Victorian Carpet Bag ~ Mary Poppins Tote

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My office at home

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful weekend. We kept things quiet on Halloween. We passed out candy and had two friends over for a bit of socializing. That was it. It has been cold here in Indy. We turned on the heat this week but I do open the windows in the mornings for some fresh air. It helps!

I was recently on Etsy and found these enchanting Victorian Carpet Bags! Now I love large bags and I love the shape of these! I know that they may not be for everyone but I love this bag!

photo credit Max Carpet Bags
It does remind you of a Mary Poppins bag but I love it. The body is made of chenille carpet and the handles are made of real leather. I believe these bags are built to last. 
photo credit Max Carpet Bags 
I also love this print as well and I am leaning toward ordering this one. I am not sure yet. I have been thinking about this one all weekend. I believe this would match better with my wardrobe. 

They do come in smaller sizes as well. Let me know your thoughts below. Are they too old fashion or timeless and classic? Don’t be shy and want to know. 

Thanks for reading!!!

Weekly Beauty Inspiration ~ LABL (5)

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Good Morning Everyone,

I hope all is well. Halloween is tomorrow. We purchased a little bit of candy just in case we have trick or treaters stop by but other than that it will be a quiet weekend for us. 

I will be working on the blog, reviewing my Thanksgiving dinner checklist, finishing some last Christmas gift purchases (I am almost finished), and hopefully getting in some reading. 

Okay, let’s get into this week’s Living a Beautiful Life tip. I am still in Chapter 3. It is quite a long chapter and I have been quite busy with other things so I have it on my list to finish this chapter this week. Alexandra the author continues to talk about food and how to enjoy it. She says…

“Good eating is a philosophy. I know a French lady who muses, “I am the keeper of my sacred body. I guard carefully everything I put in my mouth.” She eats entirely by the seasons. 

What great advice! I have been recently trying to eat my produce by the seasons. There is a great difference in taste when you do this. 



Photo by Melnychuk Nataliya on Unsplash



She goes on to say, “Certain foods should be eaten at certain times of the year. Nothing is more disappointing than a tasteless plastic tomato in December. The best way to select fresh ingredients at the best price with the most flavor is to follow the seasons.

In the early spring, asparagus comes on the market, and by June and July, there are melons and berries. Corn in July. We often go to a local restaurant that has tomatoes and basil on the menu all summer, yet only serves this dish when the tomatoes are perfect. “

I recently stopped buying blueberries because they began to taste terrible. I have shifted to grapes for the moment. I do buy apples as well. 



















Photo by Євгенія Височина on Unsplash



The last tip that I wanted to share from Alexandra is her tips about taste. She says, “Experiment with your basic menus. Add ginger and blanched scallions and Greek olives to your chicken one night; the next, nutmeg, bacon, and sour cream to your spinach. Then add a touch of soy sauce to whatever you have in the wok…..  Carrots are delicious with fresh orange or tangerine juice squeezed into the butter, plus a pinch of cinnamon and a little brown sugar.”

That sounds stupendous! Carrots with all those flavors, I may have to try that!

Let me know in the comments section if you have ever tried carrots prepared this way. I still hope that you all are enjoying these snippets from the book. I enjoy sharing them. 

Have a great weekend everyone!




October Favorites ~ 2020

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Good Afternoon,

I am still working on getting the blog ready to transition over to my new website. I am really excited and very nervous at the same time. There are so many projects that I want to do in the future. I hope the Lord will allow me too. 

Well, let’s get into my favorites for October…


My first favorite has been my new vera clip earrings from Loren Hope. I just love these! I have been wearing them non-stop over the entire month. I even have them in right now. Love them!

 

My second has been the French Character Homes channel on YouTube. This is a cup of tea, sit on the cozy couch, and enjoy kind of channel. I must admit I did it a few times this month. 

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash



(photo via Mrs. Shockley)


Third, on my list has been my jade roller. Goodness, you guys I love this thing! My face glows after using it. I feel like I don’t even need any makeup after using it. 



(photo via Mrs. Shockley)


Fourth on my list has been my faux flower arrangments in my personal office at home. I found the red hydrangeas at Walmart. Here is a similar bunch. The deep red is perfect. 

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)
The fifth is my LV purse insert from Etsy. This has done wonders for my neverfull. I can find everything and it’s organized. This can be used for any kind of tote but if you have a neverfull give it a try! 


(photo via Mrs. Shockley)

Sixth is my Chanel inspired brooch from Minty Jewelry. It is a really chic brooch. It’s a great size and looks splendid with anything! 

Well, that is about it for my October favorites. I hope you guys enjoyed this post and found some new finds for yourself!


Changes Coming….

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Good Afternoon Everyone,

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is I have decided to move the blog to my very own website! The bad news is some of my old posts will vanish….

I did not know that you can not use photos from Pinterest on your blog unless you have permission. I now have to go through every last one of my posts (that I believe) my have an image from Google or Pinterest and delete the photo. I have already deleted some of my posts because I can not find the beautiful photography that I want to replace it with. You guys I am devastated.  Pinterest had been my main source for beautiful photography and to know that it is encouraged that bloggers NOT use it is crushing.

But I get it. The gentleman who is working with me on getting my new website set up has already experienced the horrible consequences of using an image that you don’t have permission to use. He had to pay a few thousand dollars for using one photo. It’s incredible. So I say this with a broken heart that some of my posts will disappear if I can not find the photos that I want. You will see more of my photography on my page (and honestly you should) but this is what I am dealing with. 

I hope you all continue to follow the blog as I try to learn all of these new rules. I am not sure what I can share and what I can’t. I have reached out to a more experienced blogger for help. I hope she gets back to me soon. I am excited about having my own website and having some freedom finally!

I am trying to keep that in front of me. I will be posting my October favorites this week! Enjoy your day!!


Also if you have moved from Blogger onto your own website I would love some pointers if you could provide them! I will let you guys know when my blog has transitioned. 

It will take several weeks. Thank you!!!!


(photo via Mrs. Shockley)








Roasted Brussel Sprouts

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Good Wednesday Afternoon,

I am still thinking about the Cake Bake Shop. It was such a nice dinner. It’s been a while since we have had such an enjoyable meal and time. Speaking of food, today I wanted to share one of my favorite veggies to roast…. brussel sprouts! 

I purchased mine at the grocery store in this mesh bag. They are about $2.99 for this small bag. 
I wash them and slice them in halves. 

I then place them in the baking pan that I sprayed with olive oil spray. I pour extra virgin olive oil on them, sprinkle salt, and my new favorite celery salt! 
I love celery salt! Oh my gosh, it adds so much flavor to a dish. 

I place them in the oven for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees and they come out so well. They are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. So good!

I love them with my roasted chicken or salmon. They are so good and compliment my meals well. I hope you get a chance to try them and don’t forget the celery salt! Enjoy!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Weekly Beauty Inspiration ~ LABL Book (4)

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Good Afternoon,

The middle of October already. I am trying to plan out how I am going to get my early voting done. I hope you all are ready to vote or have accomplished it already. No matter who your party is vote. I am one who supports freedom. It doesn’t matter to me who you vote for. It is your freedom! 

Well, I had a wonderful weekend. I got my grocery shopping done, went to the nail salon, and got my gel nails back (yay) and we got to have dinner at the Cake Bake Shop!

It is so quiet. Our dinner was delicious and our server Brian was fantastic! It was not crowded which we loved. I will share some photos below. 

Today I wanted to share this week’s Living a Beautiful life post. I am in the middle of Chapter 3 which is “The Kitchen: Enhancing the Flavor of Good Eating”. 




















Alexandra said, “The more carefully we plan our meals, the less tempted we will be to overdo in quantity. Meals are small acts of great importance, moments set aside for conversation, reflection, and communion. I think there should be a high concentration on the ritual of eating. Beauty has no calories and yet it improves your health.” 

Well said! Beauty has no calories and yet improves your health. It does! There are countless times when things around me have helped pull me out of a dark cloud. 





















She goes on to say that there are “three basic elements in interior design that bring atmosphere and charm into your kitchen: Keep it simple, make it appropriate, make it beautiful. It sounds so easy-simple, appropriate, and beautiful- yet you need to be watchful to accomplish it. “

I understand the watchful part. Sometimes with the day to day life schedules clutter can creep into your kitchen and dining area. My husband is a “pile keeper”. He will keep piles of crap everywhere if I let him so I have to be mindful. 

I hope you guys enjoyed these beautiful tips from Alexandra today. I will be sharing more kitchen tips next week. Now on to my Cake Bake visit and photos!



Once we arrived I checked us in and went to the gift shop to look around. I loved the new Christmas ornaments. 




This was Lauren’s favorite!

I have to say that the swan ornament was my favorite!

The gift shop and bakery shop is always fun to walk around in. 

This was the chandelier above our table. Glorious isn’t it? 

These swan pillows are new decor features around the restaurant. They are very pretty in person. Smaller versions are available if you are interested. 

I could not pass up the brown butter salmon. It was great this time with the roasted brussel sprouts and potatoes. So yummy! I cleaned my plate! 

This time I decided to get a slice of the apple crumble cake! It was an apple spice cake made with real apples and pecans. It was also filled with homemade caramel. It was DELISH!

I have never seen it this empty but due to Covid there was limited seating. It was nice to be able to take a few photos with less people around. 

















These new fairies were a new addition too! I hope you all enjoyed this post filled with home inspiration and great dining. The Cake Bake Shop is always a magical place! Thank you for reading! And this blog post today marks my 1,000th POST!!!! I can’t believe it! Wow, thank you to all of you who continue to read my blog. 

(photos via Pinterest & Mrs. Shockley)

A Few Autumn Outfits

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Good Afternoon Everyone,

I am taking the day off today. I want to take our daughter to a new restaurant and have her try some beignets. My husband took me there a few weeks ago and it was delicious. I brought home some beignets for Lauren and she went on and on about them. So this should be a nice brunch that we can have together. Also, I saw an advertisement for IL Makiage and I took their foundation survey. The survey gave me what they thought was my match for foundation. I went ahead and requested the trial bottle. It shipped out yesterday so we will see.

Okay so on with today’s post. Some of you may have already seen a few photos on my Instagram account about my fall outfits. I wanted to share a few of those on the blog. Let’s start with my first outfit….


So in this photo, I am wearing a v-neck sweater from H&M, a pleated skirt from Walmart, leopard slingbacks from Ann Taylor and my vintage Louis Vuitton from Tradesy. I love how the pink and burgundy look together. Feminine and still fall-inspired. If you are interested in a pleated skirt I have found some similar ones here and here.

For for a similar H&M sweater see here and here. I also found this great travel wrap from Target that also comes in 5 different colors! For some similar leopard slingbacks see here and for a vintage Louis Vuitton tote check out Tradesy. You can sometimes find a used one for under $500! 




















For my second look I am wearing this super comfy and chic long sleeve swing dress from Amazon! I was very apprehensive about ordering this but it turned out to be a great purchase! I love this dress! I paired it with my gray heels from Ann Taylor, cognac Coach tote and faux Chanel pearls. 

If you are interested in a similar gray heel look at these and these. For a similar Coach tote check out this one and this one. Also I found this fantastic tote at Macy’s for under $100! As far as the faux Chanel pearl necklace, sorry I could not find anything online. I got mine from an online website over 10 years ago. I only paid about $30! They are heavy and look so real! 






















For my third look, I am wearing the blue version of my red dress from Amazon! These dresses are great! They could be dressed up or down. So versatile and cheap! I paired it with my Kate Spade pumps (which are practically sold out), Anne Klein Sandra tote and vintage Coach scarf. 

It was quite hard trying to find something similar to my pump but I did find these great pumps at Target! Loving the snake print! For a beautiful chic scarf, I would check out Ann Taylor. They always have beautiful, elegant scarves at great prices! For a similar gray tote, this tote from Target looks pretty chic to me.

And for my last outfit…..






I am wearing this extremely gorgeous lace blouse from Express! This blouse is stunning! It is so stunning that I decided to order a second color. I ordered the truffle pink. I am wearing it in the cloud cream. It is beautiful! And I am so excited to have my first faux leather skirt! It is super comfy and chic. I am also wearing my Kate Spade pumps and Coach tote.  For a similar faux leather skirt see here. 


I hope you all enjoyed seeing a few of my outfits for fall. I hope that you all found a few pieces that you love as well. I am looking forward to the weekend. I am going to head to Von Maur to find a new foundation brush for my trial bottle that should be arriving soon. Also, I made reservations for the Cake Bake Shop! I hope we can go. My husband has been extremely busy so I hope we can get out there. I’ll post some pictures if we do. 


Enjoy the weekend!



(photos via Mrs. Shockley)