Wonderful Books to Read

Grace Note~ Diet Thoughts

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Good Morning,

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. It is an Indian summer here in Indiana! It was 70 degrees all weekend long! Very nice but I miss the cold. Okay so I just realized that I got the wrong spray for flocking my trees. Great…. we sprayed them but they did not turn out the way I wanted them. So later this week I will be taking a trip to Walmart to check out their flocked trees. I will keep you guys posted. 


On Friday I gave the last grace notes from Chapter 3 of Living a Beautiful Life and the last grace note from that list had me thinking. 

The note said…. “Begin a “New Attitude” diet today. Make a list of ten reasons why you want to lose weight; repeat them each morning when you wake and whenever resolve weakens. Indulge yourself once a week with a special low-calorie treat, like a big bowl of raspberries. 

Photo by Mariah Hewines on Unsplash

I mentioned in one of my Youtube videos that I was not trying to be apart of the “quarantine 15”. I believe that there were lots of articles written about it during the beginning part of the stay at home orders. There were some comments being made about people gaining from 10 to 15 lbs during the quarantine. Once I heard that I thought oh no!

I already had weight that I trying to lose. Now I had to be diligent and make sure that I wasn’t going to gain more. So I cut back on food and just watched my calories. I have always worked out so exercise was not a problem for me. My issues were dinner. I always ate too much during dinner. 

I have several reasons why I wanted to lose weight. The first is health reasons. I don’t want to be on blood pressure pills or other medications because of my weight. Also, there is a certain way that I want to look in my clothes. I am happy to report that during the quarantine I have lost 7 lbs!

















 Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash

I still have another 10 more to lose but I have not put a time limit on myself. At first, I did but then I reminded myself that it took about 10 years to put this extra weight on I should give myself more time to lose it. What are your weight loss goals? Do you have any? Please share in the comments section if you wish. As always thanks for reading! 


Weekly Beauty Inspiration ~ LABL (6)

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Photo by Rikonavt on Unsplash



Good Friday Afternoon,

What a week it has been. This election…. geez. I will say this I always, always pray for whoever the new President is. I believe that since they are the leader of our country we should be praying for them. Also here is the thing, if they do well then we all do well. I always pray for our presidents. Always. 

Okay, let’s dive into the last portion of Chapter 3 in Living a Beautiful Life. I have already started Chapter 4 but as I was reading the “Grace Notes” portion of the book I felt like some of Alexandra’s tips needed to be shared. I hope you agree.

* Use hand towels as generous lap napkins. (great idea!)

* Place fresh flowers in water in an extra sink or in a bucket and just leave them there until they need to be placed around the house. (what a fun idea!)



















Photo by Guillaume LORAIN on Unsplash


* Store candles in the refrigerator; they’ll burn longer. ( I have never heard of this before)

* Serve green grapes with Roquefort cheese on hard pumpernickel rolls. (Sounds like a wonderful treat!)

* Decant olive oil and wine vinegar. (I am sure many of us do this already)

* Use an old Welsh dresser, English baker’s cabinet, or French armoire in the kitchen to store dishes and silverware. (Ahh I really want to do this!)

* Grate fresh parmesan cheese on a spinach salad. 

* Marinate chicken cut in quarters in freshly squeezed orange juice and fresh sliced ginger root, then bake slowly for two hours at 250 degrees. (This sounds sooo good!)



















Photo by Alexandra K on Unsplash


* Call a busy friend and make a date to meet for an early breakfast visit, to catch up. (Last month we took my brother in law out to brunch for his birthday. We had a great time!)

* Sprinkle parmesan cheese on popcorn. A healthy, low-calorie snack – I picked up the idea from Jane Brody.  (This sounds delicious!)

And the last grace note from Alexandra….

* Retrieve a set of those pretty plates you have hidden away in a kitchen cabinet, and hang them on the wall for all to see. A good hardware store will have plate holders in several sizes, designed for hanging. (I have been wanting to try this for some time now)













Photo by Chance Anderson on Unsplash

I hope everyone has enjoyed this chapter of the book. I do adore these “Grace Notes” at the end. It’s like a beauty checklist for living. This weekend I will be working on my Christmas decorations. I purchased some flock spray earlier this year from Amazon. We will be spraying some of my trees with it. I sure hope it turns out okay. I will let you guys know. I have been wanting a flocked Christmas tree for some time now. I just didn’t want to spend a fortune on one and I have about 6 Christmas trees in my garage that I could use. 

I will be sure to let you guys know how it turns out! Have a wonderful weekend!





Weekly Beauty Inspiration ~ LABL (5)

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Good Morning Everyone,

I hope all is well. Halloween is tomorrow. We purchased a little bit of candy just in case we have trick or treaters stop by but other than that it will be a quiet weekend for us. 

I will be working on the blog, reviewing my Thanksgiving dinner checklist, finishing some last Christmas gift purchases (I am almost finished), and hopefully getting in some reading. 

Okay, let’s get into this week’s Living a Beautiful Life tip. I am still in Chapter 3. It is quite a long chapter and I have been quite busy with other things so I have it on my list to finish this chapter this week. Alexandra the author continues to talk about food and how to enjoy it. She says…

“Good eating is a philosophy. I know a French lady who muses, “I am the keeper of my sacred body. I guard carefully everything I put in my mouth.” She eats entirely by the seasons. 

What great advice! I have been recently trying to eat my produce by the seasons. There is a great difference in taste when you do this. 



Photo by Melnychuk Nataliya on Unsplash



She goes on to say, “Certain foods should be eaten at certain times of the year. Nothing is more disappointing than a tasteless plastic tomato in December. The best way to select fresh ingredients at the best price with the most flavor is to follow the seasons.

In the early spring, asparagus comes on the market, and by June and July, there are melons and berries. Corn in July. We often go to a local restaurant that has tomatoes and basil on the menu all summer, yet only serves this dish when the tomatoes are perfect. “

I recently stopped buying blueberries because they began to taste terrible. I have shifted to grapes for the moment. I do buy apples as well. 



















Photo by Євгенія Височина on Unsplash



The last tip that I wanted to share from Alexandra is her tips about taste. She says, “Experiment with your basic menus. Add ginger and blanched scallions and Greek olives to your chicken one night; the next, nutmeg, bacon, and sour cream to your spinach. Then add a touch of soy sauce to whatever you have in the wok…..  Carrots are delicious with fresh orange or tangerine juice squeezed into the butter, plus a pinch of cinnamon and a little brown sugar.”

That sounds stupendous! Carrots with all those flavors, I may have to try that!

Let me know in the comments section if you have ever tried carrots prepared this way. I still hope that you all are enjoying these snippets from the book. I enjoy sharing them. 

Have a great weekend everyone!




Weekly Beauty Inspiration ~ LABL Book (4)

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Good Afternoon,

The middle of October already. I am trying to plan out how I am going to get my early voting done. I hope you all are ready to vote or have accomplished it already. No matter who your party is vote. I am one who supports freedom. It doesn’t matter to me who you vote for. It is your freedom! 

Well, I had a wonderful weekend. I got my grocery shopping done, went to the nail salon, and got my gel nails back (yay) and we got to have dinner at the Cake Bake Shop!

It is so quiet. Our dinner was delicious and our server Brian was fantastic! It was not crowded which we loved. I will share some photos below. 

Today I wanted to share this week’s Living a Beautiful life post. I am in the middle of Chapter 3 which is “The Kitchen: Enhancing the Flavor of Good Eating”. 




















Alexandra said, “The more carefully we plan our meals, the less tempted we will be to overdo in quantity. Meals are small acts of great importance, moments set aside for conversation, reflection, and communion. I think there should be a high concentration on the ritual of eating. Beauty has no calories and yet it improves your health.” 

Well said! Beauty has no calories and yet improves your health. It does! There are countless times when things around me have helped pull me out of a dark cloud. 





















She goes on to say that there are “three basic elements in interior design that bring atmosphere and charm into your kitchen: Keep it simple, make it appropriate, make it beautiful. It sounds so easy-simple, appropriate, and beautiful- yet you need to be watchful to accomplish it. “

I understand the watchful part. Sometimes with the day to day life schedules clutter can creep into your kitchen and dining area. My husband is a “pile keeper”. He will keep piles of crap everywhere if I let him so I have to be mindful. 

I hope you guys enjoyed these beautiful tips from Alexandra today. I will be sharing more kitchen tips next week. Now on to my Cake Bake visit and photos!



Once we arrived I checked us in and went to the gift shop to look around. I loved the new Christmas ornaments. 




This was Lauren’s favorite!

I have to say that the swan ornament was my favorite!

The gift shop and bakery shop is always fun to walk around in. 

This was the chandelier above our table. Glorious isn’t it? 

These swan pillows are new decor features around the restaurant. They are very pretty in person. Smaller versions are available if you are interested. 

I could not pass up the brown butter salmon. It was great this time with the roasted brussel sprouts and potatoes. So yummy! I cleaned my plate! 

This time I decided to get a slice of the apple crumble cake! It was an apple spice cake made with real apples and pecans. It was also filled with homemade caramel. It was DELISH!

I have never seen it this empty but due to Covid there was limited seating. It was nice to be able to take a few photos with less people around. 

















These new fairies were a new addition too! I hope you all enjoyed this post filled with home inspiration and great dining. The Cake Bake Shop is always a magical place! Thank you for reading! And this blog post today marks my 1,000th POST!!!! I can’t believe it! Wow, thank you to all of you who continue to read my blog. 

(photos via Pinterest & Mrs. Shockley)

A Southern Lady Flower Tutorial

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Good Wednesday Morning, 

I thought I would share this fun and fantastic video about flower arranging from Southern Lady magazine. I love all of the blue and white that she has. 

And speaking of blue and white here is another fantastic video from the Chateau Diaries on Youtube. This has been one of my recent Youtube channel finds. I hope you all enjoy the video. 



(photo via SouthernLady.com & video from Youtube)

Weekly Beauty Inspiration ~ LABL Book (3)

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photo credit Mrs. Shockley 

Good Morning,

We are in the first week of October. October already…. I have been pulling all of my autumn and winter inspired candles to the front of the cabinet. I can’t wait to use them. I also ran some errands this weekend. I finally found the perfect faux leather skirt at Target. You can click on the size to change it to yours but I went and picked up my size and tried it on. I love it! It’s not too short and hits me at the perfect length. It is going to look very chic with a sweater this coming season.

Now time for this week’s inspired post from Living a Beautiful Life. I hope everyone has been enjoying the snippets that I have been sharing from this book. It has been a lovely evening read and a way to end my evenings. 

This week’s inspiration is…. “Coming home and shutting the door on the outside world is an experience I look forward to, and I celebrate with something refreshing.”  





photo credit Lilyoake.blogspot.com

“Having a soft drink, fruit juice, or a cup of tea or coffee as I prepare for the rituals that will follow, both symbolize coming home and uplifts me. And while I prepare my refreshment, I anticipate having it in a favorite glass, cup and saucer or mug, in my own place. We remind ourselves, as we pause, that being home is a real treat”. 

Being home is a real treat! I cannot tell you how working from home has given me such peace during this time. I look forward to the holidays. I am enjoying even the cold days that we have had this week. I am loving the rain and crisp air. There is something about the autumn months that gives me peace. Truly it does. 


photo credit Charisse Kenion 

At the end of Chapter 2, she mentions her “Grace Notes” and one of them was “when you’re just about ready to throw away your cologne, put the bottle in your lingerie drawer to give you and your clothes a lingering fragrance.” What a wonderful idea? Have any of you tried that? Let me know in the comments section below. 

I hope you all enjoyed this week’s beauty inspiration. Here is the first week’s and here is the second week’s inspiration from the book. 

Here is the link to Alexandra’s newsletter. 

Have a great Monday!

Weekly Beauty Inspiration ~ LABL Book (2)

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Hello Everyone,

It’s Friday… the last full week of September. I am a little sad. I love September. It’s still warm and it’s a welcome month to autumn. Next week here in Indy, we will have some days where it will only be a high of 50 degrees! I am so excited. I am hoping for some rain but the drop in temperature helps with the plants. 

So on to today’s post. Most of you learned last week that I was going to be sharing little tidbits from the book that I am currently reading called Living a Beautiful Life.  I am in the middle of Chapter 2 which is called “Creating Something Special Out of the Ordinary” and I think the title pretty much speaks for itself. 



















These words from Alexandra stuck out to me and I highlighted them. “Much of enjoying life is in the details- the larger issues have a way of working themselves out. Handling daily tasks well and thoroughly affects how we feel, our happiness, and the overall quality of our lives”. 

“The outside world can seem troublesome, dangerous, uncertain (boy is that so true right now). Frustrated by the difficulty of making a difference, (a lot of us are in this boat right now) we find it hard to grasp how we can effect change and make the world a better place in which to live. One’s home is a personal space of refuge. 

“By creating beauty and order where you live and work you will be controlling the private hours of your life”. 

I found this so interesting that she wrote this in 1986 and how this information is so fitting for right now. 


















I want to close this post with this last suggestion from Alexandra… ” when you feel that the little things in your life are satisfying and speak especially to you, it’s amazing how outside pressures and disappointments loosen their hold. Intimate, necessary details add up to one’s private life. Select them with care because they are your life”.

I hope you all enjoyed today’s inspiring post. To read last week’s see here.

On Monday I will be sharing my September favorites and I have a pretty long list. Also, I am taking Monday off from work and will be going to get a pedicure and I want to look for some vintage earrings. Enjoy your weekend!




(photos via Pinterest)