September 3, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

A Gnome Lover Picnic

When I was a very young girl, my favorite thing to do was twirl around the living room listening to the song, “Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” on the record player. Yep. Record player. Have you listened to that song as an adult? It is kind of creepy. Almost as creepy as the pictures I decided to take below.

When I saw Anthropologie’s Inez Dress, I decided what I really wanted was to take some artistic pictures wearing the dress surrounded by gnomes instead of bears. As one does… When you are me or crazy. You can interchange one word for the other.

I was kind of bummed, because the pictures did not turn out like they had in my head. Few things ever do.

For one thing, the gnomes would not sit still.

For another, they are notorious dirty joke tellers.

I had to scold the one on the left in that picture. He could not really help it. His head is full of holes.

I guess I have to let it go. They are the stars of the show afterall. ; )

Then I decided that I really needed to take pictures laying down. I had seen the most wonderful picture on Free People Me of a girl doing that. I have no idea how she did it. My try at it was a dismal failure. But it did make me laugh, although this position did not really help with stopping the gnome’s favorite distraction.

I finally gave up and took some standing pictures. These were not the shoes I had originally planned with this outfit. I will definitely pair this dress with booties in the future. However it was a long day and I needed something I could run around in. Any type of heel was not going to cut it. It would have been too easy to trip over those naughty gnomes.

I do have to say that this dress is one of my top ten in my closet. I love absolutely everything about it.

Yes, it is big. Yes, it has no shape from the front or side. But did ya see how this baby swings? It is just perfect for a Teddy Bear Picnic.

Not a Gnome Picnic.

They are no longer invited. They have to stay gnome with the dogs.

Did you go on a picnic this summer? Do you like swing dresses (it is okay if you don’t. I get it. I have friends who like more structure and fit, too). Did you have a dress like this in the 1990s? I did. I guess I am regressing. First “Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” then a dress from my teenage years. What next? No, seriously, what next? I just had a picnic with a bunch of gnomes. My good judgement is obviously gone. If it ever was really there to begin with.

August 24, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Free People New Romantics Rio Dress

This is my second attempt at styling Free People’s New Romantics Rio Dress in the other color I purchased it in (the first dress can be found styled here). I love both of the dresses I purchased.

At first I liked the cream one better but I think now the black one has my heart.

I styled both of the dresses with Free People’s Trapeze Slip underneath. I like the extra coverage it provided and the color went great with both of them.

This dress is so much fun.

I cannot wait to wear it with tights and boots in the wintertime. I think I will like it even more then.

I paired the black dress with World Market’s friendship bracelets. I loved the dress’s embroidery paired with the textured color of the bracelets.

What’s a girl to do when she finds the perfect dress?

Twirl, baby. Twirl.

What is your perfect dress? Do you look for things with embroidery or are you more drawn to the clean and structured?

My heart like my mind is drawn to the unstructured. Probably because that is the way they are formed.

*this post was edited using the App Afterlife’s Meadow Filter at 57%.

August 22, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

I Rio-lly Love This Dress

Every morning I would wake up obsessed. I really, really wanted the Free People New Romantics Rio Dress to hit sale (it finally has, but it is cheaper in-store). Did I say really? I had tried it on way back in March when we were in Las Vegas and it was the item I had dreamt about buying if only I had won some money gambling. But, alas, that did not happen. And the dress was much too expensive for me to justify its singular purchase. I thought about that dress for months. It was the only dress that had ever come close to my beloved Kantha Dresses from Anthropologie. And every day I would check the Free People website to see if it had gone on sale.

It hadn’t.

One day I decided to reread the reviews. Might as well read about someone else enjoying the lovely dress, I thought.

I read a review I had not seen before. It had been published a month earlier. It spoke of being so happy to be able to purchase the dress on sale. Wha-a-a?!

And that is when I remembered that the clothes on Free People’s website do not often match prices with the items in the store. I decided to call the store that had both colors available because I am greedy and wanted them both.

A store had them.

They were around 60% off but then I got free shipping and no tax! Score!

I styled the cream dress with my Pam Hiran Necklace from Anthropologie and two of World Market’s beaded bracelets.

The rest of the day was spent in a blur. Now what was I going to do with my mornings now that I had finally acquired the dress?

Well, I will be spending some time just admiring the beautiful embroidery.

It makes me happy.

Do you sit and stare at items in your closet? Do you like the thrill of the hunt for the perfect dress or finally getting to wear it the best?

*The black version of this dress will run on Sunday. This post was edited using the App Afterlife’s Forrest Filter at 37%.

August 21, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Savory Palmiers

Sounds fancy, doesn’t it?

The other day, was my friend’s birthday. And what she wanted for her birthday was to go to a local winery and have a potluck picnic with some of her girlfriends. I wondered what I should bring, but then it hit me.

Enter the palmier.

That sounds like an elaborate made-up foreign boyfriend who drives a Porsche and only drinks champagne as he serenades you with a poem that he just wrote about the way you two first met… Which incidentally, you lied about, too.

But Palmier doesn’t need to know that.

Ahem.

Getting back on track.

Palmiers might sound complicated, but you can use all store bought ingredients and whip up a beautiful little ~~boyfriend~~ appetizer that nobody would ever guess took you less than fifteen minutes to create. The palmiers are flaky and melt in your mouth as they burst with different flavors.

We are making two different types of palmiers here. One is Ina Garten’s Recipe using pesto, feta, and sundried tomatoes. The other palmier is one that I created. It is more of a pizza roll using cream cheese, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. When I make these I freeze half and then I have an appetizer or spare dinner when I need it. Each log makes about twenty to twenty five palmiers depending upon how thin you slice them.

Ingredients For Pesto Palmiers:

1 package frozen puff pastry
1/4-1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1/2 cup of crumbled feta
1/2 cup store bought pesto
1/2 cup flour

Ingredients for Pizza Palmiers:

1 package frozen puff pastry
2 cups mozzarella shredded cheese
8 oz. softened cream cheese
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/4-1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1/2 cup flour

Optional:

Chopped pepperoni

Directions:

Let frozen pastry defrost on counter for twenty-thirty minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lightly flour your counter and place one pastry sheet on floured surface. Lightly flour pastry surface and roll with a rolling pin into a 9 X 11 inch rectangle.

For the pesto palmiers, layer 1/2 of the ingredients per pastry sheet: first the pesto, then sun-dried tomatoes, then feta.

For the pizza palmiers, layer 1/2 the ingredients per pastry sheet: first the cream cheese, then pizza sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, and mozzarella. You could also cut up some pepperoni and place that in, too. I happen to not like pepperoni, so I do not add it.

When all of the ingredients are layered, take half of the long length of the palmier and fold it in half towards the center. Repeat with the other side until they are touching. Then fold again until the pastry dough is halfway to the center. Repeat with other side so that the two sides meet in the middle again. Whew.

Does your roll look like this?

Or this? Yesterday I made these for my daughter, because she got her braces off and this is what she requested for dinner (these are one of her favorite things I make). The appetizer makes a great fun dinner option served family style in the middle of the table alongside a separate bowl of salad. I accidentally folded mine horizontally yesterday. So, if your roll looks like the ones above, that is okay. You just will not have as many palmiers at the end, but you will have bigger ones. If you want bigger palmiers, fold the pastry sheet width wise. If you want a larger quantity of small appetizers, fold length wise.

Wrap in plastic wrap. If you have made both types of palmiers, you will have four rolls. Refrigerate until needed. You can make these the day before a party and have them on hand. Freeze for thirty minutes before cutting to make cutting easier. Freeze remaining logs (I only use one log of each type of palmier for each event) and just defrost them the next time you need a quick appetizer.

After taking palmier logs out of the freezer, cut palmiers into 1/4 inch slices and place on a parchment lined baking sheet (the parchment is important. I have tried making these without the parchment paper and just cooking spray and the palmiers stick) two inches a part. I do not have a picture of that. I do, however, have a picture of my back. Isn’t that ~~vain~~ helpful?

Bake sliced palmiers for 17-19 minutes. Mine are never as pretty as Ina’s, but they taste good.

Transfer the hot palmiers to a paper towel lined plate and allow to cool before placing on a platter to serve.

Now celebrate your hard work with some champagne alongside Palmier before he takes you for a ride in that Porsche. If he tries to serenade you with another one of his cheesy poems, just shove one of these babies in his mouth. Your ears and your mouth will thank you.

*I could not help sneaking some pictures of my new dress into this post. Blame ~~the champagne~~ Palmier. He told me to do it. Dress is from Anthropologie here.