Learning about Cookware

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Good Morning Everyone,


Back to clocks springing forward. Never fun. I hope you all had a great weekend. Ours has been a little rough. My husband’s 89-year grandmother passed away this past Thursday so we were dealing with that.


Although, this was not a huge shock to anyone. She had been really sick for a while and was just ready to go. That may sound a little harsh but she expressed it. I always find it fascinating when someone has embraced their own death. That to me takes a lot of peace, faith, and courage. I hope that when it is “my time” to depart I hope that I can embrace “going home” as well.


With all of the recent, viruses, and health scares it has one looking at everything. I was recently watching a video regarding cookware and how certain chemicals can get into your food. So it got me thinking about my very own cookware.


So I went and pulled mine out and saw all of these scrap marks and thought, “oh heavens, did all of that get into our food?” Oh, dear…


So I continued to watch Lisa’s video and thought maybe I need to pay attention to this.


I then realized that I did keep some of my husband’s stainless steel cookware and I thought I would try that out for a few weeks. 


Now they work great! I do have a hard time scrambling my eggs in them but I think I just need to get the hang of it. 

So what are your thoughts about cookware? Do you have a preference? What do you know about chemicals? Please share your thoughts below. I am very curious.



Thanks for reading!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)


Honeysuckle- A New Scent

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Good Morning Everyone,


I still can’t believe our daughter is 15! It’s quite incredible that these years are flying by. Goodness…. well if you read my blog post on Monday then you would know that I visited Pier 1 this weekend. 


Not only did I pick up those beautiful Moody Bloom Salad plates which are now on sale, but I also took a look at their home scents. 

I took a peek and smelled the blue hydrangea. It was good but I was not in love with it. 

Then I found the Honeysuckle and that smelled wonderful to me. I purchased the reed diffuser and I have placed it next to my bed so that while I read and when I wake up, I can smell it. 

It has notes of lilac, lily, and magnolia. It is quite lovely and a wonderful way to wake up in the morning. If you have a Pier 1 nearby I would recommend that you go by and take a look at the store. It is filled with beautiful home inspiration. 



Have a wonderful day!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Plates in Bloom

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Good Morning March Everyone!


It is March 2nd and we are on our way to spring! Hopefully…. we have been known here in Indiana to get snow but honestly, if we do I won’t complain. We have had a pretty mild winter. 


I hope you all had a great weekend. I took Lauren ice skating with her girlfriend for the last day. It turned out to be a wonderful night. After skating my husband and step-son met us at the Cake Bake Shop again for dinner. My husband loves the chicken velvet soup. I did end up getting the salmon dinner again but changed up the cake. I decided to get the carrot cake this time. 


Her carrot cakes are made without nuts or raisins so I was a bit skeptical. It was DELISH! I am so glad that I ordered it!

I try not to take too many pictures when I am there. I want to savor the moment but everything is so pretty. It’s hard not to take photos.

The beautiful carrot cake. So good!

On Sunday I did go and visit Pier One because an advertisement passed through my Instagram account with these beautiful plates. I had to go and take a peek. 



Beautiful florals were everywhere. 
The Moody Bloom Plates were beautiful in person. They are painted in rich colors and are microwave and dishwasher safe. Now, these are only salad plates so they are much smaller but I don’t see a problem with that seeing that we need to eat smaller meals anyway. 


They come in a set of four and are only $34.99! It would be a wonderful addition to anyone’s collection. 

I hope you all enjoyed this post and have found some spring inspiration. Enjoy your day!





(photos via Mrs. Shockley)




February Favorites

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Good Morning Everyone,


Goodness, the end of February already and today is our 16th wedding anniversary! Gosh, that twenty-year anniversary is fast approaching. I still do want to renew our vows (see here if missed my post) in twenty years so we will see.


I try to keep track of my favorites for each month but there are so many things. So let’s dive right into them.


Have any of you heard of Tubi? If not it’s a streaming service available for free shows and movies. I recently discovered it on my t.v. and have watched lots of movies for free. One movie was called Fanny. It is from 1961 and is about young lovers Marius and Fanny how they seemed to be made for each other.

Well, Marius wants to go out to sea for five years but is torn because of his love for Fanny. She ends up pushing him out to sea but because she has a secret of her own. It’s a great movie!




Next on my list have been the cream curtains that I found at HomeGoods. These are DKNY and I have been loving them!

Third, on my list has been the spinach salads that I have been packing for my daily lunches at the office. See my blog post here if you missed it. 


Fifth on my list has been my jogger pants that I purchased from New York and Company. LOVE!!! So comfy!
Sixth on my list was this recent hand-written note that I received from one of the sales reps at the Estee Lauder counter that I shop at. A product that I love is being discontinued and she sent this note. How lovely right?


And last but certainly not least is this beautiful kitchen. This belongs to the very elegant Tina from The Enchanted Home. I just love this kitchen. Isn’t it a dream?


Well, I hope you all enjoy your weekend and I should be posting a video to Youtube soon. Thank you, everyone, for reading!






(photos via Mrs. Shockley & Pinterest)

Clutches ~ Best Make-Up Bags?

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Good Morning Everyone,


Sorry for the no-post on Monday. I have been really wanting to stay away for social media. There has been so much junk going around. My good friend texted me this past weekend and asked, “hey are you going to post a video”? Oh my, I completely forgot about my channel! I will try to get something posted this weekend.


This weekend I was dealing with my Roomba. I had to get “Alfred” on a cleaning schedule because my husband had control of him and he was not being used. So we transferred the app to my phone and now I have Alfred on a cleaning schedule. Yeppee!


In today’s post I wanted to talk about my favorite clutches. Now I use my clutches as makeup bags because my purses are like totes so I can get away with it.


This first one has been a favorite for about a couple of years. I purchased it from Ann Taylor about two years ago and I love the color and the velvet texture.

It looks great and has been a wonderful makeup bag for me. Below are all of my clutches that I use as makeup bags. 
I use all of them for different seasons. Most of them I purchased brand-new and the embroidered one I just purchased from Poshmark last week and I love it so far!

I use these during the winter and fall months. There is plenty of room and I love the textures and colors. The red velvet was purchased from Ann Taylor Factory and the pearl one was purchased from Banana Republic. 

These two I will probably carry through the spring and summer months. The pink one I purchased from Aldo and it comes with a chain.

But I got to tell you I do love my embroidered clutch from Poshmark.  

It has lots of room and pockets for special items. I am going to enjoy having this in my tote. 
It looks great and fits well. I hope you all enjoyed this post and that maybe it sparked a little interested in clutches for you. I know I love big bags and not everyone can carry one but if you have a work tote maybe this would be a good option for you. Enjoy your day!



(photos via Mrs. Shockley)


Ideas for Organizing

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Good Morning Everyone,


I have been feeling the organizing and purging “bug” lately. I have been going through all of my drawers at home and in my office.


My husband recently came home with a copy of Martha Stewart’s new book, Organizing: The Manual for Bringing Order to Your Life.

I love it so far! Martha has her calendar in it for each month with all of her activities and then discusses them in the pages after. So great, but I will share more about her book later. 

I did however wanted to share this awesome blog post from interior designer Randi Garrett about her kitchen drawer organizing tips. 

Kitchen Drawer Organizing Tips
I love all of the beautiful hand towels that she has in her drawers. I may take some inspiration from that and buy new nice towels for the kitchen. 


silverware drawer organizing ideas
And did you guys see this beautiful flatware? Oh my….


I hope you all enjoy this post from Randi. I know I am feeling really inspired to beautify my space. 

Have a great weekend everyone! 





(photos via Randi Garrett Design.com and Mrs. Shockley)




A Few Beautiful Things

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Have you ever had a weekend where you found lots of beautiful things? It happens to me more than often and sometimes I like to take a step back and just take it all in. 


I did some shopping recently and decided to change my curtains in my home. I have always been afraid of white or cream curtains. I like to keep my privacy so I always steer clear of these but I decided recently to take a chance.

I really love these beautiful cream DKNY curtains that I found at HomeGoods. The room feels like it has been refreshed some how. The original curtains that I had were gray and with these cream curtains the room now feels bright. The price made the decision easier too. I only paid $29 per set! Wonderful right? 

Once I saw how great they looked I hurried to HomeGoods to get the last set and hang them in our loft. This is where the office is. I love the way these look and they are nice and thick. So my room looks elegant without showing the inside of my home. 

The next item that I found was this beautiful blue and white pillow from Ralph Lauren. I also found this at HomeGoods for only $20! It’s gorgeous in person! 



Last weekend my family and I went to our outlet mall here in Indiana. I am not a huge fan of our outlet mall. We don’t have a lot of selections there. I did stop by the Coach store and picked up this beautiful cognac tote for under $200. These beautiful nude Coach pumps I found on Poshmark (brand-new) for under $60!

I also saw these down in the Ann Taylor Factory store. It is so much better to see items in person. These rhinestone pumps are stunning in person!  I had to get a pair. 



And last but not least is this arrangement sitting in my clear chair. Now that may not be a big deal to anyone else but I just love it there. You know how you may be moving things around in a room and you place something somewhere and look over and think, “well I actually like that there”. That is how this happened.  Accidentally beauty…. 

I am still in a funk at the office. Trying to decide what to do, see here if you missed my blog post about that. But I am trying to find the beauty in things and focus on gratefulness and learning to just be still and know that he is God.

I have searched and read some of my past posts about beauty and poise. Life is interesting but worthwhile when you found your purpose. 




(photos via Mrs. Shockley)