G'nome Family Album

So I'm thoroughly enjoying my time off and finally managed to organize and update a brand spankin' new 'gnome family album' on kodakgallery.com, complete with captions detailing the gnome timline, and in perfect chronological order ;) This is by all means an exhaustive compilation of every g'nome pic in my possession! You can check it out here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6ro274n.707qevxz&x=1&y=-z1cw46

And, now, because pleople are always asking, "Hey what's the deal with the gnomes?" I thought it's high time I post a not-so-brief history of our little g'nome operation.

It was the spring of 2005. Natasha's birthday. Xine and I had no idea what to get her, so we hit the dollar store armed with a gift basket and a 20 and went crazy. That's when I saw him standing there on the shelf with his little green hat, holding his beard with one hand and saluting me with the other. I had to have him. I bought multiples, and we added him to the bday basket. Natasha loved him, and so did everyone else. The craze began. This also happened to be right around the time that a huge group of our friends graduated from UAB. Everyone was getting ready to go their separate ways for jobs and grad school, so we came up with the great idea to send identical gnomes out with everyone and take pictures of them in their respective parts of the country. The gnomes also accompanied us on many road trips and even Europe trips, though some people (cough *KP* cough cough) forgot them... Many pictures of course resulted.

Not long after, travelocity took their 'roaming gnome' campaign national, resulting in their red-capped guy gaining huge popularity. And then these guys made the headlines for kidnapping a neighbor's lawn gnome and taking him on a whirlwind cross-country spring break road trip, where he met Paris Hilton of all people (eww). After that, we got a lot more cooperation on the road, and our gnome has now met a few celebrities himself, and while the fanfare has died down considerably, we do still enjoy a good gnoming when given the opportunity. Thanks to some lovely friends, I now have quite a little gnome collection. But I still love Gunther, the original, the very best and have even immortalized him as a Christmas ornament for my tree. Tee hee!

And there you have it folks, the complete gnome story, once and for all!

p.s. Yes, I have now finally seen 'Amelie' and I get why everyone asks me this everywhere I gnome... ;)

a 'sprinkling' of g'nome love

Breaking gnome news. Christmas came early this year! Friday was my last day at good old UAB and my lovely co-workers graced me with a brand new gnome! And he's not just a gnome, he's been embellished with Heineken caps to fit in with the drinking theme of my party ;) AAAANDD... wait for it... wait for it... he's a SPRINKLER! Yep, hook a hose up to this guy and you've got yourself a party. Come spring I'm mos def hooking this bad boy up in the front yard for the neighborhood to enjoy... assuming we're allowed to water by then ;) Posting a pic here for your enjoyment. And I shall call him GIL.

Also, since my dear friend Nina outed my gnoming ways right there in front of all my distinguished colleagues, I of course made them all pose with the new gnome ;) Pics are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/maryvig/UABGnoming Ahhh... how I do love a good gnome! Enjoy the pics, and happy gnoming...

Gnome News

We were in Centennial Olympic Park tonight, enjoying the balmy weather and taking pictures for our Christmas cards, when suddenly we were approached by an attractive bald man followed by cameras and a tv crew. Next thing we knew he was in our Christmas card pic, and we were being filmed for the CNN Headline News program 'News to Me.' After chatting for a bit, we learned the bald man was the show's host, Eric Lanford. Now I know what you're all wondering... and oh yes, he held the g'nome. Though we were chided for not recognizing him, we claimed ignorance because of our lack of cable and he was very nice and funny. As we were parting ways, we couldn't help but notice someone in a bunny costume. Now THERE'S a story. Eric headed over to check it out and turns out it was a group of German tourists who also filmed a bit for the show with him. Quite a night in the park! The show will air next weekend on CNN so if YOU have cable, you should definitely check it out. It airs every Saturday and Sunday 12:30 pm & 5:30 pm ET. You can also check it out on the show's website: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/news.to.me/

Lithuania? Really?

So we're watching the Amazing Race tonight and Phil announces that Lithuania is the "land og nomes," and that tonight's Road Block challenge in the Lithuanian town of Rusiskes involves searching the village for the Travelocity roaming gnome among “100 of his closest Lithuanian gnome friends.” Well, I got all excited and Shannon said "I guess we're going to Lithuania..." until much to my dismay, I google "lithuania, gnome" today and all that comes up are freakin references to the show. So I'm thinking Lithuania is a little less the land of gnomes than Travelocity is Amazing Race's biggest corporate sponsor... sigh...

New Yorker Gnome

Our pocket-size travelling gnome, Gerald, whom I must admit creeps me out too much to be frequented on the blog, took an impromptu trip to NYC with Julie & I this week and had his pic taken while visiting the Statue of Liberty. Pic posted here. Creep away tiny gnome, creep away...

gnome in san francisco

Gunther did San Francisco this weekend... dirty dirty gnome that he is. You can read all about our trip on our travel blog, flyingwheats.blogspot.com!

Gerald's christening

The newest addition to the g'nome family was officially christened on his first-ever trip to visit Christine in Boston. Here is a picture of Gerald in Plymouth, where the pilgrims first settled and home to the infamous rock of course. Gerald is pocket sized and solid, making him quite the travel companion. He fits easily into a pocket or small designer purse, for example, with no problem whatsoever. Welcome Gerald, you creepy creepy faced gnome you!

Nica-gnome

Christine spent Spring Break in Nicaragua, con Natasha and G'xine (Dos). They took some fabulous pix - I'm posting my facvorite here and the rest can be seen in the KodakGallery album (http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6ro274n.7nnnbe6b&x=1&y=dxau5p) - among them, the beautiful Nicaraguan countryside, fun times with stray dog, refreshing water in a bag, the fun goes on and on!