Blog posts that inspire

A Home for Elegance ~ Online Boutique

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Hello Everyone!

I hope you all are well. Valentines’s Day is this weekend! My husband and I really don’t have much planned. I really don’t want to go to a restaurant. The wait time has been terrible because of social distancing, so I plan on spending it at home. Our second Hello Fresh box is suppose to arrive today and I am so excited. I picked out a steak dinner to prepare and eat at home. That is what I plan on doing for Valentine’s Day this year.

I think most of you follow me on Instagram (and here) and saw that I have started an online boutique! I made a decision in November to start this journey. I am really excited and have been wanting to do this for quite some time now. A few of my orders have arrived and I will be sharing them on my A Home for Elegance boutique account. Of course, I will be sharing lots on the blog too! Here are a few photos so far. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

I took a corner in the loft of our home. I use the loft as my home office so there is plenty of space in this room. I had my elliptical here. It was placed sideways and I just felt like it was taking up good space so I moved the elliptical next to my desk. Everything looks great in this corner! What do you guys think?

I found the table with drawers (buffet) at the flea market. I paid about $100 for it. It is solid! The clothing rack is from Amazon and was only $89 with a coupon! The clear chair I found at a florist shop but I found one similar here. The quilted handbag is from RedDress. I am trying to find some for my boutique. I love how everything turned out.

 

 

Every morning when I get up, I come into this room and just stare at it. It’s not much but this boutique does wonders to my soul. I have dreamt of starting something like this for many years and to actually began the process of making this happen has just been amazing to me. 

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

This dress was in my first order. This is a dress that I will have in plus sizes. I already have it in 1x, 2x, and 3x! I intend on carrying regular and plus sizes. I have a few more items that I will share later. I added the brooch. I think it looks fantastic! What do you think?

My hope is to have everything ready in March. There are still a few things left before we can launch. I hope you all enjoyed this post and I know it’s crazy but I can’t believe that I am turning my blog into a business. I hope you guys come along on this journey! 

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

 

Also, don’t forget to follow me on the LIKEtoKNOWit app.  This app is completely free and is easy to download. I was a little apprehensive too until I decided to download it and follow some of my favorite grandmillienials. I don’t regret it. It’s a wonderful app and I don’t get any money if you download it. I only get a small commission if you purchase something from my account. 

 

 

A Classy Galentine Luncheon

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Good Afternoon Everyone,

I am super excited! My orders from my first two vendors arrived yesterday. Everything looks great and I have the correct sizes! I can’t believe it. I am still so nervous about this but there is a little tug on my heart that is letting me that this is okay. 

With all of the work that I have had to do for the website, boutique, housework, etc., I almost completely forgot about Valentine’s Day this weekend! I saw this on another blogger’s post. This is something that I would love to do with some of my close friends. 

 

photo credits: Mary Craven Photography 

 

 

Wouldn’t this be nice? I would love to invite some girlfriends over and we could sit, enjoy a nice meal together and just chat. 

 

 

What a wonderful lunch? Chicken and mushroom crepes? I have never heard of that but it looks delicious! I’ve never had a citrus salad either. Looks refreshing!

 

photo credits: Mary Craven Photography 

 

Oh and let’s not forget the china and dessert. This looks similar to Aerin Lauder china that I shared in yesterday’s blog post! This is bittersweet chocolate with creme Chantilly. Add some fresh berries and some shortbread and you have a light but tasty dessert. 

 

 

I have already visualized myself and some of my very good friends at this table. So classy, timeless, wonderful, and benevolence. If you don’t have a Valentine for this year then call on your good friends! You don’t have to be as fancy as this. Use your best and do your best but enjoy your time. If you wish to read the original article you may see it here. 

 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Follow Your Dreams ~Inspiration from Victoria Magazine

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Hello Everyone,

I don’t think I have made it a secret about how much I love Victoria magazine especially January’s issue. If you have not picked up a copy I would suggest you do! It was SO inspiring. For me having my very own side business has always been a dream. I never knew how I would accomplish it and to this very day I still don’t know how, but creating beautiful things has always been a dream for me. 

Even having this blog has been one of the best adventures that I have ever taken. This blog has caused me to create an environment that I love and can’t wait to return to. I love my blog seriously I do. It’s nice to have something that belongs to you. Especially if it is something that you are creating. I always pray that the Lord will continue to lead me in the right direction. 

I picked up my magazine in December and dived right into the articles. This issue is the Entrepreneur issue and has lots of women who are starting businesses while also following their dreams. 

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

 

 

This issue talked about seven women entrepreneurs. I follow about three of them and love the work that they do. It is so rewarding to do what you love. I think that most of us follow Jennifer L. Scott and love her channel. I thought they did such a wonderful job telling her story. 

 

photo credit: John O’Hagan ~ Victoria Magazine 

 

The other entrepreneurs that I follow are Cheryl Luckett and Erisha Rubingh. Both of them have wonderful companies that will inspire you to live well. Another person that was mentioned in the magazine was Ajiri Aki who has a business that I dream of.  Ajiri Aki has a wonderful business called Madame de la Maison.  Ajiri has a fondness for beautiful things and turned that into a career. She started her business after she explored Paris’s flea markets and began to buy items to sell online. What a dream!!! 

 

 

photo credits: Madame de la Maison 

 

 

I hope you found this post to be inspiring. Whatever your dream may be, whether it’s joining Youtube, starting a blog, or an online business, do what you LOVE. With everything going on around us we are in a time where the “pursuit of happiness” is a must!

 

Thanks for reading! 

 

 

Simplify Your Life

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Good Afternoon Everyone,

It’s back to the daily grind for me and my family. Our daughter has returned to school part-time so we will see how it goes. My step-son is suppose to return to college this week. Fingers crossed he does. This has been a long, long Thanksgiving vacation and I want my couch and fridge back! Speaking of all of the things that go on in our lives I wanted to share this book that I purchased back in 2008. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

It is called 100 Ways to Simplify Your Life by Joyce Meyer.  I was looking at my bookshelf and my eyes just landed on it and I thought, wow this might help someone. We are all facing challenges this year already. I know for us we are losing lots of restaurants in our downtown location. It has been really sad to watch it all fall apart. But I am trying to trust that God has a plan. 

 

 

This book is full of short chapters that provide great impact. I do have my favorite chapters and wanted to share them. The third chapter is called, “Keeping God First”. It starts off with a wonderful quote, “Man’s life is of God, not of his goods, however abundant they may be”. ~ Henry Alford.

Joyce says, ” I believe it is God’s will for his people to be prosperous in every area of their lives, including finances, and material goods. Psalm 35:27 says that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His people. I find no scripture saying He is pleased when his people do not have their needs met.”

I try to keep this in mind when things are tight or when I believe something ought to be my way and it isn’t. Another favorite chapter of mine is “Don’t Make Mountains out of Molehills”. Boy, can I make things worse in my mind. I am trying to learn to keep things in perspective. 

 

 

There is also a chapter on “Minding Your Own Business, Refuse to Live in Fear, and Don’t Fret over Evildoers”. I need a refreshing course on this! I feel like evil is running wild! But the quote in this chapter helped me to but this back in order, it said, “I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn’t need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about?” ~ Henry Ford 

I hope you have found some peace and inspiration in this post. I am just as confused and lost about what’s happening in our world today. But I just keep praying that God will lead us in the right direction. I hope you have a great Wednesday!

 

photo credit: Nina from Pinterest 

 

fyi: This post is not sponsored. I use affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links.

 

Thoughts on my Youth

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photo credit This is Glamorous



Today I wanted to be honest and open in my post. Do you ever think about things you wish you could have done differently?


For me, I married young and had our daughter at age 22. At that age, most people are still in college and still have some sort of freedom. When I moved out of my mother’s home at age 19 I had only lived in my apartment for about 6 months before my husband and I started dating. 


He already had been married and had two children. They were 6 and 3 at the time. About 9 months later he asked me to marry him. Now I will be honest, I did not want to at the time. I thought why in the world would I do this. I was still young and still had my own dreams and goals. 



























photo credit Ulker Mammadova 





But I did and here we are 16 years later. The boys are gone and our daughter will be starting her sophomore year in high school this coming fall. I heard a quote recently from Beyonce that made me sit and ponder for a few days (see the interview here). She said, “Make sure that you have your own life before you become someone’s wife”. 


How do you guys feel about that comment? Never mind who said it… but what do you think about it? It for one moment made me think, did I do that? Did I have my own life? And the truth is… I didn’t. 

Now please hear my heart I am not mad at my husband nor do I regret where we are today. But as I think back I wish I had someone back then telling me to explore the world, take chances, and take risks! 
My heart still craves adventure and for taking chances but now since I am almost 40 everything has to be a calculated step because it will affect my family, not just me. 




























photo credit Zay



Now I have gone to the Lord in prayer and asked, what shall I do? Here I am Lord, wishing that I had studied abroad, lived in a different country, explored the world around me, but can I still do that? I keep telling myself, there is still hope.


Now that I have almost finished my “motherly duties” and once my daughter is settled in her college life then maybe the Lord will allow me some “adventure time”. I want to do things in his will so maybe the early marriage and early motherhood was the purpose he had for me. 


There is something grand about being finished early in life. A lot of my co-workers who are in the late ’30s and early ’40s have very young children. They are tired constantly and have had to give up things now instead of early on. One of my co-workers who is the same age as me has a 1-year-old. Prior to his arrival, she had an extra bedroom that was her entire closet!

At the same time, I was getting those new closet cabinets I came into the office so excited, and then she shared how she had to change her closet into a nursery for the baby. I felt bad immediately. But then I realized we made different choices in life. She studied abroad, lived in Japan, and went on trips. While she was doing all of that, I was at home with a newborn and two step-sons. But now I see that we are about to flop lives and that is okay. 

So I will say this. I am learning that the Lord has a different plan for each of us. I still don’t understand why my plan turned out this way but I am hopeful that I will know in the end. I do know this. I am telling my daughter that she does not have to marry early and have kids. “Have your own life before you become someone’s wife”. Go out and see the world, enjoy it!


What are your thoughts?














Beautiful Past Ideas & Stories ~ Past Posts

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nicola bathie mclaughlin on Instagram: “dreamy views and window treatments of dreams via @arielokin”

photo credit Nicola Bathie

Good Morning Everyone,


I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. We did, however, I had a picnic scheduled for yesterday afternoon but it got humid too fast and my step-son couldn’t make it. 


I told him that I would re-schedule it because he wanted to be included. I will be sure to do a blog post about it once we go. 


I am super excited today. I don’t know if any of you follow Jennifer L. Scott (although, I am sure that some of you do) but I watched her recent video about her new blue and white tea set that she got from Victoria magazine and I just fell in love with it. My set is scheduled to arrive today!!!! Yay!!!! I am so excited to see it you guys! I can’t wait. 


photo credit Victoria Magazine 

In today’s post, I wanted to share past posts about how to live well. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did writing them. As I was going through them I was reading them myself. They are such wonderful reminders, wonderful ideas, and great short stories. Enjoy! 


2016:


Enjoy La Dolce Vita


2017:


A Paris All Your Own ~ A New Book


A Paris All Your Own ~ Part 2


2018:


The Civil Life

Radiate Calm ~ Part 2

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I don’t know about most of you but I really had to “dig deep” this past weekend and find my solitude and radiate calm for myself and my family. 


To be honest I could not believe the madness that took place. I understand the concerns and worries of our country but to destroy businesses and take advantage of a horrible situation just really shocked me!


I could not believe what some people were doing. Even here in my own very city they spray painted our monuments, busted windows, set fires, fought, and stole. I never thought that I would say this but I hated my own city. It was horrible to watch. 


Not only that a jewelry store that I visit often for repairs and go look at vintage jewelry was broken into Saturday. All of their jewelry was stolen, including the vintage pieces. My heart sank…


To know that their our individuals out there who took these items knowing that they are not there for “justice” but for greed just infuriated me. 


So I took the weekend and a few days to calm myself…. Yes buildings can be fixed and items (some) can be replaced but that still does not make it okay. You are still committing crimes. I had to remind myself that God is in control and to stay off of social media especially Facebook because there are some individuals who don’t share the same beliefs I do. 


I searched my blog for past posts on calmness and found this one that I wrote in 2018 called Radiate Calm.





My porch at home. We spend a lot of time here. 

I read my post and reminded myself that I do not have to act like that. That staying calm is assertive. When you remain serene, you’re communicating that you have the situation under control and there’s nothing to worry about…… It’s tempting to fly off the handle in a confrontational moment, but far more valuable to bring goodwill and order back to an unraveling situation. Maintaining a sense of equanimity even when matters are tense disarms antagonists, builds trust, and forces everyone involved to focus on the problem logically rather than emotionally, allowing for a better and quicker resolutions”. 


I pray for our country constantly. We really need some guidance and peace at this time. Until then I will do my very best to respect all people and remain as elegant as I possibly can. 






(photos via Mrs. Shockley & Pinterest)