Ginger Jar Haven- Victoria Magazine

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Good Morning All and Happy 4th of July!

Today we are taking it easy and just grilling at home and enjoying the firework shows in our neighborhood. We have quite a few neighbors who set off fireworks during this time of year. We stop going to firework shows at parks. For one it’s always crowded, two there are never any bathrooms around, and three it’s just so hot out! We also realized that the shows don’t start until around 9:30 and we normally have to work in the morning. So now we just hang out at home and try to get into bed at a good time. 

Tomorrow I am meeting someone for lunch. She is on the board for the Indiana Paralegal Association. I have been trying to do more networking this year. I am considering joining this group so we will see how the meeting goes. 

In today’s post I just wanted to share something fun. You guys know that I love Victoria Magazine and in the recent magazine a beautiful home tour was shared. I hope you all enjoy the photos below!

 

photo credit: Stephanie W. Steele

 

I loved how Kelli Kot from KD Hamptons decorated her home. Also can we talk about the dress that she is wearing? Gorgeous! Kelli’s home is a Victorian style abode that has bay windows and is truly picturesque. 

 

photo credit: Stephane W. Steele

 

Kelli has a vast collection of blue and white porcelains. They are weaved throughout the home. Kelli describes her interior design as, “updated traditional with a touch of Scandinavian influence. 

 

photo credit: Stephanie W. Steele

What a dream! I only hope that my hydrangeas become that gorgeous and hearty! Kelli mentioned that she had lived in New York for years and after she married her husband Mark, she became enthralled in gardening.  She and her husband have different views and taste on gardening but both of them give each other the space they need to create their own special gardens. I believe that it is so important to be able to make your home into the vision that you have in your dreams. Having a spouse that does not see eye to eye can make that hard. I am very fortunate that my husband doesn’t mind my taste in decor. He makes a remark sometimes, but he usually gives me my freedom. 

I hope you all enjoyed this post and pick up a copy. This blog post is not sponsored but I think you would really enjoy the other photos if you just took a look inside. Have a wonderful 4th!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner at the Vineyard

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Good Morning,

I am still finding peony bouquets! I can’t believe it! It is almost July, and we are still finding them. I found some at Whole Foods and then my husband found some yesterday at Costco! I am loving this! Speaking of Whole Foods, I am still taking my once-a-week trips there. I love their Sonoma Chicken salad! It is so good! I eat it with crackers for a wonderful cool lunch. 

I have been on this “new adventures” journey for a few weeks now. For Father’s Day I wanted to try something else new. I had heard of this vineyard called Daniel’s Vineyard and knew that I wanted to give it a try so we went there to celebrate Father’s Day!

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

It was a beautiful Father’s Day. The weather was perfect! 

 

 

This was our first time at a vineyard. It’s amazing what you find in your city if you are open to beauty. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

I wanted to keep things simple, so we ordered pizza, a charcuterie board and drinks. The pizzas we ordered were margherita and pepperoni.  They were brick oven pizza and were really good. The charcuterie board had smoked meats, fruits and nuts. My kind of board. I did not take pictures of the food. I wanted to enjoy the moment. 

 

 

We ate inside because we did not want to worry about bugs but afterwards, we came out to look at the vineyard. 

 

 

They were quite beautiful, and some sections were really lush. I did try a glass of wine. I had my favorite which is a white wine Moscato. 

 

 

Overall, we had a great dinner, and my husband really enjoyed his time. We just wanted to take it easy and to try something different. If you live in the area, I recommend giving it a try. It’s a great environment and family friendly! Have a great long weekend!

 

 

 

I quickly wanted to give Elaine from Urban Style Chic a big thank you for sharing the Daphne Flutter Dress! Doesn’t she look wonderful? You can use her discount code urbanstylechic10 for 10% off of anything in the boutique! Enjoy! 

 

 

 

 

 

Bedmaking with Bunny Williams

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Good Morning,

This past Monday my supervisor took me and the other ladies in management out to lunch to a new restaurant. I love going to new places around my city. This restaurant was called The Hulman. It was a very sophisticated restaurant. I ordered the veggie omelette. Oh my goodness, it was so good. I am still thinking about it.   

Now let’s stop thinking about food and move on… 

Okay I might be the only person on the planet who is not making their bed this way. I recently saw a video from the Schumacher Youtube channel from Bunny Williams on how to make the perfect “Bunny” bed. 

 

 

I watched this video over and over trying to learn some of the techniques. Now I have to say I have seen pillows stacked like this on beds in almost every interior design book that I have but I never really paid much attention to them until this video. 

I am one of those people that Bunny mentioned that lined their pillows down the bed. I never saw anything wrong with it and honestly there is still nothing wrong with it but what I did notice is that this trick from Bunny does save more space on the bed. 

 

 

I decided to give it a try. So, I stacked our pillows to see how it would work. This is my husband’s side of the bed. He has these funny pillows that he lodges in all sorts of places for his body. 

 

 

This is my side of the bed of course. You see the flowers and decor books. I only have a few pillows compared to him. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Now here is the front. I will say that I love this look more. It does give the bed a more uniform look in the front and looks a little “crisper”. Let me know in the comments section below how you make your bed. Do you make it the “Bunny” way, my old way or a different way. I am curious. Have a great Wednesday! 

 

Oh I almost forgot the boutique’s new arrival is available. It is called the Vera Blush Maxi. It’s a beautiful pink color of course. I love my pink dresses. They simply look good on everyone! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June Favorites ~ 2022

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Good Morning,

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I still can’t believe this is the last weekend in June! I had a wonderful time at the antique fair this weekend. I will be sure to share a few photos later!

Let’s get into my favs for the month of June. I had some fun favorites for this month…

 

 

My first favorite was the boutique’s Ballet Lace Cardigan. I actually kept a light pink for myself and loved wearing it with my blue dress to the office. It was so beautiful and super elegant. I really enjoyed wearing it and will be wearing it again soon. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Second was an antique trip that I took to a new store. It is called Vintage Whimsy and it’s a local store in Franklin, Indiana. My boss shared it with me this month and I had to take a look and I love this store! They have the prettiest things! I ended up purchasing two table cloths, a pair of vintage earrings, and my blue and white platter that I just hung. 

 

 

The earrings look great…

 

 

The third item is my new passport!!! Happy Dance! It finally arrived last week and it only took 3 weeks. I was not expecting that! I am so happy to finally have this. For years I have talked about traveling to Italy, or France and this year I thought, “you know if an opportunity presented itself I would not be able to go because I don’t have my passport”. Right after I had that thought I suddenly felt “lead” to get it started and I am so glad that I did. I’m ready Lord!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Fourth is my new leather quilted bag! I saw this in the store and loved the crystal bird as the button and the soft leather. This is called the Kensington soft bag by Kurt Geiger London. He has other bags like this and this. It’s quite lovely!

 

 

The fifth is my new swan cake topper from the Cake Bake shop. Now I have no purpose for this but at only $15 why not order one? I may place it on a dessert in the new future. Maybe my cake for my 40th but I am not sure yet. If you love it I would encourage you to order it now. In a few months they will go back up in price! Move quickly….

 

 

 

The sixth are my new grandmillennial inspired cameo bookmarks. Aren’t these great? They are so different and wonderful. The price is surprising as well. You may order it here or here. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

Seventh has been my most recent fashion idea. I love tying scarves around my bags but I find that I don’t like the “tie” look. I love for a scarf to drape over the bag and around the straps but if I did that then I have to worry about losing it. I have lost scarves before… not fun. It then dawned on me that I had this vintage Anne Klein Lion scarf clip that I found on Poshmark a few years ago.  I am now using that to help with my drape look and provide security for my scarf.  I found some similar ones here and here. I love it!

 

 

Eight are my new chinoiserie journals that I found at the At Home store. I have tried multiple times to find these online but I can’t seem to locate them. If you have a store nearby I would go and check. These were by the cashiers and were under $10 each! Beautiful!

 

 

And the last item has been this book called Marella Agnelli The Last Swan. I have been reading this during my lunch hour and oh it is so good! I never knew who this woman was but I saw this book on Instagram years ago. It is such an interesting read. Marella was married to one of the Fiat leaders and she lived such a glamours life. I loved reading about her relationship with the Kennedys and Truman Capote. She also had a love affair with interior design and reading how she decorated the family homes was so educational. My daughter even loved the pictures in this book which is rare. 

Well those are my favorites for the month of June. I am starting to get really excited. Our family vacation will be coming up here soon. I will share those details when the time gets closer. Have a wonderful Monday!

 

Please note: some links are affiliate links and if you make a purchase through this link, I will receive a small commission for referring you to the product. Thank you so much in advance if you decide to make a purchase through my link.

 

 

 

 

Hanging Plates ~

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Good Morning,

The weather has been soo good! I just wish the humidity would stay away. I am looking forward to the weekend. I will be attending an outdoor antique fair on Saturday. This will be my first time going and I am hoping to find a blue and white chair or a floral arm chair for my downtown office. Wish me luck! 

Speaking of new things, I remember some years ago I watched a video from Martha Stewart about hanging plates and ever since I saw that video I knew that I wanted to try it some day. I could never find any plate wall hangers and I couldn’t really afford to buy a bunch of plates and honestly had no inspiration. But now with Pinterest, bloggers, and Instagram the inspiration is just over flowing. I went antiquing a few weeks ago and found this platter below…..

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I paid about $35 for it. It’s quite large and the colors were perfect for my home decor. I loved the blue, white, and gold. It has beautiful details and the size… I could not pass it up. 

 

 

I searched Amazon and found this super plate hanger for large platters. There are so many options but I wanted something that I knew would fit my platter and this was a perfect fit! It comes in a pack of two and the price was outstanding as well. 

 

 

I decided to hang it in our bedroom next to our mirror. Now I don’t have a platter on the other side and it might look unbalanced but I love the platter here. For some reason it just looks so good to me here. I may move it down the road but for now I am loving it in this spot. 

Please let me know in the comments section below if you have plates hanging on your wall in your home. Oh and I wanted to let everyone know that the boutique will have a new arrival soon! Have a great weekend! 

 

 

 

A Chicago Trip ~ Sarah Flint BA Meeting!

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Good Morning,

Back into the swing of things and the heat has returned! Yuck! I hate humidity. It makes life very difficult but I always try to make sure that I have my essentials ready. Okay everyone I am still on Cloud 9 about my first brand trip! I still can’t believe that I am finally working with a brand. It’s been so fun and so far working with the Sarah Flint company has been a phenomenal experience. They do not put a lot of pressure on you to sell nor push content. I know it may seem like I am but it is me. I genuinely love the shoes. Honestly, I do. I wasn’t sure if I was going to attend the brand ambassador meet up in Chicago. I have never done anything like this so I did not know what to expect but something in me said, “just go” and I am so glad that I did. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

The brand ambassador meet up and truck show was held at the Four Seasons Hotel.  As soon as I walked in I was in awe. It was marvelous!

 

 

Truly extraordinary…

 

 

I went in the bathroom to freshen up and wait for the other brand ambassadors. They all began to show up one by one. Most of the ladies were local. I drove the furthest. My drive from Indiana was about 3 hours. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Laurel who is apart of the “BA” team came down to greet us and to make sure that we were comfortable. Once enough people arrived they took us upstairs to the suite. I did not take a lot of pictures of the suite because I wanted to take in this moment. I did get a few photos of some shoes. Even though I am already married I still love these Wedding Parker Slings. They are just about sold out. I would wear them with my everyday dresses. I think that would look wonderful! 

 

 

I am lusting for this scarf. It’s called the Odette Scarf 90. I am still thinking about it… 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I could not resist taking a photo of this shoe. This is the Perfect Pump 85 in blue wisteria. I laid them on the table runners from the Sarah Flint company. I couldn’t find them on online but aren’t they lovely? 

 

 

Joseph who also works on the BA team loved my combination of my tote and scarf. This scarf is from the Sarah Flint collection and is called the hidden garden scarf. I love it! My tote is of course from MME.Mink. 

 

photo credit: selfie from Joseph

 

Here is the lovely Joseph…

 

photo credit: SF Content Team

 

Here is a photo of me and the other ambassadors along with some of the SF BA team! So much fun!

 

photo credit: Julie from Fashion Trends & Friends

 

I met this chic lady and her friend. Julie was such a hoot! As soon as she walked into the suite I knew it. I said, “okay I want to be her friend”. I loved her hot pink jumpsuit! The one thing that I loved about Julie is that she is fearless! She is fearless with her fashion and aims to have fun and enjoy being a woman! 

 

photo credit: SF Content Team 

 

I had such a wonderful time attending this event. I look forward to attending more events and being an influencer for the company. I love it so far. They are always sending out educational information and providing training constantly in order to help assist you with your content. 

 

photo credit: xoxoperfectjoseph

 

Doesn’t this look fabulous? This is a photo of some of the decor in the very first Sarah Flint store in Nashville! Isn’t it wonderful? It just inspired me to hang my platter that I purchased at an antique store. I will share it later. There are also framed scarves in this pictures. The hidden garden scarf is framed in the upper right hand corner. I thought oh I should frame mine?  

 

 

 

Here is the gorgeous store in Nashville, Tennesse! This is the store manager Vivian. I plan on traveling there in October when our daughter is on fall break. I hope they don’t change the decor by then. You can see all of the chic blue and white! Ohh I can’t wait!

I hope you all enjoyed this post and I am so happy to share this fun new journey with all of you. Thank you for reading my blog and for supporting!

 

This post is sponsored.

Here is my $50 off code (SARAHFLINT-BASMSSHOCKLEY) if you decide to order a pair. 

 

Eloquence Is…

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Good Morning,

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We had a great time on Saturday celebrating Father’s Day at Daniel’s Vineyard. The weather was perfect I tell you perfect! It seems as though all of the humidity disappeared! I wish it would stay gone but that is not a reality for us here in Indiana. It gets hot! I will be sure to share our experience at the vineyard later. 

In early June I read this devotional before getting ready for the day and I had to share it….

 

photo credit: Whit & Whimsy/ Pinterest

 

The fact is most of the world’s makeovers don’t work very well. People keep trying to look better, do better, act better, dress better, smile better, all to gain self-respect and influence. 

But eloquence is a spiritual quality that comes from the inner person.

 

photo credit: Pinterest 

 

The grace and graciousness we need comes by faith, by walking with the Lord, by casting our cares on Him, and by living in the light of His love. He warms our smiles, lights up our eyes, softens our features, and brings joy to our personalities. 

I hope this uplifts you today. With all of the horrible news lately, I have been wanting a “refresh” from the word of God. Maybe I just need to be reminded that the Lord is still here. I hope you all of a wonderful Monday!