DIY BIRTHDAY BASH!

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selma 6
selma 6

Have you noticed that kid's birthday parties are more like weddings these days?  Unlimited budgets with over-the-top decor, live bands, designer cakes and 200 of your closest friends.  And half the time the thousands put in doesn't guarantee a memorable turnout.  What we've come to realize here at HML is that DIY = YES!  Case and point: our dear friend and style Guru, Sam Shapiro from Chicago.  She and her hubs hosted their daughter's 1st bday party at their home with family and friends.  Let us tell ya, the decor was so well executed it would make Martha Stewart swoon...the food so tasty, Anthony Bourdain would beg for an invite...and the entertainment so creative well, even Elmo couldn't compete.  Price tag: $500  First (as we always recommend) Sam picked a theme and the rest followed.  And a few things we learned...don't be afraid to borrow and vintage is where it's at. So, here's to one baby's first bash that'll go down in history: Dia De Los Selma!  Take notes...

THEME: DIA DE LOS SELMA

CAKE AND COOKIES: Cake $30 JEWEL OSCO (came with 1st birthday at FREE smash cake) **Ask your bakery to honor this request. Cookies - $5 each

DECOR: $200 PARTY CITY, TARGET, EBAY- ballons, flower streamers, decorative masks, skull bins for craft table

ENTERTAINMENT: $20 MICHAEL'S - craft table: make skull masks to color by hand, crayons, stickers to take home

FOOD: pulled pork mini sandwiched made in slow cooker (Mariano's meat dept)

BORROWED: 1 dozen Mexican blankets from local restaurant and quesadilla maker from a friend

BONUS: Flower Crowns $30 for 6 (vintage store Hollywood Mirror)

MUSIC: Pandora, Gypsy King's radio

IN SAM'S WORDS: **Highlight was having friends and family together in one setting and their little ones: traditional "kid pic"

**I could have lived without the customary kid pic.- kids were crying and it was complete pandemonium. future mental note: feed them cake/sugar first!

Shoes For Every Occasion

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Baby feet are the most delicious things in the world.  You find that out once you become a mommy.  The only thing that rivals those outrageously adorable tiny toes are the shoes that cover them.  Before shoes are actually even necessary for babes to wear, we've got them laced up in the hottest trends...simply because they make us smile.  So with that in mind, check out a few HML faves and how they rank on our list.  All from $20-$60 ! For The Fall Baby - Freshly Picked $60

For The Skater Babe - Vans $30-$40

For the Batali Baby $30

For The Girly Baby $50ish

For The Classic Baby - Converse Chuck Taylors $50

For The Transitioning Baby- Stride Rites (easy for babes learning to walk) $30-$50

For the Bougie Baby - Cole Haan Driving Loafer $20

FashionFormation

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  It was 7pm Thursday Night and I was in the thick of my first full-blown fashion meltdown.  Late for the hottest party in town (a Verizon Red-Carpet Event tapped with a "special performance") and picture this: I'm sprawled-out in my walk-in as if I had become red-carpet roadkill.  Faux fur vests, red spandex, black lace minis, draped all over my body and the echo of my husbands voice over and over, "We have to go...What's your problem...Just wear skinny jeans and a hot fitted top.  We're late..."  Clearly he didn't get the dire state I was in.  And for the record, Mr. Awesome (self-proclaimed) those days of jeans and tanks just wouldn't cut it tonight.  After all, getting out, on a Thursday nonetheless, is about as rare as seeing Kanye West crack a smile...or is it??

Mustering just enough energy to slowly sit up and yank off all those passé garments, I had a total Aha Moment.  I was literally and metaphorically shedding the old me BC (before child) and 100% ready to embrace the new, older more-sophisticated Haute Mom in me.  Ultimately that meant an enormous closet overhaul, eliminating anything too tight, slutty, pilled, baggy, short, boobilicious, stupid- like that oversized mumu with all those whack flowers on it.  I work hard to be healthy and fit, why cover it all up!?  At that moment, however, my goal was simply to find something exceptional to fit what I envisioned for the new me; timeless, effortless, chic but not too trendy, properly fitted but not snug, and overall show-stopping!  And I mean, can we get a little color in here?!  Don't get me wrong, black is my boo, like Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie, simple perfection, but a colorful wardrobe is just so damn....Kate Hudson, in other words, E V E R Y T H I N G!

I dug, dug, dug and FINALLY came up with just that...A stop-sign red, POW! Here I am bitch, beautifully fitted frock...covered at the top, all leg at the bottom...a major fashion rule...Tatas and Bootie simultaneously screams Call-Girl.  Back to the red-dress, it's a Top Shop mini that had been initially purchased to fit my burgeoning baby bump during pregnancy but the second I popped, so did the zipper on that dress.  As in, I had the seamstress rip it off and tailor it to fit my smaller, post baby-bump bod.  I jumped into it, zipped it up, and paired it with a classic pair of nude Louboutin open-toe triple platform heels (it was date night) and Voila!  We...Be...OUT!

We showed up to the Bev Hills Soiree, fashionably late, not exactly on purpose...posed for a few pics and learned the "secret" performance was by none other than Kanye West.  Not typically one of my faves, I must say, he worked it ladies...like really friggin worked for it and put on a stellar show!

What started out as a hopeless night- laid out in my closet, undressed waiting for some fashion Messiah to come save me - turned into one of best Thursday Nights EVER...Dressed Up, Partying Down, and front/center for this!  A smile from Kanye West.