Posts that inspiring an elegant life

Small Quarantine Projects

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Hello Everyone,


Since we all have been home and are taking things slow, I have been trying to do little projects around the house. Keeping a list and keeping busy has made my days feel much more productive and enjoyable. 

This past weekend we did a little bit of gardening. I have lots of planters and have decided to buy different kinds of flowers and plant them myself in the planters. Doing this gives me a chance to be more creative. 

I do love the way this looks so far…
Some of you may have seen this on my Instagram this weekend. I cleaned my chandeliers. Very scary (because I don’t like heights) but very rewarding once I was finished. 
Alfred (my iRoomba Robot) has been hard at work too. He is currently set for three days a week to clean. I am glad he is around. He is the only consistent helper that I can count on. 🙂 


Some of you may have seen in another post that my husband got me a glass door for the front and he installed my office chandelier. This is the next major project that I want my husband to work on. I want to paint this t.v. cabinet. It is about 40 years old and was given to me from my mother in law. It is in our master bedroom. 

You guys may remember that back in 2017 my husband painted my cupboard that was about 30 years old that was also given to me from my mother in law. 

These pieces are solid and I want to keep them. I just wanted to update them a little. I was thinking about painting this one gray but with our walls being gray I just don’t think it would look good. So we may be going with black and brass hardware. I know I don’t want it white. I just don’t think that it would complement our room well. 

I will keep you guys posted!


Thanks for reading and stay safe!



(photos via Mrs. Shockley)





Finally~ A Blue and White Teapot

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Good Morning,


Another week down and several more to go. They have reported (here in Indiana) that our expected peak for the COVID-19 is during the week of April 18th. I keep praying that things work out. We are at 79 deaths in our state. This has been so much for everyone….. 

Now let’s move on to something lovely. I have been searching for about 2 years for a blue and white teapot that I love and that would be the perfect size for me since I am the only one who drinks tea in my home. 


I follow a wonderful Instagrammer by the name of Stefania and her page is called GardenCakeParty. She posted about a month ago her blue and white teapot below and I just had to message her and ask about it. 

I told her it was perfect and asked where she got it. To my amazement, it was available on Amazon. If it is sold out then you can try this one, this one, or this gorgeous one.





I have had it for about a week and it is the perfect size and print. 





I have enjoyed my tea a little more this week. As I pick up my new pot it brings a little smile to my face. These smiles are so needed right now. The uncertainty of everything. Sighing… I hope it gets better soon. 

Have a great weekend everyone!
(photos via Instagram and Mrs. Shockley)


Friday Beauty

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Good Morning Everyone,


Today I just wanted to share some beautiful pictures from my Pinterest boards. I will be doing a little spring cleaning this weekend, watching The Martha Stewart Show (on Dabl, a cable channel we recently found), and trying to find a great novel to read. 

photo credit Caitlyn Wilson 

My bouquet at home. #ahomeforelegance


My home last summer…






































photo credit Eugenivy



Dreaming of a floral spring…









Beautiful romantic pink peony. They bloom in June here in VT and are gone too quickly. May favorite flower. #garden #stowemeadows

“We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on difficulties”. 
~ Oswald Chambers. 


Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

(photos via Pinterest)

An Elegant Welcome

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Hello Friday,


We are still adjusting to the time change. I know some of you are too. In today’s post, I wanted to know if any of you have a three-tier cake tray? I just realized that I don’t own one. 

I saw these beauties on Etsy and figured I think I would like to have one of those.

Aren’t these gorgeous? I will be searching eBay and Etsy for the next few days to find one that is perfect for my needs and our home life. 


Whenever we have guests, I always put out some sort of food or drinks. It makes everyone feel welcomed and appreciated. I believe it helps people to know that you were thinking of them. 


I know that if I walked in and saw a beautiful stand like this I would feel welcomed and it would make me smile. Receiving guests is very important in this age of technology. Receiving them well. 


Please let me know in the comments section below if you have a cake stand? I would love to know if you use it. Have a great weekend everyone!




(photos via Pinterest)



Plates in Bloom

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Good Morning March Everyone!


It is March 2nd and we are on our way to spring! Hopefully…. we have been known here in Indiana to get snow but honestly, if we do I won’t complain. We have had a pretty mild winter. 


I hope you all had a great weekend. I took Lauren ice skating with her girlfriend for the last day. It turned out to be a wonderful night. After skating my husband and step-son met us at the Cake Bake Shop again for dinner. My husband loves the chicken velvet soup. I did end up getting the salmon dinner again but changed up the cake. I decided to get the carrot cake this time. 


Her carrot cakes are made without nuts or raisins so I was a bit skeptical. It was DELISH! I am so glad that I ordered it!

I try not to take too many pictures when I am there. I want to savor the moment but everything is so pretty. It’s hard not to take photos.

The beautiful carrot cake. So good!

On Sunday I did go and visit Pier One because an advertisement passed through my Instagram account with these beautiful plates. I had to go and take a peek. 



Beautiful florals were everywhere. 
The Moody Bloom Plates were beautiful in person. They are painted in rich colors and are microwave and dishwasher safe. Now, these are only salad plates so they are much smaller but I don’t see a problem with that seeing that we need to eat smaller meals anyway. 


They come in a set of four and are only $34.99! It would be a wonderful addition to anyone’s collection. 

I hope you all enjoyed this post and have found some spring inspiration. Enjoy your day!





(photos via Mrs. Shockley)




A Few Beautiful Things

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Have you ever had a weekend where you found lots of beautiful things? It happens to me more than often and sometimes I like to take a step back and just take it all in. 


I did some shopping recently and decided to change my curtains in my home. I have always been afraid of white or cream curtains. I like to keep my privacy so I always steer clear of these but I decided recently to take a chance.

I really love these beautiful cream DKNY curtains that I found at HomeGoods. The room feels like it has been refreshed some how. The original curtains that I had were gray and with these cream curtains the room now feels bright. The price made the decision easier too. I only paid $29 per set! Wonderful right? 

Once I saw how great they looked I hurried to HomeGoods to get the last set and hang them in our loft. This is where the office is. I love the way these look and they are nice and thick. So my room looks elegant without showing the inside of my home. 

The next item that I found was this beautiful blue and white pillow from Ralph Lauren. I also found this at HomeGoods for only $20! It’s gorgeous in person! 



Last weekend my family and I went to our outlet mall here in Indiana. I am not a huge fan of our outlet mall. We don’t have a lot of selections there. I did stop by the Coach store and picked up this beautiful cognac tote for under $200. These beautiful nude Coach pumps I found on Poshmark (brand-new) for under $60!

I also saw these down in the Ann Taylor Factory store. It is so much better to see items in person. These rhinestone pumps are stunning in person!  I had to get a pair. 



And last but not least is this arrangement sitting in my clear chair. Now that may not be a big deal to anyone else but I just love it there. You know how you may be moving things around in a room and you place something somewhere and look over and think, “well I actually like that there”. That is how this happened.  Accidentally beauty…. 

I am still in a funk at the office. Trying to decide what to do, see here if you missed my blog post about that. But I am trying to find the beauty in things and focus on gratefulness and learning to just be still and know that he is God.

I have searched and read some of my past posts about beauty and poise. Life is interesting but worthwhile when you found your purpose. 




(photos via Mrs. Shockley)








Chinoiserie Gift Bags

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Good Morning and Welcome to November!


I can’t believe we are saying that… November. Well, we had an interesting weekend. My step-son called and said that he wanted to come home for the weekend…. with his new girlfriend. 


Oh Lord…. so they came down and we all had dinner and she slept in his room and he was downstairs (she is from Ohio and has no family here in the city). It was a little awkward to me but I wanted to make her feel welcomed. 


It turned out okay. She is a very nice girl and is studying to become a pediatric surgeon. Lots of school ahead of her so we all hope she does well. 


In today’s post, I wanted to share a recent beautiful find. You all know how much I love blue and white so when I saw these on The Enchanted Home’s website I knew that I had to purchase a few. 

Gorgeous aren’t they? Now the blue and white chinoiserie gift bag is pretty sturdy and wonderfully beautiful. 

The inside is spacious and is the average size of a gift bag.




The ginger jar and pink blossoms gift bag is lovely also. She has it in large and small so make sure that you pay attention to the description box if you order one. 



Such classic and beautiful bags. They come in sets of two so you will get two bags with each order. I am interested in ordering the classic topiary gift bag. That looks pretty chic too. Now I am keeping my gift bags to myself. I will use them to carry things to the office and other office-like tasks. I would not recommend gifting one to someone unless you know that they are a die-hard blue and white fan. 

Most people would just throw these away. These are something to be enjoyed over and over. I hope all of the blue and white fans enjoy these. Can’t you just see these with beautiful tissue showing at the top of these? So beautiful. Have a great Wednesday!


(photos via Mrs. Shockley)