Exploring Charleston

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We have returned home and I am sad. I have not stopped thinking about Charleston since we left. It has only been a few days and I MISS it desperately. I am serious. I really loved the homes, the gardens, the details in all the architecture, but mainly the historic homes.

I am so glad that my husband finally agreed to visit Charleston. It was so worth it to me.

Most of you may have already seen a lot of these photos on my Instagram account. At first I thought maybe I should not write any posts about the trip since some of it was documented on Instagram but I thought that there maybe some people who don’t have social media accounts and just read blogs. 

This was our first day in Charleston. The area is called Colonial Lake. It was a suggestion from Julia and what a great suggestion. We walked around the entire area and looked at all the homes for free!!!

There were beautiful flowering trees everywhere! I could not believe how much was still in bloom. Especially since it was so horribly HOT!!! I have to admit that the heat was merciless to us but I still enjoyed it. 

I don’t know about you but I could not get enough of the pink houses. They were my favorite!

I also wanted to be careful taking pictures of people’s homes. I was so afraid that one of them would come out and scream their head off. 

This was my absolute favorite photo! I loved this door and was going to walk by it but thought there is no way I am not going to take a picture of this!

These are the homes in the South of Broad area. There were lots of people walking around doing the same thing we were doing. Take pictures and savoring in all the beauty around them. 

Huge magnolia trees everywhere…. 

Vines growing on everyone’s homes and garage areas.

Once my family and I started walking around and looking at all of the homes the more they got into it. They began to read some of the information that was available on the outside of the homes. It became a wonderful day. In fact one of the neighbors did spot us taking a picture of her home and was very flattered. I was relieved. I did not want to offend her. She ended up telling us the process of how she purchased her home and gave us a free parking pass for the area! Fantastic right?
Well I hope that you enjoyed this post and I will continue with my Charleston adventure for the next few weeks to come. 

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

To Charleston We Go!!!

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Well, next week I will be on vacation. This year we are headed to Charleston, South Carolina. I have been wanting to visit this place for some time now but I am a little nervous about the weather.

I heard about a hurricane being nearby so I am saying my prayers to the Lord and asking for nice weather while we are there. I want to be able to walk around and just enjoy our time there. I don’t want to rush. I would like at least one beach day but we will see.

I found Julia Engel’s Charleston guide to be superb! Most of the places that she listed on her guide we are going to try to visit. I found a hotel nearby. It is only about 15 minutes from all of these places.





I would like to walk around the South of Broad. Julia said that there are a lot of historic residential homes and gardens. I am hoping to see one of those pretty pink houses with flowering trees around it. 


I would like to walk around Hampton Park. 







I would like to see the houses on Rainbow Row. 





Next on my list is to take a tour at Boone Hall Plantation. Apparently, it is still a working plantation that does tours, sells their strawberries and tomatoes, and has a butterfly museum. Sounds like a wonderful day to me. 

The Magnolia Plantation is another place that I would love to visit. I checked their website and during the month of July they are having $5 tour days! That sounds great! I would love to take the house tour, the nature boat tour, and the nature train tour. 

They said that during the spring is the best time to come. You can see the azaleas in bloom. Oh, I wish they were still blooming. 




Now of course my trip could not be complete without some shopping. Julia mentioned a store called Lily Charleston. I checked their website and it looks lovely. I am hoping to get a bottle of Antica Farmacista. Their bottles are so pretty and the names of the scents always capture me. 



There are a few museums I would like to visit, some art galleries and this cute little stationery store called Mac & Murphy.




She also mentioned Palmetto Bluff, Savannah (I would love to take another visit there), and Sullivan’s Island. I checked their website and that looked like a beautiful beach to visit. Then she mentioned all of the restaurants. 







I would love to try Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits, Butcher and Bee, and  Hominy Grill.






Doesn’t that look delish! Oh I am looking forward to this trip. I am just hoping for good weather. Please Lord! I will let you guys know how it goes. See you in another week!


Elegant Dresses at H & M

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I am such a dress fanatic! I love a great dress. Here lately I have been able to find some really great ones. I know that the dresses that I like are really formal but I will wear a cardigan over an elegant dress in a heartbeat! It does not bother me and for the most part I always get a compliment on the dress I am wearing. I just think that sometimes you just have to be brave!

So here I am being brave! I found these lovely dress on the H & M website. I hope that I have inspired some of you to buy an elegant dress and put a cardigan over it. It always looks chic!

This is the long v-neck dress in light heather. Hurry it is on sale now!
I absolutely adore this!!! Oh my gosh! I was so upset when I saw that my size was sold out. I was going to stalk this until it went on sale but never mind. This is called the long mesh dress in light blue. They also have it in pink.

Next is the long chiffon dress in pink. It comes in two more colors. They have it in an dark blue and mint green.

And last but certainly not least is the long off-the-shoulder dress in light turquoise. The price on this dress is not to be ignored! It is only $24.99! It is lovely for date night or a work day with a cardigan.

Lovely aren’t they? Well I hope that you enjoyed this post and let me know if you are a person who would wear a cardigan with a chiffon dress. I would love to know if there are more people out there like me. 
Enjoy!!!!

(photos via H & M)

The New Couch…..

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A few weeks ago I posted an entry called “Ideas for a New Couch”.  In that post I talked about how I was just so ready to get rid of the brown furniture that I had.

We have had brown furniture for over 10 years and honestly I didn’t like the pieces when we purchased them. But we were on such a tight budget and needed to get rid of the horrible pieces that we already had so I just went with it.

I mentioned that I was on Wayfair taking a peek around and I found some couches or settees that I was interested in.

A lot of people liked the second one that I mentioned.

This is the Versailles sofa and it is lovely but it just didn’t sing to me. I read all of the reviews and they were good but I also looked at some of the actually photos from people’s homes and I just did not like it. 
The piece that “sung” to me was this. I just loved it! Now I didn’t purchase this piece either. This is the Barryknoll settee which is what I was going to purchase but I wanted to find one similar but with a little more substance. 
So this is what I found and purchased…..
This is the Laurel Foundry settee in beige. I am so HAPPY!!! I do love it. It has changed our sitting room dramatically. It is very similar to the Barryknoll but cost a little more and is a little bigger. 
I love the texture and the color. 

I am loving it with my new brass arrangement that I found at the antique store this past weekend. 

I can’t decide if I want it with my fluffy white pillow or the blue velvet pillow.
I think it looks great with my other tufted furniture pieces. 
Still loving my re-purposed cabinet. If you missed the blog post about this you may view it here.
I do look forward to spending more of my weekend mornings in my sitting room now. I am up before everyone else on most days so it will be nice to come down and have a cup of hot water, lemon and honey, read a devotional, plan events and organize my week with my new day designer and just enjoy the morning. Bonjour!!!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley and Wayfair.com)

In France with Sharon Santoni

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I know most of us follow the British author Sharon Santoni and her beautiful blog My French Country Home. She currently just finished her states book tour and sadly she did not come to Indianapolis. It always makes me sad when an author that I enjoy never comes here.

I know it’s not intentional. I just wish that one day our state could be added to their list. But oh well moving on. I have both of her books and have read them over and over. I have talked about her numerous times on the blog.

I recently picked up a copy of Victoria magazine and saw an article in it about her.

Her property is so inviting and inspiring. I always wanted to make sure that my home was a place that you would desire to be at. My mother-in-law’s home has that feeling. That feeling of “home elegance” is what I call it. Where the meals are good, the decor is beautiful, and the company is valuable. 
I love how she lives and how she encourages you to be more engaged with family and friends. I am trying to make that a goal. I want to establish relationships with substance. 
One day in the near future I hope to be able to purchase one of her Stylish French Boxes. It is a box full of carefully curated European finds adopted from her land’s customs. The theme for the next box which is in August is the “French kitchen”. What a wonderful opportunity that will be to obtain some wonderful authentic Parisian pieces for your home. 
I remember one of my readers calling Sharon a “muse”. A muse is defined as a person who is a source for inspiration. I could not agree more. If you wish to read the original article and see more photos you may view it here. I hope that you enjoyed this post and have a great 4th of July!!!!
(photos via Victoria magazine)

Handbags at DSW

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I left work early last week to take care of some appointments. Once I finished I realized that I had an extra hour to poke away with! That never happens! So I decided to stop in the nearby DSW.

And of course I found some really pretty handbags….

This is called the Kelly & Katie Buffet Satchel. This was actually one of my favorites! It’s a great size and looks very chic!

Great size right?
I adore it in the taupe also!

It could go with anything.
Next is the Kelly & Katie Lariade Satchel. I saw great reviews about this being a wonderful work tote.

Another great looking tote.
And last but certainly not least is the Kelly and Katie Puxico tote. It comes in 3 different colors and the price is great! I really liked the dark blush color. Very summer and spring and honestly you could carry this in the fall. I think it would look great with some browns. 
Well, I hope that you enjoyed this post and that maybe I just might have found a great tote for you. 
Enjoy!!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

A Little Haul

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Last weekend my husband wanted to visit one of our outdoor malls. It was quite shocking! He hates shopping so of course when he made that suggestion I jumped right on it!

I stopped at a few stores. Not many. I was not really on the look out for anything. I did stop in Bath and Body Works. The semi-annual sale is starting to wind down.

I did find a few things there……

I love their body creams. They work so well and when I find a scent I stick with it. Well, that’s until they discontinue it which seems to be the case with every scent that I love! It’s frustrating. These were on sale for only $2.46 each! So I got pink magnolia. I love the hints of jasmine petals and wild orchid. It is a very light scent. 
The next scent that I picked up was jasmine green apple and that seems to be sold out online. Then I decided to try wildberry and chamomile. I really like it! It is goes well with my body pheromones. The last item that I picked up was acai berry body refresher. I loved this also! It is such a great scent and has been wonderful spraying on myself during these hot summer days. 
They also had these faux berry branches. They were about $7 per branch but I got them for $1.24 each this past weekend! How great is that? I love them in my blue and white vase. I could not find these online so they must be sold in the store only. 
I bought so many that I had enough for a second bouquet at work. They look so beautiful in my office too! I sure hope that you enjoyed this post and stop by your local Bath and Body Works store. They always have wonderful items. 
Have a great weekend!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)