Posts that inspiring an elegant life

Chic Assignments ~ May

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Gosh, it’s the middle of May already and Jennifer L. Scott just posted her Chic Assignment Check-in for May. So what I have been doing is following along with the assignments. I do enjoy these very much and always want to update my readers on my status. 


So the first assignment was to listen to Erik Satie Gymnopedies. I listened to it and all I can say is magnifique! That YouTube video that Jennifer provided was wonderful! I saved it to my favorites and play it in my office all the time. What a great source to have for classical music. 






The second assignment was to regard the works of Pierre-Auguste Renoir. I viewed his artwork and my favorite piece of his was The Rose Garden at Wargemont, 1879. 

Pierre-Auguste Renoir‘s Rose Garden at Wargemont painted in 1879, is a studied game of depth and form imparting a sense of movement and energy. The artist explores the natural idiosyncrasies of plant growth and boils them down to a series of experiential dabs of color.






This is a beautiful painting and Wayfair has a reproduction on their website to purchase! I may have to think about that! 






The reproduction in someone’s dining room



The third chic assignment was to wear a piece of jewelry that you don’t normally wear. I usually don’t have a problem with this. I rotate my jewelry pretty often so each piece gets worn throughout the year. I love wearing jewelry. I feel like my jewelry pieces help me to feel more feminine. 




My jewelry at home



And the last chic assignment was to get yourself manicure and pedicure ready. I am actually scheduled for my nail appointment this Sunday and I normally give myself a pedicure every other Sunday. I have the foot rasp that is on Jennifer’s blog. I purchased mine 2 years ago and have not looked back! My heels have improved by 100%! I don’t have crusty heels any longer. 


I look forward to Jennifer’s June assignments and will do my very best to stay on top of it! If you missed my March and April assignment check-in’s you may view them here and here.


Have a great weekend and make sure that you subscribed to my Youtube channel! I will try to post new videos every Sunday. 






(photos via Mrs. Shockley & Pinterest; text via Wikipedia)





My Elegance Tested…

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Friday…. oh how I have longed for this day this week. It has been one interesting week. I’ll start off with my first disaster. 













photo credit Marchioness Instagram


So most of you know about my Ainifeel quilted handbag that I purchased from Amazon two months ago. I adore this bag so much that I decided to purchase it in lavender. So last Wednesday, I place my order and decided to pay the extra price to get 2-day shipping. 
It arrived on Friday (on time) and I was so, so excited to receive a call from our receptionist desk about my package being here. So I walk to the front open it and…… it was in BLACK! My heart fell and I was sorely disappointed. I could feel the heat rise to my face. No matter I will remain calm and simply call Amazon and find out what we can do to fix this mess. 

I call Amazon to tell them of the mix-up. The customer service agent was very kind and I decided at that moment that there was no need to be rude. This could be fixed right?
photo credit Randi Garrett 
The customer service agent then sends a “replacement” the same day. All weekend I am having second thoughts about this “replacement”. I don’t have peace about it and I am already irritated. So Monday arrives and so does my package. I get a call from the front desk to come and pick it up. I pause as I hold it. Take a deep breath and gather my thoughts because I just don’t feel right. I open a corner of the package and….. it’s BLACK again!

My mind is full of anger and frustrated thoughts. My friend Melissa who is filling in for our receptionist sees my face and knows that I am MAD! I don’t say a word because I know that she is watching but boy do I want to blast off! 



photo credit Annie Spratt 


I call Amazon tell them of the situation and they apologize profusely. Sigh….. I really wanted that bag and I can’t try to order it again. Now it says that it is sold out. So disappointed. Now I will not lie. I did give them a bad rating for this but I still felt guilty for doing that. I don’t know. But oh my frustrating week did not end there….
At the time that I placed my order for my handbag, I also placed an order on the H&M website for two more purse scarfs and a cashmere scarf. That package arrived yesterday to only have what? A package of men’s underwear and T-shirts. Arrrggggh!!! Oh my gosh so not only did I not get my lavender handbag but I did not get the correct order from H&M? 

Ohhhhhh… I wanted to call H&M and blast off but I caught myself and said, listen there is no need to be rude. I am surrounded by it on a regular basis. Don’t fall into this. I never want to be an odor to people but a fragrance but it was hard…… I prayed and said Lord, I don’t remember praying for patience recently but you sure are testing it right now. I called H&M and they were also very gracious. I have to return my package before I get my refund but they were still gracious. 


Photo by Freddie Martyn on Unsplash

I am sharing this with all of you because I want to put you on notice that this is where we are headed as far as shopping. With all of the stores closing, online shopping is taking over and we will not be able to try on items nor see them in person. It’s unfortunate. I love going to stores. It is an opportunity to see items that you are interested in but it’s also an opportunity to engage in the five senses and with people. So now we must put our “patience pants” on and learn to wait. It’s going to be hard adjusting to this but we must. 

I hope you all have a great Mother’s Day weekend and enjoy your families. Be a fragrance to people not an odor. 






Affirmation Journal

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Hello Everyone! Welcome to Friday! I shared in February  a book by Martha Stewart called Living the Good Long Life as one of my favorites for that month. I am still reading that book and almost half way through it. I am taking notes and highlighting important facts along the way. 

I am in Chapter 4 and in a section called “maintaining a sense of purpose” and in this section she mentions keeping an “affirmation file”. I found that to be very intriguing….

Martha said, “Anytime you get outside approval- a note from a co-worker or family member about something positive you did- save it in a special file. Any other accolades- merit awards, perfect attendance records, races completed, pounds lost, old grade-school report cards, letters of recommendation- go in this file. Then, on days when you wonder about your worth to those in your life, you can show yourself just how talented and accomplished you are”. 

Now isn’t that great? We all have those days when we wonder what our purpose in life is and what things have we accomplished. I started a career journal sometime ago to keep track of career goals and accomplishments. 

I found this wonderful and colorful journal at T.J.Maxx. They have such a variety of journals and note pads to choose from. If you are inspired by this go and pick up a note pad, folder or journal to start recording your accomplishments and goals. 

We should all be doing this and making a habit of it. I started recording job accomplishments in January of this year and it’s already May. I took a peek at it yesterday and thought… wow I have had a busy 2019 so far! Now if these goals and accomplishments had not been recorded I would have forgotten half of them already!

I would encourage you to do the same. The Bible says to write down the vision and make it plain. Write down yours and stay encouraged!

Have a great weekend!



(photos via Mrs. Shockley)


The Chic Assignments ~ April

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Goodness, April is almost over. It’s going by way to fast. I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter. I always to try to make sure that we continue to teach the children what’s important about Easter. Christ has risen! 

I was able to find some baby’s breath at the store. I was not sure if I would be able to its also prom month here in Indy and the baby’s breath is always elusive.

My table at home


Okay, now let me share with you all on how I am doing on the Chic Assignments for April.
The first assignment was to listen to Schubert’s Ava Maria. After seeing the Notre Dame Cathedral burn this was hard to listen too. That was so heartbreaking to me! I immediately starting thinking about all of the beautiful, historical buildings in our country. God, please protect them! We all enjoy them and honor them! 
I did, however, watch the video that Jennifer had on her site of the father singing it with his beautiful daughter watching. That lifted my spirits after seeing the news about the cathedral. 
The second assignment was to read poetry from author Percy B. Shelley. I did listen to the poem that Jennifer read on her blog but I also love Maya Angelou’s poem called “Woman Work”. I think we can all relate to this poem. 
photo credit Pinterest 
The third assignment was to dress up for no reason. I live my life like this so it is not hard for me at all. I enjoy dressing up every day. Even on the weekends. It is truly amazing how much people pay attention to that. I wore a floral dress and cardigan to the grocery store this past weekend and people were stopping me everywhere saying how much they loved my dress. I told my daughter. People love seeing well-dressed people. I don’t care how they act. People, deep down inside, love it!
Me in my floral dress and cardigan
If you are interested in this dress you may purchase it here.


And the last assignment was getting intentional rest. I try to make sure that I do this from time to time. A few years ago I realized that I did not take any personal days from work. Then one of my good friends who was a supervisor at the time said, “Don’t worry about this place. The work will be here when you return”. So now I take more personal days and enjoy my life. 
My office at home
And I spend them at home. I’ll watch a movie with a cup of tea, read, run a few errands, visit an antique store. I really take time to relish in the things I love. 

Well, that is all from the chic assignments of Mrs. Shockley. Let me know what all you have been doing for the month of April. Being chic I hope!
Thanks for reading!!!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Cherry Blossom Tea

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Along with visiting the cherry blossom trees, I had to take a second visit to the Library of Congress. While there we visited the gift shop. I love walking through there. You will find all kinds of items and gifts. One of those items was this beautiful tin of cherry blossom green tea.

I was a little on the fence about it because they did not have any samples around and I could not see inside the tin. I knew that I was taking a chance on getting it but I could not resist this beautiful pink tin and I am such a fan of green teas. I figured it could not be that bad. 
The aroma when I opened the tin…. Oh my! You can smell the vibrant and fragrant cherries. The scent is just exquisite. I purchased a tin for my supervisor and she said, “I just leave it open to smell it”. It is that wonderful!  
Now the tea is loose and placed in these appealing sachets. They look almost like silk. You can get two cups of tea from it and it is a light color but the taste is very elegant. If you are a tea lover I guarantee you that you will enjoy this tea! It is that good!
If any of you are familiar with this tea and have tried it please share your thoughts below. If any of you are thinking about purchasing it I hope that you do and share your thoughts too! Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Chic Assignments ~ March

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So we are already into the middle of March and these months are just flying by. My favorite author Jennifer L. Scott has already given us our chic assignments for March. I shared a few weeks ago my February chic assignments and the status of where I am on them. This is such an enjoyable activity. I have really enjoyed this.

Now let’s get into March’s assignments.…

Jennifer’s first assignment is to listen to Chopin Nocturne and I have. What a wonderful piece! I am still working on practicing my piece from Bach. It will be a process. Stay tuned!

The next assignment is to make your laundry more routine and more pleasurable!  It’s funny because I was already working on that. I went to the Container Store to try to find some organizational bins for my laundry room and I found these and these and they worked out great!

So many wonderful options….
I picked out the grey ones and I also added this beautiful picture in my laundry room. I found this in South Carolina about 5 years ago! It was in a Goodwill store. Love it hanging in my laundry room. 
Her third assignment was to study the works of Claude Monet. 
I was fortunate enough to see his work in person at the National Gallery of Art in Washington last year. See my blog post here and here about that. I got to visit twice!
And her last assignment was to prepare your wardrobe for seasonal transition. 
I am already working on that. I am looking for as many floral wardrobe pieces that I can find. I don’t have a ten-item wardrobe but I do get rid of items very quickly if they are not serving me well. I found this gorgeous blue and white dress at New York and Company. It is lovely and I can not wait to wear it this spring and summer. I have also ordered three new dresses from Old Navy and a new leopard maxi from New York and Company. I also shared some of my favorite spring finds from Ann Taylor. You may view that post here if you wish. 
I am looking forward to spring and I am excited to continue this series with Jennifer. Please share your March chic assignments below. I am very curious about you guys! Thanks for reading!!!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Lhuillier Rose Collection

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In keeping with this week’s floral theme, I wanted to share some favorite small picks from the Monique Lhuillier Rose Collection at Pottery Barn.

I want to start with this beautiful table setting. The rose napkins are such a beautiful blend of pinks and creams. It also has a lovely jacquard weave. So lovely.

I also adore the beautiful stoneware and the Gabrielle etched glasses. I was able to see those in person.

Dreamy isn’t it? I was able to see this feminine bedding set at the store. This is called the Penelope Ikat Duvet Set.  I could see this on our own bed and take a look at the dainty clare swivel vase on the nightstand.

It was exceptional in person. Well, I hope that you all enjoyed my floral finds for this week. I am still on my pink blush hunt and will continue to buy as many items in that color as possible. I just know that eventually everything comes to an end and they will stop selling items in pink soon. I hope that I am wrong and that this season of femininity continues to grow. Enjoy your weekend!

(photos via Pottery Barn.com)