Monthly Favorites Archives - A Home for Elegance

March Favorites ~ 2025

March 27, 2025/5 Comments/in Inspiring Books, Monthly Favorites /by mrs.sshockley

Good Morning,

It has gotten chilly here again which is not fun because I just swapped over my closet to use my spring and summer accessories. Cleaning my closet every few months is so fun and important to me. It forces me to review my clothes and ask myself “are you wearing this”. It’s really good for keeping down the clutter.

Oh my goodness, there has been so much going on. Next week I will be conducting my virtual training online. We are turning in our PowerPoint presentations this week and doing sound and edit checks as well. My nerves are starting to kick in, but it is exciting!

Okay, now I have had a lot of beautiful finds this month and hope that you all enjoy them.

First on my list is the beautiful Stoneware Cabbage Tea Pot, teacup and saucer set from Target. This sold out as fast as I could post it! They restocked it, then it sold out again! Keep it in your cart. They just might restock it.

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

Next are my recent Facebook Marketplace finds! I found these vintage nesting tables. The seller said that they belonged to his grandmother and then his mother. He sold them to me for only $20! I decided to move it to my office, and I love them so far. My second is the Bombay drawer chest. The seller actually has a store near me, and it is the same seller from my green chinoiserie inspired cabinet. It is so lovely. I love the shape, the color and all of the storage. I plan to move it to our future guest bedroom.

The FBMP finds continue. March was a big month for finds. In addition, to the two above I found this gorgeous round vintage table. I only paid $150 and again the owner told me that it belonged to her grandmother, and she had it for over 50 years. I told her that I would take good care of it. My family really loves this table.

This next find has changed my grocery store shopping for me. I saw this on Instagram and knew that I had to get one. This magnetic phone holder can be used on shopping carts, strollers, and fitness bikes. I took it to the grocery store a few weeks ago and was so happy with it. I could keep my grocery list app opened while I shopped and checked off items. It was excellent!

Now let’s talk bags. I don’t know if I have mentioned that I have gotten a few new bags this month. I think that I mentioned the Coach Empire 48 bags that I got. I was not even looking for these because I knew that they were sold out, but my local Coach store had the black one in stock (it was the last one) then they called me to show me the maple and I could not resist.

But my heart still wanted the Kisslock Frame Bag. When I saw Carrie from Sex in the City carrying it I just knew that I had to have it! The classic shape, gold hardware, and soft leather was the draw. I told my new Coach SA to call me if one surfaces. A few weeks later she did! A woman who I was talking to while I was getting the maple Empire 48 had both the black and dark brown Kisslock. Little did I know that she was thinking about returning them and she did! Katy called me immediately asking me if I wanted it and I said YES!! I am so happy and love it so much! I still want the black one and the honey Empire 48. If you are interested in my swan keychain you may find it here along with my Coach chain.

Now if the Coach Kisslock is out of budget for you I did find this lovely tote from Caroline Hill. I have been on the hunt for a cream-colored tote and this hit the mark. I have gotten a lot of compliments on it. It has lots of room and the quality is pretty good. She has several more in different colors.

Flowers are always a favorite. My husband got me these white roses for our 21st anniversary in February along with a copy of Aerin Lauder’s New Book Living with Flowers. This book is stunning of course, and I have just started to read it. I love Aerin Lauder’s esthetic and find inspiration in all of the pages.

Target has been on point with their slingbacks. This is my third pair from them. These gorgeous slingbacks are perfect for spring and summer. I love the raffia design, in sole cushion and two-inch heel. The price is not bad as well. Order while you can. Target just keeps selling out of things.

And my last favorite has been a new YouTube channel! I found Heather from Oh So Lovingly a few months ago and really enjoy her energy and the fact that she enjoys being herself. She has a cute home and has good taste. I am loving her antique adventures around Buckhead, Atlanta. You will enjoy her content, trust me!

Well, that is it for March my friends. I hope that you found some wonderful inspiration this month and let me know in the comments below how you are doing. Have a great week!

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February Favorites ~ 2025

February 26, 2025/in Monthly Favorites /by mrs.sshockley

Hello,

Well this felt like the shortest month ever! February always feels this way. We are celebrating our 21-year wedding anniversary this week. Lauren will be 20 next week! Can you believe it? Good gosh! I have a 20-year-old. We are already preparing for her junior year in the fall. It’s crazy how time is flying.

For Valentine’s Day, my husband and I went to St. Elmo’s. It was our first time, and I have to say that the food was really good. I was hoping that it would live up to the hype and it did. He also got me some lavender roses from Grace Rose Farms. Watching these open for the week was truly a treat.

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

First on my list is the new Aerin Lauder vanity collection. This collection is inspired by 19th century Italian decor. I am in LOVE but it is a little pricey. I have it on my wishlist so we will see.

photo credit: Aerin/ Instagram

My second favorite are these cherry blossom trees from Amazon. I saw Nitra B. share these on her Instagram page and I had to take a risk and order them. They are a DREAM! I love them so much! I ordered two. One for my office and one for home. I love them and I am now on the hunt for some blue and white planters to place them in.

My third favorite has been a pleasant surprise. Lydia Millen mentioned these faux collars that she ordered. Now I have seen these before but never thought about trying one. I have a few dresses that I have to use a brooch to close up the chest part because I feel like it is a bit too low. I decided to go ahead and give these a try and all I can say is WOW! They are a perfect fit for my dresses and look so elegant on.

Oh my goodness! I am loving these spring scents from Bath and Body Works. I purchased the springtime greenhouse, backyard honeysuckle, and white cucumber & mint. I am looking forward to using them this spring season.

I saw these gorgeous floral ginger vases and jars and HomeGoods a few days ago and had to grab one. Check your local store. They may not last long.

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

These wonderful yogurt cups have been a wonderful luxury to my life. I add my favorite yogurt, granola, blueberries and pumpkin seeds and I am in heaven. If you love yogurt but want to add your favorite toppings to it, you should definitely try these cups!

Now it has taken me years and I mean YEARS to find a shelf that would fit in the corner of my garden tub and this one seems to work. I wanted something to store all of my products near the tub and it has been so hard trying to find something. This stackable shelf from Amazon has worked wonderfully and keeps everything where I need it.

Now I don’t know about you, but I love a good “What’s in my Bag” video. I recently saw Nicholas with this new bag in one of his vlogs and was dying to know what it was. In this video he finally shares it. I love being inspired to buy quality items and to be expose to beauty and elegance. That is one of the things that I love about vlogs. The exposure that you get from another person’s world.

I hope you all enjoyed my finds for this month. I have been planning to post a video to my YouTube channel for about a month now, but have not gotten around to filming the intro. I will do that soon. Take care!

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January Favorites ~ 2025

January 23, 2025/in Monthly Favorites /by mrs.sshockley

Hello Friends,

It was so nice having a nice long weekend. I so needed it. I spent the weekend going thru old paperwork and getting it ready for shredding. I just learned last week that I was suggested to our learning facility to be an instructor for the upcoming year. So that means that I will be on a panel teaching other paralegals later this year. I will also be doing a virtual training in April! I am so excited for these new opportunities and extremely nervous. I also have another office to evaluate this year in Boston and a potential training in Washington. We will see how things go.

You will also notice some items have begun to vanish from the boutique. I did an inventory check this weekend and remove some things. I have some different ideas this year for inventory so we will see what I come up with. I may be taking a break from dresses and just focus on accessories. Let me know in the comments below what items you would like to see in the boutique this year.

Now let’s move on to some favorites.

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

First is my new devotional that I ordered from Amazon. This was a suggestion from the late Dr. Charles Stanely. I have been listening to him for years and read his recent book Living the Extraordinary Life -Nine Principles to Discover it. In this book Dr. Stanley mentioned My Utmost for His Highest devotion written by Oswald Chambers. It is so good and really challenges one’s faith. I read this passage in it this week… My best for his glory. At first, the call comes gently. Then it grows louder, until finally God produces a crisis in our lives that demands we make a choice. For or against, yes or no; stay or go.

There was another devotional that has stuck with me for months now. It is called the Law of Antagonism. The law if antagonism means that in order to stay healthy, I have to fight. Health is a kind of balance between things that would harm me and my ability to resist them. Physical health occurs when there is a balance between my body and those things in the external world that are designed to put me to death. If I have enough vitality, enough fighting power, I will produce a healthy balance.

If you are a person that enjoys devotionals then I would HIGHLY recommend this book!

My second is the Fresh Balsam candle from Bath & Body Works. This candle gives such a clean and fresh pine scent. It has been perfect to start off my year and I love smelling it in my home. I also saw this lovely blue and white teapot plugin. I had to grab one!

Speaking of blue and white I did not stop my hunt for the Love Shack Fancy Stanley cup. I did find this in August of last year but could not share it because I was getting one for our daughter in law for Christmas and I did not want to give up my gift idea! I found mine and purchased it from Poshmark. They are sold in various places. Just make sure that you have the Stanley stamp on the bottom, and it comes with a box and the straw with a bow. I heard that there are some fake ones out there.

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

Fourth on my list is this glorious brand. Now of course I learned about Holland Cooper from the British influencer Lydia Millen and loved them immediately. I mean can we talk about the super elegant branding? The rich colors? It’s stunning. I decided to take a leap and order my first candle from them. Then I could not resist the Chelesa Emerald Green makeup bag! When Lydia shared this on a video I was foaming at the mouth. It is so elegant and every time I pull it out to use it I stare at it. It is now on sale. It’s still a little expensive but it’s a wonderful piece for the elegant wardrobe that you want to build.

Don’t you just love a good antique find? I know I do! I found this while at a friend’s house. She mentioned this antique store to me, and I thought, well okay, I’ll take a look! I ended up finding this beautiful French blue armchair. Score! I love it and have moved it to my office downtown. It looks wonderful!

In addition to adding my new chair to my office and purchased this gorgeous cashmere scarf from Amazon and it is double sided. It is a stunning emerald green color and I have gotten lots of compliments on it. I am thinking about going back and ordering it in the khaki.

And lastly on my list is this classy video from Parisian Vibe where photographer and artist Jamie Beck demonstrates how to tie a scarf or “foulard”. I love that word. This video is the epitome of elegance, and you will enjoy the scarf techniques from Jamie, the Hermes scarves that she wears, and the home! It’s a beautiful video.

I hope you all enjoy my monthly favorites as usual! Please let me know in the comments below if there are things that you would like to see in the boutique and have a great week!

This post is not sponsored. Affiliate links attached.

Word of the Year ~ 2025

January 16, 2025/7 Comments/in Elegant Living, Inspiring Posts /by mrs.sshockley

Good Morning!

It’s still cold but manageable. I do miss my morning walks. I need them now since I am seeing so many things in the news. My goodness… California. I didn’t realize that the fires were that bad until this weekend when I actually got a chance to sit and watch the news. My goodness… North Carolina is still struggling from the hurricane. So many things Lord, so many. My mornings walks would always help be sort things out in my mind. I am back on my elliptical for the next few months because the mornings are so cold here.

Now as you can see from my title of this blog post I will be sharing my word of the year. For me it is never just one word. My words are always phrases. It always takes me a few days before the end of the year to get my phrase, but it usually comes because of some life event. This year it came because of a recent activity that I did with a therapist. I may share that later, but my word of the year or phrase of the year is “be present”.

Now I catch myself and I have been doing this most of my life, thinking about the future or the past. Those thoughts in most cases provided a distraction from something that I was dealing with at the moment. Now my goal is to be present. In happiness, and sadness. Be present!

I have also started my new planner. Jennifer from the Daily Connoisseur recently shared her planners. I am normally a Day Designer kind of girl but this year I decided to try a new planner called Planned & Proper.

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

This planner is exceptional! I was not sure how it was going to work for me, but it is a perfect fit for my life! I had my name added to the first page, so personalization is an option. The third page is your word of the year page! You write it down along with your thoughts. There are pages for plans or projects, book goals, and brainstorming your big ideas. The daily format is a winner. It provides a section for your top 3 priorities, to-do list, current goals for the day, a timeline, self-care section and daily gratitude. I mean each day has those items for you to jot down!

This planner has so much! There is a body & wellness page for the year, a place for you to map out your goals for your social life and friendship goals, career and business, financial, home and family, spiritual and creativity! It truly forces you to think about your life for the year. Using this planner and brainstorming about your life will take a few days. It’s not some basic planner that you can just jot down a few things. It really does encourage you to think big about your year in detail. It took me about 2 days to fill out my lists for the year and now I just keep going back to them to keep myself on track.

Let me know in the comments section below what planner you are using and if you have already tried this planner. Also share you word of the year. I think this maybe a repurchase for me next year!

Enjoy your week!

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December Favorites ~ 2024

December 26, 2024/2 Comments/in Monthly Favorites /by mrs.sshockley

Good Morning and Merry Christmas to you all!

It is the end of 2024. Can you all believe it? Wow… it has really flown by. I think that I have my “phrase or word of the year” for 2025, and I am making a list of home goals, personal goals, and career goals for 2025.

The one thing that I am really trying to do is to keep things in perspective. And I don’t want to absorbed other people’s issues, dramas, and problems. That list of responses from Dr. Witte is putting me on the path to learning how to respond to things in my life. I hope you all can use those responses.

Now this week will be filled with enjoying my time off and family. Lauren and I attended the Nutcracker this year and we went to the L.S. Ayres Tea Room as well. I love keeping our family Christmas traditions.

Now here are my favorites for the last month of 2024!

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

First on my list have been the holiday shoes this season! Now I took my time this year and decided to curate a collection where I loved and enjoyed wearing every pair. I have already shared my red satin shoes in my November favorites which have been a season hit. I could not resist a second pair so I went back for the black ones and then I purchased these velvet bow slingbacks from Ann Taylor Loft and lastly these gorgeous, sparkly bow pair of pumps from J. Crew.

Second on my list are more holiday fashion finds. I wore this comfortable but fantastic red skirt from Old Navy to two parties this season and this satin blouse from Old Navy as well. I was inspired by Nathan Rollinson and Nicolas Fairford in their autumn video to buy some long leather gloves for the winter season. I found these stunning leather gloves on Amazon! They are so good! I really need a second pair in brown.

My love for accessories continues. I ordered this bandana scarf from Zara. Sorry but it is now sold out so I cannot share it. I also added some new bands to my wedding set. Inspired by Lydia Millien, I decided to add some crown inspired bands to my set. The compliments have been non-stop! I do love the look!

My fourth favorite was a new store discovery! While taking the kids ice skating (photo on the right), I got to visit some shops that were around the Carmel Chriskindlmarkt and one of them was called Addendum. It was a fantastic upscale gift shop. They carried lots of elegant items that I only get to see online. I will be adding that to my list for a future visit soon. The other photo is a rare photo of us as a family going ice skating. It is me, my husband, our daughter Lauren, son Ely and his girlfriend Faith.

Next on my list is this photo of me earlier this year at the Guild Luncheon. It is me with my friend Kathy and Shannon. I love it so much. It shows the importance of friendship and spending time together. As I get older, I am learning that “it is not good for man to be alone”. Is that not in the Bible? Spending time with people is so important and I don’t want to lose that.

I hope that you all enjoy your holiday season. I hope that you got to see my videos on YouTube. I recorded two “shorts” of me discussing a question and response from Dr. Witte.

Enjoy your week!

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November Favorites ~ 2024

November 29, 2024/2 Comments/in Monthly Favorites /by mrs.sshockley

Hello December!

I know that I am a little late with my November favorites, but I needed a few days away from the computers, and I do mean computers! My eyes needed a break and so did my head. It was nice. We spent Thanksgiving at home of course catching up with our adult children. I tried two new recipes which I will share soon, and I loved my table setting.

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

I found some orange astromelias at the grocery store and thought that they would be perfect in the center of the table, and they were! If you want to shop my table, you may read my blog post here or see my short video on my LTK page.

I had to search my phone for my November favorites. This month went by so quickly. I was not sure if I had any, but I have a few.

My first is this beautiful, green, chinoiserie inspired cabinet on FBMP. Now currently this is still available. It turns out that the seller actually has a store nearby, so I went to see this in person. I am trying to wait to see if I can get it a little lower if so it will go in my kitchen. I can see it now!

Second are these GORGEOUS star and pearl earrings from Amazon! We all know that Amazon is hit or miss sometimes, and these are a hit! They are so pretty in person and the quality is not bad at all. I have been wearing them non-stop. They are a perfect Christmas party accessory or gift.

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

Next is my Christmas decor this year. Each year I fine tune my home style more and more. This year I got to decorate the entry way with more items and having my vintage cabinet there was lovely. When I open the front door, I no longer feel like I have to hide my hideous coat rack that was there. If you missed the before and after post you can read it here. I will be sharing more Christmas decor here soon.

Oh I know I got another STANLEY! I could not resist the antique pink that was on the website. That was the name antique pink, and I got it in a smaller size. It’s quite lovely. Order one soon you know that they don’t last.

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

Next up is my recent Target visit. Sometimes I find things and sometimes I don’t but this round… oh my goodness! I finally found a coat that I love! I found this gorgeous herringbone wool coat and these stunning red satin shoes! Both items looked like a million bucks when I wore them together. I got so many compliments! Then I purchased this beautiful vintage Cameo brooch from my local jewelry store. Both the coat and the shoes were about $100 together! Now that is chic but affordable.

My last favorites are these leopard pom-pom key chains from Amazon. I was not sure how they were going to look but they are quite chic. I got three. I got the navy, gray, and brown. They could dress up any bag or key chain.

Well, that is all for this month. My boutique is still having its Black Friday sale. Use code BLKFRIDAY24 for 10% off of your order sitewide. Also, if you make a purchase, you will receive a free pair of Cameo earrings! Just put “free Cameos” in the note section of your order! I don’t have many left so order while you can. My newsletter will be going out soon and new items have been added to my Shop my Favorites page. Have a great week!

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