A Great Example…. Enjoying Quarantine

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Hello Everyone,

It’s the last full week of September. I would have never thought that this would still be going on in September but here we are. I am enjoying working from home and planning for the holiday seasons. 

I recently saw an article about Martha Stewart enjoying quarantine!!!! What!!! It has been rare to hear about someone enjoying quarantine but leave it to our “domestic goddess” to enjoy it. I read the very short article and gleaned a lot from it. 

Not that I have much to complain about. My family and I have been very blessed through this whole ordeal. My husband’s company has stayed busy. I was given the opportunity to work from home and our daughter only goes to school twice a week! Honestly, her having to homeschool three times a week has been a blessing to us!














This has some similarities to the shutdown that we experienced during the beginning of 2019. Being grateful and taking things into an account…. Let me know in the comments section below what “beautiful surprises” did you encounter during this pandemic. 

Have a great Wednesday!



(photos via Pinterest)

















Friday’s Beauties

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Good Morning Everyone,

It was such a nice weekend! I had the windows open letting in all that crisp air. It was so nice, then my husband comes through complaining about how cold it is.

I told him to go back upstairs! Let this house air out!!!! But I did have a good weekend. I took off Friday to go and have breakfast with my husband and he then took me to Homegoods!!! Yay! I didn’t buy much….funny how your husband is ready to spend money and you can’t find anything!!! Not funny God! 

I just got some new laundry baskets. He did hint around to birthday gifts and asked me for more ideas. We did end up at Macys and I got a huge bottle of Donna Karen Cashmere Mist. It is huge but I so love this fragrance. It’s wonderful. 

Okay, so I headed back to Walmart last week to take a look at their floral arrangements. I found a few that I really liked and was able to change the look of the floral arrangement in my office. I really like the way it turned out. 
This arrangement was fun to make once I found these peony & pumpkin flower bundles. I am really enjoying this in the kitchen.

I also could not leave Walmart with some real pumpkins. These went on my porch with my faux ones and blue and white planters. 


Lastly, I shared this beautiful and tasty treat on my Instagram account. I have been craving this for weeks and stopped by Starbucks and got a slice. It was so delicious with a cup of hot roasted dandelion tea.

I hope everyone has a great Monday and let me know in the comments section below if you have made any floral arrangements and where you made your purchases. 



(photos via Mrs. Shockley)


Weekly Beauty Inspiration ~ LABL Book

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Hello Everyone!

I am wearing sweaters! Yay, but we will see how long this lasts. Yesterday I stopped at Walmart and picked up a few more faux autumn flowers and some delicious pumpkin bread from Starbucks! I haven’t had any in some years! It’s still delicious. 


















photo credit Rachel Ellen Events 



Okay, it is time for our weekly inspiration from Alexandra Stoddard’s book Living a Beautiful Life. I am really taking my time and trying to savor this book bit by bit. 

I have finished Chapter 1 and I am starting Chapter 2. There were a few more things from Chapter 1 that I wanted to share…

Alexandra said, “I always have fresh flowers at my workspace, even if it’s three daisies in a little vase. And I have a handful of my favorite books near me for inspiration and reference.”















photo credit Julie Hengel 


I am guilty of having books and flowers on my desk or near it. Alexandra said she believes that beauty can be achieved in the smallest, simplest ways, and this beauty enriches your work experience. I couldn’t agree more. Having a beautiful space at my job has helped me through some rough patches when dealing with co-workers. 

One more quote that I wanted to share from the chapter was… “Personal rituals make you a poet- and they can help you feel good about yourself and others. They reinforce the significance of the simple acts we perform repeatedly. While you are fulfilling basic needs, you can make the ordinary quite extraordinary. When you make your everyday rituals- simple things such as bathing, sleeping, and editing- meaningful and attractive, they nourish other areas of your life.” 

photo credit French Country Cottage 
I hope these inspiring quotes give you the desire to bring more beauty in your life. Even if it’s just the simplest things. Bring them in, live with it, and embrace it. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and let me know in the comments section how you are doing on autumn decor and wearing sweaters!

(quotes Alexandra Stoddard)

A Small Autumn Wreath

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Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the incoming season of autumn. I know here in Indy we are going to be down into the low 50’s this week! So excited. I actually had the windows open this morning to let in some of that crisp morning air. So wonderful….
I am still in the process of preparing my home for fall. I really didn’t have any autumn decor for the inside of my home. I had those faux pumpkins for my porch but no arrangments nor pumpkins for inside my home. 

I think I noticed it because I am working from home now and I can see what I have and what I don’t. Like I did not have an autumn wreath for my porch. I ended up picking up this wreath and added my own little dried mum stems to it. 

It’s always fun picking out your own “picks” for your decor. This sunflower pick I would have to say was my favorite!

With so many options at Hobby Lobby it was quite easy to put something together and easy. I just laid the flowers where I wanted them and then just wrapped them around the wreath. Pretty easy.

It came out quite lovely and was very easy and fun to do. I would also say that these velvet pumpkins are gorgeous! They are sold out online but check out your local Hobby Lobby. That is where I found mine. I hope you enjoyed this little fun project and add a little autumn decor to your home. 

Here are some of my autumn favorites:

Cream Pumpkin & Magnolia Wreath

Pumpkin Vase Fillers

Pumpkin Napkin Holder

Glass Pumpkin Serving Bowl (on sale for $10!)

Autumn Leaves & Pumpkin Please Wooden Easel
Have a great Wednesday!


(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

 

Velvet Pumpkins for Home

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Hello Everyone,

This weekend went by rather quick. I was feeling so antsy this weekend so I went to Homegoods to look around for autumn decor and then headed to Costco. I was feeling a little down. The state of the country makes my heart grieve. My family can see it and it bothers them. I know that there is nothing I can do about anything that is going on but I pray more and more about our world. We only have one and it doesn’t seem to be going well…. does it? 

Even my blog’s Facebook seems to be caught in the middle of the election crap. I never post anything political but for some reason, something that I have on the blog is considered “not up to Facebook’s community standards”. I know that I am not the only blogger with this issue. I am hoping to get it fixed soon. 

Okay, let’s move on to something fun. If any of you follow some influencers on Instagram or Liketoknowit you would have seen the faux velvet pumpkins that are everywhere. 


I found my elegant little pumpkins on Amazon of course. They are affordable and can be placed anywhere. I placed my set on our dining room table and love them there!

There are several sets on Amazon in many different colors. 

I even found this cream pumpkin at Homegoods. It is apart of the Martha Stewart line. It was under $20.


















I am trying to add more autumn decor to the home. I really didn’t have a whole lot. I don’t know why but I am working on it.

I hope you all enjoyed this post and have a great Monday!



You may follow me here for more inspiration! 






(photos via Mrs. Shockley)


Evening Reading: A New Book

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Good Morning!

Whew has it been a week for me! I am still working on micro-managing my daughter and it has been tough. I have been practically doing Algebra with her. A few days ago we had a Google meet with her teacher that lasted about 3 hours! I have never done Math that long a day in my life! But I love my kid and want her to succeed.

As you can see from the photo above my book finally arrived! It took longer than a week to get here but alas it’s finally here. I have started to read it and it is wonderful. I still can’t believe that Alexandra wrote this back in the 80’s. 














photo credit Melnychuk Nataliya 

Each week I would like to share little tidbits from the book. I have only read a few pages and I found so many wonderful “nuggets” that I had to share them. The first thing that Alexandra discussed was rituals. I talked about this on the blog a few times ( see here and here). She said, ” Instead of rushing through our lives to get somewhere- instead of saving up real living for later- I think it’s important to remember that each single day is all we have. Single days experienced fully add up to a lifetime lived deeply and well”. 

I like that…. lived deeply and well… 


















photo credit Anthropologie

She went on and talked about rituals and making every day lovely. But I have to share one small story that she discussed. She talked about her friend who has made bill paying into a ritual. She said, “She puts Brahms on her stereo, she placed an arrangement of flowers on her desk, she dresses in a fresh blouse and skirt so she is actually ready to mail her bills (keep in mind no online bill-paying) as soon as she’s finished. She has elevated a necessary task- bill paying- into a ritual through the details surrounding how she does it”. 

I love that small story and I am sure that there are many in this book. I also noticed that at the end of each chapter she has a section called ” Grace Notes”. I am sure that I will be sharing those. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the everyday! 

A Flower Refresh ~ Part 2

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Good Morning Everyone,

I decided to take Monday off from the blog and go to Hobby Lobby. I wanted to take a look at some Christmas ornaments because they were on sale for 40%! I found some really good items for my trees and some items for a wreath to put out on the front porch. 

Last Wednesday I mentioned that I was on the hunt for some faux magnolias. Well at first I went to Michaels then Hobby Lobby. I found some there but they were quite expensive. So I ended up going to Walmart for a few things and found the magnolia stems below. Aren’t they gorgeous!?

These are the magnolia stems from Mainstays are they are super affordable! There are other stems that are available if you can’t purchase these. There are these and these beautiful pink ones. I also added a beautiful faux fern bush to make the arrangement lusher. 

This is the new arrangement in our bedroom. Most of these stems were from Hobby Lobby. The last time that I did a flower refresh was in 2019 which was not that long ago. I noticed that my home decor style is beginning to change. It could be that I am about to step into a new decade. The flower refresh that I did last year was for my office. I have a few more arrangments that I will be changing out but I am not in a hurry. 

I hope this inspires you all to take a second look at faux flowers. They have really come a long way. 




(photos via Mrs. Shockley)