Teaching Elegance & Homekeeping

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Well, a new journey has begun with my daughter. As most of you have heard she has started high school! That means that she is getting closer to moving out and beginning her own journey as a woman. 








I have been working with my daughter each year trying to teach her ways to clean, cook, and take care of herself. Last year we worked on the laundry. I taught her how to separate clothes, how to work the washer and dryer, and how to properly fold. 





















Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash



She was in 8th grade and I felt like that was the time to teach her that. We also worked on how to make pasta. She likes rigatoni with shredded cheese so I taught her how to make that in addition to making steam rice, roast chicken, and cleaning our rice cooker. 



Trying to find the right moments and age to teach her things is difficult. You can try to teach your children everything under the sun when they are 7 or 8 but are they absorbing it? I have learned that each child has their own way of learning and walk by their own course. 


I shared on my YouTube channel that I am reading a book called The English Etiquette. It’s been a wonderful read with lots of tips and hints on etiquette at home and at work. I am still in the first part of the book and author Alena Pettitt gave a list of items that your teenagers should be able to do while they are in high school. I wanted to share that list.



* Operating a vacuum cleaner


* Changing bed-sheets


* Replenishing bathroom consumables


* Dividing laundry and operating a washing machine on a basic wash cycle


* Correctly filling and emptying the dishwasher


* Making a cup of tea


* Buttering toast


* Making a sandwich


* Preparing a simple hot meal such as beans or fried egg on toast. (An English meal I presume, so I am working on pancakes with my daughter)


* Preparing vegetables


* Obtain profound knowledge and awareness of personal (we worked on shaving last year) and household hygiene (I taught her how to clean her bathroom)


* Taking out the rubbish and replacing bin bags


* Going to the local shop and confidently buying items for the household from a basic list (I do this every week and she sees me)


And lastly


* Administering basic First Aid and responding calmly and efficiently in an emergency (The school taught this last year but may need to rehearse this at home)

I thought this was a great list! If anything you can glean some ideas from it. I love it! Teaching our children and how to live well is huge. Especially now in this world today, everything is just handed to them. Learning to work and take care of your home can give you a sense of pride and order. Something that is greatly missing today. I have some friends who can’t cook or clean and I wonder all the time how they get through life.




Keeping a beautiful home is one of the greatest jobs on earth to me. I love walking into my home each evening and seeing my beautiful bouquets, starting my dinner for the night, and folding a basket of laundry while watching one of my favorite movies. Your home doesn’t have to be big and you don’t have to have a lot of money just a willing heart. Teach your children and lead. 



Thanks for reading!








(photos via Pinterest & Mrs. Shockley)

July Favorites

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Hello Everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. I wish I had more time. I have already decided that once December gets here I am taking off that week of Christmas. I want to spend time at home. I think that would be nice. 

Well let’s go ahead and dive right into my July favorites for this year. First is this fruit infused pitcher that I picked up at T.J. Maxx. I found it online at Target if you are interested. I look forward to putting fruit in this every week along with some herbs maybe. We will see what concoction I can come up with. 

Second on my list was a special day this month where I got to entertain. My husband and I don’t have guests over often but we have been trying to work on that. This past month we had a couple over for a simple dinner. We ordered pizza and I made a salad and picked up some cherry turnovers at the bakery. Everything was delicious and it was so simple! I also LOVED having my jasmine on the table. It smelled so wonderful!
Third on my list was this vignette of beauty. You guys know that I can’t get enough of my new dresser but I found it really extraordinary when I had it filled with flowers. I was moving some things around and had to get these out of the way so I placed them on my dresser. When I turned I saw this. My heart just began to sing. It was soooo beautiful to me. So simple yet so pleasing. 

Fourth on my list is the blue and white collection at H&M. When I walked by and saw these I shrieked! So fantastic! I had to purchase this dress and this one. If you love this collection then head to your local store soon. These dresses will not last. Trust me!
And finally, last on my list is my straw raffia tote. I already wrote about this on the blog. See here if you missed it. Right now it is on sale for $23! Hurry and grab one if you are interested. 

I hope that you all were able to get some goodies from this post. Please let me know in the comments section if I should continue this every month. I do love sharing my favorites and I hope you enjoy seeing them too!


Thanks for reading!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Summer Candle Love

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It’s August 1 and my daughter’s first year of high school has begun. Sighing… I can’t say it enough. This year is moving too fast.


There have been so many things going on. I’ve been doing so soul searching about my career and trying to re-group and ask myself questions about where I want to go in the future.


It hasn’t been easy but I am hoping that the Lord will shed some light on my career journey soon. It’s Friday and I had some new candles delivered yesterday. Oh my gosh, you guys, I have found the perfect rose candle for me.

It’s called ballerina rose from Bath and Body Works. It is perfect. The notes are rose petals, peony blossoms, summer greenery, and essential oils. It reminds me of fresh-cut roses from Yankee Candle.





My second favorite has been the new gingham scent which has notes of freesia, white peach, and fresh clementine.





And my last favorite has been the freshwater & aloe scent. It has notes of water-flowers, aloe blossoms, and ozonic accord (not sure what that is but it smells good).




But I have a feeling that ballerina rose will be my summer favorite and maybe even a fall favorite. It is that good! I hope that you all can get to the store and check out these scents. I will share my July favorites next week. That month flew by so quickly. I will have to do a mental review to remember what I used the most. Have a great weekend!








(photos via Mrs. Shockley)



The Beauty of a Woman

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I saw a fantastic post on one of the interior designers that I follow on Instagram. She posted tips from Audrey Hepburn about beauty…. had to share them. 




















photo credit Aerin Lauder Instagram 


For attractive lips…. Speak with words of kindness.


For lovely eyes... Seek out the good in people. 


photo credit Micheile Henderson 

For a slim figure... Share your food with the hungry.


For beautiful hair… Let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. 
For poise… Walk with the knowledge you’ll never walk alone. 



photo credit B Stinger Instagram




People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed…. Never throw out anybody. 

Beautiful tips if you ask me. Thank you, Audrey.

Staying Organized ~ Lists

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Good Morning and welcome to the end of July. Goodness, the end of July. Wow… this evening we have freshman orientation with our daughter Lauren. She is going to be a freshman this year!


She was in fourth grade when I started this blog. Let that sink in….

photo credit Melnychuk Nataliya 



Today I want to talk about lists. Lists, lists, glorious lists! I love writing lists. Don’t you? I write at least two lists every week. I write a grocery/ home list and I review our finance list.

Every week I walk through our entire home and take a look at our toiletries, home supplies, personal needs, pantry, and refrigerator to jot down what we need. 
It helps me to keep track of my home and to make sure that the fridge is stocked and ready for home meals. That I have what I need to keep my home clean and that everyone has what they need to take care of themselves. I recently read a blog post about keeping lists in our lives and found it very inspiring. Shannon gave great ideas and great lists to have handy in our lives. 

One website that I use for great and orderly lists is The Day Designer. This website has great lists and lists for everything! They are free and are emailed to you for printing. 





photo credit Carolyn V. 

I emailed a few to myself this week. I plan on trying the grocery list. I normally just write down what we need and then just mark it off when I have it. I love checking things off. It helps me to complete tasks and to mentally take items off of my list. 


I know that may sound weird but I keep mental lists too. What lists do you have? Do you keep weekly lists? Please share if you do. I would love to hear it.


Thanks for reading!

A Healthy Home

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photo credit Debbie Hutson 


It’s the end of the week and let’s keep things simple. Here’s a wonderful quote from Martha Stewart about having a healthy home….

” Your home should be a reflection of how you WANT TO LIVE– right now, and for the next phase of your life.

photo credit Aerin Lauder Instagram 





It needs to have a good layout for your changing physical needs, and offer you a sense of security and calm. It’s a place to think, do, make, and enjoy.

When you get down to it, we need only a few of our creature comforts to live well- for me, that means having plenty of room to entertain, good light so I can read in bed, and sufficient space for all my animals.”





photo credit French Manoir Instagram 
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Dress for Success is having its VIP garage sale tomorrow! I am so excited!!! Those of us who volunteer will be able to purchase items that we could not give away in the boutique. Fantastic right? If I get any goodies I will make sure that I share them on the blog or on my Youtube channel. See you all soon!






A Dream Pop-Up Shop

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Step Inside My First Pop Up Shop At East Hampton G

gardens!



Mrs. Tina’s specialty is blue and white of course. I have purchased some of her blue and white ornaments around Christmas time and love them on my white tree. 

I would really love having these salt and pepper shakers. Wouldn’t those be lovely?

Image result for enchanted home blue and white
You guys should definitely click on the link above and take a look at her blog post. If you are a fan of blue and white then you would find great joy in looking at all of her products and visualizing all of those items in your home. It would be hard not to with all of those beautiful pieces. 


Enjoy!!


(photos via The Enchanted Home.com)