A Lovely Mind ~ Part 2

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I am still on my quest for “mental chicness”. This past December I wrote this blog post about having a “lovely mind”. I have been watching more of the news, reading more articles, and doing my best to stay abreast of the world around me without going into complete depression. 


It is not easy. There is so much going on in the world. Not to mention silly things that go on with social media. I have been so concerned about my Youtube channel and having “trolls”.  I have heard some of the other YouTubers talk about how people contact them and make horrible comments. I really don’t understand that. If you don’t like someone’s content just simply “unfollow” them. It’s so easy but then again people are crazy. 


I have been continuing to read the Living the Good Long Life by Martha Stewart. It was listed as one of my favorites a month or two ago. I have now entered the section of the book called “Accentuate the Positive”. 


I must admit I can be a negative Nancy sometimes so I am trying to work on that bad habit. Changing your thoughts can change your life and so that has turned into a life goal for me. In the book, Martha gives 3 tips from author Rick Hanson (Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom) on how to accentuate the positive. 


The first one is:
Turn positive events into positive experiences. All kinds of good things happen in your daily life that you hardly notice at all. (O.M.G. so true). Someone pays you a compliment- you barely pay attention to it or deflect it. Instead, take time to recognize every positive moment and experience it. 


I know for me when someone pays me a compliment, I immediately say, “thank you Lord for those kinds words”. But that is just me… 















photo credit Nicolas Fairford 







The second is:
Savor positive experiences. Once you get used to recognizing these types of experiences, take it a step further and relish each good moment: hold on to it for 20 to 30 seconds, and allow yourself to really feel it in your body. The longer you hold these moments in your awareness, the more neurons fire simultaneously so they start wiring together to form a memory. 


I like this idea of holding your moments in your thoughts. This is something I need to practice. 

















photo credit Annie Spratt 





And the third is:
Consider how the experience is sinking into you and becoming a part of you. In other words, help weave it into the fabric of your brain and yourself. 


Soak in the moments of life. I really want to work on this. With our daughter beginning high school this year soaking in moments has become a huge goal of mine. 


Well, I hope that you enjoyed this post and take some of these tips and work on them yourself. I think we all get caught up in the problems and concerns of life and that we do just ignore those lovely comments that we receive. 


No more ignoring…. take it in and be grateful. 








(tips: Living the Good Long Life, page 169)

A Stroll in Homegoods….

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Hello Everyone, it’s Monday and we are starting another week. I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend. I really enjoyed mine. My mother had knee surgery a few weeks ago so I have been going over checking on her and cleaning her home. It’s been a challenge for everyone but we are muddling our way through it. 


One of my favorite things that I got to do was go to Homegoods. Now it’s unfortunate that you can’t order online yet so if I find any of the items online I will provide a link of course. 


This was one of the first things I saw in the store. I absolutely adore this faux arrangement! My husband is not a fan of faux arrangements but I am! It is truly gorgeous!

The next items that I saw were these two planters. Some of you may have seen my hibiscus trees on my Instagram account and I purchased these for them. I believe they will look stunning in these planters.

I am so happy to see that the blue and white era is beginning to pick up here in Indiana. We are slower than molasses catching up with things so when we do it’s like a miracle!

This was my favorite. I may have to go back and get it!


Now I found these items in the clearance section…..


There was this large vase for $9! And yes I did purchase it.

This large blue and white bowl was calling my name but I did not purchase it. I couldn’t think of a place to put it. 


Then I saw a few pieces of art…

Blue and white monkeys

This was stunning. It had a bit of shimmer to it. 

Now, this I love. I don’t know why but I do. I did not purchase it but could not stop staring at it. 
Saw this….a beautiful ghost chair. Now I already have one so I was not tempted to buy it but if you are interested the link is here. 

And finally I saw these beautiful glass and floral jewelry boxes. How chic are these?


I wish I could have found a link but I could not. These would be great for a teen daughter (if she is willing). It was a wonderful trip and I found lots of beautiful things including a new beautiful blue and white Ralph Lauren lamp (original price $105; sale price $45) and this sophisticated floral Ralph Lauren pillow (on sale for $25). Both of these items will be going to my office today. 

As always I love sharing beautiful things and finding them. Being a woman is a wonderful thing. I embrace it every day. 

My plan is to post a new video this Sunday. I am not sure what content I will present but I hope it will be fun and inspiring. 

See you all soon!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

My Elegance Tested…

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Friday…. oh how I have longed for this day this week. It has been one interesting week. I’ll start off with my first disaster. 













photo credit Marchioness Instagram


So most of you know about my Ainifeel quilted handbag that I purchased from Amazon two months ago. I adore this bag so much that I decided to purchase it in lavender. So last Wednesday, I place my order and decided to pay the extra price to get 2-day shipping. 
It arrived on Friday (on time) and I was so, so excited to receive a call from our receptionist desk about my package being here. So I walk to the front open it and…… it was in BLACK! My heart fell and I was sorely disappointed. I could feel the heat rise to my face. No matter I will remain calm and simply call Amazon and find out what we can do to fix this mess. 

I call Amazon to tell them of the mix-up. The customer service agent was very kind and I decided at that moment that there was no need to be rude. This could be fixed right?
photo credit Randi Garrett 
The customer service agent then sends a “replacement” the same day. All weekend I am having second thoughts about this “replacement”. I don’t have peace about it and I am already irritated. So Monday arrives and so does my package. I get a call from the front desk to come and pick it up. I pause as I hold it. Take a deep breath and gather my thoughts because I just don’t feel right. I open a corner of the package and….. it’s BLACK again!

My mind is full of anger and frustrated thoughts. My friend Melissa who is filling in for our receptionist sees my face and knows that I am MAD! I don’t say a word because I know that she is watching but boy do I want to blast off! 



photo credit Annie Spratt 


I call Amazon tell them of the situation and they apologize profusely. Sigh….. I really wanted that bag and I can’t try to order it again. Now it says that it is sold out. So disappointed. Now I will not lie. I did give them a bad rating for this but I still felt guilty for doing that. I don’t know. But oh my frustrating week did not end there….
At the time that I placed my order for my handbag, I also placed an order on the H&M website for two more purse scarfs and a cashmere scarf. That package arrived yesterday to only have what? A package of men’s underwear and T-shirts. Arrrggggh!!! Oh my gosh so not only did I not get my lavender handbag but I did not get the correct order from H&M? 

Ohhhhhh… I wanted to call H&M and blast off but I caught myself and said, listen there is no need to be rude. I am surrounded by it on a regular basis. Don’t fall into this. I never want to be an odor to people but a fragrance but it was hard…… I prayed and said Lord, I don’t remember praying for patience recently but you sure are testing it right now. I called H&M and they were also very gracious. I have to return my package before I get my refund but they were still gracious. 


Photo by Freddie Martyn on Unsplash

I am sharing this with all of you because I want to put you on notice that this is where we are headed as far as shopping. With all of the stores closing, online shopping is taking over and we will not be able to try on items nor see them in person. It’s unfortunate. I love going to stores. It is an opportunity to see items that you are interested in but it’s also an opportunity to engage in the five senses and with people. So now we must put our “patience pants” on and learn to wait. It’s going to be hard adjusting to this but we must. 

I hope you all have a great Mother’s Day weekend and enjoy your families. Be a fragrance to people not an odor. 






The Purse Scarf

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This was a such a fun find! I was so elated when I saw these on the H&M website! These are called the purse accessory scarfs and they come in a variety of patterns and colors. I purchased two in the store and ordered two online. 
The key-chain comes attached to the scarf. How great is that?

I could not tell you how many scarfs I have lost over the years because I did not tie them good enough. I mean I have been seriously heart broken because I lost a silk scarf that should have been double knotted on my bag. 
No worries with this and look at how chic it looks. I shared these on my YouTube video that I posted this past Sunday. I can’t want to see what the pink and polka-dot ones look like once they arrived.

I think Elle Woods from Legally Blonde would be very proud! Sorry but I love that movie! Well have a good hump day and stay inspired!



Do you see the purse scarf? This is where I saw it first!



(photos via Mrs. Shockley & Google)

Flowers and Pearls

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Good Monday Morning! I just wanted to share a quick little post of some recent finds. I also wanted to say thank you to those of you who are watching my YouTube videos. It is very hard to try to make good quality videos. 


With yesterday’s video I got very frustrated with my husband. He just won’t sit still and keeps opening doors and windows and I keep trying to remind myself that he thinks he is helping just let it be. I also feel like I am slouching in the videos and I am trying my hardest not to appear that way. 


Then I feel like I should rehearse more but I think with that it would put more pressure on me and I just want to have fun with these so that is the goal! I hope you guys are enjoying them! Okay moving forward….


I saw these beautiful beaded floral earrings on the New York and Company website. The price is great and so is the color! Now keep in mind they are a bit big but if you love large earrings then these are right up your alley!
The next item is this gold-tone faux pearl necklace. It is only $6.99 right now and I shared this on my YouTube video from yesterday. It looks very pretty on and would be a great addition to any wardrobe. 

I hope that you enjoyed these small finds and maybe one of these would make a wonderful Mother’s Day gift! I think the pearls would make anyone happy!

Enjoy!



(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Affirmation Journal

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Hello Everyone! Welcome to Friday! I shared in February  a book by Martha Stewart called Living the Good Long Life as one of my favorites for that month. I am still reading that book and almost half way through it. I am taking notes and highlighting important facts along the way. 

I am in Chapter 4 and in a section called “maintaining a sense of purpose” and in this section she mentions keeping an “affirmation file”. I found that to be very intriguing….

Martha said, “Anytime you get outside approval- a note from a co-worker or family member about something positive you did- save it in a special file. Any other accolades- merit awards, perfect attendance records, races completed, pounds lost, old grade-school report cards, letters of recommendation- go in this file. Then, on days when you wonder about your worth to those in your life, you can show yourself just how talented and accomplished you are”. 

Now isn’t that great? We all have those days when we wonder what our purpose in life is and what things have we accomplished. I started a career journal sometime ago to keep track of career goals and accomplishments. 

I found this wonderful and colorful journal at T.J.Maxx. They have such a variety of journals and note pads to choose from. If you are inspired by this go and pick up a note pad, folder or journal to start recording your accomplishments and goals. 

We should all be doing this and making a habit of it. I started recording job accomplishments in January of this year and it’s already May. I took a peek at it yesterday and thought… wow I have had a busy 2019 so far! Now if these goals and accomplishments had not been recorded I would have forgotten half of them already!

I would encourage you to do the same. The Bible says to write down the vision and make it plain. Write down yours and stay encouraged!

Have a great weekend!



(photos via Mrs. Shockley)


Mark & Graham

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The one thing that I LOVE about blogging and other bloggers is how everyone shares information! I was reading Shannon Ables blog and she mentioned this very chic company called Mark & Graham. She shared a beautiful photo of their boarding bags and oh my was I smitten!

How chic is this? Fantastic right? This is the Concourse Boarding Bag in white. This is absolutely exquisite. You can also add a monogram to it and who wouldn’t. I think “SMS” would look fantastic on this bag. 
Concourse Bag in linen
These bags are incredible! Another bag that I saw on the website is their Caroline Leather bag. 
Isn’t this bag attractive? It looks like it is tastefully done and would be able to remain in your closet for eternity. 
After looking at all of their bags I then ventured off and looked at jewelry and home accessories. 
Cheese Board
This is an elegant marble and wood board and would look lovely on my table for a New Year’s Eve celebration. 
I could go on and on but you can take your own adventure on the website and find more wonderful things to fall in love with. I am seriously considering buying that concourse boarding bag in white. I think that would be so elegant in the fall with a chunky sweater, pearls, and some Chanel perfume. I hope that you enjoyed this post and this elegant new company!
(photos via Mark&Graham)