My trips or places I would love to visit

On Vacation ~ Summer 2019

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Pin it A Guide to Dining and Shopping in Naples, FL

Good Friday Morning Everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed your 4th! It was sooo hot here in Indy. We hardly wanted to leave the house but we went on a bike ride at the park and watched some fireworks in our neighborhood. It is Friday and I have started my summer vacation! I took off work today and Monday. Tuesday we will be FLYING to Florida! We have always driven on our family trips so this year will be the first year that we are going to be on a plane together! I am so excited for our daughter Lauren. She has never been on a plane before so we all hope that her first plane ride goes well. 

Naples, Florida

We are going to be visiting some friends in Fort Lauderdale. I am hoping to also visit Naples. I would love to do some shopping there and see their turquoise water and white sand beaches. 


I have a list of activities that we can do so we will see. Of course,  I will be taking some time off from the blog and from my YouTube channel so I will see you all soon! Enjoy your week!



(photos via Pinterest)

A Little Tour…

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Good Morning Monday, starting the week again is never fun. But here we are….. I wanted to start this week’s blogs with the last of my D.C. trip from last month. I did not take as many pictures on this trip. I wanted to walk around and “take” everything in. I hate being on tours or on vacations and you are behind your camera the whole time. It just drives me nuts! And also since this was our third time going I have seen most of everything that I wanted to see. So it was okay to take fewer pictures this time. 
The photo above is in the U.S. Capitol. This building is just so beautiful. I was trying to capture the peach color paint on the walls but this photo does not do it justice. 

This room is the original Senate room. It still has a majestic feel to it. 

Also apart of the original Senate rooms.

Love all of the details in the ceilings. 
You see majestic….

A little fun fact about this chandelier. The original price when this was being built was $1,500. They just had this insured for $4.2 million! WOW!
Once we finished the Capitol tour (we scheduled a private tour), our guide wanted to take us to the Speaker’s Balcony. I was so excited to see this. I used to want to be President (I still kind of do) so having this opportunity was just a dream. 

My family and I enjoyed it!
After that, we went and took another look at the Library of Congress and I was so glad that I was able to just walk around and learn a few facts about this glorious building. 

We took a walk around the National Mall and I found this wonderful monument of Eleanor Roosevelt. This quote has wonderful truth to it, especially now… “The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world”.  

Well said! 



After all of the tours, we had dinner at some wonderful restaurants. This was my dish at Clyde’s in Georgetown. Some of you may have seen this on my Instagram. It was so delicious we went back a second time! This was the roast half chicken dinner with lyonnaise potatoes, madeira mushrooms, and swiss chard. Outstanding! 
Then we went to a restaurant called Due South.  This was their cornbread with rosemary butter. Oh mercy! So good!

I ended up ordering the fennel spiced salmon with beluga lentils, sauteed kale, roasted onions, heirloom tomato and spicy creole sauce. Another fantastic meal! So tasty!
This turned out to be a delightful work trip. I was able to get everything accomplished and still had a superb time with my family. The weather was perfect and so were those cherry blossoms. I thanked the Lord greatly for this trip. It turned out to be a dream. As always thank you for reading and enjoy your day!


(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Cherry Blossom Season~ Finally

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Sorry for the no-post on Monday. I have been really wiped out lately! I think my body was still tired from the trip and then I am going to be honest…. I still have not recovered from the time change. I want my hour back darn it!

But anyway I must adapt and move on…. right? It has been almost two weeks since my trip to D.C. and I have still not stopped thinking about those cherry blossoms. I have been trying for years and I do mean years to see them. This year when I was making travel plans I told myself, “okay I don’t care anymore I am not going to get upset if we miss cherry blossom season again. I am just going to enjoy my trip and that is that”. And seriously you guys I left it at that. I did not think about it nor worry anymore. It was so freeing.

And then this began to happen the day we arrived….

We arrived in D.C. on March 24 and this is what I saw. I thought, “okay, don’t get too excited. Last year it snowed”! So just calm down. 

Then we came back on Monday and some of the trees looked like this. Astonishing right? 
Then it just got better….

And better…

It turned into heaven right before your eyes. I just stood there and smiled. I could not believe how beautiful it was!

You can see the Jefferson Monument in between the branches in this one. 

It was a beautiful day and the temperature was 60 and up! We could not ask for better weather!

The magnolia trees were blooming too and so fragrant.

There was a local artist there painting. I loved this one. I wanted it so bad but someone had already purchased it. 

And the crowds were a sight to see too. My goodness, there were so many people!

No matter it did not stop us from enjoying every moment that we could. 

These were cherry blossom shortbread cookies and they were so soft and delicious! I wished I had purchased more. The cherry blossom festival was going on and there were lots of booths, tents, music, and food. 

The Washington Monument in the distance. 

It was such a magical moment for me and my family. I know that my husband and I enjoyed it. I am not sure how the kids felt about it. You know teenagers. They only give you one-word adjectives. Heaven forbid they had to express their thoughts. 
If any of you have been able to visit the cherry blossoms please let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley, yay I took these!)

Round Three, D.C.!

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It’s time again! I am headed to Washington, D.C. for another week. My family and I will be there next week so I will be m.i.a. on the blog. I am going for another week of work but I am hoping to enjoy it like we have the last few times.

Cherry Blossom season had been predicted again for the week that we are there so fingers crossed! I am hoping that we will see it this year! I really want too!

Another place on my agenda is a Goodwill! I know that is weird but I am so curious to see what things I could find at a Goodwill store in D.C.

Other than that I am open to whatever. Of course, I would love to see all of the monuments again and visit the Library of Congress and the National Gallery of Art. Those are my favorite places in D.C.

So until April….. enjoy your week!

(photo via Mrs. Shockley) 

Charleston’s Angel Oak Tree

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Magnificent isn’t it?
This is the Angel Oak tree in Charleston. This is one of the last places that we visited on our trip. Some people kept telling us that it was 1,500 years old but the most common estimate is 400 to 500 years old. 
The tree is a southern live oak tree and is located on Johns Island in Charleston. 
It was truly a sight to see in person. 
I am glad that the city is protecting this. If the facts are true then this tree was planted around the 1600’s! That’s remarkable! It appears that it could have existed around the same time that the Magnolia Plantation was established. 
It was truly exquisite to see and just staring at it just makes you imagine of the things that this tree has seen. It is truly remarkable.
I hope that you enjoyed this post! Thank you for reading!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley) 

Our Visit to The Magnolia Plantation in Charleston

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Sorry for the delay and non-post on Monday. I was having some Google trouble and had to wait a day to fix it. I have been trying to get the photos together for this post. I knew that I had a lot and that it would take awhile to download them to the blog. But without further ado……

On our second day in Charleston last month my family and I decided to visit Magnolia Plantation & Gardens. The plantation was founded in 1676 and has survived the centuries and important events such as the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. 

We drove down this magnificent path and just took in all the land and the gardens. 
During the month of July the plantation had $5 days where all of the tours were just $5! We signed up for the home tour, garden tour and boat tour. Look at these magnificent trees! 

There were enormous butterflies everywhere. 

We began in the biblical garden. 
“Give fools their gold and knaves their power,
Let fortune’s bubbles rise and fall,
Who sows a field or trains a flower
or plants a tree, is more than all”.
~Whittier 

Descriptions everywhere to read. 

John 12:13
The large “feathery” leaves of phoenix dactylifera, the date palm that is native to palestine, were used as emblems of victory or triumph.
When our Lord entered Jerusalem, the people “too branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him”. 
The middle is shaped like a cross.

Next was our tour of the home. Unfortunately, they did not allowed pictures inside while the tour was going on. Sorry!

It is striking. I can’t believe this house was built that long ago. 
Walking up to the porch. So stately!

Look at how vast this porch is! It was big enough to be a whole house!

Love this photo. It is a photo of the backyard. 
My husband, daughter and me.
Next, we took the boat tour around the grounds. 

This use to be where they made rice. There were lots of small alligators around.
After the boat tour and we walked the grounds a bit more. 

My husband taking pictures in the distance.

It was dreadfully hot! 
Beautiful blooms around the property.

A great place to have a wedding. 

I did manage to find some magnolias. Glorious aren’t they?
I almost forget to mention that peacocks roamed the property! I mean how elegant is that?

I did look around the gift shop and spotted some blue and white pieces. 
Honestly, my family and I has wonderful time and I truly enjoyed just walking around and discovering all of the features of this home. If you are ever in Charleston, I would highly recommend it. 
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

A Historic Home Tour in Charleston

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I was really trying to visit more than one historical home but we could only seem to fit in one. The house that we visited was called the Nathaniel Russell House.

Walking up to this beautiful neoclassical home. 
The wonderful gardens. For a moment I felt like I was in England. 
I wish it was spring. I could just imagine the magnolia flowers in bloom. 
One of my favorite photos….
Once inside our tour guide began with this wonder. There were lots of details in these stairs. 
The windows….
I was fascinated with this piece. I could not remember what it was but I had to get a picture. 
As you can imagine I loved this setting. The blue and white looks so charming. 
Just look at the details in this ceiling. It’s extraordinary!
I was enamored with this room. The orange color on the walls, the drapes and how they flowed from windows, the antique blue and white chair. Not to mention the beautiful color of the original floors. 

The outdoor balcony…..
Then we entered this room. This is where the lady of the house would entertain her friends. I must admit that while our tour guide was discussing all of the details my attention to her was “in and out”. I just could not stop looking at all of the features in each room. 
One thing did happen during our tour. We were with a young family who were from the Netherlands and they were apart of our group. Once our tour guide began discussing how Mr. Russell was a slave broker their youngest daughter immediately turned to me and began staring. 
I don’t know what she expected. I guess she was waiting to see if I would get upset and have a fit or if I would just fall apart. I guess she was that curious about my reaction. She stared so much that it made our tour guide uncomfortable. She then stated in the middle of her explaining the job of Mr. Russell that “this was apart of history” and I agreed with her. I nodded to make her feel secure in what she was saying and to let the young girl know that all was well with me. Honestly, it is apart of history and African Americans were not the only slaves in history. So moving on…..
I had to get a photo of this beautiful Wedgwood piece 
Walking into the last room my daughter immediately noticed the harp. I could only imagine how much that was worth. 
Just look at the details!!!! She said it took years to restore everything. 

Just love the colors. 
It was a lovely tour and I did enjoy it. A lot of times I am inspired by the decor. It helps to come up with ideas for decor at home. Like some of the colors in this room. I would have never had thought to put pink with blue but it looks lovely. I believe the color of the furniture and the rug is pulling it all together. I hope that you enjoyed this tour and if you are ever in Charleston stop by the Russell home. 
Thanks for reading!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)