Posts that inspiring an elegant life

Victoria Magazine New Card Bundles

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I think most of us are Victoria magazine fans but I was extremely excited we I received my email about their new note card bundles. I am a huge believer in having note cards around and keeping them handy for unexpected gifts or parties.

Oh my goodness, aren’t these lovely? I have to admit I think that this set is my favorite. 

Or maybe these….
Oh it’s so hard to decide. All of the sets are lovely. I think that these would make lovely Christmas gifts to.
Just simple, elegant and delicate. 
I had to share these with everyone today. I hope that you are able to order some and if so please share on your Instagram page or send me an email. I would love to see them!
Enjoy!
(photos via Victoria magazine.com)

The Dream of Consistency and Discipline

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 A few weeks ago I received a lovely comment from a reader. It stated….

“Hi Mrs. Shockley, I really do love your blog posts. Would you consider doing a post on staying consistent & having discipline? Your posts are a constant source of beauty, happiness & elegance, you appear to be a really positive lady so I just wondered if you could share any tips. 

Loving your blog. 

Maria (UK) xx” 




First of all, I just want to say thank you to Maria for this lovely compliment. It is always a privilege to receive wonderful notes from readers. Well, Maria, I will try to fulfill your request. Having discipline and being consistent is very hard sometimes.

photo credit Annie Spratt





But I would say that the first thing you have to do is know who you are and how you want to live. You must know that first! Then and only then you can begin to make decisions on how to organize your life. 


I remember back in high school I was dating a young man. He was about two grades higher than I was and even back then I wanted to wear polka dot scarves, dresses, pumps, and huge vintage earrings. Well, those things bothered him. So I stopped wearing them and I became very miserable. I was smothering who I was for someone else. I remember telling him that I was unhappy and that I no longer cared what he thought and I returned to my “old lady” ways of dressing. So sure enough he began to see that this was me and that I was not going to change. At that moment I know that I was coming into “my own”. 



photo credit Larisa Birta 

I also knew at a very young age that I wanted a beautiful home. So I began to buy items that I loved for my bedroom and that habit has stayed with me until now. I stayed consistent with this. Even if you buy one home item at a time, over time you will build your home into something beautiful. You can just buy one item at a time…

(An inspiring post from my blog in January 2017) 




Once you have figured out how you want to live and began to slowly cultivate your home, just be consistent with it and you will have to be bold. It is unbelievable to me the number of people (women, honestly) who I have to fight off or explain my way of living to. It truly is incredible. 


(Beauty in Waiting, my blog post from May of 2017 about beautiful things that I am waiting for)


Being discipline with routines is important also. I mentioned that in this blog post here about my daily routine. Being disciplined with your life will and can bring great happiness. Write a list of weekly dinners and rotate them, pick the same day to wash and fold laundry, I know for me I have kept the same weekly cleaning schedule for over 10 years. One weekend is the upstairs and the next weekend is the downstairs. I recently added classical music to my weekend cleaning schedule. I know that family secretly enjoys it.

One quote that I wanted to share is from one of my favorite Christian teachers, Joyce Meyer she stated… “Getting organized in the normal routines of life and finishing little projects you’ve started is an important first step toward realizing larger goals. If you can’t get a handle on the small things, how will you ever get it together to focus on the big things?” 


There is so much truth in this one statement. If you can’t wash your dishes, vacuum your floors, get to work on time, then how in the world are you going to lose weight, cook meals, and look presentable. It’s all connected and I learned that from a few mentors. Another great article to read about discipline is 15 Inspirational Ideas on How to Stay Consistent and Realize Your Dreams.   This article gives more ideas and tips on how to accomplish your goals. 


Well I hope that you enjoyed this post and have found inspiration on moving forward and setting new goals in your life and home. 


Enjoy your day!!!

(photos via Pinterest)

Elegant Herbal Teas

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Happy Hump Day all! Since Monday was a holiday I find that keeping track of what day it is can really be hard sometimes! The week can really slip away from you if you are not aware of your days! 
Last week I promised that I would share some of the herbal teas that my husband purchased for me from David’s Tea.

I love how organized this little box was. 
Love all of the colorful tea packets. It looks like a rainbow. This is the sachet tea wheel.
And on the sides they have the teas labeled by flavor. 
Now I just wanted to share a few of my favorites. 
This is honeycrisp apple tea. Oh can you imagine having this on a crisp autumn morning with warm buttery bread and buttery scrambled eggs? I can!

It has apple, sweet blackberry leaf, green tea, hibiscus, apple pomace, pear and natural and apple flavoring. 

This is cherry blossom tea.

This has white tea, green tea, cherries, coconut chips, rosebuds (you can smell those), natural and artificial cherry flavoring. Now this was good but not one of my favorites. I am not a huge coconut fan. 

This is one of my favorites!! It smells wonderful! I gave a few to my co-workers to taste and that’s all they raved about. 
Forever nuts

This has apple, almonds, cinnamon, beetroot, and artificial flavoring. It does contain almonds so be careful if you have a peanut allergy. 
My husband also purchased teas for the office for me. Most of those have been really good! I love the “just beet it” flavor. The smell of the elderberries is a wonderful scent in the mornings.
Well I hope that you enjoyed this post and check out David’s Tea in person if you can.  I enjoy having my small pot of tea in the morning with my breakfast at my desk. It is a wonderful getaway. 
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

My Monique Lhuillier Dinner Plates

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Earlier this year I shared on my facebook page about how I wanted some of Monique Lhuillier’s dinner plates. I went to our local Pottery Barn that weekend and they were sold out! Not a huge surprise because they are so beautiful. I had the urge to go again a few weekends ago. I did not know that Pottery Barn was having an awesome sale and that those garden plates were going to be half off!

Eureka!!!!!

These are called the meadow dinner plates and I managed to get them for $4.77 per plate! Can you believe?! So thrilled!

These are so chic. Just enough design and color. I love the beautiful simplicity of them.  
I think that these are so chinoiserie inspired. 

And of course they are microwavable and dishwasher safe. 
I have used these a few times already and just enjoy pulling them out of my cabinet and staring at them. I believe that you can have small beautiful things in your life. Even if they are just a few pretty dishes. 
Au revoir!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Simplicity ~ Tea for One

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When we left Talbots a few weekends ago we passed a lovely store in the mall called David’s Tea. So we decided to go in and take a look around.

It was a lovely store and the staff was very friendly. I looked at all of their teas (I will share what I received for my birthday in another post) and accessories. I sampled one of the herbal teas and enjoyed it.

But there was one thing that caught my eye and it was their tea for one set.

This is called the White Simplicity Tea for One set. When I saw this I just knew that I had to have it. It has the strainer on the inside so that you can have a tea bag or your loose herbal tea. It is just wonderful! I have been using it at work all week and just love that I can have more than one cup of my herbal tea. 
The pot is just big enough for one person. I place my tea bag inside the metal strainer and just pour my hot water in. With the lid on top my water stays hot and I can let my herbal tea just sit and simmer inside the pot. This was me this past weekend. I had breakfast in my bedroom. 
My breakfast this weekend. My cup is the Royal Albert English Roses print (see here), my plates are blue and white (see here) and my breakfast tray is from Walmart (see here)
It has been such a joy to have this weekend. I am very grateful to my husband who purchased this for me for my birthday. It is a lovely gift. Now, I do not use the small cup that came with it. It does not have a handle and I love having my china cup with saucer to enjoy instead. I may use the cup to put my fresh fruit in.  Now, next week I plan on sharing all the herbal teas that I received as well. 
I hope you enjoyed this post! Au revoir! 
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Tea in the Evenings

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Since I have started my herbal journey I have been trying to incorporate more natural herbs and organic foods into my diet. It has not been as hard as what I thought. Once I made my mind up my eating habits began to change.

I shared a few weeks ago my herbal teas that I have been drinking. I have since added to my collection. On Wednesdays, during the summer, my city hosts a downtown market event. We have several vendors who arrive and sell their products. One vendor in particular is a herbalist and her booth is always busy.

This past week I stopped by to see her latest herbal teas and tinctures. I told her that I was interested in herbs for the female reproductive system and herbs that would help with digestion.

She handed me her blend of goddess tea, healing heart tea and Gentian tincture. The goddess tea is made of red raspberry, red clover, nettle, lemon balm, peppermint and passion flower. The healing heart tea is made of hawthorn, linden, lemon balm, mother wort and rosemary. I have to admit I loved the goddess tea! It tastes wonderful!
My husband purchased this tea filter for me years ago from Teavana. 

It fits perfectly in my cherry blossom tea pot also from Teavana. It is real china. 
I boil my hot water on the stove and pour in my herb tea and water and let it steam for about 15 minutes. I have been enjoying a cup in the evening in bed all week. 
I put everything on my lovely tray and take it all upstairs to my bedroom. I sit and sip while watching my old Martha Stewart dvd’s. These have been lovely evenings indeed. I also put a spoonful of honey in my hot teas. I do enjoy a little sweetness to my teas. 
Before I forget I wanted to share information about the tincture that I purchased from her also. I just put two dropfuls in my bottle water and drink. I hardly taste anything but it is nice to know that I am taking in natural herbs that are good for my stomach. 

I do hope that you enjoyed this post and are inspired to give natural teas a try. If you wish to share where you are purchasing your herbal teas I would love to know! Please share in the comments section below! Thanks for reading!!!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Refreshing Moments

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On Saturday and Sunday mornings I do my very best to make sure that I sit down and enjoy a quiet breakfast. Before I got my new settee I did not use my sitting room (see blog post here). I just did not like the way it looked.

It’s amazing how one item changed the whole environment of a room. I now look forward to my weekend mornings in that room. Especially on Sundays. Sundays are the best for me because I usually have all of my weekend chores done and all of my errands finished.

I am completely dressed when I come down for breakfast and I usually make some whole wheat toast with butter, some fruit, a cup of tea, orange juice and water. 
On this particular morning I made scrambled eggs.
I will open my window and listen to the birds chirping and watch the butterflies fly around. 
We had a lot of butterflies this season! I love our butterfly hydrangea bush. We planted it last year and it has done very well this year. 

It has a wonderful light smell and the butterflies can’t seem to stay away from it. It is a wonderful sight in the mornings while I enjoy my breakfast. 
While I eat, sip and watch I do take a moment to read my devotional and plan my week using my day designer. 
I really do enjoy these moments and it does feel like a “refreshing moment” happens. I sit look around at my home and I take it all in. I remind myself of how grateful I am and how life can be good. 
Enjoy your moments!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)