The Topiary Garden

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Good Morning All,

The humidity has finally gone away for a moment! I think every state in the country has been suffering with high temperatures. It’s been miserable. I haven’t sat on my porch in weeks! I have been wanting to ride my bike but forget that. It’s hot!

This has been a very busy week for me work wise. I joined another professional group in my city. It’s called the Indiana Paralegal Association! I am really looking forward to meeting new professional women in my same area of expertise. My first meeting was this week, and it was so great! I am really looking forward to being a part of this group! 

Today is a sad day. My husband’s 97-year-old grandfather died last week. It was not a shock to the family, but he will be missed greatly. I have really enjoyed Grandpa Fox over the years. Today is his funeral and I think it is a day of celebration. He is gone to meet the Father! I couldn’t think of any other way to be. 

My travel posts are winding down. I only have a few more things to share. I really did love this trip. I told my husband that this was the best trip to me that we have ever taken. It was truly a blessing! Now on to the Topiary Gardens! 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

The one thing that I loved about this garden was how quiet it was. It could have been because we were there in a weekday, but it was so quiet and peaceful… 

 

 

 

 

 

The property was purchased in the 1800s and is one of the oldest gardens in the country!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I think that I read that the animals bushes were created in the 70s!

 

 

 

 

Those gorgeous blue hydrangeas were everywhere!

 

 

There was also a small vineyard! You could see the grapes hanging from the vines. Now how wonderful is that?

 

 

 

It was such a dream and inspiring! I want something like this for my own property. I took a lot of these photos to get ideas for my own home. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

This property sat on the water as well.

 

 

My husband always likes to take a selfie. He does a pretty good job. This was at one of the mansions. I believe it was Rosecliff. I hope you all enjoyed this small tour of the property. I have a little bit of running around to do this weekend. I am hoping to get a few house chores done as well. Enjoy your weekend! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rosecliff Mansion

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Good Morning!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I dropped off my fabric to the upholster and now we just wait on the results. I am so excited to see how it will turn out. I also went and smelled some fall candles at Bath and Body Works. I love the honeycrisp apple and harvest pomegranate. They both smelled so good, and I can’t wait to get them for my home.

Before I share the last Newport Mansion tour, I wanted to remind everyone about the Jasmine Pearl Brooch. It is on sale right now and would look great on your cardigans, coats, and totes. Yes, I attach brooches to my totes all the time! You should give it a try.

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Now on to the last mansion tour from our trip. The last house that we toured was called Rosecliff Mansion. One fun fact that I loved about this mansion was that a few movies were shot there. True Lies and 27 Dresses as well as The Great Gatsby.

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

 

 

 

Now this home had less rooms to look at and more open spaces. I believe this home is used more for parties and weddings. 

 

 

Loving this entry way…

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

It had such a grand entrance. Perfect for your wedding guests to walk into. 

 

 

This was to the right of the entrance hall. I could see the hostess standing here greeting everyone. 

 

 

This was the first room we walked into. Always look up…

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

There were so many details in the chimney. It’s a work of art!

 

 

 

Of course, beautiful artwork everywhere. 

 

 

We walked around and came to this room which I believe was another study for the husband. Look at the ceilings! 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

We came around to this room next. I remember the app saying something about one of the owners. She became really depressed at some point because she had no visitors and begun to just roam around the home. I found that to be very sad. 

 

 

 

The upstairs only had a few bedrooms and those really didn’t have much in them. I did see this little vanity area in one of the rooms. I thought it still looked like furniture that we could use today. 

 

 

 

We did see this grand ballroom before heading outside. This was my favorite room in the house!

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

 

 

 

We then headed outside to the gardens. I loved this long pergola. It was so elegant with all of the vines covering it.

 

 

Everything was still beautiful and lush despite the heat. 

 

 

All of the properties had these beautiful ocean views. I could see why the families wanted their “summer cottages” here. I still can’t get over the fact that these call these summer cottages. It’s remarkable! 

I hope you all enjoyed this last Newport Mansion tour. I will be sharing the beautiful gardens, Newport car musem, and the timeless Ralph Lauren store in Manhattan, New York. Have a great Monay! 

 

Oh My… Marble House Mansion

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Good Morning!

I can’t believe that we are in the first week of August! It’s flying by! This weekend Lauren and I are headed to the fabric store to get a few things for her. Then it’s Bath and Body Works next to buy a few soaps for the home. I really don’t have much planned and it all depends on how the weather is here. We have some rain coming which always keeps me in doors. Oh my new fabric did arrive yesterday, and I will be taking it to the upholster on Saturday! 

As I continue to download my photos from our trip, I continue to mourn a little. I really do miss Rhode Island. I still can’t believe how pretty it was. Now on to mansion tour number 3!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

I can’t believe that I took this photo! It was like a dream when I was standing there! I could not believe how beautiful this home and this garden was. These hydrangeas were everywhere! This mansion was called the Marble House mansion. 

 

 

 

 

Here was the entryway. Grand as usual…

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

The ceilings are just works of art. Look how stunning….

 

 

One of the bedrooms. I still can’t believe how big the rooms are. 

 

 

This was the library. It was inspired by a cathedral church. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I heard one of the volunteers say that “the lady of the house would not let people spend the night”. She always felt like you could go and stay in a hotel”. Now I don’t know if that was true, but I thought it was an interesting story. 

 

 

 

 

Just looking at the details. It was breathtaking. I can’t believe all of the details that are in these homes! 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Now this was Lauren’s favorite! She loved this Japanese tea rom. I didn’t go inside but I was told that you can have tea there. I didn’t take any photos behind the house, but it sits on a water view. It’s beautiful to look out. I was told that this house has a lot of weddings hosted here and I can see why. 

I hope you all enjoyed this tour. I still have one more house to share and I will do that next week. I hope you have all had the chance to watch my Youtube video showing all of the mansions and the gardens. It was truly a dream. Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

The Beautiful Elms Mansion

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Good Monday Morning and Happy August!

I hope you all had a great weekend! On Saturday I went to a fabric store called Calico Corners here in my city. The gentleman that is reupholstering my stool told me to go there to pick out fabrics. I did and decided to go with the Vern Yip-Exotic print. I look forward to seeing the finished product! 

I am also trying to look into some new dresses for the boutique. I have my eye on a few. I hope that the are still available. Sometimes you have to move quickly. There are so many boutique owners out there. 

Now on to tour 2 of the Newport Mansions. Next on the list is the beautiful Elms Mansion and one of my favorites. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

I have to say when we walked up to this house it took my breath away. If felt like “home” to me. Like I could live here…. 

 

 

The entryway…

 

 

Still the entryway…

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Looking up continues to be a requirement. 

 

 

I could see this in my home. Beautiful prints. 

 

 

I loved the carpet and large planter as well. I actually took some video footage of it. I am trying to upload it to YouTube. It has been taking forever! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love seeing the artwork of the “ladies of the home”. 

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

This was another room favorite. The chinoiserie room was stunning and a family favorite. We all loved this room and took many photos of it. 

 

 

I remember the audio program saying that “the families of these homes love bringing back items from their country visits”. They would bring back art from Russia, or porcelain from China. I try to make that a habit whenever we travel somewhere. Bring something elegant back!

 

 

 

 

 

Going upstairs…

 

 

The husband’s study…. 

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I still can’t get over how wonderful these bathrooms looked. It’s incredible!

 

 

Goodness gracious. The fountain outside near the stables was so picturesque. There was a bench nearby. I just sat there and took it all in. Oh and did I mention that the building in this photo was the stables! 

 

 

The stables up close. Wow…. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

This is the back of the home. How perfect is that? It looks like a home from Bridgerton! I seriously loved the architecture of this home the most. It suited the style that I love the most. The only thing that it was missing was the blue hydrangeas. It felt like it needed some of those but the next mansion had plenty. I hope you all enjoyed this tour and share your thoughts in the comments below!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Touring the Magnificent Breakers!

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Good Morning,

Sorry for the no-post on Wednesday. It takes a while to keep my photos uploaded so that I can put them on the blog. It took me two days to type this entry, and get it ready to post! I have been thinking about knocking it down to only two posts a week for the blog. I will wait and see how things go. Sometimes posting three times a week can been a bit much. Especially if you are not feeling inspired. 

I did want to say hello and thank you to all of my new subscribers! I think most of you have seen my new pop-up! I love it. I know it can be a bit irritating if you are reading the blog from the phone, but you should be able to exit out of it. The “x” is in the corner to the right if you can’t find it. But HELLO to all of the new subscribers! I was sending out an email every week but then I decided to change it to a newsletter sent out every month. I will try to keep the content on the newsletter different from the blog. We will see how things go. I did want to tell all of my new subscribers that a newsletter went out this past Sunday. I viewed my report, and it looks like most of you got it. Please check your SPAM folder. It might be there and make sure that you change it to go to your inbox! 

One more thing that I want to share before getting into the Breakers, I have been stewing about the boutique. I thought about adding something new. Well something vintage. I antique a LOT and sometimes I find wonderful and beautiful vintage clip earrings. I thought about adding my finds to the boutique. What do you all think? Let me know in the comments section below.

Okay now on to the Breakers!

 

photo credit: Mr. Shockley 

We have been home for about two weeks since this trip and I still find it hard to believe that we actually went. My husband said, “it was so hard to take a bad picture there”. Everything was so beautiful”. That comment came from my husband. Who loved the trip!

Just look at this… gosh!

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

If you ever decide to go and tour the mansions, the best thing for you to do is to download the app and take your earplugs with you. Trust me you will want to hear the history of each room as you are walking in. 

 

 

The details will take your breath away. This room has gold in it… 

 

 

All I did was stare… 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

 

These homes are literally works of art.

 

 

 

 

Look at the ceilings… 

 

 

This was the music room. Could you imagine practicing piano in this room? Oh my goodness… 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

The other side of the music room… 

 

 

The ceiling in one of the sitting rooms…

 

 

The fireplace and mantle in the sitting room.

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

After touring the downstairs, we headed upstairs to see the bedrooms and bathrooms! This belonged to Mrs. Vanderbilt. This is where she dressed and did her “office work”. 

 

 

I did notice this in her room. A vintage Louis Vuitton trunk! I would love to own one of these someday. 

 

 

The bathrooms were more impressive than what I thought. This vanity in her bathroom looks better than mine!

 

 

This belonged to Mr. Vanderbilt. Can you believe how nice that tub is? It is completely marbled and was filled with salt water. That’s what they bathed in. 

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

This room belonged to one of the daughters. It had great wallpaper!

 

 

The kitchen was enormous! I loved the island and all of the cookware!

 

 

There was a huge china room. I did not take many pictures because I was too busy looking around. It was incredible!

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Everywhere you looked there was art. It was stunning. All I kept thinking was “they lived this way and didn’t think anything about it”. 

 

 

The stunning blue hydrangeas were everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Everyone had them in their yards. All I did was gripe about ours back home. Now I know how to turn mine blue. I’ve got some work ahead of me next year!

 

 

So lush…

 

 

I hope that you enjoyed this tour. I loved every minute of it. I did record a few videos of the rooms and will be putting a video together here soon for YouTube. Please don’t forget to check your folders for the newsletter and check out the boutique. There are a few more items on sale. I am dress shopping for the fall for new inventory. We’ll see what I can get. Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July Favorites ~ 2022

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Good Morning Everyone,

I had a wonderful weekend. I didn’t do a whole lot but the things that I did were marvelous. I went and visited the new antique store in Broad Ripple called French Pharmacie Flea and it did NOT disappoint! My husband had a friend’s surprise party to attend so my daughter and I went and had dinner at Longhorn. It was a really nice Saturday. Yesterday, I decided that I wanted to go and see Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris! I have no regrets. After watching the previews twice on YouTube, I knew that I had to go and see that movie! It was so inspiring! I teared up a few times during the movie but I smiled for the most part. I feel like Mrs. Harris all the time. I just want to take a leap!  

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I snapped a few photos from the antique store. It was right on point for me!

 

 

Okay now let me share my favorites for the month of July….

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

For one thing I did A LOT of antiquing this month. I just could not stop myself! I just keep finding all of these beautiful things. It’s been a little hard saying no to vintage jewelry. These are my recent purchases above. I found this gold and pearl vintage clip earrings and this pink and gold cameo. I paid under $20 for both!

Oh and I am wearing the boutique’s Ballet Lace Cardigan which is on sale for only $20! 

 

 

My second favorite has been my MME.Mink Picnique Overnighter Tote! I wanted this two years ago but was just not sure. Now that I have it I must say that I love it! It’s quite large but boy is it a head turner! 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Third was this year’s peony season! Now normally I am not able to find any this late, but we just kept finding these for the entire month of June! Here in Indiana, I stop seeing them around the first week of June but we just kept finding them and I enjoyed every minute of it!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Fourth was our summer trip! Most of you know that we went to Newport, Rhode Island this year and it was an absolute dream to me. I loved every bit of this trip. I will be sharing the home tours and other details in the weeks to come! I hope you enjoy it!

 

 

 

 

The fifth has been my giftshop finds from the home tours. After you tour each mansion, you walk downstairs to the gift shop. Each mansion had a gift shop! They all sold similar things, and this was one of them. I saw it and squealed a little. My husband then turned and looked and said, “okay, you can get it”! Yay! It is a chinoiserie champagne wine bucket, but I plan on using it as a vase. What do you all think? I did find a few on Amazon and other places. Check out my shop my favorites page to see them. 

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Sixth has been another vintage purchase. I found this company on Instagram called Kimono Dragon and they are located in New York. The owner goes to Paris to shop for vintage jewelry for her store. I love all of the unique pieces. I spotted this vintage Park Lane pearl necklace from 1980 on her website and could not resist. 

 

 

Seventh is another gift shop purchase. I went to two gift shops trying to find this Chelsea Bird teacup and saucer set. I found it and set one to my friend Mrs. Shery as well. This was originally created in the 19th and can be found at the Kingscote mansion. We could not tour that home. It was closed to the public while we were there, but I was still happy to find this set! 

 

 

This month’s list is going to be very long…

More antique finds. So do you all remember my first FBMP find? I purchased a 56-piece Johann Haviland set for only $50? Now what I did not have was the teapot. I went into one of my favorite antique stores and what do I see? The teapot…. I made an offer on it and he accepted it! Yay! I have also been on the hunt for this particular print. It’s the Burgess and Leigh Asiatic Pheasants blue and I found a few teacups and saucers on eBay. The person that I purchased this from still has a few. You can make an offer. Good luck!

 

 

The ninth are my special quote napkins. Lauren found these in the gift shop at the Breakers. She handed them to me and said, “you need to buy these”. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

Tenth on my list was this “Derby style” hat that I found in the gift shop. I love Derby hats and hope that I can attend the derby some day! 

 

 

I am going to enjoy wearing this hat!

 

 

 

And last on my list is this inspirational plate. I saw this in the gift shop as well. “Well-behaved women rarely make history”. I think sometimes you just have to leap. I hope you all enjoyed this month’s favorites. Have a wonderful Monday! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Moonlight Cliff Walk

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Hello Friday!

So, I have something fun planned for this weekend. A local influencer that I follow shared this beautiful antique store on her feed, and I messaged her to ask if it were here in Indy and she said YES! So, I will be taking a little visit to this new antique store called French Pharmacie Flea. I am still on the hunt for an armchair for my downtown office. Wish me luck! 

Now time to share the beautiful Cliff Walk in Rhode Island…

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

I could not believe how beautiful this path was. It was just as the website said. Hearing the water hit against the wall and hearing it the entire time was so soothing. The beautiful gazebo building that you see in this photo actually belongs to one of the homeowners along the path. 

Once we arrived in Newport we decided to check into our hotel and then go and find the Breakers. We didn’t want to be lost the next day. The Breakers was only about 10 minutes from our hotel, so the drive was not far. Once we found the mansions, we decided to head straight to the Cliff Walk. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

We parked our car in the parking lot across from the Breakers and decided to head to the Cliff Walk. The neighborhood surrounding it was stunning. This street lead us right down to the Cliff Walk and to our left was the Breakers mansion. Could you image having a home next door that looked like that!!!!!  I could believe that it had homes surrounding it. It was astonishing to me. 

 

 

Our kids could not stop staring at the ocean. It had that kind of effect on you. I know I just looked out at it and had a great sense of appreciation and gratefulness. In my heart and in silent I thanked the Lord for that moment. 

 

 

We decided to walk for a bit. The Cliff Walk is about 3 miles. I would say that we walked about 2 and even went across the rocky area. The kids loved it! It gave them a sense of adventure. We could see about two of the mansions on this walk. We could also see the Japanese Tea Room that is located behind the Marblehouse Mansion. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

The sun began to go down and the sky became a beautiful blue and pink color. My husband and I walked back really slow taking it all in. We also walked through the neighborhood and looked at all of the homes. I became very envious of their blue hydrangeas I won’t lie. I could not help it! All I could think about was all of the beautiful bouquets that I would have in my home! Forgive me…. 

It was a successful first day in Newport and I could not wait to get inside the Breaker mansion. I knew I was in for a real treat. I will share that next week. Have a great weekend!