My First Jo Malone Purchase

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So excited about this blog post! My husband purchased my first Jo Malone fragrance two weekends ago! I was really surprised. We went in just to look around and ended up having a wonderful experience.

Our Jo Malone store here in our city. 

All the wonderful fragrances that they encourage you to mix and match. 
I kept navigating to the floral scents. She mixed their Red Roses scent with the English Pear & Freesia scent and it was quite lovely. Then she mixed the Red Roses scent with the Mimosa & Cardamom and that was quite lovely also. It was so much fun mixing scents and understanding the oils. I really enjoyed it! 
In the end we settled on the red roses scent. My husband just LOVED it!
The box was so wonderfully wrapped and chic!
We purchased the 30ml bottle for $65! I wanted to see how it went with my body chemistry. 
Loving it so far. 
She gave me lots of samples. I have been wearing them. I must say that I really like the red rose bath oil. She gave me a sample of it and I have been putting it on my feet, hands, knees, elbows. It is so nice. Oh gosh and with our below freezing temperatures it has been a God send!

Hand cream samples
I so enjoyed my visit to Jo Malone and will be going again for some of that Red Rose Bath oil. It was a wonderful experience and I thank my husband for the lovely gift. 
(photos via Mrs. Shockley) 

Winner of the Ann Taylor Giveaway!!!

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Well the time has come to announce the winner of my Ann Taylor silk scarf giveaway. My daughter and I did an old school bowl drawing. I wrote out all the names and put them in a bowl and I had my daughter pull the name. 
And the WINNER IS:   M. GOSS!!!!!!
Congratulations!!! Please email me or contact me via facebook book A Home for Elegance. You can send me a message there or you may send me a message on Instagram under mrsshockley. Please send me your address that I may ship it to. Thank you so much to all my readers who entered. I am sorry that I couldn’t send one to all of you. Goodness, I sure did think about it! But I will be doing another giveaway later this year. I am not sure what it will be but I have some ideas. Thank you so much for reading and chatting with me!
(photos via Pinterest and Mrs. Shockley)

My Vintage Spider Brooch

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I think I mentioned here on the blog how I have been trying to find a bug brooch. Well, I recently stumbled onto one when I was shopping on Ebay. I found this lovely beauty and just had to bid on it.

It is a vintage spider brooch from the 1940’s (I believe). The previous owner purchased it from an estate sale. I was so excited to see it and just had to have it for my collection. 

It is a head turner for sure!
I have had people stop me left and right for it. I think some people are a little taken back by it but I don’t care. I do enjoy it and know that there is no other quite like it. I would encourage anyone to check out Ebay and look for vintage brooches. It is a wonderful thing to be bold and elegant on your own. 

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

My Cheese Plate ~ 2018

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The New Year has came and went and I decided to get another cheese tray for our New Year celebration. I stopped at Murray’s Cheese again in my local grocery store and had them prepare a tray.

So this year they added forteto pecorino toscano, creme brie, port salut, sartori extra aged asiago, turkish dried apricots (so good) and glazed, pecans, almonds and cashews! It was all so good. I also picked up this sweet french bread. It went so well with the cheeses. 
We also had a bottle of Risata and this year I got cherry sparkling wine for the kids. They loved it! I do enjoy buying cheese and learning about the different kinds. I think smoked gouda is my favorite! If you wish to see my post last year about my cheese plate you may view it here. I hope you all have a wonderful 2018!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Draping Pearls on Your Wrist

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I was inspired to do this when I saw this photo on Pinterest some years back…..

I wrapped my vintage Marvella pearl necklace around my wrist. 
I was inspired by this photo of Carmel Snow and Chanel. Just look at how her pearls and bracelets drape from her wrist. Sheer elegance right? I just admire that so much. 
I hope that this post inspires you to take a second look at your pearls. Maybe you can do the same. Wrap them around that beautiful wrist of yours and wear them. Enjoy your vintage items!

(photo via Mrs. Shockley & Pinterest)

Organization and Cleaning ~ 2018

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With the year beginning most people have lots of resolutions. Organizing being one of them. I just thought that I would share some of my posts from last year about the wonderful book that I read called the Butler Speaks. I had lots of readers on this series and just thought that I would share those links again. Enjoy!!!!

The Butler Speaks: The Art of Housekeeping
The Butler Speaks: Housecleaning
love the table:
The Butler Speaks: Housekeeping
Butler's pantry storage:
The Butler Speaks: Deep Cleaning
I love this wallpaper in the bathroom http://www.stylemepretty.com/living/2014/10/30/traditional-meets-cozy-home-tour-in-long-island/:
The Butler Speaks: 10 Golden Rules of Housekeeping
White marble with a hammered silver sink:
The Butler Speaks: Starter Cleaning Schedule

(photos via Pinterest)

Ann Taylor Silk Scarf Giveaway!!!

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Good Morning Everyone!!! Well it’s time to start my second giveaway. It’s been awhile since I have done one of these (see here if you missed it). So I figured why not start off the year with a wonderful giveaway.

It is quite beautiful. I purchased one for myself also. I could not pass it up!

Opulent Floral Silk Scarf
Here is an up-close photo. It is a wonderful blue and I love the pink in it. 
It is 100% silk! and is very elegant. 
If you are interested in entering, please comment below as to how you found the blog. I am so curious as to how people find me. It would be wonderful to know how. I would love to open this giveaway to everyone but I am not sure how to ship items overseas. I will announce the winner next week! 
Good luck and thank you!


(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

UPDATE: I have opened this up to international readers! If you would like to enter please comment below.