A-Thread Giveaway!

Ladies, I have a really killer giveaway today!  You get to win not one, but two items from the fabulous online boutique,  A-Thread.    First up is this gorgeous silk stripped Blouse.
{Bold Stripe Silk Blouse}

I have the blouse and just adore it.  It is perfect to wear right now with shorts and it is going to look great in the fall with skinny jeans.  Camel + Royal Blue is a color combo made in heaven!

The second item you get to win is this Turquoise Drop Necklace.  Such a great statement necklace, even prettier in person.  Plus, Turquoise goes with everything!

You might remember me blogging about this Green Necklace a few weeks ago.   Well it is also from A-Thread and one of my favorite necklaces to date.   I wear it all the time.  A-Thread makes some gorgeous necklaces.  

The A-Thread site is filled with so many great things.  Added bonus is A-Thread donates 5% of your purchase to a charity of your choosing.   Right now the 4 charities they are working with are: LA Animal Services, Thirst Relief, Kiva, and Children of the Night.   Their motto is to "Shop and Effect", which means you can look good while doing good!   Just to keep things in perspective a $5 donation to Thirst Relief will give someone clean water for 25 years.  So every little purchase helps!  

 All of their items are super affordable and cute!  A few of my other favorite items I am hoping to snag are:

{Turquoise and Gold Beaded Necklace}

{Cobalt Scalloped Shorts}

{Heavy Metal Necklace}

{Silk Color Block Dress}

{KeyHole Dress}

{Chambray Military Jacket}

Great giveaway right??  Two awesome items, over a $100 value! In order to enter (each counts as a separate entry):

1) You must be a follower of Designer Bags and Dirty Diapers

2) Visit the A-Thread website and tell me your favorite item

3) Like the A-Thread FB page

You have until Sunday at Midnight to enter and I will announce the winner Monday!  Good Luck!

xoxo

Obsessions

ALICE + OLIVIA AMANDA PEPLUM DRESS

This dress is top on my list of Fall wants.  It is the perfect little black dress.  I could see myself wearing this to church and date night.  Super versatile!

GAP NAUTICAL SHIFT

My favorite Gap tee dress is back in a longer sleeve version for Early fall.  I want all three colors.   If you want one you better order now because the short sleeve version went fast!

TRADER JOES POWERBERRIES

These little nuggets are so delicious!   It is a blend of blueberries, acai, cranberries and pomegranate dipped in dark chocolate.  The perfect sweet bite to end a meal.

CHASING VENUS SAUVIGNON BLANC

Great wine, only $15 a bottle.  Highly recommend- their Chardonnay is also delish.

 JCREW ARCHIPELAGO NECKLACE

I really don't need another necklace but I can assure you, this necklace is most likely going to make its way into my fall wardrobe.   

Mediterranean White Bean Salad

I'm switching things up and doing a recipe today because I'm visiting my parents and of course their Internet is not working and of course no one knows how to fix it.  So you get a recipe today and obsessions tomorrow:)  I leave for my family beach vacay in less than two weeks,  so this Mama is on a strict salad diet trying to drop a few lbs before I have to rock a bikini in public.   I eat salads because one thing I'm not giving up is my vino.  Small sacrifices, right?  This Salad is light, fresh, and delicious!  It has so many great flavors.  It would be the perfect side dish to serve with some grilled fish or chicken.  I ate it for lunch several days in a row.  It saves really well and is oh so tasty.  Bon appetit!

MEDITERREAN BEAN SALAD

{Adapted from Proud Italian Cook}

-Cherry Tomatoes halved

-Sliced Fennel

-Red pepper sliced

-Kalamata Olives

-Red Onion

-Crumbled Feta Cheese

-Drained Canned Cannellini Beans

- Parsley

- Basil

 Toss all together and then mix with lemon juice and olive oil, also delicious at room temperature.

Scenes From Our Weekend

Here is what went down. My weekend got off to great a start when I received this book in the mail from my sweet friend Giordana.   This book is a real gem filled with great fashions.

Saturday we started off celebrating the hubs birthday with some tasty peach cocktails.

Then we went on a boat ride and ran into this crazy storm.  I mean look at those clouds.   Luckily we were close to the Yacht Club where we waited the storm out with some tasty beverages.

Several of you asked for pics of me wearing my new necklace, so here it is!  Fringe Boutique is currently sold out but you can order one here.

Sunday Morning my little man and I hit up an Estate Sale down the street and scored these awesome goodies.  Vintage Martini Shaker (you know I love a good martini), great coffee table book, and blown glass whale for Sterling's room.  All for under $20.  Gotta love an estate sale!

Figured out the key to a successful car ride:  Fruit Loops.  This kept Sterling entertained for awhile and honestly I forgot how good that cereal is!

Cooked up a tasty veggie bowl.

Sterling had a playdate with his best bud Henry.  Thanks to Yo Gabba Gabba he always wants to make a funny face.  I mean he did this for every picture.  Sigh.

Happy Monday Dolls. 

xoxo

Thoughts For Friday

First and foremost happy birthday to my sweet hubby today!  I love you and hope you have a spectacular day , which I know you will because Sterling and I will be helping you celebrate! 

On Wednesday this week,  I checked our mail and the most wonderful surprise was waiting for me.  The girls at Fringe Boutique mailed me this necklace because they knew I had been wanting it!  How sweet, right?  I freaking love it!  She will be worn this weekend for sure!

My MayBooks also came in the mail and I can't say enough great things about them.  I ordered the Ikat one as a monthly planner and the hot pink/red one I ordered with lined paper to use for my to-do list.  I am a freak and make a to-do list every. single. day.  Helps me stay productive or at least feel like I am being productive.

Can we talk about how dumb Krsiten Stewart is?  I mean who the hell cheats on Rob Pattinson?   I never got them in the first place.  I am just not a huge fan of hers.  I feel like she never smiles and her hair always looks dirty and unkept.  Rob was way to hot to be dating her.  I do at least appreciate her owning up to the fling.  Most celebrities try to deny it but at least she was honest.  Carry on Rob, you will have no shortage of women fawning over you.

I am not sure how I feel about this Justin Beiber Magazine Cover.  The title "Hot Ready Legal"  just seems really suggestive and kind of commical.  I guess he must have just turned 18.  I mean he still looks like a baby to me.

I tried on this Joie Blouse recently and now I am obsessed with it.  I want it in every color.  It is the perfect blouse for fall.  It fits great and looks so good with skinny jeans. It comes in a bunch of colors but these three are my favorites.

{Joie Marlo Blouse}

In order to beat the heat we have done alot of pool dates.  This picture just makes me laugh.  My man loves him some goggles.

Happy Friday.  Stay Cool Ladies.

House Happenings.

I have a few new things going on in our house.  First I finally found a kids Louis Ghost chair for Sterling and I adore it.

How adorable is it with his little desk?  He loves to sit here and color.

Awhile back I won these Foo Dogs on Cassie's blog and they just came in the mail recently.  How awesome are they?  Currently they are in my dining room, but I am contemplating moving them.

I finally finished painting the rocking chairs on our porch.  A simple project that took me way longer than it should have.   They were black before if you don't remember.  Next up I want to paint the floor and recover the cushions.  Maybe that will happen sometime this year, I am so slow with house projects.  I feel like I never have time!

Next on my growing list of projects is recovering these wingback chairs.  Now that we have a new rug in our den the wingback chairs just don't match.  Plus I am so not a plaid person anyways.  These used to be my parents that they passed down to me, hence the fabric that doesn't match.

Here is the question.  Would you go with a pattern or a solid color?  My rug is pretty busy, so would a pattern be too much?  My rug if you need reference:

I dig this patterned fabric on these chairs.  but wonder if it would clash.

My other option is to go super neutral.  I am thinking a solid taupe or gray color and maybe even add some nailheads.  I am leaning towards this because then I could always spice things up with fun pillows.

Any other great ideas?  I have the hardest time making decisions like these.  Help a sister out.  Also if any locals know good places to find discount fabrics share your sources! 

Grilled Eggplant Stacks

On Monday nights Matt usually has softball games that he plays in thru his law firm.  Now don't get me wrong,  I miss him on those nights, but those are the nights I get the freedom to cook what I actually want (and watch all the trashy reality TV I want to as well).  Matt thinks that a meal is not complete with meat and there is nothing I love more than a vegetarian meal.  So, on the nights that he plays ball I always cook completely vegetarian meals.  Meat really grosses me out alot of the time.

I have had this recipe saved forever.  I pinned it and it was dubbed "The Recipe that got 100,000 pins"  Should be good right?  If that many people are repinning it.   Saturday I finally picked up some fresh eggplants and was ready to get down to business and cook.  This recipe was full of so much flavor.  It was light, healthy, and delicious.  I highly recommend.  I think it would be great to serve at a dinner pary because look how beautiful the stacks are!   I even had two stacks left that Matt ate when he got home and he commented that they were way better than he thought they would be.  A gold star review for a vegetarian meal from the hubs,  Trust me you should make these tasty stacks soon.

GRILLED EGGPLANT STACKS

{4 Servings}

1 large eggplant

3 large tomatoes, to match the diameter of the eggplant

0.4 lbs Bulgarian feta, crumbled

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

juice of half lemon

2 garlic cloves

½ extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut of the eggplant crosswise into ½” thick rounds. Lightly season them with salt and leave them for 30 minutes on a side to let water to come out of the eggplant.

Once ready drizzle some olive oil on top of each slice and grill them on a lightly oiled grill rack for 2 -3 minutes each side.

Blend the basil leaves with 4 tablespoons olive oil, 2 garlic cloves, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon salt in an immersion blender until smooth.

Cut the tomatoes crosswise to 1/4” thick rounds.

Lightly oil the baking pan. Arrange 4 eggplant rounds side by side. Spread 1/2 tablespoon of the basil-garlic mixture on top of each one, then generously sprinkle feta crumbs. Top each with tomato rings. Add another layer of eggplant, basil spread, feta and tomato rounds and top with the rest of the crumbled feta.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Drizzle some olive oil on top of each stack and bake for 15-20 minutes.

ORIGINAL RECIPE VIA