The Truth Behind Saying Thank You

There's been a major debate going on in the mommy world and we're getting to the bottom of it.  What's the deal with Thank You's these days?!  In a primarily digital world, is it still important to send hand-written Thank You notes after birthdays, weddings, baby births, bar mitzvahs and other milestones??  What's the ettiquite?  It seems everyone has their own way of doing it, but what's expected and/or accepted these days?!  Do people even care about receiving Thank Yous anymore?! Here at HML, we're creating our own set of standards for how we think you should say Thank You in 2016.  So move over Emily Post, here are some of our rules to guide you:

1. Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, Baby Birth, Quinceaneras require hand-written Thank You's!  Why you ask??  Because they're major milestones that don't happen yearly like birthdays.

2. If you send out actual hard copies of invites in the mail, your Thank You cards should arrive the same way.  On the other hand, if you send out digital invites, your Thank you's can be sent online.

3. Sending a mass digital Thank You sharing gratitude for guests attending an event and/or bringing gifts is still something, better than nothing, but won't leave friends and family feeling all warm and fuzzy.  What we've realized is if you take just a little extra time and personalize each card, your guests will appreciate the gesture so much more especially your parent's friends who are still steadfast on feeling every gift should be recognized with a hand-written Thank You.  Mom?? Ya here???  Here's a tip: If you're using an online invite service like my personal fave, www.paperlesspost.com check out their super CUTE Thank You notes that will often times match your invites.  You can "clone" the card and then re-write your msg to each guest which shows you've gone the extra mile.  #Lifesaver 

4. Put you kids to work.  A fabulous way to improve your child's penmanship, writing ability AND save you some time is by having them write their own Thank You letters.  Everyone will LOVE receiving them and it's a win/win.

5.  Are you less of a person for throwing in the towel with Thank You's?  Not in our opinion.  It's a lot of extra work for moms today who have more than one child, birthdays out the wazoo and not even enough time for a stinking bathroom break.  Throw work, cooking and sex on top of that, who the hell wants to put pen to paper?!  All that said, be aware that some may judge you for it.  Ya gotta have the "Zero F%&ks" attitude with this one.

Hope this helps mommies!  

Haute Mommy Monday!!

It's hard enough as is to get our asses in gear by the time Monday rolls around...so here's a little #MondayMotivation so generously provided by our uber-hot celeb mommy friends to kick us into overdrive!  Our Top 5 Celeb Super-Mom Looks from over the wknd  Here goes...

Kate Hudson in Cannes, rocking tangerine Solace London

Selma Hayek dazzles in pale pink in Cannes

Susan Sarandon WOWS in Navy showing off ample cleavage Y E S !!!

Need We Say MORE!?!?!  A beautifully pregnant Blake Lively SLAYYYYYYS in powder blue Atelier Versace

Still looking heavenly Ms. Klum after all these years!  #BowDown

24 Hour Golden Gate Getaway

It took a really, realllllly jam-packed schedule of pick-ups, drop-offs, appointments with this doctor, meetings with that network for me to realize the days are just too damn long, but the years are mysteriously, so short.  And with that, a few of us decided it was time to leave the tots behind for a quick 24-hour getaway to gain some clarity, and probably a couple lbs along the way.  Since we live in LA, we opted for a short trip up the northern coast to San Francisco and lemme say, it was EVERYTHING the Mommy Doc ordered.  Here's a rundown of our 24 hour adults-only Nor Cal Escape, hour by hour.  Sometimes a day is all it takes.  

10AM - ALL ABOARD!  If you're feeling it's time to splurge, charter a PJ from Van Nuys to Oakland for a quick 1-hour flight, no lines, no hassle, all glamour!  For a more cost-effective method of travel, check out affordable flights at www.southwest.com

11AM - ARRIVE, DRIVE, AND UNWIND We hopped in an uber and headed immediately for our hotel the St. Regis in San Fran.  www.stregissanfrancisco.com Room rates are pretty comparable with most other luxury hotels in town.  And as you know, SF is no bargain.  The service was top notch and the bedding, even better...which was an absolute MUST for this often rundown mommy.

2PM - FIRST STOP, DIM SUM Let's get real, you can't hit San Francisco without dipping into their world-famous dim sum.  All I can say is SEN-SA-TION-AL!!!  Yes, we're dim sum fans anyway, but Yank Sing which came highly recommended and scores a 26 Zagat rating was next level. Be sure to try all the veggie dim sum options like the snow pea shoot and savory vegetable dumplings shown here.  www.yanksing.com

3PM - HOP, SKIP, JUMP - Whether it was that or just a brisk walk, we all definitely had pep in our step as we moved through the historic parts of San Francisco asking ourselves why we don't actually live there.  Oh right, the weather.  Though we had nothing but sunshine, San Fran has a tendency to be foggy and overcast.  

5PM - R, R & R... Back to the hotel for some rest, relaxation and a little eh hem, reacquainting  :) Then a quick outfit change and voila it was time for this haute mommy to hit the town for a pre-drink and pre-stigeous dining experience.  

6PM - BATTERY  This one word sums up the hip, cool vibe we found in San Francisco.  It's like Soho House with a my-tech-company-is-better-than-yours edge.  Great drinks, cool vibe, sexy tunes..and though it's a members only club, elements of the property are still accessible to non-members including hotel rooms. Definitely worth a visit www.thebatterysf.com

7PM - SAISON Ranked the 2nd best restaurant in the Country with 3 Michelin Stars, Saison's vibe is all sass while the food is world-class.  You walk into the rather unassuming spot, kitchen totally exposed, young, tatted-up chefs working their magic.  With only a few select tables inside, each is adorned with cashmere blankets covering the chairs for use at any time during your four hour, 14-course meal.  Diners are literally dressed in anything from jogging suits and sneakers to T-shirts and jeans...anything goes.  Including the tunes.  Playing over the loud speaker, favorites from the 60s-90s, everything from Prince to The Grateful Dead to Journey.  It must be the 34-year old head chef's impeccable taste coming thru in the speakers.  Speaking of taste, I eat mostly vegetarian so for me, the selection of food was highly limited consisting of mostly root veggies, but for the rest of our party, the star dishes included golf-ball sized scoops of caviar, raw  lobster, asperagus and sea urchin.  Are you drooling yet???  www.saisonsf.com

10PM - BACK TO BED Why try to top an already perfect day???  We were tired, full and ready for bed.  And that's just what we did, retreated to our cushy, comfy crib and slept like babies until waking up...ON OUR OWN :)

8AM - BREAKFAST IN BED As most mommies would agree, there's simply nothing better than breakfast in bed.  We ordered room service of oatmeal, juice and coffee and lounged until we felt like total lazy asses.  Then it was time for the day to begin

9AM - GO CAR TOURS I've gotta hand it to my girlfriend for uncovering what's probably the ultimate way to really see San Francisco.  Go Car Tours.  They're these mini go-cart looking motor-cycle cars that take you on a GPS guided tour through the city.  It's fun, hilarious and makes for great picture taking.  BTW, not for the faint of heart. www.gocartours.com

10AM- BACK TO REALITY  Our 24-hour trip, which felt more like 3 days with the amount of activity we packed in, was coming to an end.  We headed back to the Oakland Airport for an even quicker 45-minute turn around to LA.  Returning home felt right.  We were rested, rejuvenated and ready to take on the world. Until our next jaunt, PEACE OUT!  

Met Mommies!!!

After being utterly entranced by the sea of latex, lace, leather and lame at last night's Met Gala, I took a vow that at some point in the next 5 years, I...WILL...BE...THERE!  Lucky for these A-List fetuses, they're taking their first stroll down the ultra-glam red-carpet still in the womb.  Not to be upstaged, however, are the mommies who offer up their bellies as a comfy space for their unborn-babes to have a front-row seat of all the excitement.  Listen ladies, it's hard enough to get out of friggin bed when we're prego, so the fact that these stylish celebs rocked the red carpet as effortlessly as they did, well, MAYJAH kudos!!!  We're inspired and in awe!  

Baby Ka-BOOM!

There's another MAYJAH Baby Boom taking Hollywood by storm!  From A-Listers to Athletes, Supermodels to Super HOT Musicians, it seems everyone's in on the action.  The question is, with so many channels available these days for sharing the big news, how are the Stars getting the word out!?  Some are uber creative, some don't say damn thang.  See here...

Kerry Washington And Nnamdi Asomugha -  US Weekly confirmed today the celeb couple is prego with their second child...But all it took was a red-carpet appearance at the White House Correspondents dinner for people to figure out the news themselves

Olivia Wilde And Jason Sudeikis - Olivia took to Instagram with this ridiculously adorbs pic to let the world know she's cooking up another special surprise.

Megan Fox And Brian Austin Green - Like Kerry Washington, Megan Fox made no mention of her pregnancy but a picture's worth a thousand words.  Megan showed up to Cinema Con in Vegas with her baby bump on full display which sent serious tounges wagging.  Adding a lil fuel to the fire, questions about whether Brian was the baby daddy or not.  Sure enough, the couple, though separated at the time, found the time to hook up for round #3!  

Blake Lively And Ryan Reynolds - The old fashioned way of finding out a Star's pregnant, snooping paparazzi photographed Blake Lively on set with an expanding belly.

Behati Princeloo And Adam Levine - How's this for a switch-a-roo...Hubby Adam Levine posted a pic of a prego Behati on his Instagram account, captioning: My Two Favorite Laker Fans.  Awwwww How friggin KA-UUUUUTE!

Bar Refaeli And Adi Ezra - Yet again, Instagram was the outlet Bar used to share her beautiful news with fans.  She creatively opted to post a picture of her pregnancy test rather than a pic of her beautiful Supermodel self.

Audrina Patride And Corey Bohan - She followed Bar Refaeli and posted a picture of a pregnancy test to her Instagram account 

Ellie Kemper And Michael Koman - Ellie took what seems like a classic celeb approach to reveal the news that she would be a mom for the 1st time...It all went down during an interview with funnyman, Jimmy Fallon.  SO SUPER CUTE!