Posts that inspiring an elegant life

Book Clubs ~ Are you in one?

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Good Morning,

I went antiquing this weekend but that really isn’t a surprise. I get these urges at the middle of the month and always make sure that I take some time to go. I found some wonderful things. If you follow me on Instagram, then you would have seen my reel about it. I did save it to my “Elegant Living” highlight. You can visit that reel to see some of my adventures and items! I will most likely be sharing those in my August favorites. Overall, it was a very quiet weekend.

This post is inspired by my supervisor. She is the Civil Chief in my division, and I love working with her! It has been great so far! There are so many things that I love about her. Her calendar is one of them. She is a bit older than me, but her calendar so inspires me!

I am in charge of it, so I get to see everything she puts on it. One of the items is her monthly pedicure. She actually goes to a spa and gets it done! Okay check! I need to do that! I have a nail salon that I go to and yesterday I decided to get a pedicure. It was terrible because the young lady who did it was NOT TRAINED AT ALL. But I am taking that as a sign to look for a new location. I have been at this location for several years, and they have new management. 

 

photo credit: Pinterest

 

The other items are her monthly dinners with friends and her book club meetings! Ohhh I am so jealous! This past Friday she told me that she was hosting it. So that got me thinking. Are any of you in a book club? Or have you ever been in a book club? If so, please share your good and bad experiences. I would LOVE to know. As you all know I have been doing a lot of networking and hope to meet a friend or two in these groups. Let me know in the comments section below if you have any experiences with one. Have a great Monday!

 

 

 

Things to Master in my 40s

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Good Morning Everyone!

I have returned from Rhode Island, and I must say that I am really sad. I LOVED it so much!! If you follow me on Instagram, then you have already seen my photos. My goodness… the Victorian homes were everywhere, and everyone had blue hydrangeas.

I don’t know how or why they have blue hydrangeas, but they were everywhere and I mean everywhere! I wonder if the climate has something to do with it. Our hydrangeas here are white and pink only. It is rare to see blue hydrangeas here.

I can’t wait to share my photos and the mansion tours here on my blog. I also filmed a little while I was there. I will be putting together a video for Youtube. I hope to post it at the end of the month. It will take me that long to edit it.

In today’s post I wanted to share a list that I heard on a podcast recently. I listen to the John Maxwell Leadership podcasts every morning during my morning walks and a few weeks ago he gave a list of 10 things that one should do before 40. I wanted to share it….

 

photo credit: Pinterest

 

  1. Know Yourself! Know your strengths and weaknesses. Know what you do well and what you don’t do well. Hopefully by this time you are working in your strength zone and not your weaknesses. 
  2. Settle your family life. Know what the issues are in your family and know how to deal with those issues. Marriage is constant work. It’s sad when couples are still fighting over the same issues. (HELLO!) 
  3. Determine your priorities; know what you want to give your time to and what you need to give your life to. Add certain things to your life and subtract certain things from your life. Get centered. 
  4.  Develop your philosophy for life. I hope by 40 that you have a vision and attitude for your life. Settle who you are and what you believe in. Settle things that you would die for and things that are optional in your life. 
  5. Get physically fit. Exercise and get healthy. Early in life people give up their health for wealth and later they give up their wealth for health. 
  6. Learn your trade whatever it may be. Learn, earn, and return. Always learning and always earning but make sure that you return. Give back to people. 
  7. Pay the price. Pay it on the front end. There is no success without sacrifice. If you have succeeded without sacrifice, it’s because someone on the front end paid first. If you sacrifice without success then someone after you will reap the benefits. 
  8. Develop solid relationships. Life’s greatest experiences involve people. 
  9. Prepare for the future. Options are the most precious commodity. 
  10. Find purpose for your life. Knowing my purpose in life, maximize my potential, and sowing seeds in life. Growing, going, and sowing. 

 

I hope you all enjoyed this list. I think for the most part we all are aware of these tips. Keep these as reminders and set goals for yourself. I will be 40 in about 2 months, and I can’t believe it! I do have a few things that I want to “settle” in my life, and I hope that the Lord will allow me to do so this year. I do have a fun day planned today. I took the day off to give myself an extra day at home. I wanted a little more time to get things done. Today I am going to be meeting a potential new upholster! I will let you all know how things go. I found a tufted stool that I want to change the fabric on. I also found out about a new antique store. I plan on visiting it today! I will share how things went on Wednesday. 

 

 

I found this for $35 at the antique store! I see blue and white fabric. What do you think? 

My First Outdoor Antique Fair

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Good Morning All,

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. We just kept things simple as I previously discussed and hung out at home. I did go antiquing and picked up some great finds! I will be sure to share those later. Speaking of shopping for antiques I had to share the most recent and wonderful purchase I just made. Katherine from Pender & Peony just published her first e-book all about shopping and learning about antiques. You can download it to your phone and take it with you on the go! It’s called The Grandmillennial’s Pocket Guide to Chic Antiques. 

I ordered it, downloaded it, printed it, and used it this weekend while I was out! I love this and would highly recommend it! I pulled it up on my phone and just went down the list when I would find something. It was wonderful! 

Another thing that was wonderful was my recent trip to an outdoor antique fair! I found out about this from the new antique store that I visited called Vintage Whimsy. Apparently, they host this event every year on a large private property in Franklin, Indiana. I really enjoyed it and found a few things and met a new friend. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

There were tons of antique vendors at this event. I did not take a lot of photos because I really wanted to enjoy it. Having a phone out to take photos and film can be a little annoying sometimes. But I always try to have balance with my social media and life!

Each antique vendor had their own style and brought different antiques. 

 

 

This was a huge property. They had food trucks as well as antiques. They also had a sitting area for you to sit, eat, and listen to live music! 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

You can see the antique vendor booths in the distance. The property also had a large flower garden to tour. My husband and I were able to ask the property owners where they purchased certain plants and what they were.

 

 

Lastly there was this beautiful magnolia tree. My husband and I just loved it. It’s called the Jane Magnolia tree. We went to our local garden center to see if we could purchase one and then my husband realized that this tree takes years to grow. They were so small at the store. I told him that it would take a lot of patience! 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I did find some beautiful things. I purchased this delicate porcelain magnolia flower and this English Ironstoneware pitcher. I spotted the pitcher early on in my visit and just kept circling around it until I finally caved! I told the vendor store owner that I could not leave without it. It’s a wonderful addition to my home decor.

I really enjoyed this new little adventure and plan on attending next year! I can’t wait to see their new items then. Have a great Wednesday!

 

 

This post was not sponsored. 

 

Dinner at the Vineyard

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Good Morning,

I am still finding peony bouquets! I can’t believe it! It is almost July, and we are still finding them. I found some at Whole Foods and then my husband found some yesterday at Costco! I am loving this! Speaking of Whole Foods, I am still taking my once-a-week trips there. I love their Sonoma Chicken salad! It is so good! I eat it with crackers for a wonderful cool lunch. 

I have been on this “new adventures” journey for a few weeks now. For Father’s Day I wanted to try something else new. I had heard of this vineyard called Daniel’s Vineyard and knew that I wanted to give it a try so we went there to celebrate Father’s Day!

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

It was a beautiful Father’s Day. The weather was perfect! 

 

 

This was our first time at a vineyard. It’s amazing what you find in your city if you are open to beauty. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

I wanted to keep things simple, so we ordered pizza, a charcuterie board and drinks. The pizzas we ordered were margherita and pepperoni.  They were brick oven pizza and were really good. The charcuterie board had smoked meats, fruits and nuts. My kind of board. I did not take pictures of the food. I wanted to enjoy the moment. 

 

 

We ate inside because we did not want to worry about bugs but afterwards, we came out to look at the vineyard. 

 

 

They were quite beautiful, and some sections were really lush. I did try a glass of wine. I had my favorite which is a white wine Moscato. 

 

 

Overall, we had a great dinner, and my husband really enjoyed his time. We just wanted to take it easy and to try something different. If you live in the area, I recommend giving it a try. It’s a great environment and family friendly! Have a great long weekend!

 

 

 

I quickly wanted to give Elaine from Urban Style Chic a big thank you for sharing the Daphne Flutter Dress! Doesn’t she look wonderful? You can use her discount code urbanstylechic10 for 10% off of anything in the boutique! Enjoy! 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanging Plates ~

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Good Morning,

The weather has been soo good! I just wish the humidity would stay away. I am looking forward to the weekend. I will be attending an outdoor antique fair on Saturday. This will be my first time going and I am hoping to find a blue and white chair or a floral arm chair for my downtown office. Wish me luck! 

Speaking of new things, I remember some years ago I watched a video from Martha Stewart about hanging plates and ever since I saw that video I knew that I wanted to try it some day. I could never find any plate wall hangers and I couldn’t really afford to buy a bunch of plates and honestly had no inspiration. But now with Pinterest, bloggers, and Instagram the inspiration is just over flowing. I went antiquing a few weeks ago and found this platter below…..

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I paid about $35 for it. It’s quite large and the colors were perfect for my home decor. I loved the blue, white, and gold. It has beautiful details and the size… I could not pass it up. 

 

 

I searched Amazon and found this super plate hanger for large platters. There are so many options but I wanted something that I knew would fit my platter and this was a perfect fit! It comes in a pack of two and the price was outstanding as well. 

 

 

I decided to hang it in our bedroom next to our mirror. Now I don’t have a platter on the other side and it might look unbalanced but I love the platter here. For some reason it just looks so good to me here. I may move it down the road but for now I am loving it in this spot. 

Please let me know in the comments section below if you have plates hanging on your wall in your home. Oh and I wanted to let everyone know that the boutique will have a new arrival soon! Have a great weekend! 

 

 

 

Swans & Roses at the Cake Bake Shop

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Hello three-day weekend!

I am so looking forward to having the extra day this weekend! It always helps with home chores, errands, and honestly getting caught up on blog posts. This weekend we will be celebrating Father’s Day of course with my husband. I really want to take him to Daniel’s Vineyard for dinner. It looks like a wonderful place to have dinner and it’s a family vineyard so you can bring kids. It will be a pizza and wine kind of night. I did want to order a charcuterie board. It has fruits, cheeses, and smoked meats. They do not offer reservations and they are about 30 minutes from our house. I really hope that we can go without a lot of hassle. I’ll let you all know!

Speaking of wonderful dinning, I mentioned on Instagram that I went to the Cake Bake Shop recently! I had to share the most recent decor. 

 

 

It was a beautiful sunny day when we went. It was just starting to get warm. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I love these faux floral trees! I wish I knew where she was getting her faux flower arrangements. I would love these on my porch!

 

 

Isn’t it darling?

 

 

 

photo credit: L. Shockley 

 

I had to get a photo of me in front of the swans. The dress I am wearing is from Red Dress Boutique. My shoes are of course Sarah Flint. If you click on this link you will be taken to the website and if you add your shoes to cart and purchase my $50 off discount code will appear! The bag is from MME.Mink. 

 

 

Oh my goodness, once inside I could not stop staring at all the beautiful faux roses and crystal! It’s GOREGOUS!

 

 

The gift shop is always full of wonderful surprises. This season’s theme was swans. My favorite. Right now is the best time to order ornaments. They are half the price! 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

I seriously could not stop looking at the decor. It’s wonderful! 

 

 

For my dinner this time I got the parmesan crusted chicken, with arugula salad, and roasted potatoes. Wonderful as usual and for cake I chose…

 

 

Carrot cake! It was so moist and delicious! I think out of all of the cakes I have tried this is my favorite! I am still thinking about it. It was a wonderful evening out with family and I always enjoy the decor and food. If you want to read about my other visits and see the decor you may read here, here and here. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and celebrate the special men in your life! 

 

Also the Chrissy Ruffle Midi is on sale! It’s only $25 right now. 

 

 

 

Please note: some links are affiliate links and if you make a purchase through this link, I will receive a small commission for referring you to the product. Thank you so much in advance if you decide to make a purchase through my link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Small Backyard Oasis

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Good Morning,

I am back from Chicago and I had a great time! I met a lot of wonderful and beautiful people. Everyone was so nice and I am so glad that I took the time to go and network. I am not sure where it will lead but we will see. Sometimes taking small steps can lead to bigger ones. I will be sure to share my adventure soon! 

A few weeks ago I shared on my Instagram account a photo of me setting up for our Memorial Day grill with our kids. It turned out to be a great day and everyone enjoyed it. I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty my little oasis turned out to be. I have been wanting an outdoor area to eat meals and read. But with two dogs, now one, it has been hard to take an interest in my backyard. It is used primarily by our dog and it has been really hard trying to figure out what we can do since it’s his bathroom basically. 

I am hoping that in the near future we can create a concrete area for me to be able to set up furniture and have some big blue and white planters. But for now this little area worked out just fine. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I wasn’t sure how my umbrella would look with my table. I ordered it last year from Amazon and I am so glad that I did. I also ordered an umbrella anchor so that I can take it with me when we have beach adventures! 

 

 

The table cloth I found at the Goodwill ages ago! I only paid a few dollars for it. I did have to cut a slint in the middle in order to use it for my table. I really don’t mind. I have not used this cloth for anything and I am glad that I finally can. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

The beautiful peonies are from of course JP Parker, and the blue and white ginger jar/vase was a Mother’s Day gift from my step-son and his girlfriend. Well done right?

 

 

The first day that I set it up it was early in the morning and I would not wait to get out there and have my breakfast and plan my week! It was so nice. 

 

 

It was a nice change of scenery, and the weather was perfect. I sat out there for hours. My husband could not help himself. He came out and joined me as well. 

 

 

 

I had to pull out some dishes and play around with it for a while. I decided on using my Aerin Lauder plates from Williams Sonoma. They are currently sold out but I did find these on sale that are similar. They were a perfect match with my green goblet glasses from my mother in law. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I also set up a little sitting area. This bench rocks back and forth and was quite cozy after I added the cloth and outdoor pillows. I could not resist putting my blue and white planter back here as well. We grabbed a few more chairs and everyone was able to find a place to sit and talk. It turned out well. I hope this post inspires you to use whatever you have. This outdoor furniture that we have is old and needs to be repainted but with a few lovely linens and pillows it gave the furniture a fresh look. Have a great Wednesday!

 

Please note: some links are affiliate links and if you make a purchase through this link, I will receive a small commission for referring you to the product. Thank you so much in advance if you decide to make a purchase through my link.