A Simple Snowflake Napkin Ring

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We had Monday off for Veterans Day and I just want to say (I know it’s late) but thank you to all who serve our country. We are eternally GRATEFUL! My husband served with the Marines so I am really grateful!

For my day off I just wanted to do a little window shopping and we stopped by Sur La Table. Love this store! It’s beautiful to the eyes and such a tingle to the organizational “bug” in you if you have one. I could not help but to notice these beautiful napkin rings.

Okay and also these light pink pitchers! These are called the Mosser Milk Glass Pitcher. Very pretty in person. 
These snowflake napkin rings add just enough sparkle and festive glamour to your Christmas table. 
They look beautiful with the red and white holiday plates. 
I hope these have inspired you to add a little more sparkle to your table this year. I just had to share these on the blog. They were too lovely to pass up!
Enjoy!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Trying to Live Well

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We are about to embark on the holiday season and this can be a very hard time of year for some of us. I was running some errands yesterday and people were just everywhere. I became very frustrated. I must confess…. I have been “people struggling” lately.


I told my husband that and he said, “what do you mean”? And I said, ” I have been finding myself recently not wanting to be around people”. And it’s not everyone. It’s just the rude ones. Yesterday in the store I was having an internal fit about some of the rude women around. I literally had to calm myself down because I felt as if I was going to explode!




I find myself not wanting to go to restaurants anymore because I have been so disgusted by the attitude of the waiter or how dirty the bathrooms are or the restaurant itself. I feel like if me asking you for a refill on bread is such an inconvenience for you then why are you serving? Why are you working in the service industry? Find a career where you don’t feel forced to engage with people. I don’t know maybe I am asking too much. 

Even at the office. For the most part, I do enjoy the people I work with but those few “bad apples” that are continuously rude get really old to me. Now that I have expressed my frustration at two of the meetings that we have had now they want to suddenly “act right” when they have been venomous for the last 10 years!  They also expect me to just “get over it” and basically pretend that they have not trashed me all these years. Not a chance…. 


Now I am for forgiveness but only when I know that the person is genuine in their apology and for the individuals in my office (which they have NOT apologized), they are not. So moving on….


For the last several months I have been asking myself. How do I want to live? The answer is I want to live well. So I have to realize and know that not everyone is going to believe in the same things that I believe in. Not everyone is going to be polite, not everyone is going to give respect, not everyone is going to do their part. Dealing with very difficult people or situations requires patience, resolve and restraint.

I can’t change people but I can pray. And that is what I do on a regular basis. I have to. I must. Have my prayers been answered? In most cases, yes! When I pray and ask the Lord to help me be a “light” in the grocery store or wherever I am, he then gives me an opportunity to be respectful or helpful to someone. Then they “light up” and respond to me in the same way. So that to me is apart of living well. I just keep telling myself. We have a goal and living well and beautifully is going to require a lot of you Mrs. Shockley but we can do this because we choose to. Being respectful, dressing respectfully, working respectfully and loving respectfully, always.

We can do this for this upcoming holiday season. We must be a “light” for people and maybe, just maybe we may even show them the way. I tell myself that all the time. Don’t give up. We are making progress. Live well….



(photos via Pinterest)

Learning Bach

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Back in 2015 I started taking piano lessons with a private teacher. I am sad to report that earlier this year she had to close her studio due to renting issues. I am hoping that she will reopen but she is so close to retirement and has been so busy at work that she has not had the time to teach.

I have been really sad but nevertheless I have continued with my studies in piano playing and have stayed in touch with my teacher. We had lunch last week and were able to catch up on life and discuss her maybe doing private lessons in her home (fingers crossed).

Me with my teacher, I miss it so much
Each week I like to use my planner and get things on my list to do and make goals. I was thinking about personal goals that I could set and I thought about my piano lessons. There is one thing that I would love to be able to do and that is to play at least one song by heart. 
The piece that I have chosen is called ” I Preludium” by Johann Sebastian Bach. This was one of my favorite pieces to play while I was taking my lessons. 
So my goal is to practice once a week and learn it group by group. I am hoping that within six months to a year I can play this entire piece from memory. 
I love setting goals and I love playing the piano. I am happy that I decided to include this in my weekly goals and lifetime accomplishments. Find something that will challenge you….

(photos via Mrs. Shockley & Pinterest)

Learning How to Shop for Produce

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As most of you know I have been on this “health quest” for a while now. One thing that I have decided to learn about recently is seasonal foods. Here in Indiana, I have been learning that there are some things that just don’t taste as well and I could not figure out why.

I was watching an episode of Shannon Able’s cooking show from her blog The Simply Luxurious Life and she kept talking about seasonal ingredients. So that got me thinking maybe I need to pay more attention to what fruits and veggies are in season.


Photo by Vanessa Bucceri on Unsplash

I found this great website called Seasonal Food Guide.org and this site will let you select your state and learn about what products in what month is good for your area. 



For instance, I learned that carrots, collard greens, kale, mushrooms, and rosemary are some of the produce items that are in season here in early November. 

Photo by Dilyara Garifullina on Unsplash

I learned a lot about produce. I plugged in strawberries and saw that for here in Indiana they are NOT good around this time which explains why I have not been enjoying them on the weekends for breakfast. 


The same for blueberries. I LOVE blueberries but I purchased a carton last week and oh my gosh were they awful! I did learn that pears and apples are good around this time. So I have been eating those in the mornings with my tea at the office. 


I hope that you find this site useful and use it to help plan your meals and to learn more about your region. Tasting beautiful food is so important when you are on a healthy quest. 




Enjoy!

Fall Finds at Payless

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Nothing excites me more than hearing about a sale that includes 40% off! I recently checked my closet and realized that I did not have a single pair of boots! Shocking, but I didn’t. So I thought why not take a peek inside my local Payless store to see what goodies they had.

I found these elegant little things. These are called the Valencia Block Heel Boot and they also come in gray. They are beautiful and with 40% off why not? 
I thought that black would suit me well. You can’t go wrong with a classic black color although the gray color was quite stunning! I may have to revisit that.
And although my intentions were to go in and only buy some boots I could not leave without taking a peek to see what else they had. I love a classic wedge for the weekends and these were the PERFECT color. I could not pass them up. They were only $20! These are called the Karlie Wedge in taupe. 

Super comfortable and super chic. I hope that you can order a pair online and visit your local store. Both shoes come in more than one color. 
I will definitely be wearing these for this upcoming autumn season and hope to find some more comfortable chic shoes for the weekend! Have a wonderful day!

(note: the 40% off ends today!)
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

The New Inslee Calendars

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Earlier this year I wrote a post about my first Inslee calendar that I had purchased. I was so excited to receive it and I have loved using it. Well I was on Instagram and spotted her new calendars for 2019! It is going to be hard to make a decision!

This is her 2019 Classic Desktop calendar and these are beautiful!

But honestly, I am leaning more toward her 2019 Botanical Desktop collection.
Just look at these beautiful illustrations! This lily of the valley (at least that is what I think it is) is gorgeous!

These are carnations! Stunning right?

All of these are so beautifully done. I just admire her artwork so much. I am hoping to commission her in the near future for a painting of my own. They are quite expensive but having something like this done is something that you can keep forever and cannot be mimicked. 
I hope to be making a purchase soon…..


(photos via Inslee.net)

October Favorites

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My goodness October, October. Another month has came and went. I almost forgot to write a post about my favorites this month. It went by so quickly and it has been a busy month at the office. One of my co-workers has been on maternity leave and we were filling in for her in addition to our own caseload. Never fun but it nice to learn other things in the office.

Well for this month I will be sharing some items that I have already posted about but they have been my favorites for this month.

I saw this photo on Pinterest this month and could not stop staring at it. Oh my word! How gorgeous are these cabinets? Just stunning! I shared this with my husband and he loves it. So maybe in the near future……..
My number 2 has been my Eva Mendes dress! I love this dress! It is so comfortable and beautiful. I love the color. I actually wore it with a chunky brown cardigan and some kitten heels to lunch with a friend. It looked so chic. 
Number 3 has been my faux pumpkins from T.J. Maxx. They have had some great fall decor items this year. Lots of faux pumpkins and they look great on the porch!

Number 4 has been fresh salmon from my local grocery store. It has been so long since I have made it but my local grocery store will pack it for you with fresh herbs of your choice, lemons, limes and butter! It has been wonderful grabbing one every week. I just add some salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Lovely dinners every time.

I can’t go without mentioning this. Fifth on my list is my Tea for One set from David’s Tea. I love this!!! I absolutely adore it! It stays in my office Monday thru Friday but then I bring it home to enjoy on the weekends! I may have to buy a second.  
Sixth on my list is this wonderful movie from 1985 called “A Room with a View“. I watched it from my On Demand section. It is a wonderful movie. Lucy Honeychurch and her chaperone Charlotte Bartlett are on holiday in Italy (beautiful by the way) and meet Mr. Emerson and his free-spirited son George. Once they return to England Lucy agrees to marry another man and as fate would have it George moves to England with his father. I don’t want to tell you much of the movie but I really enjoyed it. I watched it four times already if that says anything. 
And last but certainly not least has been the six week etiquette tips given by Myka Meier on the blog called the The Glampad. Every Wednesday for the last five weeks (this week is the last week), Myka has been sharing her Duchess Effect tips on the Glampad. I must admit I have had it on my calendar to read this on Andrea’s blog since she announced this series on her Instagram page. I have loved reading all of the tips from Myka and learning more about her etiquette courses at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. If you are interested in etiquette pop on over to take a peek at the blog entries from Andrea. 
Well that is it for my favorites for the month of October. Next month is going to be a pretty busy month for me. I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas Eve dinner so my hands are going to be pretty full. I will try my best to keep up with my blog posts for the next two months but don’t be surprised if I miss a week or two. Enjoy your week!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)