Blog posts that inspire

Sleep Like A Chic Lady

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Good Morning,

Goodness is it really September 13th already? Things are going by too fast! I printed out my Christmas list recently. I am about to start my Christmas shopping soon. I really don’t like waiting until the last minute with Christmas shopping. It can be really stressful to me if I do. 

I finally got my autumn decor situated on my dining room table. Yesterday my brother, his girlfriend, and kids came by for a visit. It was a really nice time. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

 

I put a few autumn-inspired treats out for us to enjoy! Now on to today’s post. I recently purchased another nightgown and I love this one as well. I did share my nightgown collection in 2019. I still have some of those pieces. The new nightgown that I purchased is called Eileen West and it is from Von Maur.  I just loved the giant floral peonies on it. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I adore the vintage feel and look of the gown. I am still reading Fiona’s book and she has a section called, “sleep like a chic lady”. She said, “When I burn the candle at both ends, it shows on my face and I feel it in my body. Sleep is the ultimate beauty elixir and it is free”. 

Sleep is so important to all of us and I know for me wearing something beautiful to bed that I love makes my night routine all the better. 

 

 

Enjoying my boudoir time is something that I take seriously. I get my hair ready for bed, wash and moisturize my face, brush my teeth, put my gown on, put lavender cream on my heels, place my cozy socks on my feet and hop into bed. Sometimes I make work on my planner, read a little, watch some vintage Martha Stewart shows and burn my lilac blossom candle from Yankee Candle. 

Fellow blogger and Instagram friend Kristen from Ballgown with a Coffee Stain blog had a wonderful idea recently. She shared a beautiful photo of her in her new “nightgown”. Only it was not a nightgown but a lovely and comfy dress from H&M.

 

photo credit: Kristen Ballgown with a Coffee stain 

 

Now, how great is that? I would have never thought of that. This is the dress that she is wearing and it comes in different colors. I found some other ones here, here, and here. All of them are reasonably priced and quite lovely. 

I think I may have to consider this idea. What do you think? I hope you all enjoyed this post and found it inspiring. Now check your closet to see if you have a comfy dress worthy of using as your nightgown. Have a great Monday!

 

 

 

 

Please note: some links are affiliate links and if you make a purchase through this link, I will receive a small commission for referring you to the product. Thank you so much in advance if you decide to make a purchase through my link.

Chic Snacking

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Good Morning,

It’s Friday and I am so ready to sleep in on Saturday. For me sleeping in is sleeping until 9 a.m. That is the longest I can stay in bed. I am an early riser so staying in bed past 10 a.m. is hard for me. This weekend I have to take some shoes in for repair, I need to pay a visit to Costco and I need my car washed. I really would like to visit the antique store so we will see if I can fit that in.

Well on to today’s post. I am still reading through Fiona’s book Thirty Chic Days and at lunch this week I read a section about snacking. Now I have really slowed down my snacking the last 2 years but there are some days out of the month where I need something to satiate my hunger. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

These are my favorite items to snack on. I love blueberries, my Oui yogurt, and almonds. Now the almonds have been a recent purchase. I was inspired by Dominque’s video to get these almonds for my office drawer and I must say that they are so good and I am enjoying them! 

Other snacking items are fresh fruit and I love peanut butter and bananas. I will take a banana, slice it up, and spread peanut butter over each slice. It is like heaven to me. 

There was one section in this chapter that caught my eye and it was called, “Give up kid food”. Fiona said, “We are adults, so there is no reason to eat children’s treat food. I’ve told myself it’s time to grow up. Since it is only my husband and I, there is no need to have any juvenile food in the house at all. By the same token, you do not want to eat at fast food places painted bright colors- you will not find it to be a chic dining experience.” 

I repeat this to my husband all the time. He still eats like a 12-year-old but then I realized that was him. I don’t have to eat this way and so I don’t. I enjoy my “rabbit food” as he would call it. But it fills me up and it tastes wonderful. 

What are your favorite “chic snacks”? I would love to know what healthy snacks you all love. Please share in the comments section below. Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

Please note: some links are affiliate links and if you make a purchase through this link, I will receive a small commission for referring you to the product. Thank you so much in advance if you decide to make a purchase through my link.

 

What’s Your Secret Garden?

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Good Morning Everyone,

It has been a nice long weekend and really needed. I slept in on Saturday and Sunday. Today I got up and walked my 2 miles around the neighborhood. It was beautiful and cool. During that time I talk to God a lot. I express my worries, concerns and I try to remember to give praise reports during that time as well. 

Last week while I was cleaning my loft/office I started staring at my bookshelf. My eyes landed on Fiona Ferris’s book Thirty Chic Days. I wrote about this book several times here on the blog. I decided to take it to work to read it while on my lunch break. My eyes landed on the chapter called, “Create and Guard your Secret Garden”. 

 

My sitting room at home

 

Fiona said, “Your secret garden is where you dream of how beautiful and successful your life will be. It holds safe all those plans and thoughts that you might think others will make fun of or scoff at and tell you to “get real” about, but you know better; dreaming of an enchanting future makes you feel happy and inspired”.

I know I have this “secret garden”. My morning walks have become a secret garden. It’s when I talk to God and express my feelings. I am so free during my morning walks. No one is around and it’s quiet. It’s a great time for me to talk with the Father in heaven. 

My lunch breaks have become a secret garden. I take that time to read other blogs, read books, journal, shop, send emails and gain inspiration for the blog. This is also a time when I enjoy my beautiful lunch. I set a place on my desk and enjoy eating. 

 

photo via Victoria Magazine 

 

Other places for me that I have designated as my secret garden are my front porch, my sitting room, the blog, the boutique, honestly anywhere I am I try to create this. Fiona also said that spending time with a great book could be your secret garden. Other tips that she gave in her book were “mindful secret gardens”. She said that setting an intention is a great way to be mindful. She gave the example of “ahead of time you decide that you won’t be snacking from all the bowls of sweets and nibbles around, that you will sip your drink elegantly, and that you will have only one serving at the dinner buffet. You’ve also decided that you won’t be drawn into any arguments or family drama, as well as speaking positively and not gossiping.”

I am sure many of us have done this before. Set a mindful intention of not overeating and gossiping. I know I have. 

 

photo credit: Aerin Launder Instagram

 

There are so many benefits to having a “secret garden”. It’s a world that you create and a space that you enjoy. I love my secret gardens! I am sure that many of you have them. What are your secret gardens? Are any of you willing to share? Put it in the comments section below. Let’s share our beautiful pleasures with one another. Have a great Monday!

 

 

 

New Etsy Shop Discovery

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Good September Morning!

It’s the third day of September already! I am seriously enjoying the weather now. Yesterday our daughter had a golf match and the weather made it such a nice experience. Everyone was much more relaxed and easygoing. 

It’s Friday and we have a three-day weekend! I am going to be pulling out my fall decor and going through my closet. I am also going to be washing some walls, washing some curtains and setting my table for autumn. I do plan on filming a video for my Youtube channel. I hope that I can get that done as well. 

In today’s post, I wanted to quickly share this article that I read in Victoria magazine. 

 

photo credit: Corrine Jamet 

 

It talked about a woman named Adriana and how she moved to Paris. It talked about her admiration for vintage pieces, and it shares her Etsy shop called, My Shabby Whites.  You have to check out her shop! It is filled with wonderful vintage Paris finds. I hope you enjoy it!

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend and don’t forget to pop on over to the boutique. The end-of-summer sale is still going on. Some dresses are as low as $5! The Gray Garden dress for instance is only $5 once you use code END50. You can use that code on practically anything in the boutique. Don’t have a birthday gift idea? Grab one of my dresses! The Rose & Dot dress is under $20! And don’t forget about the jewelry. It’s a great sale!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

 

Loving Your Season

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photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Good Monday Morning,

I had a good and hard weekend if that makes sense. Within 48 hours three people that I knew died. Two of them died from Covid and the other was a young man who was shot. I don’t understand all of God’s reasonings for these deaths. I try not to get into my “head” too much because I could get really sad and that would not be good for me or my family so I try to do what I can and pray. 

Okay, now on to today’s post. I was watching another video from Dominique Sachse and I heard her say, “love the season that you are in” and that stuck with me. My 39th birthday is approaching and with this year getting close to the end, I am trying to understand some things and learn to trust God more. It is very hard for me to trust the Lord. I don’t trust easily it is a hard thing for me to do. I think my childhood has a lot to do with it and the older I get the more I realize that. 

 

photo credit: Brigitte Tohm

 

As I am looking toward the future and also reviewing my past. I am seeing a lot and beginning to understand why I went through a few things. That’s another reason why I am so glad that I journal. I talked about this before. Journaling is so important. Especially when you are trying to grow as a woman. 

I was just recently thinking about how much I hated my 20s. I won’t lie I hated my 20s. I was super stressed all the time. I had a baby young, married young, and took on two stepchildren in addition to working full-time, trying to build my career, make a beautiful home, and don’t forget about the normal cooking and cleaning. My 20s were hard! I tried to enjoy them as much as a could because Lauren was young but it was so hard! 

 

photo credit: Brigitte Tohm

 

I journaled the entire time in my 20s and I am so glad that I did. Now when I read it there are a lot of, “oh that’s why that happened, or awe now I understand that”. I am so glad that I did. My 20s were hard but there were a lot of good things going on. The kids were healthy and growing, we bought our first home, purchased a brand new car, I started a new job at my current office with better health benefits and more money so that season was not all lost. “Love your season”.

Then my early 30s got a little better. There were still some challenges of course. The crazy ex-wife couldn’t stop being petty, then the co-worker crap began but in the midst of that blessings were still flowing. My husband’s company was doing well, I got promoted, we built our second home, got to go on more vacations, I traveled more for work, and started the blog! And honestly, this is when I started to “fight to enjoy my season”. 

 

There were still things going on but my mid-thirties was when I began to understand okay, you can’t control everything. Do your best and trust the Lord. Now here I am approaching 40. I got promoted! Honestly, this was the final position that I was attempting to reach. I didn’t believe that I would get it so soon but here I am. I am still blogging, I started a boutique (I hope to keep it), and I am really enjoying this journey so far. I am trying to love my seasons. I am hoping that I can. There is so much going on in life right now and it is very short. So I say this to you as well as myself. Love your season!

Have a great Monday!

 

 

 

Laurel Hall ~ A Historical Venue in Indy

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Happy Friday All,

So I made it through my first week of walking around my neighborhood. I got up around 6:15 each morning and left my house at 6:30. I walked for 2 miles and it took me about 30 minutes to walk the 2 miles. Each day I felt better and better.  And I noticed that in the evenings I would begin to look forward to walking in the morning which is a good sign. I hope to keep this up. I will keep you guys posted. 

Alright, so today I wanted to share this beautiful historic venue that I discovered on Instagram. I am always surprised when I find something beautiful in my city. I found this venue called Laurel Hall. Laurel Hall was built in 1916 for one of Indiana’s wealthiest families. 

 

 

photo credit: Instagram 

 

It’s stunning, isn’t it? 

 

photo credit: Instagram 

 

It is the perfect backdrop for insanely chic wedding photos!

 

photo credit: Amy Mulder Photography

 

 

photo credit: Ashley Link Photography

 

photo credit: Instagram 

 

I would love to take a tour of this home. It has wrought iron front doors as you are greeted, timeless details, luxurious oriental rugs, and rich hardwood. 

 

photo credit: Instagram

 

This is the romantic sweetheart table! What a great date night setup!

 

 

photo credit: Amy Mulder Photography

 

Oh I love this! I still can’t believe this is available in my city! What a great bridal shower dinner table setup. I love everything about it. It’s so regal. 

 

photo credit: Instagram

 

I would love to know where they got these beautiful roses from! They look almost like the roses from Grace Rose Farms. This venue has me thinking about my Renewing Vows post. I would love to have my renewal here. I may have to share this with my husband. I don’t think it would hurt having a tour in the future. But honestly, I think I just found my venue. Let me know in the comments section below what you guys think.

Well, it’s the end of August and summer is beginning to end slowly. The boutique is having its end-of-summer sale! If you use code End50 it will take 50% off of anything in the boutique with the exception of the Lillian Dress and the Autumn Mauve Cardigan. Those are my new arrivals and are not on sale yet but you can use it on anything else! Please don’t forget that I am offering international shipping. If you have any questions, please use the Contact page. Have a great weekend all!

 

 

 

 

Autumn Review

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Good Morning Everyone,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It is still horrible hot here, but I recently heard about some terrible storms around the country. I hope everyone is safe. This morning I decided to try something different. It has been years since I have walked. I normally work out on my elliptical but I have been craving some walking recently. I have a lot of neighbors that walk around the neighborhood so this morning I decided to get up and walk two miles. It went great and I hope to keep it up for the next several months.

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I recently watched Jennifer L. Scott’s video about Fall Wardrobe Planning and thought, “well great minds think alike” because I was already planning on going through my wardrobe here shortly. Even as a glance at my closet, I already see several pieces that I will be donating to charity. I have so many items that I have not worn in over two years. It’s time… 

 

The boutique’s new cardigan arrival. 

 

I am very much looking forward to the autumn this year. I love those crisp mornings. Goodness, I always feel so good going to the office on those days or running errands. I am excited about my grass turning green again and being able to take my dogs on evening walks. It has been way too hot the last few weeks. 

As I glanced at my closet this year I realized that I am prepared for autumn. I have everything I need. I have TONS of dresses. I purchased so many dresses this year and last. I found so many that I loved and that would be great transitional pieces. The area that I am struggling with is skirts. I can not seem to find decent skirts. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I have searched high and low for skirts and can not seem to find any that I like. I checked Ann Taylor, J Crew, etc. I even checked Amazon and still had no luck. But I will continue to search. I like for my skirts to look a certain way and trying to find what I want feels like a needle in a haystack. Very hard…..

The other item that has been on my list is black heels. So I ordered a pair from Ann Taylor Loft and they are way too tight. I wanted to return them but they were clearance so I couldn’t at that point. I am still on the hunt. I don’t own a pair of black heels but I did find a pair of studded black kitten heels from Poshmark. Those just may have to do. 

 

 

I will be working on my closet the weekend of Labor Day. We get that Monday off so having that extra day will give me time to go through everything. I will also be putting out my autumn decor that day. I will show you guys the process then. Let me know in the comments section below if you are preparing for autumn as well. Have a great Monday!

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