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.

March 10, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Gnome Lover Turns 1 Giveaway! NOW CLOSED!

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you for entering. Any entries received after the time of this writing (9:02 p.m. PST) will be deleted.

This little blog has turned one year old! I don’t even know that I changed one single diaper. In fact, I am not sure my husband did either. That is something to ponder and worry over at another date.

Gnome Lover is still just barely pulling itself up. In fact, I would say it might be in the crawling stage. It has a long way to go before it walks.

It has a lot to say. Most of it is gibberish. I am glad a few of you can understand it. Hopefully, it will become more coherent the older it gets.

I am so excited to watch it grow.

Diapers aside.

Today is a happy day! A goal accomplished! A birthday celebration!

Thank you to all of you readers who stop by everyday. Who encourage this little blog. Who take time to comment.

Thank you!

This blog would still be unable to lift its little head if it were not for you.

I am so excited about today’s giveaway!

I have been collecting stuff for this giveaway for months.

We’ll just call them birthday presents.

Are you ready to see what they are?

I am giving away a group of items: one $25 e-gift card to Anthropologie, one West Elm Favorite Throw in grey stripes, one Clinique Chubby Stick in Richer Raisin, one Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara, one Anthropologie Heirloom necklace, one Anthropologie candle in Pumpkin Spice, and one copy of “The Magician’s Elephant.” All of these items will go to one lucky winner! These are all some of the items that I have shared on this blog over the last year. And I am so thrilled to be able to do such a big giveaway for my blog anniversary!

For such a big giveaway, you will get up to four chances to enter the drawing for the items.

First way to enter is to simply leave a comment stating your favorite birthday memory.* This is a birthday celebration, after all. If you do not celebrate birthdays, feel free to just leave a comment stating a fond childhood memory. My favorite birthday memory is when I turned eight and had my first slumber party. My dad was moving bees out of the state so my mother was all alone with about twelve of us girls in our house. And a mouse ran underneath our feet. And a rattlesnake had curled up in the dog food outside. I can still hear the screaming!…

Second way to enter is to be a follower of this blog. There are many ways to do so on the right hand side of the page. Just be sure to leave a second comment stating you are following on this post!

Third way to enter is to share this post via social media. This could be Facebook, Twitter, via your blog. Any old way will do. Just come back and leave an additional comment stating how you shared it.

Finally, you can pick any of my posts and Pin one to Pinterest. After you have pinned a post, just come back here to let me know which of my post’s you have pinned.

You can choose one of these methods or all of these methods. Just be sure to leave a comment here for each method. If you choose to do all four, then you should have four total comments here. Limit four entries per person. One entry per method per person.

Good luck!

I will be using random.org to pick one winner based on the comments posted here. This giveaway begins on March 10, 2014 at 12:00 a.m. PST and ends March 17, 2014 at 9:00 p.m. PST. I will contact the winner via email provided in the comments here on March 18, 2014. I will post the winner’s name on this blog on March 19, 2014.

Please enter this giveaway with a valid email address. I will attempt to contact the winner three times. If within fourteen days from the first time I have attempted contact, I still have not heard from the winner, the prize will be forfeit and a new winner will be drawn.

Thank you so much for all of your help raising this blog. I could not do it without you. You are the best. Just one more quick thing that has been bugging me since I started this post.

Um, have any of you been changing diapers? This one is gonna haunt me.

P.S. This giveaway is sponsored by me and is in no way affiliated with Anthropologie, West Elm, Benefit, Clinique or Candlewick Publishing.

* edited on March 10, 2014: if you forget to leave a birthday comment and just respond with a comment as your original entry, I am still counting it. As long as the comment left is nice. : )

February 8, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Outfits From My Closet

Well, after yesterday’s kind of heavy post about entitlement, it is only natural that I do a post the very next day showcasing some outfits from my closet. Materialism. It’s another beast I fight. And when I say fight, I mean I hold its long slimy head to my bosom and gently whisper in its ear, “Are you cold? Cause you look like you could use another sweater.”

The outfits I wanted to show today are made up of pieces I have all ready worn on this blog before. But I wanted to show how I have worn them lately.

Do you remember my Modena dress? I admit she doesn’t get as much wear as I would like her to. I think it is because my husband just doesn’t like this dress. And as much as I strut around and claim that doesn’t bother me or affect if I will wear it, it does. Last week I wore the dress with my fun faun leggings from Modcloth (I also wore the leggings here.) And he liked it!

My Ruffled Sweater Vest! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Here I paired it with my Old Navy mustard pants and a white tee. I don’t know why I like this outfit so much, wonders the daughter of a beekeeper.

But I do. I do.

If you have been wondering if I had been neglecting my overalls since I posted about them here, I haven’t. I am still madly in love with them. I still get strange looks when I go out. This is when the Materialism Beast unfolds itself from around my waist, lifts his head up and hisses.

It’s not my fault if it spits hay at people in the process.

What is your favorite way to wear something you have had for awhile in your closet?

* P.S. Eye shared this on The Pleated Poppy!

January 12, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

The Dirty Blanket

Many nights ago found my entire family laying in our driveway. We stretched out on my son’s dirty sleeping bag that still was in the garage after being put there two weeks prior from this three day camp. Out of sight. And all that. And when I say stretched, I mean crammed. A few nights ago my family crammed themselves onto a dirty blanket in the front yard. And it was one of my happiest moments.

When watching the news earlier that morning, we learned that there was going to be a meteor shower. It was going to be an early one. So it would be possible for the kids to see some shooting stars prior to their bedtime.

The plan was for us all to gather in the hot tub. I turned the hot tub on and due to circumstances unseen (long story) had to come up with an alternative.

My husband said, “Why don’t we just lay in the driveway?”

To which I replied, “Great idea! I am going to need you to move the cars to block the entrance to the driveway so we don’t get run over.”

This ensued in a little conversation about it being our driveway and why would someone pull into it. What would they be doing? How could that happen? And if you put all of those questions to a hypochondriac…Well, you will find there is always an answer. I ended up “winning.” Cause I am nothing if not cautious. And more than a little bit paranoid.

So, we blocked the driveway with our cars and ~~stretched~~ crammed onto our dirty blanket.

We were blocked from our neighbor’s views. Which made us giggle a few times when we heard people walking by and unknowingly talking amongst themselves.

Our heads were cradled by one of my pillows I had made from an old feed bag. I figured it had seen worse than our dirty blanket.

And we stared into the night sky. I felt so at peace. We laid out there for thirty minutes. We ended up seeing six falling stars. One of them was spectacular. It was right above our house. As stars tend to be. And it lit up the night sky like a firework.

My family slowly left and made their way inside. I was reluctant to move. To get up. To leave the serene moment behind.

But I did. I shoved the blanket back into the garage. God forbid I take it inside and wash it. At some point, I will have no choice. But for now, there it remains. It reminds me of serenity and falling bits of sky every time I see it.

Why can’t all soiled articles do the same? And why can’t every night be filled with sporadic lights across the sky? And memories being made?

Purity. It can come in any form.

Even a dirty blanket.

P.S. I shared this on savvy southern style.

And My Romantic Home.