Thoughts For Friday

If you are looking for an easy delicious entertaining dessert then look no further.  Lately this has been my go-to dessert.  Best part it is only two ingredients: Pistachio Ice Cream and Butter Crisps.

All you do is spread a thin layer of the ice cream on the crisp and pop in the freezer til ready and you have a tasty restaurant quality ice cream sandwich.  I made these last night for my girls Supper Club and they were a hit.

Speaking of Supper Club how amaze is this cheese tray I threw together?  I am a freak for a pretty cheese tray.   Nothing makes me happier.

I finished the first 50 Shades of Gray book and I loved it, really did.  But I am wondering what is the second book going to offer?  More of the same?  Not sure I want to read that much more about the red room of pain.  But speaking of the movie I think Josh Duhamel would be the perfect Christain Gray.  He is so darn hot, tell me you don't agree.

I am pretty sure this fabric needs to happen somewhere in Sterling's room.  I am thinking pillows...

I got my new issue of Elle in the mail yesterday and was surprised to see Selena Gomez on the cover.  I actually thought she looked really pretty and mature.  I will be interested to see if she opens up about The Beibs in the article.  I think I am like the same age as her mom which is weird and makes me feel old. 

Have you heard of LemLem?  My friend Katie introduced me and now I am convinced I need a LemLem Dress.   Lemlem is founded by model Liya Kebede and the line consists of Ethiopian hand-woven cotton scarves, women's clothing and children's dresses made by traditional artisans in Liya's hometown. 

I left Sterling alone for a few minutes yesterday morning while I emptied this dishwasher and this is what I came back to.  All his Little Tykes people were face down in his cereal bowl.  It kind of made me chuckle especially the one that he decided to leave face up.  Hope this isn't a sign of some weird fetish when he is older....

 

This is a quote that resonates with me for many reasons. I love it.  Hvae a great weekend!

Oh and Happy Father's Day to this special guy.  You are a good daddy Matt and we love you!

What I learned From Martha This Week.

For some random reason I get the Martha Stewart Everyday Food Magazine in the mail.  I never ordered a subscription but somehow it just keeps on coming.  Most of the recipes are not that great but in last month's issue I came across this article "Infuse Your Booze."

I have wanted to try my hand at making my own infused booze forever and this article gave me the push I needed.  Matt loves peaches (like really loves peaches, he even eats the skin which grosses me out, I mean it is hairy....) so I decided to give peach vodka a whirl since I had some really delicious peaches left from the Farmers Market.  I made a small batch of the vodka first as a trial run because who wants to ruin a whole half gallon of vodka if it sucks?? I diced one peach and then poured some Titos (the best vodka ever) over it to just cover.  Martha says to let it sit for at least a week and shake it daily.

I gave it a good shake every night and tried my hardest to resist drinking it.

Disclaimer- Matt and I could not wait any longer and decided to try the vodka last night after 3 days.  It was so not ready and not great.  We decided to add in more diced peach and sliced limes.  We added lime juice into our small trial run and it worked great because it gave it the right acidity to cut the vodka.  We will test again in a week and report back.  I want to get this down right.  Until then back to my wine.

On another note Martha also taught me that Beets are good for detoxing your body.  Her magazine states, "Detox Cred: Antioxidant superstars, red beets contain betalains, compounds that fight inflammation and support your detox by neutralizing toxins and making them water soluble and easily flushed."  I love anything that helps cleanse my body and liver.  Every morning I have ventured away from my normal green juice and I have been drinking beet juice.   The color is gorgeous, right?

I juice: 1 beet, one carrot, half a cucumber, and an apple.  I kind of like the way it tastes in a weird way and guess who else does?

Shocker.  He drank a small glass of beet juice or "Mommy's pink juice."  And that was his vegetable count for the day!

So the moral today is trust Martha, she is smart.  Enjoy your infused vodka and then drink beet juice the next day to cleanse your liver. 

Tomato, Squash, and Feta Gratin

My favorite thing to do on Saturdays is to hit up our local Farmers Market (am I starting to sound like a broken record about the Farmers Market? Oh well I love it).  This ensures I always have fresh veggies for the week.  Last week I was working with an abundance of Tomatoes and Squash about to go bad which led me to this recipe.  I cooked it one night when Matt was working late (because we all know he is not down with vegetarian meals) and I seriously ate half the gratin in one sitting.  It was so light, fresh and full of flavor.  The feta scallion mixture really made it pop with flavor.   I like to think it is not that bad for me either besides the cheese it is packed full of veggies. It would be the perfect side dish to serve with grilled fish or chicken.  Why is it so hard to take appealing food pictures?  My gratin below looks nothing like the one above.....

TOMATO, SQUASH AND FETA GRATIN (adapted from Haystacks and Champagne)
My changes are denoted in pink.

6 oz zucchini sliced 1/4" on long bias

6 oz yellow squash sliced 1/'8' on long bias

2 scallions chopped

1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic

1/3 cup fresh basil julienned

1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

Fresh grated Parmesan

12 oz tomatoes cut in half then sliced 1/4"thick crosswise (If you use Roma tomatoes, you don't need to cut again)

2 tsp. olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Toss zucchini and yellow squash with salt & pepper and a touch of olive oil. In a separate bowl mix scallions, garlic, oregano, & feta.  I added a little olive to this mixture too.  Don't add too much olive or your dish will be too soggy.

Lay zucchini slices in pan slightly overlapping like shingles. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Top with a layer of tomatoes slightly overlapping. Sprinkle on half of the scallion mix. Top with a layer of yellow squash & another of tomatoes sprinkling each with salt & pepper. Top with remaining scallion mix then drizzle with olive oil.  I added fresh grated Parmesan to the top as well.  I added the fresh basil bewteen each squash tomato layer. 

Bake for 30 min at 400 degrees or until top is slightly browned. Allow to sit for 10 min then cut into wedges & serve.

Recipe and first picture VIA

Obsessions

GAP STRIPPED STRAW BAG

I love this bag for the summer.  Straw + bright stripes is such a good combo! 

TARGET SANDALS

Two of my friends were wearing these adorable sandals at playgroup last week and now I want them.  They looked like $100+ shoes but they are $16.99!

ANN TAYLOR FEMME BACK ZIP SHIFT TOP

Ever since I bought my cute pink shift dress at Ann Taylor, I have warmed up to the idea of shopping there.  I once thought it was just a store for older women but now I am singing a different tune.  They have some really cute stuff in there.  This is my latest find.  How cute is this top?  I plan to wear it with my white Rag and Bone jeans.  Excuse the poor picture of me in it, but wanted to show how it fits.

TOP KNOT BUN

I love Kate Upton's hair in this picture.  I have such thin hair so I feel like I can never get my hair to look good in the top bun.  Any tips?

EAMES ROCKER

Meet the newest addition to the Mason household.  I found this beauty at a Consignment store in Mt Pleasant.  It is going to look perfect in Sterling's big room and he already loves his new chair!  Everyday he wants to sit in it and watch "his toons."

These are a few of my inspiration pictures.  But how can you go wrong with a sleek Eames rocker?  I love the idea of it covered with a sheepskin throw like in the last picture.

Weekend Happenings + S&D Winner

How is it Monday already??  The weekends fly by and the weekdays drag by!  We had a jam packed weekend which was fun but really left us no down time for relaxing!  So now it is Monday morning and I am exhausted.  And all weekend Sterling has decided to wake up around 6 yelling "mom" every morning to ensure I hear him and get my butt out of bed. 

Friday night was our date night which actually turned into a couples date night after the wine tasting!  The wine tasting was really fun,  but you know me I love wine and learning more about it.  One of my favorite drinks we sampled was a Sparkling Shiraz.  I had never had this type of wine before and it was quite delicious.  I wish I remembered the exact name but it was from Australia and sold at Total Wine for $15.99.

My outfit from our date night was an old T-Bags dress.  I have had this dress for probably 6 years but still love it.  T-Bags remains one of my favorite brands for maxi dresses.

This is the next T-Bags maxi I hope to add to my collection soon!  They really fit so well!

{T-Bags Venezia Maxi Dress}

 

This is all of us girls after the wine tasting at dinner.  We embarrassed our husbands and made them snap pictures of us at the restaurant.

We ate dinner at Al Di La, one of my favorite restaurants in West Ashley.  I had the shrimp Gnocchi and it was amazing!  There is nothing better than fresh homemade pasta.

On Saturday we took our boat out for our first family boat ride of the year.  Our boat has been broken the past 6 months and Matt finally fixed it.  I am so proud of him because he completely rewired the boat on his own.  Now she runs great and we had a blast. Except Sterling it had been so long since he had been on the boat he wasn't so sure about it.

You might notice my dress I am wearing on the boat.  It is my newest obsession.  I found it at the Gap and I have it in three different colors.  It is the perfect casual summer dress.  So comfortable and fits really well too!  They are online HERE and HERE, but I found mine in the actual store.

I also got it in the Royal Blue and wore it to church Sunday with my JCrew necklace.  I told you I seriously love this dress!  It is so versatile.

I also tried on this T-Shirt maxi dress and now I am wishing I bought it.  I think I may order it in the black because it would go with everything.  It was so soft it felt like pajamas.  A plus for running after a kid all day in!

Gap T-Shirt Maxi Dress

Ended the weekend with a trip to the Farmers Market where I found these gorgeous Hydrangeas!

And now what I am sure you all waiting for!!  The winner of the Stella and Dot necklace is:

Kelly Gail- kellynwatson@yahoo.com

Ashley will contact you to get your shipping info.  Hope you love the necklace Kelly!

Don't forget if you didn't win the trunk show is open for two more weeks if you want to order something! 
You can check out the trunk show HERE!

Thoughts For Friday

I am so glad it is Friday!  And guess why?  My in-laws are keeping Sterling for the night (and I mean overnight) so Matt and I can go to a wine tasting and then date night!  We have not been out on a date in forever!   Oh the joys of finally having family living in town!

I picked up my Silhouette of Sterling that WayWay did and I could not be more pleased. I love it in a major way, it is pure perfection!!  If you are looking to get a Silhouette done of your child you must contact WayWay.  She did a stellar job.  Now I am trying to decide where to hang in his room or our hallway? You can check out more of WayWay's work HERE.

Speaking of WayWay she turned me on the best way to cook Okra, roasting it.  All you do is slice down the middle, toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast at 400 degrees about 20 mins.  It is

so good.  Matt and I were eating them right off the pan like they were fries.

I need some reader help.  I am obsessed with this Milly Sari Hostess Dress.  I really want it for a wedding I have later this month but I can't find it in my size anywhere.  I found it online at Neimans and had it in my basket when someone else (snatched) bought it while I was looking.  I need it on sale not full price for sure..  So tell me where can I find it???   I saw it on Rent The Runway but I would rather own it.  I hate to pay $100 just to wear it once.

I went to Banana Republic yesterday to check out the Trina Turk Collection and I was not too impressed.  Nothing fit me just right so I left empty handed.  This dress was probably the cutest I tried on but just not digging it for me.

{Cochella One Shoulder Dress}

Is it weird I want to go see Magic Mike?  I know it will be a cheesy movie but,  tell me it isn't wrong to want to look at all those hot men shirtless?

My sister has me intrigued about a drink she and my mom made this week, a beet martini.  I have been all about drinking my beet juice in the mornings to cleanse my liver but I am just not sure about a beet martini.  She promises it will rock my world.  May try this weekend, wish me luck!

LOVE this wallpaper.  I need to wallpaper a room so bad. 

Happy Friday!  Don't forget to enter the Stella and Dot giveaway it ends Sunday!