July 21, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Late Summer Love Dress

I know it is not really “late summer” yet. I would say we are smack dab in the middle of summer as far as time plotting goes. However, Late Summer Love is the name of this dress and since I spent ~~hours~~ minutes staring at these outfit pictures trying to come up with a title and nothing came to me. Well, we went with the name of the dress. And when I say “we”, I mean “I”. Just like when I say “late summer” I mean “middle summer”. Unless I actually mean late summer but at that point I would probably call it early fall.

We are a walking contradiction.

For instance, sometimes I will have to layer something underneath a short dress or I feel naked. Other times, I will leave the house in a dress my husband mistook for a shirt.

I do not know why some pieces of clothing garner different rules than others. It is a conundrum.

This is off topic (if we were ever really on one), but my son calls this pose my chicken pose. That makes me laugh. Or rather squawk.

We took these pictures the other day at my daddy’s apiary. In the second picture above this one, you can see some old hives. I grew up wandering these paths.

I love this picture. It is probably my favorite outfit picture my husband has ever taken. I am not sure why. But it is such a candid shot, because I did not know my husband had started shooting. I like that I am fixing my gnome. It reminds me of being a little girl on that very road.

Although my mother never would have let me wear a dress that short.

My husband agrees with her.

I will pair this dress with leggings, tights and maybe even jeans in the wintertime.

Back to my son’s earlier observation: What would happen if I made it to the other side of this road?

Whatever the answer, I hope I could get there without flashing anybody.

I love the lilac tones in this dress mixed with the yellow. I purchased this dress with my birthday discount and a gift card while it is on sale.

And although it is short, it has really cool sleeves.

That is important.

‘Cause when you’re marching to your own beat, it’s nice to be able to do it with a little flare, regardless of the name of the season or the stance of your pose.

Do you have odd rules about clothes? Do you ever contradict yourself?

I do not know why I do. Squawk!

July 2, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Swingin’ Through The Vines

I have decided that my favorite silhouettes for my body type are shift dresses and swing dresses. I do not like tight things. I find myself pulling them down or pulling them up, forgetting to suck in my stomach or sucking it in too much. It is more of a hassle than I am willing to bear.

So, when I saw this swing dress at Forever 21 for less than $30, I was sold. But it was a tad short. Probably because although the store’s name suggests that we will always be of a certain age, my body parts have not received that message.

I paired it with my favorite slip, Free People’s Trapeze Slip. I want another color in this, because I wear the one I have constantly.

The necklace is Simply Livly’s Turquoise Necklace. The shoe’s are Anthropologie’s Tarara Gladiator Sandals.

We took my husband’s VW Bus for a spin and I love that the color of the bus matched the color of the slip.

We ended up at a vineyard with amazing views.

I love when we stumble upon a gorgeous piece of scenery. Actually, I love stumbling upon anything unexpectedly good.

Have you stumbled upon a beautiful piece of scenery lately? Did it make you want to spin? I will admit, this day was so gorgeous, it made me want to embrace the sky. Thankfully, my unrestricted garments made that possible.

Not the actual embracing of the sky, but the insane act of trying.

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 30, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Bermeja Tunic Dress

You would think a girl whose favorite novel being entitled, “Name of the Wind”, would be more interested in names than I am. Blame it on having the most popular name of my generation. A common name. And you will start to see the reasoning behind my conditioning. A name might be what is given to you, but the words you have earned by which your name is described to others, are your own.

Lately, I have become more intrigued by the names of things. I think it also has to do with naming blog title posts each and every day. Do I give the post a funny name? A punny name? One that makes me smile? Or do I stick to what the search engines want and keep it boring and simple? I try to do both.

This dress has the name Bermeja Tunic Dress. I decided to look the word “Bermeja” up. Imagine my surprise in discovering that the name of this dress is controversial. Historical. Quite interesting.

Bermeja is a tiny island in the Gulf of Mexico. Or was a tiny island in the Gulf of Mexico. Or might or might not have been a tiny island in the Gulf of Mexico. Nobody knows. Because either it disappeared or it simply never existed.

There are many theories about the island. I found my information on Lonely Planet. You can click there if you wish to learn more.

The reason this is even more interesting to me is because on the day these pictures were taken, I wore my Holy Holey Girdle. Yes, you read that right. I will have to do a post on it sometime.

Well, this dress ended up being shorter than expected and we ended up having to edit Holy Holey Girdle out of two pictures. This led me to feel many mixed emotions. I have never edited a picture before by erasing a flaw in it. I want to be true to myself. But I also don’t want Holy Holey Girdle to get all of the attention.

It is kind of addicting. This fixing of one’s flaws. I am not going to say this will be the last time I do that. In fact, I will say, that will definitely not be the last time I do that. But in an effort to be real, I will share an unedited picture on tomorrow’s Keepin’ It Real” post, complete with a glimpse of Holy Holey Girdle.

‘Cause if it is about names. The truth in names. Then I want my name to be a real island. Of truth. Even if the truth can get ugly. At least it won’t sink with the weight of lies.

Paired with the dress, are my new Tarara Gladiator Sandals from Anthropologie (they are almost all sold out, but other stores have them. Bloomingdale’s has them here). Tarara is a small town in Cuba. In New Zealand, Tarara means fast talker (source: Wikipedia).

These sandal boots were made for talkin’…

Had you ever heard of Bermeja before? What are your thoughts on names?

*The bracelets and necklaces are a mish mash of older pieces (similar bracelet here) and Forever 21’s Globetrotter Beaded Cuffs. The turquoise necklace is from Simply Livly on Etsy and the other necklaces are old layering necklaces from Anthropologie (similar here).

* I shared this on The Pleated Poppy!

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

swing

Late Summer Love Dress

Swingin’ Through The Vines

Skip To The Lou

Bermeja Tunic Dress