Posts that inspiring an elegant life

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)

My Herbal Teas

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I have been on a quest for healthy living. Ever since I have been reading this book called the Women’s Herbal Apothecary my interest in herbs has been sparked.

In the first section of the book she discussed the many different ways to use herbs and herbal teas was one of them. She talked about all of the natural herbs that could be used for certain types of ailments. She mentioned chamomile tea as a good tea for mood swings and your menstrual period. She mentioned the same about peppermint tea.

Here are my herbal teas. I have been making weekly visits to our organic stores here in our city. These are all of the herbal teas that I have purchased so far.

The first tea is my detox tea. I normally have this Saturday morning. The chamomile tea has been my favorite. I usually have this at night while I am in the bed. I love it with two teaspoons of honey. The herbs in this tea is used to sooth and support your digestion. My herbal peppermint tea is a tea that I normally have with my lunch. This is so refreshing and aromatic. 
The next herbal tea is my organic Belly Comfort tea with peppermint flavor. I normally have a cup of this after dinner. It is suppose to relieve feelings of fullness or gas and get the juices flowing. 

Now this has been my favorite too! Do you see the box? Relieves temporary water weight gain? Yes, please! I have a cup with two teaspoons of honey when I feel bloated and it helps! Plus the cranberry flavor is marvelous. 
Here are the honeys that I use. You can find these teas or honeys at your local grocery store or Walmart. I did find this on the Traditional Medicinals website. It will help you to find your best herbal teas for you. 
Well I hope that you enjoyed this post and are inspired to take a glimpse at some herbal teas that may help you.
Enjoy!!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

A Rosemary Inspired Party

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Have you ever see a beautiful photo on Pinterest and began clicking on the sources to try to find out where you can locate whatever it is that you have fallen in love with? Yes you have? Good! Because I didn’t want to be the only nutty person to do that.

Okay, this is the Pinterest photo that I became enamored with. So I clicked on the sources link and it took me right to Traditional Home. It was in an article from 2011 written by Krissa Rossbund and Julianne Hilmes. It was a patio party inspired by rosemary bushes. 
The china and table setting is stunning. Again, I would not have thought to put blue and lavender together. It is quite beautiful. 
An up close look at the floral arrangement. Beautifully done…..
Okay, so can we just stare at the garden chairs for a moment. These are exquisite! I love that they are different. 
A beautiful pear, pancetta and feta salad. The recipe is below…
  • 6 slices pancetta (about 4 ounces)
  • 1 to 2 ripe Bosc pears
  • Lemon juice
  • 1 small red onion
  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
  • Kosher salt and pepper to taste
  • 6 cups torn mixed greens
  • 6 tablespoons French or Greek feta, divided
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place pancetta slices on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil lightly coated with cooking spray; manipulate slices into tight circles. Bake about 15 minutes, or until desired doneness. Set aside; cool.
Using mandoline set at 1/4-inch thickness or less, slice pear lengthwise. Select 6 largest, most appealing slices. (Reserve remaining slices for another use). Brush lemon juice over pear slices. Rinse mandoline and adjust blade (if desired). Thinly slice half the onion. (Reserve other half for another use.)
In medium bowl, whisk together oil and molasses; season with salt and pepper to taste. To serve, toss greens with dressing. Divide evenly between plates. Top greens with onion, pear slice, pancetta, and 1 tablespoon feta. Makes 6 servings.
And oh my does this look delicious! A ricotta cheesecake with blackberry sauce. Looks yum!
If you wish to read the original article you may do so here. This sure has inspired me in the clothing arena. I will now check my closet to see if I have any lavenders and blues that I can put together. See Pinterest continues to inspire. 
(photos via Traditional Home)

My Framing Project

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While we were in Charleston I found this gorgeous drawing of magnolias. Now magnolias are another favorite flower of mine. I think that they are so attractive and fragrant so finding a huge poster of them was wonderful.

I found it at the gift shop at the Magnolia Plantation. It was such a beautiful picture and a wonderful price! We only paid $10 for it! I knew that I had to have it framed and I knew that I had some wonderful frames at home.

What it looked like before framing my new artwork. 

Assessing the poster and picking out the matting. 
It took them about a week to get the project finished. They called this past Sunday afternoon while I was running errands. I was looking forward to seeing it…..
Bringing it home….
Hello Beautiful!!!! It is gorgeous! Better than expected and I love the contrast between the matting and the photo. My husband wanted the matting to match the photo but I thought having two different colors would give it a more custom look. 
I could not wait to hang it. 
And just so you guys get an idea of how big it is.
I took this photo beside it. It is a large picture. 
I am so please with how this project turned out. Michaels only charged us $50 for everything which I thought was an outstanding deal. I now have this beautiful work of art that I can saw I got it while in Charleston. I will now consider custom framing for every picture that I want at home. 
Thanks for reading!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

My New Day Designer

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I was so thrilled when I saw that Day Designer was coming out with some new designs. I ordered my first one years ago and have just not gotten back to ordering a second one.

I follow them on Instagram so when I saw the new climbing floral design I just knew that I had to have it! It was so charming and beautiful.

The Day Designer is “strategic planner and daily agenda for living a well-designed life”.  The goal of the day designer is to help you schedule your daily to-do lists, help you to focus on your “top three to-do’s” and helps to encourage clarity and razor-sharp focus for the most productive day and year.

It provides steps to set goals, inspirational daily quotes to help keep you motivated, yearly, monthly and daily overviews. It is a wonderful organizer and it looks so chic when you carry it into your office meetings (I know I have).

So here are some photos below of my day designer.

Opening it

Such a beautiful box!

Instructions on how to use your day designer.

A peek inside….

Monthly tabs

Wonderful opening letter and expectations of the day designer. 

Goal setting….

Setting plans


Your daily to-do lists

Full calendars also
It is such a beautiful planner. It does inspire you so much!

My old one and my new one. The old one is still in great condition. 


I hope that you enjoyed this post and are encourage and buy your own day designer or create your own. They are wonderful to have and are an absolute joy to use. 
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Have a Chic Lunch

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Does anyone have lunch alone? I know I do! There is nothing wrong with going to lunch with people but I usual take my lunch hour to relax and enjoy things that I like to do. Sometimes I take a walk to the mall (located across the street from my building) and go to some of my favorite stores. I read a magazine that I just recently picked up, read some other blogs, make some phone calls, etc.

I like to enjoy the full hour of my lunch. I recently brought in some of my vintage linen napkins that I just purchased from the flea market. They look so pretty with my antique dishes and cups.

I also take that time to practice table manners and etiquette. It is the perfect time to brush up and perfect those skills. I remember one of my favorite authors Jennifer L. Scott talking about dining alone. I loved the video that she did on her Youtube channel about it.

So that got me thinking about lunch utensils and bags. I saw these beauties at Von Maur and wanted to share them. 
This is the Kate Spade Rugby Stripe Lunch tote. I thought it was very chic.
Here is what the inside looked like.
I thought this one was nice too. It is called the Kate Spade Strawberries Lunch tote. 
Honestly, this is my favorite. If I had seen this at the store I probably would have purchased it. This is the Kate Spade Out to Lunch tote. I think it is quite lovely. 
Some of the lunch tupperware was chic also (see here if you are interested). I hope that you are inspired to go out and buy some nice lunch items for yourself.  Enjoy life wherever you can!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley and Von Maur.com)