Our Elegant Trip to Atlanta

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Good Morning Everyone!

I had a very busy weekend. Our neighborhood HOA sale occurred, and I sold quite a bit from my closet as well as the boutique. There is not much left, and I am trying to decide if I want to order a new dress. I am thinking about it. 

I did donate a few items to the consignment store and dropped off some old furniture at the Goodwill. It’s funny with garage sales. As soon as you get that stuff out of your closet and realize that some of it may have to go back in that turns it into a big game changer for me. Oh no is this not going back! Let’s donate it! I hate hanging on to stuff I am not using! 

I also have a busy work week ahead of me of course, my first Guild meeting of the season, an Indiana Paralegal Retreat on Saturday, and a tour of Tiffany Skilling’s home on Sunday! Lots of fun things but busy! 

Speaking of fun things… I have not stop thinking about our recent empty nester trip to Atlanta. Mr. Shockley and I had such a good time. It started out rough. There was a torrential downpour in Kentucky when we were driving through. For two hours we could barely see the road.  It was not fun. Then while we stopped for breakfast my husband got an alert on his app that the tires were low! Great! Now we might have a flat. But it turns out that we did not. The pressure from the mountains in Tennessee caused the fluctuation of the air pressure in the tires. Thank goodness!

Once we got to Buckhead, my husband and I could NOT and I mean could not stopping staring at the houses! My goodness is Buckhead a beautiful area! I mean stunning Victorian inspired mansions. It was gorgeous!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

I did not take photos of the homes because I did not want to be weird but once we got to our hotel I looked up and was immediately smitten with the light fixtures and decor. Honestly and truly we have NEVER stayed in a hotel like this! 

 

 

We stayed in the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta. The staff was outstanding and so was our room. As soon as they took our luggage to our room we could not stop staring at the view and our room had its own doorbell!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Our room had the best view of the skyline for Atlanta. You could see everything, the beautiful buildings in Buckhead, lots of gorgeous trees, Stone Moutain and did I mention the skyline? 

The room had a beautiful black and white floral carpet, green velvet sectional couch, flat screen T.V., wine bar, huge garden tub, and walk in shower. We loved it! 

 

 

For dinner we decided to walk 3 minutes from the hotel to South City Kitchen for dinner. We both got the springer mountain fried chicken, collard greens, mashed potatoes in a honey sauce. It also came with biscuits, and I tried ginger (non-alcoholic) beer for the first time! Oh my goodness, it was so good! 

It was a great start to our first empty nester trip. Later this week I will share some of my shopping trips and the Swan House of course. A few of the boutique’s dresses are on sale. The Rose Blush Midi and Sylvia Shirtdress are on sale. I only have one Eleanor Lace Midi and only one Vera Blush Maxi left. Order soon! Have a great week! 

 

 

My Friend’s Whimsical Project

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Good Morning Everyone!

Happy Friday! I have been digging out of a “work hole” since I returned to the office! Goodness, I am so busy not to mention all of the home duties that I have and passion projects that I work on. The blog is one of those “passion projects” that I wish I could work on during my lunch break but goodness that has been filled with other house items that I need to get done. Tomorrow is our neighborhood’s HOA sale and I have a lot of things to tag. I will be selling items from the boutique and some items from my recent closet clean-out! We are suppose to have good weather and I am really looking forward to that. 

In today’s post I wanted to share my dear friend Lyndsey’s recent home project. Lyndsey is my daughter’s hair stylist, and she is so talented in many things. One talent that I was not aware of was wallpaper! She recently shared her daughter’s room that she did all by herself! I absolutely love it and was so happy that she agreed to allow me to share it on the blog!

 

photo credit: L. Davis 

 

I mean how great is this! She purchased the wallpaper from Etsy. It’s called York Rifle Paper Co. Emerald Peacock Whimsical.  I think it’s just perfect for Nyri’s room!

 

 

I believe Lyndsey painted the furniture black as well and I think it blends so well with the wallpaper. It is also a nice pop of color from white wainscoting. 

 

photo credits: L. Davis

Lyndsey also installed these wall sconces wrapped in rattan for the wall. They are beautiful gold vintage bedside light fixtures just perfect for her growing girl. 

 

 

I feel like this room has the perfect balance for her daughter. She is still very young and yet this room still has some child-like wonder to it and will grow with her as she ages. It’s a wonderful decor balance! 

 

 

I think her sweet little girl loves it! I hope you enjoyed this post today! Back in 2018, my other friend Lindsay, let me share her mother’s home decor. Here is the link to that post as well. Have a great weekend! 

 

 

Guild Luncheon & Vintage Cabinet Update

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Hello Everyone,

I am back from my beautiful vacation in Buckhead Atlanta! Mr. Shockley and I had such a wonderful time. I have so many photos to share with you all. I will say this… Buckhead is beautiful! All of the beautiful homes! Oh my goodness! I hope you all enjoy my photos! 

Today I wanted to share a quick post about the Guild Luncheon that we had in August and my vintage cabinet update. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

So, the Guild has started back up again, and we had our Founder’s Day luncheon in August. When I walked into the Woodstock Country Club, I saw a difference. They had redecorated, and I was here for it! They added new chinoiserie wallpaper panels, and they were gorgeous! I wish I had taken more pictures. I will the next time. 

 

 

The luncheon events team did a great job setting up the tablescapes this year. I thought everything looked very elegant. I found out that I am on the events team that will be setting up for the Christmas luncheon and I am on the team that will be a docent at the Tiffany Skillings private home tour! I have always been a fan of hers and loved her work that she did at the 2022 Showhouse. I look forward to seeing her private home. I don’t know if I can’t take any photos but I will be sure to ask! 

 

 

In more decor news, I have finally moved my vintage china cabinet over to its permanent spot in my office. I have my books in it and could not love it more. Now I am trying to figure out how to decorate it. So my husband was going to paint the wall of the cabinet but then we looked at it and realized that I would not be able to see any of the decor on the wall because of my books so I am still on the fence about that. But I did mention that I could now buy more blue and white ginger jars to put on the top of it. My husband then said, “why not green and white”. I thought, “wow that might actually look beautiful and continue to go with my office because of my sage green settee and sage green vintage screen! What do you guys think? Blue and white or green and white? Let me know in the comments below! 

 

First Empty-Nester Vacation

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Hello Everyone and Happy Friday,

Of course, I am really excited for this weekend. My husband and I will be fine-tuning (well me) our agenda for our first empty-nester vacation. As I have shared with you all before, my husband and I have NEVER taken a vacation without the kids, so we are really excited for this trip and plan on just taking our time.

 

photo credit: Getty/Pinterest

 

I have always been fascinated by this home. I know that it is not big and does not compare to the homes in Newport but I still wanted to visit this gorgeous historical home. The Swan House to me is what my dream home would look like. There would be a few changes to the front but not much. 

But first on our list would be driving and stopping at Love Shack Fancy in Nashville. I have not told my husband yet but I would love to stop there on our way to Atlanta. I also wanted to stop at the Sarah Flint store but the Nashville location is closed! I couldn’t believe it but so happy that I got to see it last year. 

Once we got to Buckhead we are going to check into our hotel and then I hope that we have time because I want to go to the Sarah Flint store there, visit the Dior store nearby, Hermes, and then stop at a consignment store called Sac De Lux. 

For dinner I found a restaurant near our hotel called South City Kitchen and I really want to give that a try. I found a few other restaurants nearby to have dinner or lunch as well. 

The second day that we are there will be reserved for the Swan House and the Swan Coach House. 

 

photo credit: Pinterest 

 

I don’t think that we will be there all day, so I found some antique stores nearby to go and visit. One is called Antiques & Beyond and the other is 14th Street Modern & Vintage Home. I also found a HomeGoods nearby, of course, and another consignment store called Label Resale Boutique. 

I am really looking forward to this vacation and it will be so different without kids and not having to worry about our home either. We are truly in a different season of life. I’ll see you all when I return! 

 

 

August Favorites ~ 2023

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Good Morning Friends,

Empty-nester week 2! It has been going well so far. Lauren will be coming home this weekend because there are no classes on Monday so we will be so happy to see her. We do have some running around. She has a hair appointment and I have my first waxing appointment! Oh my goodness you guys wish me luck! I have never done waxing before, but I need to try it. Shaving is causing me all sorts of issues! And I mean issues! If you would like for me to share my experience, please let me know below. 

Okay, let’s get into my favorites for the month of August!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

First on my list is this beautiful bouquet of hydrangeas from my very kind neighbor. I was opening the windows to my home office and saw his huge hydrangea tree and thought, “oh I would love a few of those for my crystal vase”. I sent my husband over to ask and he cut me a few! How grand is that?

 

 

Second on my list is the new Aerin Lauder Rose de Grasse perfume called Rouge. I had to go and smell it and it smells just like red roses. It’s quite lovely. If you want to try a sample here is the link to order that. Enjoy! 

 

 

Third on my list is my new monogram tote from Abbot and Lyon! I have always wanted to try a monogram tote and I actually got to see this tote in person while I was in South Carolina in May. A woman walked by me, and I stopped her and asked about it. The quality is quite exceptional, and the price is incredible! I have no regrets ordering it. It is quite large and has lots of organizational compartments on the inside. 

 

 

Fourth was my delicious meal that I got at Ford’s Garage. It was a new restaurant that my family and I decided to try and it was really good. The lime vinaigrette was outstanding! Oh so good! 

 

 

The fifth is my new Kate Spade Leopard tote. I saw a beautiful influencer with this bag and went on the hunt for it. It is sold out everywhere. I managed to find it on Poshmark. Yay Poshmark! This is going to be perfect for the fall. 

 

 

Sixth on my list are these travel contact lense containers. I found these on Amazon and they come two in one pack! Great for traveling or keeping in your handbag for easy access! 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Seventh is this incredibly chic white umbrella that I also found on Amazon. I love the gold handle and gold hardware. It is so elegant and comes in different colors. I ordered it and took it to my office immediately. It’s quite lovely.

 

 

The eighth item is this lovely goat milk soap from Beekman 1802. Now I have been watching this company on QVC for years and was always curious about their products. I saw a recent show of their bar soap and after seeing how it lathered on t.v. I had to give it a try, so I ordered it from Amazon. I have been using it for a month and I LOVE IT! Oh my goodness, it is so creamy, and the lavender smell is very light. I love using it. 

 

 

And the last item is my new lip balm from Elizabeth Arden. I found this on Amazon and wanted to give it a try and I must say it moisturizes my lips very nicely. I use it daily and carry it in my handbag. You should give it a try. I will be ordering the 8-hour hydrating facial spray, and hand cream as well. Those items will go nicely in my handbag especially with winter on the horizon. 

I hope you all love my favorites for the month of August. My monthly newsletter will be hitting your mailboxes soon! Please make sure that you check your spam folder if you are not getting it! Have a great day and…

 

 

 

 

*Blog post not sponsored- affiliate links attached 

An Inspiring Mellody

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Good Morning,

Well, it has been an interesting first week as an empty nester. Rick and I have adjusted pretty well. We do miss the kids, but it has been nice this week. I will say that! On Wednesday, we had our Founders Day lunch for the Guild. I will share a few photos from that soon. I also went to Random Acts of Flowers and did some flower arranging training! That was really fun! I so enjoyed it. Also, I finally moved my vintage cabinet and placed my books inside! I so love it and will share photos later. I do want to go to HomeGoods this weekend to find some blue and white for it. 

On Monday I shared a beautiful and elegant women named Ann Getty. Today I am sharing another inspiring woman that I just found named Mellody Hobson. 

 

 

I stumbled on Mellody while on Facebook. An advertisement for a course on Masterclass appeared in my newsfeed and it was her discussing finances, so I just had to Google her. She is married to George Lucas! Yes the creator of Star Wars and the Indiana Jones franchise. I could not believe that when I read it. But not only that she is the chairwoman of Starbucks and was the chairwoman for Dreamworks.

What I found so fascinating about Mellody was her background. It was sooo similar to my own. I listened to this podcast called The Positive Leadership and it was an interview with Mellody. You have to listen to it. It is so good!

What I found so inspiring about Mellody was her drive to create a better life for herself and how she let no one stop her from doing that. I love hearing stories about women coming up through the ranks from nothing and becoming great leaders in the field. I hope you enjoy the podcast about Mellody and have a great weekend!

 

 

Quiet Elegance

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Good Morning Everyone,

I needed to take some time off from the blog, boutique, LTK and Instagram. Now I have been on there “liking” photos but for the most part I have not really been activate on it and it has been really nice. 

Lauren and her brother Ely are moved into college. My husband and I officially became “empty nesters” on Saturday. When we woke up on Saturday morning, we both were really sad. We do miss our kids, but we understand that this is simply a part of life. Lauren did call us that morning and I was so happy! She just wanted to tell us about her first night and how things were going. It was good to hear that she missed us! I just keep praying that the Lord is with them.

 I was cleaning up my office and found some old blog posts that I had printed out in 2016. I remember sharing this post called “To Meditate On” and I really enjoyed reading it. It will now be a part of my daily morning devotionals. It helped me to reset my mind as I start this new journey in my life. 

 

photo via Town & Country

 

Do you ever see a woman like this and just stare? I found this photo a few years ago and I had to go on a quest to figure out who it was. I found out that this elegant woman in this photo is Ann Getty. In this photo she was leaving her mansion in San Fransico in 1977 and was accompanied by her footman and butler. If you want to read more about her then read this article. 

When I saw this photo the phrase “quiet elegance” popped in my mind. I love seeing women like this. Where they don’t shout from the rooftop, “Oh I have money and this and that”. They just quietly go about their day living their lives with respect and beauty. They simply don’t see the need in drawing attention to themselves. Their elegance does it for them. I pray and hope that over time I can do that. Just live my life in quiet elegance. Enjoy your day!