it would have been worse if dorky me hadn’t been trying to protect this bracelet. Who cares about a hand? The bracelet was not harmed. Whew!

And I didn’t even scream…or cry.

The photographer on the other hand?!

He might have flinched a little. ; )

Believe me, the outtakes for next month all ready have a funny picture!

Also, it makes the question, “You know you’re ~~crazy~~ a blogger when?…” easier to answer. You know you’re a blogger when your first thought is not to pull out the needles sticking out of your skin but rather to take a picture of them!

My grandma used to make us buttered spinach noodles all of the time. And we loved them. I found fresh spinach noodles at the store and could not wait to feed this to my family. They did not like it… Yet! I am not giving up. I will keep making them. They are good for them. I think spinach noodles are delicious! How cool would this meal be on Saint Patrick’s Day?

Oh my gosh! Saint Patrick’s Day! I forgot to show you what I served that day in last month’s “Keepin’ It Real.” Green rice! This was much to my husband’s chagrin. I have a ~~bad~~ ~~awesome~~ habit of dying random food fun colors. I like to make his life interesting. I may or may not have been wearing my denim maxi skirt at the time. ; )

Did you do anything fun in the month of April? Have you tried spinach noodles? Ever fallen in a cactus? Please share!

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

photo

Lavender Farm

Skip To The Lou

Keepin’ It Real: May 2014

Keepin’ It Real April 2014