Ballet Nine West Pump

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Now I can not seem to resist a beautiful shoe. I saw these beauties on Ninewest.com. Now when I ordered them I selected my size and when I received them they were really small. So I returned them and Ninewest gave excellent customer service. They even gave me the difference because they were now on sale!

I went up a size and they fit very well. I have received lots of compliments on them and I am enjoying them.

Ninewest Sylmar Pump
Here they are with the black ribbon…..
I have worn them for 2 days in a row now and I have just loved them! So if you decide to order them please order a size up! I do hope that you enjoyed this post.

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Picnic Ideas

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Summer is upon us and this year and I wanted to do at least one thing. I want to have a picnic! I have not had a picnic since I was in high school and I loved them! So this year I have it on my calendar to plan a picnic for me and my family. Here are some of my ideas….




























1) A nice blanket and some pillows




2) Of course I want lots of fresh fruit and sandwiches



3) I think some french bread would be nice to nibble on with some gourmet cheese. 

Photo by Alexandra K on Unsplash
Beautiful spread

4) Oh and of course I can not forget the candles! 





Photo by Julia Kicova on Unsplash



I am looking forward to this and I know my family will enjoy it! Oh and I can not forget the wine. It will be nice to have a glass with my husband while the kids walk around. I am really looking forward to this!



photo credit Daiga Ellaby



I am hoping that some flowers will be around while we are enjoying each other’s company. 



I hope that you enjoyed this post and are inspired to have your very own picnic! 

My Trip to South Carolina

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I shared last week that I was traveling to South Carolina for some work related training. The trip was good, but I hate to fly! Taking off and landing and always hard for me. There is lots of praying going on during those times.

During my flight there I had a two hour layover in Atlanta. I decided to stop and have some lunch at a nice restaurant and enjoy reading my magazine.

This grilled tuna with swiss was amazing!!!

This was the restaurant inside the airport where I ate that amazing sandwich at!

Cafe Intermezzo
Once I got to South Carolina I got settled and then headed out to take a walk. 






I decided to have a nice quiet dinner at Longhorn. It was wonderful and I ended up trying this.
It was called the Napa Chicken with artichokes, tomatoes and broccoli. Sensational!


Once I got back to my room, I got settled and begin to focus on my training. It was excellent and I learned a lot during the course. 
Another fantastic thing that I was able to do was have a meet and greet with one of my blog readers. She and I have become very good friends since I started the blog in 2014. We now communicate on a regular basis and it was so nice to be able to meet her in person. We had a nice dinner and she sent me home with these wonderful Royal Albert tea cups and spoons! I will truly cherish this and hope that her and I will continue to grow our beautiful friendship!


One evening I was able to visit a beautiful furniture store called Whit-Ash Furniture. They had some wonderful pieces so I took some pictures of some of my favorite items.

I love the shape of this table and the color. This is very similar to what we are having made. My husband asked his friend back in January to make our table. I mentioned this on my blog back in January about my dining room inspiration. See the post here if you missed it. 
The furniture store was great! The staff was nice and the service was terrific! I ended up purchasing this blue and white vase. Whoo knew that I would find this here!
Okay, that was a bad joke! But I do love this vase. It looks great in my black cupboard. 
I ended the week with dinner at the Blue Marlin. I ordered the teriyaki salmon with mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach. It was yummy!
I really enjoyed my trip but I am happy to be home in my own bed! It is something about sleeping in your own bed. I do hope that you enjoyed this post and if you are ever in South Carolina let me know if you find any blue and white ginger jars!  Seriously, they are so hard to find here in my city! 
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)












Traveling to South Carolina

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Well, by the time some of you read this post I will be on the plane (trying not to scream my head off) traveling to South Carolina.

I will be there all this week taking a leadership training course that I have been wanting to take for some time now. I am a paralegal with the United States Attorney’s Office and I am hoping to be a paralegal supervisor someday.

This course teaches you the requirements, strengths, and leadership skills that one would need to become an excellent leader. I am really looking forward to this and will enjoy it. I will return next week. I don’t know if I will be doing any “blog research” at that time but I will try to share some of the fun things I did while I was there. Enjoy your week!


Photo by S.R. Young on Unsplash

A Gracious Kitchen ~ A dream kitchen

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House Beautiful magazine always has inspiring homes. Some of the interiors are so amazing and are just non-stop elegance. I have been waiting patiently for this kitchen to post on their website for about two weeks now.

I had to share it. It was in the April, 2017 issue of House Beautiful. This kitchen is so full of richly details and is just full of grace…..

photo credit Jennifer Hughes

This island was built from walnut, imbuia and anigre and is nearly 11 feet long.
It was inspired by English antiques. 



photo credit Jennifer Hughes
The industrial-style faucet which is modeled on fixtures found in the turn-of-the 20th-century boiler rooms. The sink is called a fluted-front sink from Rohl Shaw’s. 




photo credit Jennifer Hughes 
The clients asked from ladylike cabinets with soft lines and Anuzkiewicz (the designer) sketched out a design for beveled, leaded -glass inserts with lots of fluidity. 




photo credit Jennifer Hughes
Hidden appliances in the island. 





photo credit Jennifer Hughes
Love the antique mirror panels. Oh and the blue and white ginger jars!
So wonderful!!!





photo credit Jennifer Hughes
The butler’s pantry is exquisite. It has an antiqued mirror back-splash and a wall-mount brass faucet.






photo credit Jennifer Hughes 
This kitchen is a dream. I loved that the designer balanced the island with the twin pair of Chantilly chandeliers. They are truly show stoppers! 




I do hope that you enjoyed this kitchen tour and find wonderful inspiration from it. To read the original article see here. 

(photos via House Beautiful, description from Kathleen Renda)














My Charging Station

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Okay, we all have “tech junk”. I mean lots and lots of “tech junk”. We don’t need half of it really but we do own some much of it and it needs to be managed.

So once my husband painted our bookshelf (that he purchased from Borders bookstore before they closed, really neat!) I was able to use my sofa table that we had in our room as a charging station for all of my tech items.

Okay, here is my table. I have photos of my two grandmothers who are no longer with us. I miss them both terribly! I have a vintage glass holder. I found it at a thrift store last year and could not pass it up and I have this faux flower arrangement that I picked up at T.J. Maxx a few months ago. 
Here is my tech tray. It’s a gold tray that I picked up at Marshal’s two years ago. I have my Coach tablet case, 2 Amazon Kindles (first generation), 2 Samsung Tablets, Mp3 player, earplugs, and chargers. 
I also have my pens and my favorite candle right now. It is called Sunlit Garden from Bath and Body Works. 
Here is a view of the entire table. It love it because everything is there and I don’t have to wonder where my chargers are or have them plugged up all over the house. I still love my candlestick holders that I picked up in North Carolina last year while visiting the Biltmore! Such a great trip!
I hope you enjoyed this post and perhaps it inspires you to create your very own charging station!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Inspiring Calendars

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Has anyone ever read Martha Stewart’s magazine and seen in the beginning the “Martha’s Month”? I mean it is incredible! I know that she has people assisting her with all of these duties but still it is quite inspiring to me that she keeps up with all of her duties and home this way.

I just love it….


This is a photo that I took from April’s issue of Martha Stewart. I was in awe of her daily reminders and chores. I mean “wash and store heavy sweaters on April 8. On April 21 she will be cleaning and organizing her pantry. On the 25th she will be washing her baseboards. 


As I said, I know that she has someone helping her but still this is so inspiring to me. For me I don’t think, “Oh my gosh, I could not do all of this”. “I am not Martha Stewart”. But here is the reality, I am not Martha Stewart. I am Mrs. Shockley and will live my life according to what works for me and my family.


But seeing this does inspire me to add more to my calendar and to be more organized. Each year there are things that I put on my schedule. For me it’s washing my windows, cleaning my carpets, planting more flowers around our home. 

photo credit Mrs. Shockley 

My “honey-do” list for my husband is pretty long to. He has to stain the fence, paint our master bedroom, bathroom and our daughter’s room and help me plant my roses bushes in the back. I am hoping we can get it all done this year. 


But I just wanted to share Martha’s calendar. I just believe that it is a great inspiration for all of us and we should take some of her tips and ideas and use them for ourselves.


Oh, she also had horseback riding scheduled for the 29th of this month…..


Oh, I wish I could add this to my list. I may have to look into that…..