Caramel Cake ~ New Recipe

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Good Morning and Happy New Year!

We have nothing planned this evening. Just a quiet dinner at home, my cheeseboard, some wine, and maybe a movie. I am putting up my Christmas decor today, washing bed linens, and vacuuming my entire home. I am also burning my fresh cut roses candle from Yankee Candle. It is one of my favorite scents. I want to wish you all a Happy New Year filled with peace, health and of course elegance! 

Now I want to share my glorious semi-homemade caramel cake recipe!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Okay, so this is a semi-homemade recipe. The cake part is actually a basic yellow cake. I used the Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake mix and it turned out so wonderful. It was so moist and delicious! I also decided to use a bundt cake style pan and I loved the way it turned out. 

Now the caramel icing is homemade and I decided to give this recipe a go and it worked out beautifully! It only required 4 ingredients and a lot of stirring but it was so worth it and my entire family loved my cake! Now the recipe did not call for pecans but I just kept looking at it and my husband asked me if I was okay with how it looked and I said, “you know I do want to add some crushed pecans”! He said go for it and I did. It added the perfect amount of crunch and salt to my sweet caramel cake! I could not be happier!

 

 

This was my table setting this year. I wanted something with blue in it. Last year and the years past I always had red and this year I wanted something different. I do love the way it turned out!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I can’t believe how fast this year flew by. I hope 2022 is a year of peace for everyone. Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

December Favorites ~ 2021

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Good Morning,

I feel like I am the only person on the planet who has not taken down their Christmas tree. All of my friends have shared that they have already taken down their trees but then I was reminded that I have 3. That’s completely different. I will be leaving the office early on Thursday to get started on taking them down. I did order a new flocked tree! I am so excited. Every time I order a new tree I donate an old one. I am also going to be adding some new decor. I want more ribbon and some velvet bows for my trees next year. I will be getting those ordered here soon.

Okay time to share my favorites list for December. I can’t believe it’s the last week of 2021!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Okay, I could not help it! I had to get these and I have no regrets! They are gorgeous in person. I love them so much. The fabric is so rich and sophisticated. It is a timeless shoe seriously! I hope Tory continues with these kinds of designs! I wish I could get this fabric on one of her totes! 

 

 

 

The second is my chinoiserie-inspired scarf. I shared it on the blog here. I believe it is still sold out but I would keep an eye on the website if you are interested!

 

 

Third is my Christmas cactus. It begin to bloom in late November and then by early December I had this. It turned out so wonderful this year. My old supervisor gave this to me in 2016. It was the smallest little plant and I am so proud that I have been able to grow it to this size. I hope that I can continue to keep it alive. 

 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Fourth is my beautiful Nutcracker! I found her while grocery shopping. I saw the hair and thought, oh my she looks very similar to me. I think she is gorgeous and is a wonderful addition to my Nutcracker collection! 

 

 

 

The fifth has been the poinsettia that I had in our bedroom. It added such a Christmas feel and was a beautiful arrangement to have. I would recommend you get one for your bedroom next time!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Sixth has been this year’s wrapping paper. I love the colors and the velvet ribbon that I used. It looked so sophisticated. 

 

 

And the last is my new Van Gogh Irises picture frame that I picked up at the Newfields Museum after my tour of the Lilly Manor. Once I saw it I knew that it would be a great addition to my office!

 

 

Okay, I almost forgot this! I don’t know how I have not seen this on Youtube! This movie was directed by Karl Lagerfeld and was released on Youtube in 2013! If you are a Chanel fan you will enjoy this immensely. It is only 30 minutes but is deliciously elegant! 

Oh, one more. I found so many wonderful things to watch on Youtube this month! I found this wonderful Youtuber to follow. Her channel is AMAZING! She lives in Paris and takes you on her brocante flea market excursions and she recently toured the Ritz Hotel in Paris. Oh, magnifique! 

 

I binged watched her channel after Christmas! It was wonderful!

Well, that does it for my December favorites and the end of 2021! Goodness, the years are going by too fast. The boutique does have a new plus-size arrival. The Flora Ruffle Blouse is available for purchase! I am so happy to finally have a plus-size blouse for the boutique finally! I do hope that you all are enjoying the boutique. We will see how year 2 goes!

 

 

 

 

My Tour of the Lilly House

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Good Morning Everyone,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! My Christmas was good. I was exhausted on Christmas Eve. I did all of the cooking and decorating so at the end of the day I was really tired but we enjoyed ourselves. This should be a light work week (I hope). We don’t have any plans for New Years’ Eve. I just plan on making my cheeseboard, opening a glass of wine, and enjoying a quiet evening. 

I did want to share my recent home tour. I have been wanting to visit this home for quite some time. I took the afternoon to tour the Lilly House. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

It is a two-minute walk to the house from Newfields. The house is on the property. The Lilly family donated the house to the museum. It was made a National Landmark in 2003.

 

 

The whole time I am walking up to the home I am daydreaming that it belongs to me!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

It truly is my dream home. I have always wanted a home that looked just like this. So this home sits on 26 acres and has a beautiful water view in the back that I did not get to see. It was built in 1913. 

 

 

They had it decorated for the holidays. There were Christmas trees everywhere!  This is what it looked like when you walked in.

 

 

I loved these chandelier lamps. I would love to have one for my dresser. The ornate vintage mirror was gorgeous as well. 

 

 

I walked into the study and this room was filled with Christmas trees. And look at the ceiling? All of the wonderful details!

 

 

Oh my goodness this was the next room and you guys know that I LOVED the chinoiserie wallpaper! I think this was added some years later. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Okay, now I just learned about Nancy Lancaster’s yellow room. This color reminds me of that? What do you all think? 

 

 

I was told that the furniture is original to the home. How great is that?

 

 

This tree was mostly decorated with peacocks. They looked as if they were homemade because they were made of felt. 

 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I loved the mural painted in this hallway. The Chinese lanterns made it fun!

 

 

I then walked into the dining room. I wish I would have gotten the details about this room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The butler’s pantry! I have always wanted one of these. I got upclose to see if I could get pictures of the china.

 

 

 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

 

I believe this was the family’s china. I loved all of the prints here!

 

 

 

Here is the kitchen. I don’t believe it has been updated. I read the card about the room but I can’t remember the last time they updated the kitchen. It may have been in the 60s. 

 

 

 

Here is the other side of the kitchen. I believe the desserts were fake but still lovely and added to the Christmas decor!

 

 

 

This was the second entryway in the home. I loved this area and the chandelier. They did not let you tour the upstairs so I was bummed about that but so happy that I got to see the home. I did learn that Lilly House was designed by Landon’s brother-in-law, Lewis Ketcham Davis, in the French Château style. The house is positioned on a bluff overlooking the White River, taking advantage of expansive views to the west.

The house includes a service wing, pavilions on the east and west with access to balconies from the second floor, and a large terrace atop a garage and service area. While occupied by the Landon family, the main floor originally included a music room, library, sunroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, and porch. The second floor was made up of private suites, bedrooms, bathrooms, the servant’s suite, and a study. A third-floor ballroom was also present in the Landon home and was used for storage during the Lilly’s occupancy (from Wikipedia).  At that time the estate also included a formal garden, greenhouse, tennis court, and several outbuildings. If you want to read about the history of the Lilly Manor you may read it here. 

I hope you all enjoyed this beautiful home tour. I do hope that I can tour more homes like this in the future. If you miss my home from this past spring you may read it here.  Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

 

 

Weekend Christmas Events

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And Good Monday Morning Everyone!

We are just a few short days away from Christmas! I can’t believe it’s this week and honestly will be over so soon. A new year will be beginning and so will all of the promises of a new year. I think I shared this before that I never make new year resolutions. I just don’t see the point for me. If I need to make a change just do it now. I don’t see the point in waiting for a new year to start. 

I did want to share my weekend with everyone. On Saturday morning my family and I headed to the L.S. Ayres Tea Room for our annual brunch. This year they made some changes. We were told that it went to “buffet style” and honestly when I heard that my heart fell. I hate buffets. I am just being honest but all I see in my mind when I hear that word is people breathing all on the food, putting their grubbing hands everywhere, and thinking about how so people just don’t wash their hands. But when we walked into the room I was pleasantly surprised….

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

The entryway did not change much and that beautiful piano was still there….

 

 

Beautiful isn’t it? I still don’t know much about it. Maybe I will get info on it next time. 

 

 

 

I did snap a photo of this. This is a photo of some of the original staff. This photo was taken in 1905!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

So when we walked in we were shown to our table and we sat down and ordered our drinks. After that, we were directed to the buffet line. The room was not crowded and the food was completed covered with servers behind it! I was so relieved. No one could touch the food, you were able to select what you wanted and could go back for seconds. There was a glass shield over the area of the food. I mean you could not even breathe on it. I was so happy! I know that sounds bad but some people are just gross. 

I selected the tuna tea sandwiches, some chicken salad, ginger peach tea, and chicken velvet soup of course. I shared the recipe for this soup and it is the most viewed post on my blog! They also had this wonderfully soft pumpkin bread. Oh, it was so delicious! I should have gotten the recipe for that. 

 

photo credit: Mr. Shockley 

It was a wonderful lunch with a beautiful atmosphere that we all enjoyed! On Sunday afternoon my daughter and I went to see the Nutcracker at Newfields. It was really nice this year and we sat in the balcony which wasn’t bad but we have decided to try another Nutcracker next year. I hope you all enjoy your Christmas holiday with your family this week. I will be taking the rest of the week off from the blog and I will see you all next week!

Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

Loving Textures….

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Good Morning,

I am really excited about this weekend. Tomorrow we are headed to the Ayres Tea Room for lunch! I have not been in about 2 years and I really wanted to go last year but Covid happen and that was all she wrote. So I made reservations and we are headed there tomorrow for an early lunch or brunch. Then on Sunday afternoon Lauren and I are headed to the Nutcracker! I hope it is good this year. I believe that the dancers have to wear masks and I really hate that. I want to see everyone’s beautiful face and I want to see those smiles. It has been really hard this year but I am hoping for the best for both events. I will share next week how everything went. 

In today’s post, I wanted to share my recent change in home decor interests. 

 

 

Captured at La Mirande on Feb 08, 2020 by Stacie Flinner Photography.

 

I am starting to fall in love with textures! I don’t know why but every time I see a room that is filled with different textures and colors I just begin to study it. I really don’t like all of the white rooms. That takes no effort to decorate. Not to me anyway. How you layer things and pull colors together says a lot about your imagination. 

 

Captured at on Oct 13, 2020 by Stacie Flinner Photography.

 

I love these photos from Stacie Flinner’s blog. She does a great job capturing textures and colors. It inspires me so much!

 

Captured at on Oct 02, 2020 by Stacie Flinner Photography.

 

Isn’t this stunning? I love the reds, greens, corals, and creams. There is so much richness in this photo. Some of the textures even have history and I love that aspect. It’s wonderful to hear of someone’s vintage rug coming from their great grandmother, or a china set belonging to a great, great aunt, or furniture that has been in the family for years. I adore heirlooms and history. 

 

Captured at on Oct 13, 2020 by Stacie Flinner Photography.

 

I am really loving how designers are now incorporating textures and fabrics in their designs. I adore the Brocade pump from Tory Burch and the Mademoiselle pump from Sarah Flint. I love how sophisticated and premier they look. The fabric gives them such character. 

I hope this post inspires you today. Let me know in the comments section below if you are an “all-white room” person or a “texture person”. I think for the most part we all love a little color in our lives. Have a great weekend!

 

 

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.

 

Mrs. Higgins’ Room Tour

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Oh goodness, it’s only one week until Christmas! I can’t believe it! We still don’t have snow here in Indy but there is a rumor going around that we are expected to have some this weekend. It has been so warm here which has made the holidays a little sad to me.

For this week I have been trying new recipes. I have been bringing my own salads to work this week for lunch and making my own dressing. It has been delicious! I have also been adding apples with roasted chicken (my chicken from home) and that has been a wonderful combination. I wanted to try and make Nicolas Fairford’s cranberry sauce. Seeing that on those turkey tea sandwiches that he made had my glands salivating. Oh yum!

In today’s post I wanted to talk about the Mrs. Higgins home in My Fair Lady. 

 

photo via Pinterest

 

I adore this room. Whenever I watch this movie I replay this part over and over so that I can get a glimpse of the details. I learned that the room was decorated by Cecil Beaton. I believe he was inspired by C.F.A Voysey. I also believe that there is a little bit of William Morris inspiration as well. 

I love the chairs, table, just everything about this setting. I still can’t believe that people actually lived this way…. 

 

 

I paused the movie at this point and tried to take in all the details. I looked at the wallpaper, the blue and white dishes at the top of the cabinetry. Just look at the cabinetry! It’s timeless. I see cabinets in homes on Pinterest like this now. Oh and did you get a peek at the chandelier? It’s blue and white!

 

 

I tried to take up-close photos of the movie. There are so many wonderful details in this room. How about that beautiful brown wood floor? 

 

 

Oh, I did notice this section in the room as well. This beautiful white secretary desk with a stunning blue and white chair! I couldn’t find any information on this furniture. I think the lamp might be Wedgewood. It sure does look like it. 

Let me know in the comment section below if you know anything about Mrs. Higgins’s room. I would love to know what you love about the room or dislike. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday. 

 

 

 

 

A New Pen Pal

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Good Morning!

I’ve got a busy day today! Of course, I have to head into the office and have my normal workday but I made an appointment to meet with our Indiana Department of Revenue to make sure that I am all ready for the upcoming tax season for my boutique! This will be the first year that I file returns and pay sales tax for the boutique and I want to make sure that everything is in order. I am really excited about this meeting. I always enjoy things like this. I just hope that I get a “seasoned” individual that can answer all of my new business owner questions. 

Later on this week I will begin wrapping presents for family, friends, and staff. I will be finishing up my Christmas Eve dinner list and I plan on writing my pen-pal for the first time! 

I mentioned it before that I was a part of Jennifer from The Daily Connoisseur Chic Society. I love being a part of this group and I do enjoy the Zoom calls we have. So Jennifer had a pen-pal sign up recently and I signed up to receive a pen pal. Well, I was assigned to one recently and I wanted to have some new customized stationery to use when writing her. So where do I head to? Etsy of course!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I ordered this set from Chickadee Cottage Company on Etsy. This is called the stationery letter writing pen pal set. You can customize it to your preference. You pick the color of your envelopes and the color of your letters and font. I love the way my set came out!

 

 

I can’t wait to start writing her! I will be sending my first letter this week. I hope everyone has enjoyed this post and let me know in the comments below if you have a pen pal. I haven’t had a pen pal since 5th grade! My teacher at the time Mrs. Belmont became friends with another teacher in Phoenix, Arizona and they came up with the idea of their students becoming pen pals. I thought it was great! I wish I would have stayed in touch with her. My pen pal’s name was Victoria. Classic right? Have a great Monday everyone! 

 

Oh, I almost forgot! The boutique’s new plus-size arrival is ready. I decided to name this dress Maxine. The Maxine Balloon Sleeve Midi is super soft, comfy, and is the PERFECT mauve pink. It’s available in 1x, 2x, and 3x! 

 

This post was not sponsored.

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.