Posts that inspiring an elegant life

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.

 

 

 

 

Tulipiere ~ Do you own one?

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Good Morning,

By the time you read this I will be in the road headed to Chicago for the Sarah Flint Brand Ambassador meet-up! I am so excited! I am hoping for a good turn out and a wonderful opportunity to network and meet new people! I will be sure to share my adventure once I return. 

Now on to a recent beautiful find…

Do any of you own a tulipiere? I have seen numerous versions of these and for the most part they are quite hideous. I haven’t seen one that I really love until Katherine from Peony & Pender shared this one on her Instagram feed.

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I love it! It is called the Artichoke Tulipere and it is stunning! It looks wonderful with the white tulips on top of my antique cabinet. Now it is sold out on her website but I found it on Wayfair. They also have it in a light blue and white. 

I do want to share this video of P. Allen Smith from Youtube sharing his tulipiere. This was the first time I had seen one. 

 

 

Isn’t his beautiful? Wayfair does have his version in white as well. Let me know in the comments section below if you own one. I would love to know how you use it! Have a great Monday!

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Linnea ~ A New Company Discovery

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Good Morning,

Well I have some exciting news that I have been keeping to myself for the past 2 weeks. I shared about a month ago about my new opportunity to be a brand ambassador for Sarah Flint. A few weeks ago they sent out emails about the company coming to Chicago for a brand ambassador meetup and truck show at the Four Seasons hotel and I am happy to say that I will be attending! The event will be this Monday and I will be driving up to attend. I am so excited! Chicago is about 3 hours away from me and I have not been since 2012. So it’s been about 10 years! 

I am not sure what to expect but I am looking forward to the networking opportunities that will be presented to me and hopefully meeting some of the Sarah Flint staff! I hope that after the meeting and truck show we can have dinner or I can have dinner with some of the ambassadors! It will be nice to meet people. I just received a new order of business cards so I am ready to go! I am hoping that they will let us take photos and I will be sure to share if I can. 

Now on to this new company that I discovered during my visit to the peony festival called Linnea. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

While we were at the peony festival two weeks ago, my husband and I found this beautiful, serene booth full of sophisticated candles and body care. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

We listened as one of the representatives explained how they made their candles and the scents that they offered. I have to admit I was not listening like I should have been. I was so caught up in the smells that I barely heard her. They smelled so good.

One of my favorite scents was Petals. The notes in this scent was peony, green stem, and ambergris. They had me at peony. 

 

 

The second scent that I purchased was Nectar.  The notes for this scent were apricot, wild jasmine, and white musk. They also gave me a hand lotion sample for this scent. I have been loving it so much that I am considering buying a larger bottle. It’s that good! I also received a free tote with my purchase!

 

 

I have been burning the nectar candle in my bedroom. I will light it while I am reading a book. I love smelling that wild jasmine in my room at night. It’s so relaxing and elegant. 

Well I hope you all enjoyed this new company find! Have a great weekend and I will see you all Monday with my gorgeous new vase!

 

 

 

 

A Little Italy

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Good Morning,

My family and I have been venturing off and going to new restaurants. We normally have about 4 or 5 that we rotate every week but I told my husband that I needed some change! So it has been nice going to and finding new locations to go and have dinner. 

I wanted to share this beautiful new restaurant that I found out about last month during the Indiana Decorators Showhouse tour that I took in April. Remember this painting below?

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

I was told by one of the hostess that this was a local restaurant here in my city called Iozzo’s Garden of Italy. I told myself that my family and I would go for dinner and we did! 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Here is the inside of the restaurant. I do like the exposed brick and floors. I wonder if they are original?

 

 

We waited only a few minutes before we were taken outside to the beautiful outdoor space! I loved it especially the trees! 

 

 

 

 I loved how small and cozy it was. It was not a huge space which made me happy. That beautiful small space meant small groups of people and a very intimate setting. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

 

 

For a small moment it did feel like we were in a little garden restaurant in Italy. It felt like we were so far away from the city even though this restaurant is located in the downtown Indianapolis area. 

 

 

After we soaked in the atmosphere, we looked at the menu and placed our orders. We started off with this homemade Italian bread and dipping sauce, so good!

 

 

Next was this crispy market green salad. It had marinated cucumbers, lemon vinaigrette, and breadcrumbs. I could have eaten two of them!

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

For my entree I chose the chicken piccata with broccoli. The chicken was tender, and the pasta was homemade. Really good! Overall, we had a great dining experience with superb customer service. The weather also played a good part in our fortune. There was just enough crisp in the air to make the outdoor dining experience worth the wait and journey!

Have a great Wednesday! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peony Season ~ 2022

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Good Morning,

I spent a nice quiet weekend at home. I was really tired. I think all of the running around from the last two weekends kind of wore me out. On Saturday I started my day early and went grocery shopping then spent most of the day at home doing a few house chores and then sitting on the porch and reading!!! Oh I loved it! 

While I read I went and put my favorite dessert in the oven, a berry tart. I then put it on my favorite blue and white plate and took it outside to enjoy on the porch. It was a nice afternoon. On Sunday I finished laundry and watched the Schmacher1889 channel on Youtube. 

On Friday I did walk to Whole Foods to look around. I forgot that once the weather breaks I normally take a stroll there once a week during my lunch break. I got some more peonies and I found white tulips for my tulipiere!  I will do a separate post sharing that later. Now let me share my beautiful peonies for this season!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

I still can’t get over how beautiful these were! This was my first peony bouquet of the 2022 season. I purchased these at JP Parker of course. The corals are my favorite. They don’t smell as wonderful as the pink and white ones but they are still expectational!

 

 

This bouquet was actually from my front yard garden! My peonies did so well this year! My husband and I kept going to smell them every day. They were truly wonderful! 

 

 

My husband said that we should plant more in the backyard! I am totally on board with that but we still need to get some other things done back there before we plant. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

These are my white ones. They bloomed first and where the most fragrant. I don’t remember what they were called. I think we have the peony called “bride’s dream”. I remember it being something like that.  I took some to my office the first chance I got. 

 

 

These are also from my garden. I still can’t believe that these were mine! Each year they get bigger and I get more of them. I hope it continues to grow.

 

 

photo credit: L. Shockley 

I don’t remember if I mentioned this already but while we were at the peony festival I got to meet Mrs. JP Parker herself. She was incredibly nice and enduring. I have to give credit to my husband for walking around and talking with people. He networks pretty well. Because of that I got to meet her and her husband and I told her how much I loved the flowers and the company. She then gave me 10 free peonies! I went to pick them up and they were stunning! Just look at them!

 

 

My house has been so beautiful and so fragrant these last few weeks. Each morning that I came down to go out and do my walk I would just stare at them. It’s the small beautiful things in life that make it wonderful! Enjoy your homes!