Shoe vs. escalator

Spoiler alert: the escalator won.

On a recent trip to Dubai, my husband and I had the pleasure of visiting the Burj Al Arab for brunch. 

Photo courtesy of Trip Adviser: Burj Al Arab hotel, Dubai 

Perhaps you've heard of it. A quaint hotel in Dubai; the only self-proclaimed 7-star hotel in the world. 
Brunch attire needed to match said 7-star status so I wore a pair of Christian Louboutin heels. 

Brunch was lovely. However, my heels did not agree with the escalator upon exiting. Luckily, the lobby escalators are a bit longer then normal so I realized what was happening only halfway down. My heel (on both feet) had gotten wedged into the grooves of the escalator steps. I frantically tried to unwedge the heel without taking my shoes off with no such luck. I eventually did take both shoes off but was only able to save one shoe. The other wasn't so lucky ....

   

Staff at the hotel were very attentive and immediately came to stop the escalator as my shoe was caught. Many checking to see that I was okay. We were greeted by the front desk manager who then exchanged contact info and said she would be in touch. 
Long story short, this 7-star hotel provided 7-star service, replacing my shoes altogether. 

   

Although getting stuck in the escalator was traumatizing, having it happen at undoubtedly the nicest hotel I've ever been to somewhat eases the experience. 

They got me on the Zoo membership

So I've been teetering with the idea of a Zoo annual pass for over a year now. Recently, the kids and I visited the zoo and I took advantage of the military discount. I was told I could come back within a week and put my amount paid towards the annual pass. 

Of course I couldn't let that offer slide 😬. All-in-all we have been to the zoo about 4 times since having the pass. Our zoo hosts a kiddie splash pad- a nice way for the kids to cool down.
Generally, I will dress the babies in swimwear to head to the zoo, we walk around for an hour (or more, depending on how early we get there) and then they cool off in the splash pad for another hour. Stay tuned for pics from the Easter event ....

Egg Hunting | Easter 2017 | Zoo Miami | LifeasMrsMac

 | Easter 2017 | Zoo Miami | LifeasMrsMac

Playing on the splash pad | Easter 2017 | Zoo Miami | LifeasMrsMac

 | Easter 2017 | Zoo Miami | LifeasMrsMac

"All I want is a Bunga party! - Nathan's 4th birthday

Two months leading up to my boy's 4th birthday party, he did something he has never done before. He made a few birthday requests. How he knew his birthday was coming up, I don't know. How he knew he could start making requests, I don't know. What I do know is that he had  quite a list going. At the top of the list was a Bunga party.
If you are anything like the majority of our party guest, you have no idea who or what Bunga is. Late last year, Disney introduced the Lion Guard, its latest installment of the Lion King saga. The story follows young Kion (lol Kion-the-Lion), Simba's son. Kion has "the gift of the roar" and is responsible for protecting the pride lands. Kion selected the bravest, fastest, strongest, and keenest of sight  in all the pridelands. Here's where Bunga comes in. Bunga, the bravest, and also Kion's best friend and the series' comic relief.

Nothing more than proud that my son shares my love of the Lion King but also chose a side character to showcase for his party.

First tackling the invitation, I didn't have a lot of time to develop anything too complex, so I just threw something together in Microsoft Publisher.

Also on the lack of time theme, I hired a good friend who recently started a party planning business to handle the crafts, deserts, and decorations. Here are some the party details.

Ono binoculars

Lion Guard goodie bags

Lion Guard goodie bags

Bunga centerpieces

Coloring station

Pavilion Decorations

Ono binoculars, zebra pops, and our safari cake

 Bug cookies

Custom hot wheels escalade

We wanted to gift my son with a hot wheels Audi R8 for his 2nd birthday. Unfortunately, Toys R Us stopped selling these and were completely sold out.

Plan B was to get a white Hot Wheels Escalade to match mine. Only problem there is that they only sell Hot Wheels Escalades in black or pink. Solution to that: we found a black Escalade on Craigslist and painted it ourselves.

First we had to prep the car to be painted so we removed any easily removable parts (i.e. Tail lights, hood, front grill) and washed them with soap and water. We also washed the car itself (well the parts to be painted, so not the wheels/rims) with soap and water, careful to avoid getting water in the "interior" or any electrical components. After drying anything that hadn't already air dried, we taped off anything that shouldn't be painted with painters tape and plastic bags (I also used tape to cover the original decals)

Next was the painting. I bought white (for the body) and silver (for the grill) spray paint from Walmart. 
I bought Krylon Fusion (spraypaint for plastic)

As far as how much paint to buy: I went through about 4-5 cans of the white for the body and just one can for the grill. I also bought 2 cans of clear glossy to act as a top coat but, to be honest, I'm not sure if it made much of a difference. 

Also I don't even know how many layers I did. I would spray 3-4 thin, light layers at a time with 15-30 min in between to allow for drying. I did this over 3 days.

And our final product:

 

The paint was easily scratched up to a few days after it was finished. Now, a few months later, the paint has definetly bonded with the plastic and not so easy to come off.

DIY diaper pail deordorizer

As much as I like our Diaper Genie, and the convenience of not having to go downstairs and outside every time I need to toss a diaper, there is only so much this diaper pail can do about the "not-so-pleasant" smell that it blasts out when I use it. 

I went ahead and added a built in deodorizer/air freshener. Using "sneaker balls" - these can be found at any Sports Authority or shoe store and maybe even Walmart.

Open the Sneaker ball vents and simply glue gun it to the underside if the Diaper Genie lid. 

When scent/effectiveness of the sneaker ball runs out, you can pop it off the lid and glue on a new one. 

Breakfast at Tiffany's First Birthday | Party Details

Beautiful weather under a tent we hosted our daughter's Breakfast at Tiffany's themed brunch. Here are some party details below:

Tiffany boxes and photo centerpieces. Chalkboard paper runners

 Mimosa bar and chalkboard labels for champagne glasses

 Brunch food

 Tiffany Boxes mini cakes

 Cake table and party favors: Pearls and sunglasses

 Smash cake and high chair tutu

Breakfast at Tiffany's First Birthday Party | Birthday Photoshoot

For my daughter's first birthday we decided to do a Breakfast at Tiffany's themed brunch. Some of our party details below.

My wonderful sister-in-law is a photographer and did a photoshoot with our baby girl at our local Tiffany's store:

Tiffany and Co. Christmas tree

Photo with Glittered Number "1" prop

Photo in front of Tiffany's store