Posts that inspiring an elegant life

Make Time for Yourself

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Good Morning Everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend. I did, it was cold but I enjoyed myself. On Saturday our daughter had a hair appointment so we dropped her off at the salon and my husband and I headed to the mall. We are trying to get into the habit of doing more things together. My husband headed to Von Maur and I went to Sephora. I picked up some new skincare products. I will be sharing them soon. 

On Friday I stopped at the flea market to find a long table with storage for my online boutique. I am hoping to have it up and running soon. The goal is to add another page to the “shop” tab and call it the Boutique. I still have a lot of work ahead of me but we will get there. My goal is March but we will see. Anyway, while I was at the flea market I found some gorgeous crystal candlestick holders! They are stunning. I can’t stop looking at them. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

After that, I went grocery shopping and picked up some gorgeous lilies. These are going to be so beautiful to have in my home office/boutique this week!!!!!

 

 

On Sunday I did a little housework, blog work, and boutique work and then decided to give myself a pedicure. While sitting I started to read my Entertaining Beautifully by Aerin Lauder. It is so well written and so inspiring. I got to page 15 and this subchapter was called, ” Make Time for Yourself”. Aerin discussed how it may seem counterintuitive to focus on solitude before you entertain but her grandmother Estee said that it is worth taking the time to make any meal or occasion beautiful. And you all know that I could not agree with her more….

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

I love the early mornings on the weekend. It is my time to enjoy the silence of my home, make a beautiful breakfast, and savor a hot cup of roasted dandelion and chamomile tea. I use all of my china in my home. I don’t care what day it is. 

Aerin went on to say that, “Even when you’re having your morning coffee or afternoon tea by yourself, it’s deserving of a china teacup, cream and sugar served in a pitcher and sugar bowl, not a carton and a linen napkin. These things only take a moment, but they elevate the entire experience so that you can slow down and actually enjoy it”. 

 

photo credit: Simon Upton, page 17

 

The above photo is of Aerin’s tea set. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Aerin says, “Fresh flowers and your best china and silver shouldn’t just be saved for special occasions or holidays: use them every day for yourself and notice the difference in how it makes you feel. I think taking time for yourself is the secret to being a good hostess, wife, mother, and friend. I believe in putting the same care into a cup of afternoon tea for myself as I would when serving a guest. It’s those little niceties that rejuvenate me”. 

I hope you are inspired to use your best and to take moments of solitude. Even with everyone working from home these days, we still need that rest and solitude. Take care of yourselves and do it beautifully! I have written other posts about using your best. See here, here, and here. Enjoy! 

 

 

 

 

Elegant Living ~ Moments at Home

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Good Afternoon Everyone,

 

I have had such a busy week. On Monday I decided to register “A Home for Elegance” as a business here in my state! I am really excited! I did it for future business endeavors that I want to move into and for protecting my name. I have heard of some horror stories of individuals having their blog names stolen! Not fun!

Also this past Sunday I received an email from a college professor who found my blog post about the Thomas Jefferson’s Library. She wanted my permission to use my photos and info for one of her upcoming lectures! How cool is that? I told her yes and she will be giving credit to my blog! How fabulous is that?

It really made my heart sing. Another thing that made my heart sing was some recent home photos that I took. I try my very best to enjoy my home. I want it to be a place that I enjoy and that beauty is allowed to reside at all times. 

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

This is a photo of my dresser. Sometimes I walk by a place in my home and it just captures me. This very moment did. My feminine jewelry is displayed and I have a lovely and large peony arrangement. It’s full of pinks and creams. The way to my heart. Always have your favorite items out and look at. It will make you smile on the inside. I promise you. 

 

 

 

This is my desk in my home office. This weekend I found some Queen Anne’s Lace. I could not pass it up. It cut it down to have it fit in this small but beautiful vase. I found it at an antique store while shopping with a friend. Fresh flowers are always a must. 

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

This weekend I also changed our bed linens. Fresh linens are always a sign of softness and scent. Having fresh bed sheets is heaven scent. I love climbing into a well-made bed every night. I hope you change your sheets often. It will help your soul at night. 

 

 

Beautiful things to enjoy are also soft blankets. On a cold winter night, I placed the pink one down first and then I lay on it. It provides softness to my body and warmth. This is a lovely trick to do before sliding into a cold bed at night. My doggie Bishop agrees. He has a very warm bed himself. 

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Again you simply can not pass up flowers. I love this nightstand bouquet that I had last week. The roses were fragrant and so was the purple stock. The colors were perfect. The right amount of pinks, greens, and purple. Enjoy it with a cup of tea and a book. 

 

 

And lastly, my scarves are everything in the winter. We get really cold here in Indy and a scarf goes a long way. From having it on my legs in the car to being wrapped around my neck while running errands. I always spray my scarves with my favorite fragrance. I still smell it even with a mask on. When I come into the home, I place it on my host chair. Just seeing it on my chair gives it an elegant look. It’s a small gesture but powerful to me. It says, “a lady lives here”. 

I hope you enjoyed today’s ideas. I hope my elegant living gestures prompt you to take small actions in your own life. Enjoy being a woman. It’s a wonderful thing. I also wanted to share a favorite Youtube video from last week. If you love table setting, blue and white, this is up your alley!

 

Enjoy! Also, don’t forget to follow me for more inspiration on Instagram. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My Chinoiserie Bathroom

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Good Morning and Happy Friday,

I hope everyone watched the Inauguration. I did and was very happy to see everyone being gracious to one another. That meant more to me than anything. I was happy to see former VP Mike Pence there and how he and our new VP Kamala Harris treated each other. It was respectable. I am a very traditional person and enjoy historical ceremonies such as these. I am always curious to see how the women will dress. Everyone looked great. Although I must admit, I was coveting Jennifer Lopez’s Chanel earrings! How chic were those! Well on to a favorite project. 

I mentioned in my last Youtube video that my husband would be painting our downstairs guest bathroom. I mentioned a stencil by a company called Cutting Edge Stencils that would help accomplish the beautiful chinoiserie print that I wanted and I must say it turned out beautiful!

 

 

This is our bathroom before. The color on the wall is called Flagstone and I believe my husband painted it about 3 years ago. I love this color and knew that white would look great with it. 

 

 

We ordered the Avian Chinoiserie Chic stencil in small. It turned out to be a perfect size. I think if we had ordered the large then the birds and vines would have been too big. 

 

 

This was the bathroom after one day. It took a lot of work. My husband had to use a spray adhesive to get the stencil to stick to the wall. This was a slow process because you also had to wait for the sections to dry before you could continue. 

 

 

This is my husband and this was Day 2. He started off using a roller brush but we soon realized that it could not get all of the details of the stencil. The roller would miss spots so I went and grabbed my foundation sponge and it worked like a charm!!!

 

 

Day 3….

 

 

This was Day 4 and I could not love it more. The paint has dried and it looks like a completely different room. The family is use to closing the door but I have been demanding that they leave it open. I want to be able to see my beautiful bathroom. Plus my husband did a lot of work so I think he should be able to see it too. 

 

 

This was a great compromise for us. I have been wanting chinoiserie wallpaper for a while (some of you may know that) and this was a great substitution. We have had a lot of people already tell us that it looks like wallpaper. I know there are a few spots that we need to fix but for the most part it is a dream for me. My husband has packed away the stencil for another day. I am sure that we will use it again soon. I am very tempted to order a second stencil just in case! 

 

Let me know in the comments section below what you think. Are you a chinoiserie lover? 

 

Have a great weekend!

 

fyi: This post is not sponsored. 

Elegant & Custom Stationary Cards

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Good Morning Everyone,

Gosh, it’s Friday again. I am looking forward to a 3-day weekend. I am trying to plan accordingly. I am finally finding my way around my apps and website. I finally figured out how to get access to all of my internet favorites. It has been hard but now I can add great items to my Favorites page.  Keep an eye on that page. I will be updating it every week!

With all of the commotion going on with my website and the holidays I completely forgot to share these custom stationary cards that I ordered on Etsy. 

 

My custom cards & photo 

 

These custom cards are from an Etsy shop called “A Thing Created“.  Aren’t they fabulous? She has so many options it’s crazy. I will be going back to order more. The owner of this Etsy shop was actually featured in Victoria Magazine this month.  I love her work and made sure that I gave her a 5-star rating! 

 

 

photo credit: AThingCreated 

 

This is the second set of custom cards that I am thinking about ordering. I think that they would be wonderful to have for the spring and summer.  I am also considering ordering the set below too. 

 

 

photo credit: Ivana Illustrations 

 

 

 

Now these are not from the same Etsy shop but they sure are chic! Let me know in the comments section below what your favorite custom stationary cards are. It sure does feel great writing a note on one of these and sending it to a very dear friend. Have a great weekend!

 

 

fyi: Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.

 

 

Reminding Myself of Elegance

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Good Morning Everyone,

We have finished the first week of December. I have a lot on my to-do list this weekend. I have finally finished Christmas shopping and have to get ready to wrap presents and prepare my Christmas Eve dinner list. With that being said I wanted to talk about keeping a great attitude during the holidays. 









photo credit Tamara Bellis on Unsplash


I think we are all on the same page about this year. It has been a really rough year for EVERYONE and now we are going into the holidays and some of us may have to deal with family, friends, or co-workers who are not exactly our cup of tea. 

I have been going through my blog and cleaning it up. I am hoping to have this finished before the end of the month. Most of you know that the blog will be moving to my new website here soon and I am so excited! But as I was “cleaning it up” I was reading some of my past posts and finding great information and reminders in them. 







Photo by Jean-Philippe Delberghe on Unsplash

In 2018 I wrote a blog post called Radiate Calm that reminded me of why I pursue elegance. Those four ways that Lea and Jeremy provided renewed a little more drive in me today. I totally forgot to stay compose, avoid drama, find common ground, and maintain perspective. 

And most importantly “rise calmly above”. This year has made it so hard to keep those four qualities. I will be honest I have had moments of “rudeness”. Just this week I wanted to yell at the customer service representative at Ann Taylor about my order. 

I wanted to scream at the car next to me for not letting me over. I wanted to give that classless co-worker (yes she’s still around) her hateful resume verbally to remind her of ALL of the horrible things that she has said about people. 




















Photo by Anastasia Lysiak on Unsplash


But then I read this post and it reminded me to calmly rise above it. So I want to remind you all of this as well. You will have moments when you want to join in on the drama but if we wish to remain beautiful then calmly rise above it. There will be times that you do have to address people. I just pray that the Lord will guide us as to when. Have a great weekend!!! 

 

Elegant Bedroom Essentials

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Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash


Good Morning Everyone!

I hope everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving. We really enjoyed ours. It was just me, my husband, the kids, and one of the boys has a girlfriend so she came. It was very nice! We had a nice quiet family dinner. 

It’s Cyber Monday! All of the sales have begun. I started my “sale hunt” on Friday. There were quite a few items that I wanted from Ann Taylor and I ordered this gorgeous belt from H&M. It arrived this weekend. It’s beautiful in person. I also ordered this houndstooth handbag from H&M. It has not arrived yet and this beautiful dusty peony Kate Spade tote for 40% off!  I also found this beautiful Kate Spade Satchel for $99! It comes in a beautiful pink mauve color. Don’t wait on it….

In today’s post, I wanted to talk about elegant items for the bedroom. I have been looking at certain accessories in the bedroom to update. I do want to change around our bedroom but my husband doesn’t like it when I move furniture around but I am getting so bored with the way our room looks. It has been this way since we build our home in 2013. I need a refresh!


photo credit Alex Papachristidis Instagram

I am trying to find inspiration. I really want to get rid of our television cabinet in our room. I want something different. 


photo credit Aerin Lauder Instagram


I was really inspired this week to make a list of beautiful things for my bedroom. I am still on the hunt for a nightstand table that is long. I have also been looking at bedside carafes. I found this gorgeous one on Amazon.

I also love this porcelain cup from H&M. Beautiful pen holders have been added to my list such as this mint julep cup from Amazon. This would be such a beautiful piece to hold your pens or pencils in your bedroom. In my office right now I have my pens in a beautiful small crystal vase. Here is a similar one if you are interested. 




















photo credit French Manoir Instagram


A bedroom bench is always on the list. I still love the one I have from Walmart. There are so many options now. Like this one from Wayfair or this one from Walmart.

And the last item on my list is a beautiful throw. I love having a soft light pink throw in the room. Like this one from Wayfair or this one from Kelly Clarkson.


I hope you found some beautiful items that you could bring into your home. Our homes have become a place that we are spending more time at. Make it beautiful while you are there. 

Enjoy the day!



Hotel Elegance

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Good Morning Everyone,

Hope everyone is well. I must confess I have not watched the news in 3 days. I needed a break! I’ve been watching vintage Martha Stewart shows and staring at my Christmas trees. All four of them are up and we are enjoying them. 

Did anyone watch the new Hallmark movie called A Timeless Christmas? I really enjoyed that this weekend. Even our 15-year daughter watched it with me! Extraordinary right? Okay, let’s get into today’s inspiring post. 



















Photo by Dilyara Garifullina on Unsplash



So I am still reading Living a Beautiful Life and gleaning so much from it. One section of the book I wanted to share in a separate post. Well, it’s more like one paragraph. 

Alexandra talked about a famous actress that she knows and how she is on the road for long periods of time, living out of her suitcase in ordinary hotel rooms. She said that this actress craved a place to retreat to when she wasn’t on set. She said that she was starved for beauty and her ugly rooms made her nervous. 

So her solution was to bring a suitcase of things that will give her a sense of connection while she was away. So she packed framed family pictures, some pretty pillows, a blanket cover and top sheet, some pillowcases, scented candles, and an elegant scarf to drape around. 












photo credit Clay Banks 

photo credit casadevalentina

How glorious!!!!! Have any of you ever done this before? I have!!!! We use to go to these office retreats and we did not stay in the best hotels. I would always pack some of my own linens and candles. I remember some of my co-workers stating that they could smell flowers down the hall. I would never tell that it was me. 

Now if we are staying with some friends I usually don’t pack any candles. I try to be mindful of their home and that having my candles burning in my room and throughout their home would not be a good idea unless they said it was.  

What are your thoughts? How do you feel about packing a suitcase full of beauty and pleasure for yourself? I know I have gone to stores and purchased bouquets to put in my room. Now I would only do this if I were staying somewhere for more than a week. 

What do you think? Have you packed your favorite items before? Please share below and have a great Wednesday!